Looks like there's promise, and that you're not losing too much velocity with the N160...although I'm guessing 39gr of it is getting compressed a bit.
6gt
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Looks like there's promise, and that you're not losing too much velocity with the N160...although I'm guessing 39gr of it is getting compressed a bit.
Yep slight crunch but not to the point of affecting seating depth consistency, I'll bet it'd be really good in a 6 creed
I'm sitting on 8lbs of it myself for my next 6CM barrel.
My barrel is loving 112 MBs .060 off the lands with a mild 36 grains of H4350, it's averaging 2825 and hasn't sped up yet.
Yeah I’ve been real impressed with these 112 MB in the 6GT.
Looks nice. How are they shooting at distance for you?
What ES or SD are you getting with the 4350?
In general the 112s shoot awesome at distance, but I haven't taken this rifle out beyond the 100 yard line yet.. Hopefully this weekend.
SD isn't awesome at 12 but it's virgin brass so maybe it'll improve a little on the 2nd firing.
Jumped on the 6gt bandwagon last week after getting my barrel. I'm having issues using the rcbs precision mic tool to find the lands. No matter how loose or tight I make the set screw, the "bullet" of the mic is getting stuck in the lands. Sanity check, I measured the "bullet", 0.2425 inches.
I used a rcbs precision mic on my 6.5 creed no issues. This is my first 6mm family adventure. I have a modified case coming to try that way.
I used a rcbs precision mic on my 6.5 creed no issues. This is my first 6mm family adventure. I have a modified case coming to try that way.
Multiple ways of finding the lands. I used to use the Hornady kit, but the results from multiple tests frequently spanned .010, so I guess I must have been doing it wrong.
Nowadays I just use a piece of fired brass, and I lightly coat the back of the bullet's bearing surface in blue Loctite before loosely putting them together (long). I wipe the excess off before chambering, close the bolt which pushes the bullet the rest of the way back, and then let it sit ~30 minutes. It is an easy clean up, a case neck brush and about 10 seconds and the brass is reusable.
There are better ways, but this one works for me.
I think you'll like your GT. Best of luck.
Lord have mercy…….The Hide keeps revealing ways for me to spend money.
Forever a poor…….but I’ll have some cool gear.
Has anyone tried any of the ELD-VT bullets in their 6GT? I called and talked to GAP and they were messing around with them, but no load data to share. They recommended joining the facebook forum, but its been weeks and haven't been added to the group.
Took the left load (below photo) out to 655 today to verify velocity and see if accuracy would hold up. Normally I do that at 300, but I had cows in the way.
Wind was super mild, only about a 1-2 MPH crosswind, so i just held dead on. I usually gain ~30 FPS when I true velocity over my cheap chronograph, but this time I lost that much.
Took a tape measure to it. 2-1/4" on the nose. I know, only five shots, but I'll take it. The 105 Hybrid seems to hover around 3/8 MOA in this barrel with multiple powders. This group may have been a fluke...but that's happened a couple times now. Vertical was only about an inch.
27", 1:8, Krieger. Chambered by Matt Stewart.
105 Hybrid, 36.7gr H4350, Fed GM205MAR, 1x fired Alpha, 1.947 CBTO.
Wind was super mild, only about a 1-2 MPH crosswind, so i just held dead on. I usually gain ~30 FPS when I true velocity over my cheap chronograph, but this time I lost that much.
Took a tape measure to it. 2-1/4" on the nose. I know, only five shots, but I'll take it. The 105 Hybrid seems to hover around 3/8 MOA in this barrel with multiple powders. This group may have been a fluke...but that's happened a couple times now. Vertical was only about an inch.
27", 1:8, Krieger. Chambered by Matt Stewart.
105 Hybrid, 36.7gr H4350, Fed GM205MAR, 1x fired Alpha, 1.947 CBTO.
Shot first 30 rounds out of my first 6mm barrel and 6gt yesterday and today. Got all the way to the range and realized I forgot my cleaner for break in 
.
First 10 were a light load of h4350 at 34.5gr. Dry patch clean after every 3 shots. Gave it a good cleaning back at the house. Two wet patches and the barrel was clean.
Today I loaded 20 rounds, 5 each of 0.03, 0.04, 0.05, and 0.06" off the lands. 36.5 H4350, 109 Bergers. Forgot how much I love berger. Every bullet I weighed was 109.0gr.
Groupings were meh, 1 moa to half moa.
Speed was 2850-2868 fps.
One thing that has me puzzled is the bolt is difficult to close. Opening it after each firing was no issue. I've confirmed I'm not stuffing the bullet into the lands. Virgin Alpha OCD 6GT brass.
With the barrel off, the cases are snug when I manually insert an empty case.
Any suggestions? Planned on shooting this barrel at GAP's range this weekend for a match. Wondering if I should spin the 6.5c back on.
.First 10 were a light load of h4350 at 34.5gr. Dry patch clean after every 3 shots. Gave it a good cleaning back at the house. Two wet patches and the barrel was clean.
Today I loaded 20 rounds, 5 each of 0.03, 0.04, 0.05, and 0.06" off the lands. 36.5 H4350, 109 Bergers. Forgot how much I love berger. Every bullet I weighed was 109.0gr.
Groupings were meh, 1 moa to half moa.
Speed was 2850-2868 fps.
One thing that has me puzzled is the bolt is difficult to close. Opening it after each firing was no issue. I've confirmed I'm not stuffing the bullet into the lands. Virgin Alpha OCD 6GT brass.
With the barrel off, the cases are snug when I manually insert an empty case.
Any suggestions? Planned on shooting this barrel at GAP's range this weekend for a match. Wondering if I should spin the 6.5c back on.
It is virgin brass. Just as an experiment: Did you try a full length resize and then insert the brass to see if it is snug?
Ran into an issue at a match last weekend. Had 2 lots of powder and rounds were mixed in so i was sending shots way high. Super frustrating.
Came home and took 40 lbs of H4350, dumped into a bin, mixed it together then put back into 8 lb jugs. Should help with lot to lot issues.
Came home and took 40 lbs of H4350, dumped into a bin, mixed it together then put back into 8 lb jugs. Should help with lot to lot issues.
Sending all my cases through the fl sizing die fixed that issue of difficulty closing the bolt.
I'm out of time for load development. Leaving for KC tonight for the match tomorrow.
35gr of varget .040" off the lands was one hole, about 3/8moa. I'll take it. But I had heavy bolt lift and light ejector marks on the brass. Tried 34gr this morning. Grouped ok at 100. I'll give it a go tomorrow.
I'm out of time for load development. Leaving for KC tonight for the match tomorrow.
35gr of varget .040" off the lands was one hole, about 3/8moa. I'll take it. But I had heavy bolt lift and light ejector marks on the brass. Tried 34gr this morning. Grouped ok at 100. I'll give it a go tomorrow.
34/35 grs of varget is a stupid hot load. No wonder you are having issues. Add heat/moisture and a dirty gun, it's only going to get worse. Knock 2-3 grains off and try again.
Do you mean H4350? Cuz 35 gr of Varget is crazy fast and a good way of killing a barrel, or worse...
Yup learned that today at the GAP/MOST match today. Going to try 32-33gr. Wasn't seeing really any pressure signs today but my rifle did go down 3 shots away from cleaning a stage.
Many thanks to the guys that helped me out to get my rifle back up.
Many thanks to the guys that helped me out to get my rifle back up.
Probably from the warm to hot load I used; 34.5 of varget with 109s. Stage 5 I had a bad ejection where the case didn't eject, ran the bolt forward, spent case and the new round bonded with each other in the feed ramp. I was going for a clean stage 9/9 on that stage of 12 possible points. With that stuck case i wasnt able to clear it before timing out. Thankfully that was last stage before lunch.
Found one of the GAP guys and we looked at the bolt. The extractor was very loose. Worse they had felt. Another shooter was running a tempest and had a spare extractor.
Thought that fixed the issue until the 2nd stage of the afternoon. Cases wouldn't eject. Had to finger each one out. Also found I was missing high. Checked with a chrono real quck; 2978 with the 109, up from the 2875 in the morning. So hot.
Found this time the ejector was flush with the bolt face. We got the roll pin out but ejector wouldn't fall out. After some persuasion it came out. Along with a little piece of brass shaving.
Probably from the load I was using. Was told to try 32.8gr with the 109s. Did a 5 shot group of 32.0-33.0 this evening. 32.2-32.4 gave me single digit SDs and nice little groups. Stripped the bolt today and got a little flake of brass out.
Huge thank-you to Caleb, Luke, and Zach for the help and coaching this weekend.
Berger. Zero was good Saturday. But these loads, looks like i need to come up 0.1 and maybe 0.1 mils right.
Load is 1.9670" base to ogive. Varget, BR4 primers, virgin Alpha OCD brass.
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Anyone got any suggestions for hunting bullets for 6GT? would 109 Bergers work for white tail at ~300y?
I have heard great things about Bergers for hunting. That being said, I've had less than stellar results with the 105 Hybrid on a few crows, and the 130gr Hybrid (6.5x47) on coyotes. You would expect huge wound cavities, large exit holes, and quick deaths. Unless you hit the CNS, that hasn't been the case for me.
When the bullet tumbles and comes apart just right, it is devastating. The problem is that you are relying on a terminal reaction that the bullet was never designed for. Oblong holes (tumbling) make massive exit wounds...but when you thread the needle between two ribs and ice-pick wound an animal you are in for a rough time tracking.
I've since abandoned all OTMs for canine removal in favor of the ELD-Ms. I shoot deer with the Nosler Ballistic Tip, SST, and ELD-X. They all work great, and also work great on smaller critters.
My choice should I be in your shoes is the 103 ELD-X, or 95gr NBT. Even a 90-100gr soft point out to 300 yards will be adequate enough accuracy wise, and give reliable terminal performance.
Thank you very much for the thorough reply. I use 223 for coyotes just because it’s easier with a semi especially this time of year when 2-3 come out at once, but I trust my 6GT out a loonngggg way. I have shot it in simulated hunting conditions over clear cuts at my club this spring and gotten consistent hits in varying weather conditions out past 550y. Obviously animals move, flight time, etc but having a flat shooting rifle to cover these clear cuts is going to be pretty exciting. I just didn’t trust OTMs for the reasons you mentioned.
I have used ELDX in 6.5 and it’s unusual. I’ve killed everything I’ve ever shot with it, usually dropped it in its tracks from coyotes to deer to 250lb boars. But I’ve never had a pass through. It’s like they just detonate inside the animal. I don’t know if I’d use one on a heavier animal like Moose but despite the lack of pass throughs ive been very impressed with how they immediately drop everything.
I think 6mm ELDX would be fine for my purposes. I’ll load some up and give them a try. Do you happen to have a pet load for those bullets with 4350 or RL16?
Open Tip Match. SMK, Hybrid, Scenar etc...
All of them have had spectacular kills for me, and spectacular fails.
Thank you very much for the thorough reply. I use 223 for coyotes just because it’s easier with a semi especially this time of year when 2-3 come out at once, but I trust my 6GT out a loonngggg way. I have shot it in simulated hunting conditions over clear cuts at my club this spring and gotten consistent hits in varying weather conditions out past 550y. Obviously animals move, flight time, etc but having a flat shooting rifle to cover these clear cuts is going to be pretty exciting. I just didn’t trust OTMs for the reasons you mentioned.
I have used ELDX in 6.5 and it’s unusual. I’ve killed everything I’ve ever shot with it, usually dropped it in its tracks from coyotes to deer to 250lb boars. But I’ve never had a pass through. It’s like they just detonate inside the animal. I don’t know if I’d use one on a heavier animal like Moose but despite the lack of pass throughs ive been very impressed with how they immediately drop everything.
I think 6mm ELDX would be fine for my purposes. I’ll load some up and give them a try. Do you happen to have a pet load for those bullets with 4350 or RL16?
SEE POST #1,912 above for H4350 with the 105 Hybrids - I think that you should be pretty close with the 103 ELD-X.
My GT ran the 108 ELD-M pretty well with H4350, but it wasn't as good as the 105 Hybrids so I gave up on them pretty quickly. I guess I never took photos of my load development targets, but I had the best luck in the low 36gr range. I think (do not quote me until I can get home to check) I ran into pressure signs right about the time I hit 37gr.
Accuracy held at just a pubic hair over 1/2 MOA.
Just back off a grain for Reloader 16 and work up. In my 6.5 CM and 6.5x47 it is very close to my H4350 +/- about 1% charge weight range for accuracy...but does give a tad more velocity. YMMV.
I've tried searching and wasn't able to find anything so apologies if this has already been asked/answered.
Does anyone have any loads for the 115 Berger hunter?
Does anyone have any loads for the 115 Berger hunter?
I haven’t seen any yet at the places I order stuff. Looks like it’s going to be a tad higher than Alpha as well.
Lapua say autumn 2024 so I wouldn't expect to see any until at least September.
Does anyone have any experience with 6GT and 115 DTAC's? I'd be interested to hear how they perform in the wind and velocities.
It’s all me and my son run, DTACS and H4350. Do a search or shoot me a PM
I probably won’t have my barrel before then. Wonder if picking some Alpha is worth it?
Alpha is good brass. I have the non OCD brass and I have 4 firings in them so far and they are holding up well. I’d buy the OCD for sure but will also look for Lapua when I can.
When working at MHSA, a known customer created a spreadsheet comparing Lapua brass and Alpha brass. Alpha brass was much more consistent. Not that Lapua was bad, it certainly is good, but the Alpha he compared to Lapua was better.
Interesting. Any input on reamers? I see there’s SAAMI, GA Original w/ .120FB, .170FB…
112 Match Burner
34.2 gr Varget
BR4 Primer
Hornady Brass
25 rounds fired
65 degrees
5280 elevation
3.1 Mils @ 600 yards
21.5" 1/7.5 barrel
Min 2878
Avg 2895
High 2915
ES 36.5
SD 9.1
JMHO, but if you have a choice, go .170" FB...
I haven't had any real issues with the SAAMI/.120" FB, but it's pretty limiting if you want more jump. I've had to run pretty much everything (DTACs, MBs, A-Tips) from near jam to between .010"-.020" off (at most) to keep the bearing surfaces above the neck/shoulder junction (luckily, everything has worked/shot).
As an aside,
Awesome "Dasher wannabe/PRS gamer load":
26" 7.5T Proof SS comp contour prefit
32gn SWPR
CCI450
106gn A-Tip
Alpha Gay Tiger case
1.990" BTO
~2800fps @ 80degF, SDs ~5-6 over 20 shots
soft shooting, easy to spot, small groups, hammers downrange
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Mine was cut with Alpha Munitions Legacy Reamer with a .120” freebore.
.010-.020 . . . Any recommendations on where I should start? I am just getting started reloading and have shot only the Hornady Match loaded ammo (till the primers kept piercing), so this is literally a starting point.
I usually find my lands using the Deep Creek method (just once when the barrel is new), and then I load as far off the lands as I can while still keeping the bullet's bearing surface above the case's shoulder/neck junction. In 6GT with a .120" FB and a long bullet like a 112gn Match Burner or DTAC, this doesn't leave a whole lot of room (maybe 10 to 20 thou off, no more), a lighter 105gn bullet might be more like ~20 thou off (maybe that's what was intended?).
Park it there and I bet it'll shoot.
With the .120" FB one can't really experiment with using more bullet jump unless they're willing to push their bullets deeper into the case and break the "no bearing surface below the junction" reloading rule/trope (which I've done, and it shot fine too, so the jury is still out on that IMO lol).
Hadn't seen anything on the 80 gr ELD-VT on here yet so here goes... Tried a couple of faster powder ladders with the 80s since it's also an 18" barrel for suppressed predator hunting and this was the most accurate load so far
I'm sure velocity is on the slow side (around 2910 according to load data) so I will probably continue working up to around the 35 gr area just to see if there's a higher sweet spot.
I'm sure velocity is on the slow side (around 2910 according to load data) so I will probably continue working up to around the 35 gr area just to see if there's a higher sweet spot.
