6mm BR

[Colt1776]

I haven't.

Those new 90gr TGK's have a .49 BC, and like I mentioned in my earlier post, they fall out of the sky bad past 800Y. With a .5 BC at a slower velocity the 95 TMK would do the same if I were to guess.

I'm revisiting 6mmBR and basically experimenting with it right now for the fun of it. If these RDF's aren't consistent, especially after sorting by bearing surface and weighing, I'll try another bullet. What drew me to the RDF is the .571 BC and hoping it'll do better at 1200Y.

If I'm still not happy after a while I think I'll have the barrel rechambered to 6mm BRA or Dasher.

I could never get the 140 RDFs to shoot in 6.5 Creedmoor either tried them in two different barrels and always had flyers too. Did you have any luck with the 6mms?

 

[Colt1776]

I just did this yesterday. Conditions were 20 degrees, and had an 8 to 12 mph wind at my 5 o'clock. Rifle specs are 24" carbon fiber proof research barrel 8 twist. 105 hybrids, Varget, wolf primers. It looks like 31.0 to 31.4 grains is what it likes. Target was shot at 600 yards.
View attachment 6983147

I like the attention to detail can you walk me through how you do your ladder test?(

 

[steve123]

I could never get the 140 RDFs to shoot in 6.5 Creedmoor either tried them in two different barrels and always had flyers too. Did you have any luck with the 6mms?

Nope. It's like they weren't stabilizing in my 8 twist barrel. They totally fell apart giving huge vertical. At 1122Y I could barely hit a 21" plate and there was at least 4' vertical.

Out to 300Y they were mostly fine, except for a flyer once in a great wile.

 

[Ranger188]

New poster here, been reloading for years.
First 6br, running a HH barrel 8 twist chambered by PVA, 95 gr. smk's Lapua brass and IMR 4166
Any good starting loads? Would like to see close to 3100 fps in the end if theirs a node there.
Any help welcome.

 

[Codiekfx400]

New poster here, been reloading for years.
First 6br, running a HH barrel 8 twist chambered by PVA, 95 gr. smk's Lapua brass and IMR 4166
Any good starting loads? Would like to see close to 3100 fps in the end if theirs a node there.
Any help welcome.

Use a 450 cci primer start at 29 grains of imr 4166 and work up in .3 grain increments until you see the velocity your after or pressure signs on your brass. IMO 3100 is getting a little greedy with a 6 br. It’s possible but is going to be on the high pressure side.

 

[Ranger188]

I thought 3100 would be the very high side also. Will work up to if possible. Using the cci 450's. Work well
in my 6 creed, pushed it hard ( 3140 w/110 smk's, shot great ) and don't need to burn out the barrel early or put strain on the brass.
Been their done that.

 

[MilSpecOkie]

New poster here, been reloading for years.
First 6br, running a HH barrel 8 twist chambered by PVA, 95 gr. smk's Lapua brass and IMR 4166
Any good starting loads? Would like to see close to 3100 fps in the end if theirs a node there.
Any help welcome.

Ranger

I used a 105 Hybrid, CCI, 450, Lapua, 4166 and got a touch above 3000 fps and stopped. My brass grew about .005" in length and the base grew some too. I have could have gone higher but at a price, I doubt I would have gotten more than a couple loads out of the brass. I would think the 95 TMK would be using the same kind of pressures to get to 3100 fps and may be very hard on cases?

 

[Olen_4504]

Got my x-caliber barrel on and loaded up a basic/mild load for break in.

26" 1:7 barrel
Berger 105g Hybrids
CCI 450/Lapua brass
29.0g H4895
AVG FPS: 2757 (9 shots - deleted 1st shot - was clean bore and much slower) SD: 5.8 ES: 16
5 shot group = .45"

I'm looking forward to dialing in a load for it now. Very happy so far

 

[steve123]

Small report

All the 6mmBR brass that I loaded previously as virgin brass I used reduced loads, which was a good idea, you'll see why in a few.

Since my 30.4 grains of Varget load/105 hybrid shot so well, and there weren't over pressure signs, I thought to myself, well I'll just use that charge in the 50 remaining virgin brass I had left. I had all of them charged with powder then I grabbed the first case and bullet, attempted seating the bullet with my Wilson arbor seating die, and could not seat the 105 hybrid bullet all the way in to the set depth of .005" off the lands??!! A super compressed load condition happened.

Turns out that with my "neck sizing" only die, which does not size the body of the case, a fired/fireformed case is expanded enough that the 30.4 gr of Varget fits fine but not in a virgin case, with respect to seating at the depth my freebore has! Always a first time, right??? I haven't run across this before, at least not to this extent. So bummer to me, I pored all the powder from the cases back into the powder hopper . I then reduced the load 3% and finished seating bullets with no problems.

This morning was one of those very rare really awesome shooting days! That 29.4 grains of Varget reduced load, in the virgin brass, shot extremly well at 1025Y, like 4-5" vertical, and I hardly missed a 1' wide steel in 1-4 mph winds. In contrast, my friend found it very hard to stay on steel with his 260 and 6.5 Saum. I think the tight vertical and low ES the 6mmBR case gives made the difference, as well as how accurate it is!

I shot one group at 100Y for the heck of it, 5 shots touching into .282". My friends rifles weren't shooting the best, both just over an inch which would explain why it was hard for him to connect.

I'm pretty happy with 6mmBR now!

This is that steel I mentioned that was at 1025Y. I cropped out my friends 3 hits which were higher up on it, and so the darn file size would work.

 

[grizzaws]

Best 5-shot group of the day from a new PVA (Rock Creek) barrel in 6 BR. 105 gr hybrid over 29 gr H4895 in a virgin Lapua case with a CCI 450. Velocity was 2715 avg and no pressure.

 

[grizzaws]

Also, how high are people going with H4895 and 105 hybrids? 29.5gr? 30?

 

[Browerka]

Also, how high are people going with H4895 and 105 hybrids? 29.5gr? 30?

I went to 30.5 with virgin brass. That load gave me a sticky bolt and slightly flattened primers.

 

[Olen_4504]

Also, how high are people going with H4895 and 105 hybrids? 29.5gr? 30?

i'll let you know this weekend.

i shot 29.0g with same components for a break in load. getting 2757 fps avg.

i have a little test set up to run this weekend up to 30.0g and i'll see if I find a sweet spot. .2g increments

predicting to land around 29.6g

 

[grizzaws]

Nice. I’m going back out tomorrow at 29.5gr. I like the accuracy and tight vertical I have, I just want to squeeze a bit more velocity out of it. I’m thinking I’ll wind up around 2800fps. May push 30gr if I’m not seeing pressure.

 

[grizzaws]

Shot 29.5 gr H4895 yesterday with hybrids. Still shooting well at 100, though with a little vertical stringing that I haven't figured out (initially attributed to change in charge weight, but probably technique or lack of focus). Shot perfect vertical at 700+ yards. The 33% IPSC we shot had impacts in a perfectly-horizontal line across the middle of the target. Same goes for the 6" gong. I think I'm gonna keep it at 29.5gr for awhile and tweak seating depth. I didn't have my chrono with me, but Strelok's truing feature extrapolated a velocity of 2760ish fps. The barrel only has 81 rds through it, so I may see a little velocity increase with use. Will update.

 

[steve123]

Grizz, how long is your barrel, and is it an 8 twist?

 

[grizzaws]

26", 7.5 twist (Rock Creek 5R by PVA)

 

[steve123]

26", 7.5 twist (Rock Creek 5R by PVA)

Hopefully it'll speed up after another 50 rounds.

 

[Olen_4504]

interesting day yesterday with the new xcaliber barrel...

I shot 65 more "break in" rounds of the baseline 29.0g load.

Right off the bat I was .4mil lower at 100yds than 2 weeks ago without even touching the rifle in between. but whatever, re zero'd and kept shooting.

After some positional practice with the 29.0g loads I had a mini charge test loaded up in virgin brass. 29.0g - 30.0g in .2 increments.

my original 29.0 load sped up about 20fps to about 2775. 5 shot group was wacky because my dumbass didn't check my magneto mounting and first round struck the chrono. doh. 2 shots were 4" from each other and two didn't even hit the paper. so idk wtf happened there. i got good MV data on the 4 rounds after the 1st strike. Why they didn't hit the paper is beyond me.

so i shoot the 29.2g load with acceptable chrono numbers - but shitty group. over 1.5"
29.4g - again, good chrono numbers. but shitty group. over 1" (all of these shots were grouping 2" low and 1.5" of my original zero i started the day with, also odd)
29.6g - everything starts coming back to normal. now i'm in the 0.75" group range. MV 2843 - SD 4.8
29.8g - MV 2859 SD 3.4. ~.75" group
30.0g - MV 2871 SD 1.0 ~.75" group

so my point to all this jibberish is i'm confident I got good chrono data and i'm liking that 29.8-30.0g range. but idk if something came loose on the gun or excessive copper fouling caused all that weird POI shift and less than impressive groups or what. so i need to explore a little more.

29.9g looks promising though if the groups tighten up. then as soon as i get the chance I'll test vertical spread at distance and mess with seating depth

 

[steve123]

I had sent 3 neck sized only cases that had been fired 3 times off to Harrell's for them to find me a FL size die and received it back on Saturday.

Harrell's has different die sizes to size at the .200" line/near the web of the case, in which to match the appropriate size die to the fired brass. The FL bushing die they sent seems to resize perfectly! Very little effort required to FL size.

See post #59 - That 30.4 grains of Varget fits in the FL sized cases perfectly, right to the bottom of the bullet. If it's compressed at all I can't feel it.

 

[steve123]

I had sent 3 neck sized only cases that had been fired 3 times off to Harrell's for them to find me a FL size die and received it back on Saturday.

Harrell's has different die sizes to size at the .200" line/near the web of the case, in which to match the appropriate size die to the fired brass. The FL bushing die they sent seems to resize perfectly! Very little effort required to FL size.

See post #59 - That 30.4 grains of Varget fits in the FL sized cases perfectly, right to the bottom of the bullet. If it's compressed at all I can't feel it.

I tried the latest reloads made from the new die yesterday afternoon. Too easy hitting the 982Y 15" plate/.8 mil windage, and the 21" plate at 1122Y/ 1.1 mil windage!

No bolt click on the up stroke so the die is sizing minimally.

Got the feed lips bent on the AICS mag to the correct places so the feeding issue is solved.

Learned some things along the way but Very pleased at the final results, guess I'm GTG now!

 

[MilSpecOkie]

Steve

What happens when you need a new barrel and it was chambered with a different reamer? Or even the same reamer that’s been sharpened? Are you going to buy a new set of dies every barrel change? What happens if you change lots of brass, does that make a difference?

 

[steve123]

Steve

What happens when you need a new barrel and it was chambered with a different reamer? Or even the same reamer that’s been sharpened? Are you going to buy a new set of dies every barrel change? What happens if you change lots of brass, does that make a difference?

I'll probably order the same prefit from the same company, it was half what I would have paid for smithing a Bartlein shouldered. Just hoping they'll be using the same 6mmBR Norma reamer spec when the time comes. If this die won't work then I'll just have to do the same thing I did this time and pay for another die, the die was $65 so not a huge loss, and who knows it might work with a 3rd barrel, or 4th???

I expect this brass to last a long long time since there's only 2.5 thou neck expansion and a close fit after sizing to my chamber, plus I anneal.

It might be that I will have to buy a 6mmBR small base die to size the brass I have for a new barrel, only the future will tell.

I'll cross these roads about 2600 rounds from now.

Heck, I might try 6BRA next time!

 

[MilSpecOkie]

That’s not too bad a price. I like Forster Bushing Bump Neck Dies, but This is another avenue. I plan on sending my Forster FLS die off and having them hone the neck so it’s not worked as much when I run the expander through it. For $15 it seems like it’s worth it. In the mean time I may look at what Harrell’s has to offer.

 

[Olen_4504]

figured I would update on my post above - barrel was loose. that explains my wild ass day I was having.

starting load dev over on sunday - hopefully i'll get more favorable results.

still expecting/hoping to land in the 29.8g/2860fps area

 

[Browerka]

My load with a PVA 26”

105 Hybrids
29.6 H4895
CCI 450s
2884 avg
Single digit ES

 

[Olen_4504]

My load with a PVA 26”

105 Hybrids
29.6 H4895
CCI 450s
2884 avg
Single digit ES

that's a good speed! higher than i would have thought for 29.6

 

[Ranger188]

Has anyone tried the Warner flat line 88 gr. ?
I know their pricey, but theirs usually someone that will experiment
with them.

https://www.warner-tool.com/product/6-5-mm-88gr/

 

[grizzaws]

My load with a PVA 26”

105 Hybrids
29.6 H4895
CCI 450s
2884 avg
Single digit ES

Shot more of the 29.5gr H4895 load with 105gr hybrids. Temp was 38 degrees F. Noticed I was impacting high at 700 yds. Took off .1 mil of elevation and was right back on. StrelokPro extrapolates the velocity at 2785fps. Looks like my 26” PVA Barrel is speeding up a little at a time.

 

[BLKWLFK9]

So who has tried the 95 TMKs with 4166, 4895, and varget, and which shot the best of the 3? I've got 3lbs of 4166 and 1 lb of the other 2. loading in virgin lapua.

 

[Ranger188]

I personally haven't tried them yet, but I know someone who has.
95 g. tmk 31.2 IMR 4166 cci450's @ 3065fps 26 inch tube. That was his go to load.

 

[Codiekfx400]

This is 29.5 gr Imr 8208 xbr 450 cci Lapua brass. Barrel is 26” xcaliber savage pre fit. Velocity on load is right at 3000 FPS. Sierra 95 gr tmk. 4 5 shot groups

 

[Ranger188]

Why is their so many more loads using Berger 105's than Sierra's 107's?

 

[lte82]

Why is their so many more loads using Berger 105's than Sierra's 107's?

Consistency and BC. And some might say snobbery LOL. But seriously, Bergers shoot great.

 

[steve123]

Why is their so many more loads using Berger 105's than Sierra's 107's?

I wanted to try the SMK's to save some money, but I had a couple hundred of the hybrids on the shelf to try in my 6mmBR. I already knew the hybrids were great in my 6x47L.
When I was done working up a load with them in my 6mmBR barrel, I was even more impressed, so I'm just going to spend the big bucks on them.

I will at some point order some 105 Hornady HPBT match/$20 for 100, to try for the purpose of practicing, and because I lucked out and found 10lbs of I4895 for $13 a pound.

 

[BLKWLFK9]

I wanted to try the SMK's to save some money, but I had a couple hundred of the hybrids on the shelf to try in my 6mmBR. I already knew the hybrids were great in my 6x47L.
When I was done working up a load with them in my 6mmBR barrel, I was even more impressed, so I'm just going to spend the big bucks on them.

I will at some point order some 105 Hornady HPBT match/$20 for 100, to try for the purpose of practicing, and because I lucked out and found 10lbs of I4895 for $13 a pound.

You better have the longer free bore to shoot the hornadys. let us know how they turn out. I'm interested to know

 

[BLKWLFK9]

30.2 gr varget
105 berger hybrid
.020 jump
Cci 450s

 

[Olen_4504]

i settled on:

29.9g H4895
105g Hybrid
CCI450
0.03 jump
AVG: 2873fps
SDs under 3
consistent 1/3MOA groups at 100.

i will get a chance this weekend to get some groups at 500

 

[MilSpecOkie]

BLK

Is that a short barrel? The speed is about 100 FPS slower than I get with 30.0 grains and 26” barrel. I’m just curious, not trying to be insulting or demeaning.

 

[Patty]

26” Hawk Hill m24 7 twist .120 freebore
105 Hybrid
29.3gr H4895
.030 Jump
2850fps
SD in the 3’s

Cold clean bore flyer and 5 to follow.

 

[BLKWLFK9]

BLK

Is that a short barrel? The speed is about 100 FPS slower than I get with 30.0 grains and 26” barrel. I’m just curious, not trying to be insulting or demeaning.

No. it has about 125 rounds on it and an 8 twist.

 

[BLKWLFK9]

And virgin brass

 

[BLKWLFK9]

And a .104 free bore

 

[generalzip]

You guys see any difference using BR4 vs CCI450s? I plan to use 105 hybrids around 29.5 H4895 @ .01-.02" off. I have thousands of each, but didn't know if anyone had test mag vs BR primers with this case/powder combo.

 

[Patty]

I have only ever heard of some extremely cold weather giving br4 an issue when compared to the mags. Not a personal observation though.

 

[BLKWLFK9]

This barrel seems a little slow but it shoots damn good. .2's and .3's at 100 and low SDs.

29.9 H4895
105s
Fed205Ms
.020 jump

 

[generalzip]

This barrel seems a little slow but it shoots damn good. .2's and .3's at 100 and low SDs.

29.9 H4895
105s
Fed205Ms
.020 jumpView attachment 7027800

That is surprisingly slow for that charge. What barrel maker is it?

 

[BLKWLFK9]

Rock creek button but I've had other barrels just like it that weren't slow. It's ok. it's a shooter so I'm not worried about it. If it could only do .5 at best, I'd be looking to rebarrel. It's as accurate as I can shoot.

 

[steve123]

I finally figured out how to post my 1025Y photo from my computer, before hand when I tried to post the full size photo it would fail. I had to crop it to reduce the file size which worked. Honestly there were 3 higher hits that my friend who was also shooting at the same steel claimed as his. He was using a Swaro X5 at 25x and said he saw his hits so who am I to disagree Me at 20x, I could only make out the horizontal line starting to appear as I kept shooting. Then I smiled when we went to pick up the steel.

It's in post 59 and there were a few splats that had two or three hits in them. I used from 0 holdoff to .4 mil holdoff, as you can see the pattern is all across the whole steel.

 

[earthquake]

So who has tried the 95 TMKs with 4166, 4895, and varget, and which shot the best of the 3? I've got 3lbs of 4166 and 1 lb of the other 2. loading in virgin lapua.

I just picked up a 500-ct. box of 95-TMK's and a jug of 4166 at my LGS. Looking forward to seeing the results. Have plenty of Varget too.

Shooting a 24" PVA Rock Creek 8-twist.