Looking for a little advice on a 6mm BRA load development before I go ahead and start cranking out a match load. I built a 6 BRA on a LP Fuzion action with a 26" Rock Creek barrel. I'm currently using 107gr SMKs, Alpha Brass, 205M primers, and loading .020 off the lands. All shooting I've done so far has basically been done in 29-35 degree weather. In regard to use case, this is primarily a PRS match type rifle so my load doesn't need to be screaming fast. Just reliable, consistent, and 1/2 minute or better accuracy.
During the break-in process I loaded 30gr of H4895 which got me 2913 fps and shot unbelievably well as shown below. My only hesitation on this load is that I did see initial signs of pressure.
The primers show slight signs of pressure I was catching the ejector imprints on almost every case head. I was thinking that given I was in 30 degree weather, during the summer time this load would cause problems.
I decided to try doing a couple of the velocity node tests to find 'flat spots' and find pressure for both Varget and H4985. The odd thing here is Varget is way slower than I thought. Even at 29.8 grains, Varget was only producing 2789 fps and showing signs of slight pressure.
It seems like H4895 is the way to go for this barrel. 28.5gr / 2,800 fps is going to be the lower node, which performed very well in regards to accuracy however I was hoping to be around 2,850-2900 fps in velocity.
Given this data, what would you guys do:
- Load 28.5gr of H4895 and play it safe?
- Live dangerously and run 30gr of H4895 and figure it out later in the summer time when it warms up?
- Try again with Varget and see what happens if I push it a little harder?
During the break-in process I loaded 30gr of H4895 which got me 2913 fps and shot unbelievably well as shown below. My only hesitation on this load is that I did see initial signs of pressure.
The primers show slight signs of pressure I was catching the ejector imprints on almost every case head. I was thinking that given I was in 30 degree weather, during the summer time this load would cause problems.
I decided to try doing a couple of the velocity node tests to find 'flat spots' and find pressure for both Varget and H4985. The odd thing here is Varget is way slower than I thought. Even at 29.8 grains, Varget was only producing 2789 fps and showing signs of slight pressure.
It seems like H4895 is the way to go for this barrel. 28.5gr / 2,800 fps is going to be the lower node, which performed very well in regards to accuracy however I was hoping to be around 2,850-2900 fps in velocity.
Given this data, what would you guys do:
- Load 28.5gr of H4895 and play it safe?
- Live dangerously and run 30gr of H4895 and figure it out later in the summer time when it warms up?
- Try again with Varget and see what happens if I push it a little harder?