6BR

[johnk]

OK, I've bit the bullet & decided with the bucks I lose cancelling my ferry ride across to Tasmania & the desperate need to get back shooting something, the financially most responsible way to go was to build a 6BR on my Millennium action & shoot open with a bit of fly & 1000 yard BR tossed in. I'm waiting for the arrival of the barrel & meanwhile have bought a die here & there & a few consumables.

Now the big mystery is that I've never loaded the little 6 before. I've been told by various mates that loading is a matter of tipping a coarse strainer filled with the nearest to hand powder over a block of cases & hammering a projectile around 105 grain weight into the neck. I'm a pretty credulous guy, but I'm a tad worried about that specification. Y'see I still have half a can of 4198 lurking in my gunroom from back when I shot a bit of cast lead & I'm worried that it could be a tad brisk for an 8 twist barrel.

So the question is, "What range of what powders should I try with 105-108 grain projectiles?"

Over to you.

John

[Aubrey]

29.5/30 gr 2208
28 gr 2206H

[Matt P]

John
You couldn't pick an easier caliber to load for.
I've had excellent results with Re15, 2206H, 2208 and 2209.I've used 31gr of Re15, 29 of 06H, 30.5 of 08 and if you can get it in the case 33-34 of 09.
I've used SMK, Amax, Lapua and always go back to the SMK, I have some Copperheads but am yet to try.
Hope that helps.
Matt P

[johnk]

Thanks folks. They were the sort of figures I expected from reading the 6BR website, but I'm getting too old to have primers fart on me from my overexuberance.

Just did my sums too. If I take the rifle weight right up to the 10 kg limit, I'll almost halve the recoil.

[KHGS]

Great choice john, it's a great little cartridge & underrated too.
Yep 1971 eh. brings back memories that does. I don't even have a copy of that Journal now myself, the passage of 40 years & many moves may account for that. It wasn't my rifle either, it belonged to Dave Billinghurst.
Keith H.

[ned kelly]

G'Day John,
if you got to the 10kg limit you will be shooting Heavy Gun in 500m fly. The light gun limit is 17lb max. You could build it with a added weights to bring a 500m Fly Light Gun up from 17lb to nearly 10kg if needed.
Hope this helps
Cheerio Ned

[bruce moulds]

if you have 6br dies and a 6mm barrel already, why not look at the 6mm super lr.
easily formed from 243 win brand brass, so not getting ripped off for br brass, and it can give the 6.5 & 7mm guys a horrible fright.
it has the grunt to drive 115 gn dtacs fast enough to be stable in a 1/8 twist.
it will also shoot ken's bullets with deadly accuracy.
just thinking out of the square.
bruce moulds.
p.s. type 6mm super lr into a search engine for info.

[johnk]

Ned,

That's the plan. I shoot F without a cheek piece & I plan to fill the cutout with weights according to whatever I'm shooting. She's a tad arse light at the moment. Right now, she's around 7.7 kg with the .308 tube & the NF BR, but i have a 24x Leupy & a 36 Sightron big sky there if the going gets tough.

Bruce,

Right now the idea is to reduce recoil to the max until (or if) my shoulder sorts itself out, otherwise it might have been a 6x47L. I like little primers (or is that lots of brass in the base) for pressure management.

John

[bruce moulds]

john,
with a 17lb - 10 kilo gun, i doubt you'd notice the difference.
6.5x47 lapua brass is a rip off.
i know a guy who shoots a 6/6.5x47 and he ended up drilling out the flash holes - no noticable difference in accuracy.
the 243 case doesn't have to run at high pressure. the bullets just lope out at barrel saving pressurs/temperatures.
the main thing is keep shooting!
bruce.

[bruce moulds]

john,
lapua makes small primer pocket 308 brass.
bruce.

[johnk]

Bruce,

I was using it before my shoulder buggered up.

John

[bruce moulds]

john,
well all you have to do is put a 6br front on the cases you have.
the money you save there would pay for a reamer.
go here www.6mmar.com and click on 6mm super lr
bruce.

[Woody_rod]

If using a big capacity 6mm, why not just use a 243Win? Don't see any difference myself, apart from marketing and hype. John Whidden in the US uses an improved 243 to win big matches.

The case described sounds like a 6XC.

[bruce moulds]

woody,
the 243 ack seems to be giving improved barrel life over the 243 win.
this is believed to be primarily due to the shoulder angle directing hot flame and sandblasting powder granules onto the interior of the case neck rather than the throat.
the 243 win is reputed to be a barrel burner. run at pressure it requires frequent case trimming.
the 6mm super lr also has a shoulder angle that directs flame similar to the ackley, but has a longer neck than the parent case which is advantageous for our job. the 30 degree shoulder angle all but eliminates trimming.
super cases can be formed to headspace perfectly. in fact if the reamer is dimensioned correctly, match grade brass comes out of the forming die, requiring no fireforming.
the case itself has greater capacity than the 6xc or the 6/6.5x47 lapua, thus allowing it to do more than them, or the same at lower pressure. it can handle heavy (115 gn) bullets in such a way that they have a noticable advantage over the 105 class bullets. the xc can barely if sometimes achieve this.
added to this is the fact that there could be enough capacity to use ar2217, which is one of the coolest powders available, hence good (less bad) for barrels.
if the 243 winchester was designed now, there is a good possibility that it would look like the super lr, based on what history has taught us.
bruce moulds.