Just finished a Savage build with a 26" Shilen barrel.  Factory Lapua 136 grain loads shoot around 1/2 MOA to 300 yards. I'll start loading once my brass and dies get here. Anybody have any experience loading for this cartridge?

H4350 is the powder you want. Great accuracy and good velocities with 136 to 142 grain bullets.

Varget and RE-15 work great with 123's.

www.accurateshooter.com has a "Daily Bulletin" that gets news and articles regarding the latest accuracy developments. On the left side of that page is a bar dedicated strictly to 6.5x47mm data and comments. Also the member's forum has questions and answers regarding this cartridge.

It is one of the most inherently accurate rounds currently available.

Yes.  It's probably the most efficient of the 6.5-08 class of cartridges.

I know the guys at Lapua who designed/tested it.

You have more pressure to work with, since it uses a small rifle primer, and Lapua brass metallurgy on this case is very tough.

The shoulder angle and short propellant column make it very good for year-round shooting in extreme temperature swings that are common in Northern Europe.

It's a laser at 1000yds with VLDs.

I personally prefer to keep the pressure down for brass and barrel life, but if you really want an edge in competition and can afford to burn through brass and barrels, you can smoke it pretty hot.

The problem with your barrel choice is that Shilen is one of the softest stainless steels out there, so I would keep the pressures down if you don't want to gas-check your throat and reduce barrel life quickly.  When you re-barrel, get a Bartlein.  The Shilen will shoot amazingly well for you, so depending on how you push it, your barrel life can be managed. 6.5x47 Lapua likes to be pushed.

Try it with 123gr Scenar or 120gr Scenar-L with moderate loads that fill the case, and it is still extremely flat, laser-like.

We used a lot of N540 with it. Accurate Shooter has a good article on it.  Here's their load data, including a lot of competition loads.  Good luck finding any H4350 or Varget.

These are mostly all maximum loads, and need to be worked up to.

There are several factors that went into making the 6.5x47 Lapua so inherently accurate.

When you look at .222 Remington and 6mm PPC, you see that they both have long-for-caliber necks.

Long necks with all that tension increases the consistency case-to-case, because there is more contact area, and variances are a smaller percentage sample-to-sample, so your tension and un-corking stay very consistent.

Also, with long neck length, you get very consistent hand-off to the lands.

The 6.5x47 Lapua also places the bullet base near the bottom of the neck, rather than deep into the powder column, which makes for more consistent combustion, especially in a case where most of your charges are near or at 100% fill.

Some other cases and cartridges for comparison:

Thanks for all the great info guys. I went with the Shilen being a first build and I was in a hurry.  Shilen chambered barrels were plentiful. I'll start of slow and safe with the loads. I'm gonna run some more factory loads through it tomorrow morning for fun, and I need some brass. My dies should also arrive tomorrow.  To the store for H4350 and primers, and I'm going to load some.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Thanks again

CCI-450 small rifle magnum primers are the ones you want.