Fireforming 6 Comp Match

[ratbuster]

Many people are not familiar with the 6 Comp Match as it is not a widely used wildcat In a nutshell it is an improved 243 with the shoulder blown forward and angle moved from 20 degree to 31 degree. Kind of like a 243 AI but with a more shallow shoulder.

I just got my 6 Comp Match barrel this afternoon and plan to go to the range tomorrow morning and fireform some cases which I have never done before. I have prepped new Lapua 243 cases: Necks turned, case necked up with .264 expander, necked back down with a .269 bushing leaving enough false shoulder to require firm bolt closing.

My original thought was use cheap 87 grain Hornady soft points I bought for 7 cents each for the fire forming. The more I think about it maybe it would be better to start with a loading of 10 or so Berger 105 Hybrids with increasing charge weights (.3 grain) and shooting a 200 yard ladder to see if I can find a decent node for cases that are in the process of fireforming. If I can quickly develop an accurate load for the yet to be formed cases I can then shoot them in matches. Does this make sense or should I just form 200 cases with the cheap Hornadys?

 

[Milo 2.0]

I'd fireform with an accurate load and a good bullet and have some fun. Wasting barrel life to just to form brass is something I would not do. I'd also form the minimum amount needed to waste the barrel, then form more when it is toast.

 

[Bc'z]

Isn't this where a hydro forming die comes into play?
Still trying to decide if rebarrel on 06' will get improved or not.

 

[#40Fan]

Isn't this where a hydro forming die comes into play?
Still trying to decide if rebarrel on 06' will get improved or not.

Hydro forming saves barrel life. Going from a parent cartridge to an AI version is pretty easy. Most parent cartridges will have a tight fit when chambered into an AI barrel. Load it up with a snappy load and go shoot. I have done a few hundred .243 AI cases this way and not a single failure. You might even be surprised to see how good a fire forming load shoots.

 

[teele1]

I've fire formed 6 Comp Match brass with 107 SMKs and 46gr H1000 in Winchester brass
and had some real nice groups

 

[1shot]

I fireform at a club match when making 6SLR brass. The only difference I'm creating a longer neck by moving the shoulder back, and changing it to 30*. I've shot some respectable scores and got some quality trigger time to boot.
I hope this helps,

Lloyd

 

[ratbuster]

Thanks for all of your suggestions guys. I'm going to shoot a dozen or so today with H1000 with 105 Bergers as well as the 87 Hornady to see how it goes. If I can get 1/2 MOA accuracy I'll use those loads in matches. If not I'll do the light charge of pistol powder n cream of wheat. Another possibility....I've read that Trail Boss will fire form with very low heat and pressure thus preserving barrel life.

 

[Milo 2.0]

I fireform at a club match when making 6SLR brass. The only difference I'm creating a longer neck by moving the shoulder back, and changing it to 30*. I've shot some respectable scores and got some quality trigger time to boot.
I hope this helps,

Lloyd

I've done both, I never really considered firing new slr brass as fireforming, I was forming my brass in a die so it grew .0005-.001 at the most.

 

[Olspark]

I also fireformed 6cm at local matches using 47g of H1000 and 107SMKs jambed. After one match I had 60 plus cases which is what I needed to shoot the match with next time. When my load 49g of H1000 with 105 bergers was tuned for matches I continued to fireform 3 cases at start of shooting for fouling shots. They shot well just 1 moa lower than the tuned load. I kept my cases in groups of sixty because that’s what I needed. Your means may vary but the concept may help.

 

[ratbuster]

I found out that H4895 can be safely reduced from max listed loads by 60%. I loaded just 25 grains of 4895 (70% of max) topped by 87 grain Hornady Soft Points and the cases formed beautifully with the shoulder moved forward as far as it could go. Low noise, recoil, barrel heat. Pressure estimated at under 30,000. I have a bullet trap at home so it easy to create some cases that are ready to be load developed. I doubt the throat will suffer much erosion with this method.

 

[1shot]

I've done both, I never really considered firing new slr brass as fireforming, I was forming my brass in a die so it grew .0005-.001 at the most.

I do the same thing, so in this case, the FF is minimal but still is being formed to your specific chamber.

Lloyd

 

[Hoser]

I normally fireform by necking up to 6.5 and then just sizing the neck back down enough to allow a still bolt close, aka false shoulder method. That way my firing pin doesn't slam the case all the way forward forcing the brass to stretch the wrong way.

I reduce my normal load by 2 gns of H-1000 and shoot it at short range matches.

 

[ratbuster]

I did the same false shoulder. It would be easier to neck up to .257 and would probably be just as effective in securing the case.

 

[Kimber.204]

When I got my 6 Comp Match barrel I had a lot of RL26 left over from shooting in the .243 win, so I used all of that for my fire forming loads.
I found that I had good accuracy (around 0.5 MOA) with either RL26 or H1000 and a Hornady 105gr BTHP. All the load development that I did to find this was worked up the load looking for the velocity flat spot. Then I loaded them on my Dillon 550 (using the Dillon powder measure) and the bullet seated for a slight jam.

I haven't been able to shoot many matches this summer with my work and family schedule, but I've shot a lot of 50 round practice matches at either 100 or 200 yards and the fire form loads do not hold me back at all - personal best is 493/500. Out at 300/600 yards the fireform loads are not as good as the 115gr DTAC and either Ramshot Magnum or H1000.

Doing it this way I don't feel that I've wasted any barrel life - I was learning the entire time. I wouldn't hesitate to shoot fireform loads in local matches - especially for 200yard standing/sitting. In fact, Joe Hendricks and his son both do it regularly - and they are High Masters. If it's not hurting them, it's probably not hurting me.

A note on the hydro-forming dies....I spoke to Joe Hendricks at the range one day and he said that he had been playing with a hydro-forming die. He was not impressed. It was a mess, still took time, and it didn't consistently form the shoulder the way firing in the rifle does. Joe has been doing a lot of fire forming lately - I believe because of sponsorship changes.

Regards,
Ross

 

[ratbuster]

Ross,

Thanks for sharing your experiences with the 6 Comp Match

Phil

 

[joehjr95]

47gr of H1000 and 108 bergers or 107 sierras will clean a string at 600 yards easily. That's what my dad and I have done since he started shooting it and have never had any issues with doing it that way. Works great as practice or local match ammo.

Joe Jr

 

[ratbuster]

Fire forming virgin cases have been showing 1/2 MOA accuracy but only at a lower node (45-46 grains H1000 around 2940 fps). They are not as accurate higher velocities which is ok for now but I am going to try some VV N160 and see if I can get some better performance. I did a ladder today with once fired cases and verified two nodes....a very wide one down around mid 2900 fps and an narrower one approaching 3200 fps. I imagine if I pick the upper node I will pay dearly in barrel life. I suppose I could use both...the lower node for calm days and the upper node for windier conditions.

 

[Dgd6mm]

I've fire formed 6 Comp Match brass with 107 SMKs and 46gr H1000 in Winchester brass
and had some real nice groups
View attachment 1061687

Jim (teele1) and I have been shooting the Comp Match since '07. I shot a group similar to his when he shot that one. They were shot at 200 yards fire forming. I ran mine at 3225 fps with a DTAC for awhile. I had 6.5" of vertical at 1000 yards. I reduced my load and shrunk vertical to under 4.5", this was at 3152 fps with a DTAC.

Don't sweat the barrel life.

 

[ratbuster]

I'll shoot whatever velocity is most accurate. I know many of those that shoot the 6 comp have had impressive Barrel life. I think I read something from Joe senior that mentioned 3000 feet per second delivers very long barrel life. For those of you that are running it at 3200 or so do you see a dramatic reduction in Barrel longevity?

 

[ratbuster]

I did a ladder and found no good nodes at the higher velocities but a very wide node running light charges. Seating depth group testing bore that out, light loads of 45.2 grains of H1000 shot small groups (avg under .25 MOA) whereas the 48.1 grains averaged around .75 MOA and even saw some minor ejector wipe pressure signs occurring.

While I can shoot the light loads and may do so on calmer days I went with the 6 Comp for it's performance potential in the wind. Next step is to do a ladder with N160 and see if the barrel likes that better.