Fire Forming 6XC

[Ajwilly96]

I have a bunch of Hornady 22–250 brass that I have already bumped the shoulder on for my 6XC

According to David Tubbs article you can load it with 34 grains of Varget and a 107g SMK and that load is accurate enough to compete with while fire forming.

He suggests that while doing this your bullet is touching the lands. And this is where my question comes up, and so I have a hornady COAL gauge with the modified case am I able to use that to find the lands or is there a better way? My concern is each case is a little bit different some mushroomed more than others

Also the reason that I am fire forming instead of just buying the brass that is readily available is because the rifle is going to be used for PRS style matches and I don’t want to be losing a dollar if I lose a piece of brass.

 

[dc.fireman]

Are the ones that 'mushroomed more' going to chamber? You may want to check this prior to priming/charging/seating.

 

[Ajwilly96]

Are the ones that 'mushroomed more' going to chamber? You may want to check this prior to priming/charging/seating.

Yes, they’re just a little stiff on the bolt close

 

[Hoot]

Use a neck mandrel that doesn't hold the bullets too tight. Seat them to touch using the shortest case and when the longer ones are chambered, they will push back into the neck a little. I'm assuming the difference between the longest and shortest cases isn't a large amount? You don't want too much pressure resulting from the bullet intrusions.

Hoot

 

[Twdmar]

You can use pretty much any bullet. I usually use 55-70 gr for 200yd shooting. You can use a powder that is on the faster side per particular bullet weight but I'm not sure it matters a lot.
I did find that my case lengths varied depending on if i sized the neck up first vs bumping the shoulder. I just can't remember which was which.
The bullet should seat a hard enough into the lands to keep the case head against the bolt face so the shoulder moves forward. The mushroom doesn't really make much difference either and doesn't seem to effect feeding from a magazine much.

 

[Walt Krafft]

If you bumped the shoulder back so it just lets the bolt close, load it and shoot it. Dont over think it. I did a bunch at 200 offhand with a 70 smk and 34.5 4895. And, I have done a bunch at 600 with 38.0 4350.