103 VT's 6MM

[LitLBoy]

Having trouble finding the sweet spot
Suggestions please on seating depth and velocity window.
Kreiger 30" 1-7 twist .237 4 groove 6 BRA
Panda in a LRB
I can find a sweet water line and very low velocity ES, but soon as I change seating depth to take out the horizontal the water line and ES go to hell. ??? Loading at 30.5 H4895 and CCI 450
LitLBoy

 

[Mulligan]

In my dasher, 3000 +- 10 FPS, .005 to .015 in the lands.
I shoot an 8 twist....not sure how that changes things?
CW

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Here is what I would do.
Stop looking at ES.
Load them .005 in the lands.
Load 3 shot groups from 30 to 31 grains in .2 gn increments of H4895 with a BR4.
Shoot those groups at 1k if possible.
Locate the node or nodes.
Pick a rough powder charge and work seating depth .002" in and out to fine tune. Also try them jumping about the same amount, also working .002" either dirrection
Once settled on seating, fine tune .1gn at a time your powder
At this point if things are looking good play with neck tension and primers.
If not, try a different powder or bullet and start over.

 

[LitLBoy]

Mulligan 2995 is where I found sweet spot for velocity ES 3 fps
Alex thanks 500 yd is my best range to test, I'll try your suggestions.
LitLBoy

 

[WIB3]

3000 to 3010fps. RE-15, Varget, H-4885. All good choices. BR-4 or CCI-400. I have an 8 twist Kreiger with a.236 bore and it likes 32.20gr of 4895, .004 in the lands using Alex’s touch method. Good luck.

 

[Raythemanroe]

I start .010 in and work out, first I do a ladder from 30.3-31.1 of H4895. Usually 2995 fps window but if it likes closer to 3k or 2950 I don't care. I don't worry about ES when shooting a ladder, just where it wants to shoot. To much hype goes in to ES in my opinion. 2950-2995 fps (velocity IMHO is for taking notes) seems to be what you call the sweet spot.

Ray

 

[Northridge]

Here is what I would do.
Stop looking at ES.
Load them .005 in the lands.
Load 3 shot groups from 30 to 31 grains in .2 gn increments of H4895 with a BR4.
Shoot those groups at 1k if possible.
Locate the node or nodes.
Pick a rough powder charge and work seating depth .002" in and out to fine tune. Also try them jumping about the same amount, also working .002" either dirrection
Once settled on seating, fine tune .1gn at a time your powder
At this point if things are looking good play with neck tension and primers.
If not, try a different powder or bullet and start over.

This is sound advice, I would not target any specific velocity window as that really is the wrong approach and can have great success when tune by chance works but when it doesn't and we try to force feed the situation it will be a loosing proposition. work backward from this window till the rifle finds it, if it doesn't show its self make a big move as suggested above good luck..

Shawn Williams

 

[Link]

Using this tuning procedure how many rounds would you shoot before giving up on the barrel?
thanks Don

 

[LitLBoy]

Thanks guys. Have an excellent load with RH 106's @ 30.5 4895 and 450's
Would like to find a good one for the 103VT's
LitLBoy

 

[urbanrifleman]

Thanks guys. Have an excellent load with RH 106's @ 30.5 4895 and 450's
Would like to find a good one for the 103VT's
LitLBoy

Is this a 6bra?

 

[X-Caveman]

Is this a 6bra?

With 31.5gr H4895 in Ohio, I'm guessing Dasher.

 

[urbanrifleman]

With 31.5gr H4895 in Ohio, I'm guessing Dasher.

30.5 is what he said.

Kind of funny talking loads and no even knows what he is shooting.

 

[X-Caveman]

30.5 is what he said.

Kind of funny talking loads and no even knows what he is shooting.

i agree, but in the first post he says 31.5!

 

[Jeff A]

i agree, but in the first post he says 31.5!

That's a lot of powder for a 6 BRA. Mine is doing fine with 30.5.

 

[LitLBoy]

My bad, Dumb ass attack, Load is 30.5 H4895!
LitLBoy

 

[urbanrifleman]

My bad, Dumb ass attack, Load is 30.5 H4895!
LitLBoy

That is my exact load with Ar Comp and Berger 108s.

Fire form with 29.6.

 

[X-Caveman]

I'm a nobody, but in 3 barrels so far with VT-103s (both OGs and TACs), I end up loading them at at least .018" longer than touch - touch found with the method Alex demonstrates in the video. This is a 4 groove Krieger .237 BRA-1.0, a Broughton 5C BRA-2.0, as well as a plain old 6BR with a Rock Creek 5R.

For the BRAs, my Broughton is a little faster than my Krieger even though it's 2 inches shorter (26" vs 28") - 30.1gr H4985 vs about 30.3gr to get to the 2,920 +/-. I run the straight BR about 100fps slower with Varget. Boring, but accurate.

 

[dbduff]

Using this tuning procedure how many rounds would you shoot before giving up on the barrel?
thanks Don

Link-asking that question suggests to most experts the barrel is beyond the point of no return. If it is a custom barrel, send it to me and I’ll responsibly dispose of it. Free, no charge!
Respectfully at your service, D

 

[Link]

Link-asking that question suggests to most experts the barrel is beyond the point of no return. If it is a custom barrel, send it to me and I’ll responsibly dispose of it. Free, no charge!
Respectfully at your service, D

Mr Duff you are a true gentleman and a scholar of fine shooting. Thank you for your most kind offer. I'm sure I will ponder over this. There are some barrels that just don't shoot, I was wondering how many rounds a good shooter would put down the pike before they said enough. I had 1 barrel that shot a .0xx the first time out and it's still a shooter. No doubt about that one. D

 

[Dave Way]

Mr Duff you are a true gentleman and a scholar of fine shooting. Thank you for your most kind offer. I'm sure I will ponder over this. There are some barrels that just don't shoot, I was wondering how many rounds a good shooter would put down the pike before they said enough. I had 1 barrel that shot a .0xx the first time out and it's still a shooter. No doubt about that one. D

There are others on here with more wisdom than me but if I don’t see anything promising within 300 rounds, the barrel is probably never going to shoot to my standards. This assumes several powders and more than one bullet have been tested. I put a lot of faith in multiple shot ladders at distance, and you can usually see where it wants to shoot. I have a barrel that will shoot many loads with 5 Vapor Trails into 4-5” groups at 1K, but no tighter(It’s not the bullets, they have shot screamers in another barrel). This same barrel that doesn’t love Vapor Trails, will put 10 in 3” at 1K shooting Hunters. The barrel will tell you what, if anything, it wants to eat. Don’t assume any barrel will like something just because you read it or someone else has had luck with it.

Good luck with that barrel.
Dave.