6x47 Lapua for the shorts 300-600yds/m

[ecomeat]

With all that velocity comes fire cracking, with all that fire cracking comes more cleaning , with all that cleaning comes the danger of rod wear, check your lands at six oclock, just a thought, Chop.

Chop,
No I don't have a problem with that. I use good delrin bore guides all the time, and have got the borescope to check it. Zero damage at 6 o'clock, or anywhere else !. My lands have never been touched by a rod or a jag.

I have still got the old barrel, so I will try and get a couple of photos so that Brett can see what serious firecracking looks like.

[Chopper]

Be good to see the photos , mark the barrel photos at 6 and twelve oclock, clean barrel please, Chop.

[BRETT B]

Eco , by your scores it sure did lose some accuracy!! This subject intrigues me and i hope some more whils chime in and share their experiences with the 6mm"s. I am going to Talk to Bill Hallam this weekend about his 6 Br barrels and what life he was getting out of them!! From 2000 to 2006 he put more rounds through a 6mm than any one i know so his input will be good. I personally will be sticking with my 243AI and will continue to monitor the throat and wear. I have also seen my share of fire cracking, whenever i am at the benchrest range i borrow the scope and have a look. I have also had 9 Barrels on my 22-250AI over many years and they burn throats like no other but they are awsome to shoot !!
ECO , as for being competitive , In my Opinion a good 6mm with hold its own against the bigger cals back to 1000 no problem at all!!! Some will disagree and each to their own but i have witnessed to many good shoots at the longs with 6mm's to disregard them

[Brad Y]

Brett, I reckon Bill is pretty clued up in the way to look after barrels so wouldnt surprised if he gets a few thousand then rechambers and gets a few thousand more. The way his 308's work is unreal. Would love to have him on the WA FO team but I dont think he is interested in shooting it competitively which is a shame. I do know he doesnt mind bringing them out once in a while to let us know just he still knows how to drive something other than a 308.

As for the 6mm at the longs, I reckon its all up to the shooter reading the conditions. If things turned nasty at longer ranges I would like to have (and honestly I need it) as much wind bucking ability as possible, but for club shoots and for a bit of fun I see no need to run larger cals. Its sounds bloody expensive and you would learn more about shooting in the wind with the smaller cals anyway. Looking forward to bringing my rifle to Perth for a shoot sometime in the near future. Would love to chat all things shooting since you have been doing it longer than most other FO guys in WA.

[BRETT B]

Hey Brad , I think Bill would make any gun look good It would be good to get all the FO guys together !! I wanted to shoot Worgabup but because i was not a member of a club for a few years my wara membership wouldn"t go through quick enough!! But hopefully there will be another prizemeet soon where open is being shot and we can all get together. CAlibre choice is always a hot debate and in the few years i was away from the sport it has gotten broader. Regardless of calibre I think the most inportant thing for required for a good F Gun is consistency!!! It needs to group tight and do it all the time and only then can you start to learn to read wind conditions. I found this in the early years of F open shooting a 22-250 with 80gn Sierra"s. It didn"t buck the wind at the longs as good as the bigger cals but it was so consistant and extremely tight grouping it soon taught me how to read wind better and not get smashed when it got real rough.

[Brad Y]

Agreed mate. Im lobbying Murray Districts to run FO at thier prize meet in August just before the Queens. Be a good meet to sort out any bugs before september. Got a decent list of people willing to have a go- Oatesy said he might crack out his BRX and that Bill might have a go for some fun as well.

[ecomeat]

Chopper and Brett
Following are the photos that I took thismorning of the dead barrel. You have to allow for the fact that without the proper camera adaptors, i cant avoid a bit of "fish-eye effect" I use a little Sony digital camera , on full zoom.
It goes without saying that without a borescope you simply cant see any of this with the naked eye.
This is the leade, at 6 oclock as per Chops request


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No rod damage there.
Now the leade at 12 oclock


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This next one shows the start of the rifling. The bloody weird part here is that with a Hornady OAL guage, there is basically zero MEASUREABLE EROSION of the throat. They say that the Hornady will have as much as 0.006" error, so if thats true, there may be up to 0.006" of erosion, but i cant measure any myself


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Now to a spot a couple of inches forward of the chamber


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And the next is a further inch forward, approx the middle of the heat cracked, fire crazed section


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And finally one of the lands right at the crown. Zero damage here, Chop.



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[DenisA]

Thats awesome. Thanks for posting those pics Tony. I definately want a Hawkeye now. No, "NEED", is the right word.

I suspect the 22" inch version would be a must for properly inspecting 30" barrels while still screwed onto the action.
That said a 17" scope down the muzzle only leaves 13" of the action end of the barrel and the the actions not going to be more than 4".

What length scope are you using Tony?

[ecomeat]

Denis,
I bought the 17" "Classic" Model from Brunos two years ago. Mine is in a neat perfectly fitted Aluminium case, and the version I got came with the 90 degree adaptor, all for about $850-00.
While a gunsmith might have the gear to hold barrels perfectly still, i dont and the $250-00 approx on the 90 degree piece was money very well spent.
Yes, sure....you can insoect a barrel without spending the extra $250 or so, but I have used one nearly every day for two years, and its easier, and safer, if the rifle is held solidly in some sort of cradle, and the person doing the inspecting just has to control the borescope.
I have got one of those plastic MTM range boxes, that double as a cleaning cradle. I sit a rifle (9+ kilos) in the cradle, grab the borescope and it is no effort at all scope it from both ends.
You are right about "missing some" in the middle if you are not screwing barrels out, but it doesnt concern me at this stage. I just make damn sure that i have a really good look when a barrel IS unscrewed from the action.
I am pretty sure our Australian representatives from Dalby are going to buy one in August as well, and they were quite comfortable with the idea of getting the 17" model, and doing the thorough check when the barrel comes out.........which in Cams case is probably fairly often !
Did you catch a recent post here about borescopes now needing an Export Permit from the US ? I just carried mine back in as hand luggage two years ago and it wasnt an issue. It shouldnt be an issue now either, since they were invented to look at the internals of lots of other things in the mechanical world before someone used them on guns.
Tony

[Malcolm Hill]

Denis
The 17 inch scope will do the job ok. Nothing different happens in that small section of barrel that you may not see. Most of the issues will normally be in the first two or three inches forward of the chamber or in the last half of the tube. The 90 degree eyepiece really does make things a lot easier if you are cleaning the rifle without removing the action from the stock (which is usually the way most people clean). Make sure you get a focussing borescope as changing calibre barrels can easily be compensated for that way. I think Bruno's still do the kit with all the right bits for under a grand.
Regards Malcolm.

[Brad Y]

How many rounds has this barrel done mate? Thats gnarly firecracking and also looks to be a pit on one of the lands as well. You sure that sweets is good for stainless barrels?

[ecomeat]

Brad,
1150 rounds, or there abouts. All of them with 38 to 38.5 gr of 2209 behind 105 gr Berger VLDs and then Hybrids.
This barrel was basically only cleaned with BoreTech Eliminator after it was broken in. Its a Krieger, and had been a bad fouler right from the beginning.
I only went over to Sweets with the 284 Win barrel that replaced this 6 x 47 Lapua.

[Brad Y]

Interesting mate, I know boretech does feel quite dry when you apply it in there, and leaving it in overnight sometimes left nothing but rust the next day. Mind you the stuff really moves copper and carbon darn well.

[DaveMc]

QUICK,
Just a tip I picked up from some 243Ai shooters up here. It is common for them to buy a barrel and run it as a 243AI for a while (same could be done with 6mm*47L) and then cut 4-6 inches of similar firecracking out and rechamber as a 6BR and run on 2206H. The BR and faster powder does a very good job in shorter barrels. That way they were getting serious round counts from their barrels!!! You will probably find very little wrong with these barrels in the latter 3/4 of the barrel and they shoot well for a long time.

I tried the same with 6.5*284 then 6.5*47 which works ok but not quite as well as the 47 case needs a bit more barrel length. .

Start with a 32 inch barrel and good to go.......

[Quick]

Dave,

I think that is an awesome idea!!! That may well be the go. Now to see if matt P can get his hands on a AI reamer...

I've wanted to play with an AI barrel for a while so that's a good idea.

Regards,

Shaun