6GT current loads and progress

#59
Does anyone know what all is needed to load for the 6mm GT on a Dillon 650? I have several other calibers and may be able to piece the parts together.

I’ve searched here and google with no success. Even left 3 messages and an email with Dillon and haven’t heard back.

Thanks
Jim
 
#60
Man, thanks a lot Reubenski! 👍👍👍Snipers Hide members again come through for each other!

I’m set up for 308 so that will help a lot. I need to look into the Mr Bulletfeeder conversion. Only load pistol bullets with mine and it makes loading so much nicer!

Thanks for the offer of the Dillon numbers but it looks like I have all those parts and I have a powder funnel and die for 243 so maybe that’ll work too.
Jim
 
#61
What powder are you using? actually will you share all your load data? This is pretty interesting. I load some mean 223 precision loads but haven’t had the balls to try one of my 6mm’s on my progressive yet. I’m also assuming you’re doing all your brass prep separately right? I already seat decap and mandrel on mine, so getting the primer and powder is all that’s setting me back.
 
#62
What kind of consistency are you getting through your powder drop? .1gr? With staball specifically. I’ve got my hornady drop to do cfe black/223/pistol to do a es of .06gr I’m very very pleased with that. Also do you have crono numbers? For your gt with staball. I have 8lbs of this stuff and didn’t have any luck in my wife’s old creed.

Also this 8208 stuff I keep hearing folks talk about it like it’s the new unicorn powder. Did you ever load varget in your br, is it comparable? What are the numbers in powder drop es and crono? I’d love to load this without trickling everything. (I switched my wife to a 6br this year because she can burn a barrel out better than anyone I’ve ever met, lol)
 
#64

I’ve gotta be the worst reloader on here but have you tried N150 ? I just loaded a nice round 30.0gr into my 28” BR and get 2830 FPS and an SD of 7 over a 10 round string using a Chargesmaster. It meters very well but I get the occasional over throw but don’t bother throwing those again so I’m sure better results are achievable.
 
#67
Like I said before in the very least it might stay in a tighter node, it meters amazingly for me. In my Hornady measures. Which are rotary like your Redding. It doesn’t have the temp stability of most though. In Dallas we shoot in 40-105 degree temps. I found that out the hard way, I developed in January and was blowing primers in July lol
 
#68
Yeah, mostly the burn rate is good, some people have had good results with it. I’ve only used it for fireforming with crappy bullets so I’m not sure I have a strong opinion one way or another. But it’s probably worth trying.

My experience with StaBALL in the GT has been tiny groups and moderate SDs.
 
#70
Jamming or jumping those 109's. New gt this year still trying to decide what bullets , have a long neck long throat for 115 DTAC's . Some H-4350, some 6.5 Staball , but 37.2 is best so far with 115vld . Still trying to decide where to go with limited supplies. Probably just shoot BR this year at 300.
 
#72
I am a benchrest shooter mostly 300yrd. Light neck tension so we tend to jam. I thank you for posting your data . I have been very limited on supplies so hard to decide where to go with what components. Only have about one pound H-4350 . Tried staball but small node and quick pressures. Around 36.8 with 115 Dtac was pretty good , just looking for bug hole load. Then hopefully get components. Thanks and good shooting.from N.Y.
 
#75
Sorry to bring this thread back to life.

I built my 6 GT from a Savage Model 12 with a Criterion MTU barrel. I placed it in an MDT XRS chassis, with a gen 1 PST scope on it.

Day 1: I was able to shoot my newly built 6GT with Copper Creek's Hornady (GAP) brass and 108 ELD-M's. They really grouped well. So, the build proved it worked with the Copper Creek's Ammo. Time to put on my EC Tuner Brake and reload some! Woop!

Day 2: Did some reloads with Varget, Hornady (GAP) brass, and CCI 400 primers. I fired 2 sighters with Varget 33.5 and 1 with Varget 33.2... And saw that it was piercing the primers from the reloads. So, I retired the handloads and resumed shooting the rest of my Cooper Creek ammo (ELD-M 108's and Lapua Scenar 105's) with no issues. Man, this thing can shoot... just not my loads. :(

Day 3: I shortened the length as according to the Hornady OAL (I was just .007 off). So, I shortened the seating by an additional .015 (.022 off) with the 33.2g's. Plus, I brought a chrono to see what the velocity was. First shot didn't get picked up by the chrono and it pierced the primer. DANG IT!! I adjusted the chrono to being 1 number more sensitive and shot the 2nd one. Of course, it pierced the primer, but I did get the velocity of 2862.

I was scratching my head and came across Reubenski's post in this thread about his GT piercing the 400's regularly. Thank you for posting this Reubenski!! You may have saved me several more trips to the range, and I have some hope and know to try a different primer for the next round. haha

Again, my apologies for bring this back from the dead, but wanted to say my thanks and share that I may have the same issue with 400's. We will see.

Thanks,

-Dave
 
#77
Thanks NiteQwill and Reubenski!

I have the following small rifle primers:
CCI BR-4
Federal GM205M
CCI 41
CCI 400 (as mentioned before)

But no 450's.... I will keep my eyes out for them, but these days I try to buy whatever I can find.

Glad that I have something that is known to work well with the 6GT. Bummer that the BR-4's were by far the most expensive in my inventory. While breaking in the barrel, I was cheaping out with the 400's. Given this issue, I was about to try the 41's or the GMM's. If I need to use my BR-4's, I certainly will. That's why I got them. haha

I'm pretty new to reloading... just finished my first year. Is this normal for the CCI 400's to be an issue, or is this a 6GT thing?

Thanks again!

-Dave
 
#78
That makes sense as the 400's work like a champ with my 223 loads. :)

Thanks again for sharing your info and experience! I really was scratching my head, esp. after I made the pullet jump at least .022 and still saw the pierced primers with what appears to be a couple of common charge weights of Varget.

I look forward to doing my reloads with the right primers the next time, and learning more from you guys!

-Dave
 
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#79
Okay... as I am trying to source CCI 450's for my 6GT to address my pierced primer issue, I was researching what I have in inventory that may work instead.

According to this post as the source from Ultraman550:

It looks like CCI 41's are a very close alternative to the 450's, and I have some of that. Any thoughts on using the 41's instead? If for some reason the 41's don't work, I'll use my BR4's... But, if I can get enough shots through this barrel to get it where it's up to speed with the 41's, that would be great... or better yet, just use the 41's.

Thanks,

-Dave
 
#80
The 41's will work for you. My understanding is the anvil is slightly different and requires more impact before ignition on the 41's compared to the 450. I have used 41's in my bolt rifle loads in the past with no problems encountered.
 
#81
Awesome! I’ve did a few loads with 41’s, 450’s, and BR-4’s. I made the start weight a little lower this time around as well, but I have a good feeling about going with the thicker cupped primers this time. I hope to get this tried out before the weekend.

Hope you all have a great turkey day!
 
#82
Just closing the loop with my fork in this thread. I tested the 450's, 41's, and BR-4's and all three worked with my 6GT. We can mark this up with another one that is unable to use the CCI 400's with their 6GT. I may try the 400's again in the future, once my barrel settles down on the speed. Would be good to know if this is an issue with new/tighter barrels.

Thanks!
 
#87
I've been using some old batches of 400s without issue as well. They are harder to seat so probably thicker from 1979/80/81, still no issues. Only a few hundred remain of this old stuff. I'll have to try my newer stock and compare.

 
#88
How old are we talking? Like the ones on the left? I use the ones on the left in my 223 loads and also find they are harder to seat. My SDs have never been so low when using the older ones so I might keep them around for the 6GT especially if the cups are thicker/harder.
 
#91
Okay... two rounds of shooting 3 different charges with CCI 450, 41, and BR-4's, and no pierced primers. I think I can say it's pretty conclusive that the newer CCI 400's were the cause.



The first round (11/26/21) my chrono was complaining about the battery, so I don't fully trust the numbers... and it was missing shots. However, I'll put the data here anyway.

The second round (11/28/21) my chrono was happy with new batteries and seemed to be fully operational. Yes, I understand that the charge is on the low side, but I figured I'd play it safe with the young barrel. The velocities were very similar between the 450's and BR-4's, but the SD's were similar between the 41's and BR-4's. I have more BR-4's than 41's, but the 41's are cheaper and have given me a little better SD's and velocities.

Anyways... I've ~135 form fired Hornady brass, and I've deprimed, cleaned, and annealed them. So, I think I'm ready to start my load development. The only thing that I'm iffy on is if I have enough rounds through the new barrel. I've heard 100 and 150, so this is close to splitting the difference. haha

This will be the first time that I'm trying to do it based on velocity, instead of OCW. Since I have lots of StaBALL 6.5, I think I will play with it. Time to search the threads to see if anyone has done with that and the Hornady ELD-M 108's.

Thanks again for the help on figuring out the pierced primer issue that I was experiencing. It really saved me a lot of time and headaches!
 
#92
Hello,
Just took delivery of my new GAP 6GT. Lots of great information here on loading for the cartridge wanted to take the opportunity to say thanks for the information in advance. I have also seen questions regarding color choices on the forun so thought I would include a couple pics for reference. GAP did a fantastic job on this rifle and I am very excited to shoot this beauty for the first time. Paint is Scorched Earth and looks fantastic in person, much nicer than I expected. So far I have Varget, Alpha brass, two types of projectiles (105gr Nosler RDF and 110 Hornady A-Tip's). Time to break this bad boy in.
Happy new year everyone
 
#93
I've been a little slow posting up my load developments. Unfortunately, I'm just not able to find the Berger Hybrids, so I'm going down the path of the ELD-M 108's and SMK 107's, as those are semi-obtainable at the moment.

For my quick throwable load:
Hornady ELD-M 108 @ 76K jump​
StaBALL 6.5 @ 38.4g​
CCI 41's​
SD's in the high single digits​
ES in the mid-teens to 20​
I've seen as low as .215" MOA, but that was just a 3 shot group... on another day with new brass I got .403" MOA. Hoping that it will tighten up with fired brass and tuner brake tweaks.​
I consider this 95% done as I just need to confirm my tuner brake setting @ 4, 5, or 6.... Then, load up ~20-25 to validate.​

Currently developing what I hope to be my low SD/ES load with SMK 107, H4350, CCI 450:
Here are the results from my velocity test to find a workable node...​
​
​
I didn't really get a strong node with the quick throwable load, but it looks like I have a few to choose from with this one. The green boxes are my first choices, and leading off with the higher velocity one. So far, with the seating depth test of 3 rounds, it's delivering the goal of a low/mid-single digit SD and low double-digit ES. Of course, this is just 3 shot groups, so I'm anticipating it to climb up.​
​
​
I now have the 5-round groups loaded to get a better view in the SD/ES and group size. I'm just waiting for warmer weather.​
​
Sorry for the long post, but thought I would share my findings as I learn how to do this loading process.​
​
Happy 2022!!​
​
-Dave​
 
#94
Sorry I forgot this on my original post. I loaded up a couple dummy rounds for seating depth on the K&M Arbor press and the neck tension was about 35 to 40lbs on this new brass. I used a mandrel to ensure consistency of the necks in the new alpha brass. Does anyone have any insight if this is about normal or what value we should be aiming for for neck tension when seating?
Thanks everyone.
 
#97
I get excess resistance when seating new brass fro the first time on different batches and calibers of brass for whatever reason. Even if I size it and mandrel it. The next time you seat bullets into that same brass after firing I guarantee you that it will be much less.
 
#99

Keep in mind, force gauges and such are still just comparator tools.

Thus far, no one has been able to produce any data that says “40lb is best.”

This is because (generally speaking) there are so many things that contribute to seating force, you can’t just assign a value to the end result.


Used properly, you will find a process that works/shoots best for you. And then use the gauge to make sure the seating resistance is consistent.

Even when it’s not consistent (say you get 60lbs when everything else was 40lbs), just based on the seating force/resistance, you will have no idea why it did that. It could be one or several things. And sometimes if you shoot that round over the chrono/on paper, it won’t deviate, and other times it will.


Point being, force gauges and such are comparator tools to assist you in making consistent ammunition. You will have to decide what the process is and target weights are for you.
 
#100
If anyone is interested in using H4831SC in the GT, here are some of my results with 115 RDFs (I have more of the 4831 powders than anything else, so I thought I would try it).

.020" jump
26" 7.5 twist Bartlein 5R HV (~850 rounds so far)
Hornady brass
Fed 205M
Rear bag and bipod off a bench. 3 mph 7 o'clock wind. 86 degrees F.

Did a 200 yard test of 38.5-40.5 grains if H4831SC (basing the loads on Hodgdon's 41.3 max. of Superformance for 110 grain A-Tip).
38.5, 39.0, and 39.5 were slightly crunchy; 40.0 and 40.5 were crunchy, but no pressure signs on any of these.


39.5 looked good, so I loaded more of that and tried it at 200, 300, and 510 yards.
200 still looking good, 300 was so awesome I stopped after 3 shots (knowing the Random Damn Flyers were coming ;), and it opened up a bit at 510. I didn't chrono it, but based on the come-ups the velocity looks to be 2875-ish.





 
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