Doing a 6 Dasher, need help

[AckleymanII]

The Wilson F/L (threaded) bushing die works extremely well for me. Midway still has them in stock last time I looked. These 6mmBR wildcats love near max - max loads with Varget, RL 15 & 17 w/CCI 450 primers. The Berger 105 VLD has been the most accurate in my 1 - 8 Tw. rifle but I do not have any of Bart's bullets YET.

Here is one very good answer!

 

[Bill Norris]

Here is one very good answer!

Thank you Bro.

 

[WIB3]

Do the work at the bench. Do not get distracted by an easy way out. Buy Lapua 6br brass, put the time in to turning, and fire forming. Yes it takes time and components, but you will not be disappointed. Fire form a bunch and send the cases to Harrels for a die. You can’t go wrong. Bump the shoulder.002 load with 32.0 gr of H-4895 with a Tom J. 103 and you have a good starting point.

 

[WIB3]

After that, tweak and tune and it’s happy trails.

 

[wkdickinson]

@SmokinJoe , not finding factory made 6 Dasher brass available in stock is par for the course.

If you are patient, this stuff should cycle back around from Alpha and Peterson in time for p-dog season.

I would still follow through with your idea for fireforming some of what you already have to make sure you don't get stuck waiting. The hydroforming by hand isn't a fun job, but tends to give decent results.

I am torn between hydroforming versus using a combined false neck with light jam and then just fireforming. It all took a back seat once Alpha came out with ready made brass. I don't miss the extra steps.

Several friends and I have had some pretty good performance (below 1/2 MOA) while doing the fire-form shots, so think about spreading that work out while you hunt rather than just blasting them for brass.

You are going to have a ball with it once you have it all worked out. The p-dogs are going to hate it.

I got lucky mid-season last year, when I moved from a 243Win to the 6 Dasher. There was no new Dasher brass available, so I put a WTB out in the classifieds here.. A guy contacted me with 196 pieces of new Alpha brass - he had gone a different way and had no use for them. I was fortunate and bought them at a very good price.

 

[SmokinJoe]

A little update: 1) Got Wilson FLS and in-line seater, 2) Got a Whidden's Hydro-Form die, 3) Banged out 150 pieces of Lapua brass with the hydro-form (see photo), and did the obligatory pick everything up off the floor that keeps rattling off during the forming process . Now I am waiting on Henry to get the barrel done so I can get headspace correct for FF. Unfortunately Henry and Rhonda lost their little dog, Roxy, to cancer the other day. Losing Roxy was like losing one of their children, so a time of grieving will have to pass before Henry can work in his shop again. But no worries as I am in the midst of loading ammo for my two sons and me to go PD shooting in early June. Still hoping to have the 6 Dasher ready for that trip to do some FF and have fun at the same time.
A question for y'all. Should I do any re-annealing of the brass before FF?
Also, how do you feel about deburring flash holes. Broke a decapping pin in a peice of Lapua brass recently so thinking maybe a small bevel on the flash hole would help prevent that happening in the future.
Thanks guys, Joe

 

[Bill Norris]

WOW! Sounds like you are off to a great start Bro. Hope you get it in time to make the hunt with it. I have not done any annealing when preparing brass and don't think it is really needed if lubed well. I always deburr flash holes whether it helps or not I have no proof at all. Kind of easy with it and don't remove much. Keep us posted Please.

 

[LRPV]

If you don’t have your barrel, you really didn’t know how far to hydroform your brass to. You’ll be fine if you went too far but if you’re short, you wasted your time. May not be necessary but I anneal Lapua 6br brass before I hydroform it and again before I shoot it the first time. I deburr flash holes and uniform primer pockets. The flash holes in Lapua BR brass are smaller than some decapping pins and may be the reason you broke a pin.

 

[MTlager]

You don't need to waste time and componets FF brass for PD's. Just Load up lapua 6 br brass, jam bullets into lands 40 thou, and go shoot dogs. You break in your barrel, fire form brass and kill dogs. all in one shot!!! I have made many hundreds of dasher case,s this way.

 

[SmokinJoe]

I am planning to FF some of the brass while PD shooting. Anyone want to share a good FF load for hydro-formed Lapua brass and a 8 twist barrel?
The primer pin I broke was actually in a Forster 6X47L die. For whatever reason the pin just missed the hole and I didn't feel it until too late. That .057 pin doesn't have much wiggle room in a sharp shouldered .062 hole. Have deburred all the flash holes now so maybe no more problems.
If the headspace ends up a bit long I can fix that but Henry cuts a pretty tight chamber so I'm guessing it will be OK.

 

[Bill Norris]

I am planning to FF some of the brass while PD shooting. Anyone want to share a good FF load for hydro-formed Lapua brass and a 8 twist barrel?
The primer pin I broke was actually in a Forster 6X47L die. For whatever reason the pin just missed the hole and I didn't feel it until too late. That .057 pin doesn't have much wiggle room in a sharp shouldered .062 hole. Have deburred all the flash holes now so maybe no more problems.
If the headspace ends up a bit long I can fix that but Henry cuts a pretty tight chamber so I'm guessing it will be OK.

29.0 Gr. of Varget under the 105 - 107 class bullets was a good place to start for me blowing out my 6BRX 1 - 8 Tw. I don't believe the difference in shoulder angles would be an issue.

 

[4xforfun]

Varget,RL15,H4895,VV N140 or VV N150

Add to that RL 15.5, RL 16, H 4350.

 

[SmokinJoe]

Making progress, got out yesterday for a little while to do some work at the club but took some time to FF a 10 pcs of brass and see how they might shoot plus breaking in a new barrel. FF brass looks like it came out pretty good, neck diameters very uniform and length from 1.546 - 1.560. If this length holds through the rest of the 150 I have hydro-formed I will trim to 1.545 after completing FF. BTW, the headspace worked out almost perfectly with just a bit of crush when closing the bolt, lucked out on that. Rechecked Whidden's instructions and they say nothing about checking/setting headspace. I am aware that this should be done, though.

 

[RegionRat]

BTW, the headspace worked out almost perfectly with just a bit of crush when closing the bolt, lucked out on that. Rechecked Whidden's instructions and they say nothing about checking/setting headspace. I am aware that this should be done, though.

Yes, how and where the shoulder datum ends up after your hydro forming is up to you. If you leave it too short, you are likely to have irregular ignition at some point.

Some of us intentionally hydroform long, and then follow up with a pretty good bump from the normal FL die in order to keep the shoulder datum length under control for the first firing. Getting the balance just right takes a little work. Be careful to maintain the neck-shoulder junction. If this is taken too far, you end up needing to mandrel up and size down again.

When worked out in detail, this leaves crisper junctions and gets closer to final volume in trade for the extra work. When it goes to plan, you have to look pretty hard to see that these cases have yet to be fully formed.

 

[Bill Norris]

Making progress, got out yesterday for a little while to do some work at the club but took some time to FF a 10 pcs of brass and see how they might shoot plus breaking in a new barrel. FF brass looks like it came out pretty good, neck diameters very uniform and length from 1.546 - 1.560. If this length holds through the rest of the 150 I have hydro-formed I will trim to 1.545 after completing FF. BTW, the headspace worked out almost perfectly with just a bit of crush when closing the bolt, lucked out on that. Rechecked Whidden's instructions and they say nothing about checking/setting headspace. I am aware that this should be done, though.

Looking really good Bro. Everything seems to be falling in place for you. I was able to leave my 6BRX Peterson cases trim @1.563. My builder (WSMNUT here on the site) said it was a good thing. I understand it's better to leave the case length as long as possible to help eliminate the carbon ring from forming down the road.

 

[SmokinJoe]

Looking for a little more information. My Dasher is a varmint rifle and I would like to be able to shoot bullets from the 75 V-Max on up to the 103 - 108 class bullets. Which of the heavier bullets requires the least freebore? I haven't bought many of the heavier bullets yet so this info would help me select bullets to start with. I have my reamers ground with fairly short FB, then use a Uni-Throater to get where I need to for whatever bullets seem most interesting.
Have been down with a torn Achilles tendon for the past 6 or 7 weeks but there is light at the end of the tunnel now and I would like to start accumulating a few bullets to try on the heavier end. Thanks for any help.

 

[Bill Norris]

Looking for a little more information. My Dasher is a varmint rifle and I would like to be able to shoot bullets from the 75 V-Max on up to the 103 - 108 class bullets. Which of the heavier bullets requires the least freebore? I haven't bought many of the heavier bullets yet so this info would help me select bullets to start with. I have my reamers ground with fairly short FB, then use a Uni-Throater to get where I need to for whatever bullets seem most interesting.
Have been down with a torn Achilles tendon for the past 6 or 7 weeks but there is light at the end of the tunnel now and I would like to start accumulating a few bullets to try on the heavier end. Thanks for any help.

Looking back at all my data looks like Bart's 105 gr. Hammer will require less than anything I have tried so far with the 105 gr. Berger VLD running second place. Glad to see you are on the mend. These two will require less than the 103 gr. Hornady.

 

[spike-55]

103 vapor trails followed by barts 105 and berger 105 for freebore clearance
you will like the vapor trials best for shorter freebore and they shoot lights out
give the 6mm V-tac a try for the dogs - you will be shocked at how well they shoot
contact tom jacobs
stan

 

[SmokinJoe]

Found some Berger 105 VLD Hunting at Bullet Central and got on the notification/waiting list for the Bart's 105, left a message with Vapor Trail about the 103 V-Tac.

 

[22BRGUY]

i've used N550 and is shot well also