6 Dasher reamer for Alpha brass

[Dave in WI]

I have a customer wanting a barrel chambered for 6 Dasher. He has purchased Alpha brass. His loaded neck diameter is 0.270".
Manson lists a std reamer with 0.2725" neck and Alpha reamer (spec order) with 0.275" neck. Do you think the std reamer neck will give problems without turning brass?

 

[22LRaddict]

.001 a side is perfect IMHO. My .243 AI is minimum sammi and I only have .001 a side no issues. Brass obviously has to be clean after initial firing.

 

[LRPV]

Too much clearance, within reason, will not hurt you. Trying to run on the edge with only .002” total clearance without accurately turned brass will bite you. Not every piece of that brass he has is gonna have a 270 loaded neck diameter and those with thicker necks are going to make him/you scratch your head. Pretty sure 274 has been the established “no turn” for alpha brass. Since Alpha makes reamers that are supposed to match their brass perfectly, might check their dimensions to see what they use at the very least or even buy their reamer to work with their brass.

 

[VA_XTC_Shooter]

Is Alpha brass that much thicker?

 

[LRPV]

Is Alpha brass that much thicker?

I can’t remember off the top of my head. I turned 500 pieces. I started at .012” as the first pieces I turned were completely cleaned up at .012”. I want to say the thickest pieces I measured were .014” in places. Before I was done I had 100+ that didn’t clean up completely, probably would’ve been more than fine but I went ahead and turned them to use in a 268.

When figuring all this out and wanting to ensure you have a problem free experience you need to realize that not every neck is perfect and not every piece of brass is gonna measure exactly the same. Same goes for bullets, over the years I’ve gotten 6mm bullets that measure from a little under .243 to almost .244. When tolerances stack up and worst case scenario shows its head, it leaves you wondering what in the hell just happened. I see it all the time on here with guys that have a “no turn chamber” well, what size is it? “No turn”…. Good luck with that.

 

[wasskeet]

FWIW, 6 Dasher here - loaded round is Peterson brass with .268/.269" and chamber is .275" no-turn neck. Very good accuracy and no issues I know of. Probably not optimal, but don't have to worry about dirty brass/chamber/etc

 

[AckleymanII]

Dave, of major concern is web dia also!

 

[Mulligan]

When tolerances stack up and worst case scenario shows its head, it leaves you wondering what in the hell just happened. I see it all the time on here with guys that have a “no turn chamber” well, what size is it? “No turn”…. Good luck with that.

So true!

CW

 

[LVLAaron]

I know they're expensive, but the alpha reamers are great and leave nothing to be desired.

 

[muleystalker]

There have been more than a few people running into problems using ALPHA brass in Dasher chambers that were not cut using the Alpha reamers and if I remember correctly a good part of them the problem was the Web/.200 line as AkleymanII also stated. All my Dashers are the Norma Dasher for the Norma Dasher brass and I like them a lot. If I was going to use Alpha brass I would definitely go with the Alpha reamer, if not I would ditch the Alpha brass if I was going to use your reamer and use Lapua.

 

[Mulligan]

In a dasher, Alpha and Lapua both work well in many chambers.
I know of 5 dasher reamers here in the valley that have been used with good success for Peterson, Alpha, and Lapua brass.

Personally, I have seen zero issues using Alpha and Lapua in the same chamber. My loads are different (less powder in the Alpha case) but just as accurate and zero issues with feeding or extraction.
CW

 

[LRPV]

In a dasher, Alpha and Lapua both work well in many chambers.
I know of 5 dasher reamers here in the valley that have been used with good success for Peterson, Alpha, and Lapua brass.

Personally, I have seen zero issues using Alpha and Lapua in the same chamber. My loads are different (less powder in the Alpha case) but just as accurate and zero issues with feeding or extraction.
CW

I have also used Alpha in my “Lapua” dasher chambers with no problems from a functional stand point.

I think the possible problem was with BRA.

 

[rdremsek]

I used alpha brass in my dasher they suck heavy bolt lift ejector marks went to lapua no more problems also with alpha I had to run at 6br powder charges why go dasher with alpha brass and get 6br performance waste of time just use lapua brass problem solved with regular reamer.

 

[STOMP442]

I have a customer wanting a barrel chambered for 6 Dasher. He has purchased Alpha brass. His loaded neck diameter is 0.270".
Manson lists a std reamer with 0.2725" neck and Alpha reamer (spec order) with 0.275" neck. Do you think the std reamer neck will give problems without turning brass?

I used the Manson standard reamer on my Wifes Dasher build. I ended up with Alpha brass cause thats all I could find and I have had zero issues with it. She is running 34.3gr of R-16 and Berger 108 Elites at 2947fps and she consistently out shoots me with it.

 

[Mulligan]

I used the Manson standard reamer on my Wifes Dasher build. I ended up with Alpha brass cause thats all I could find and I have had zero issues with it. She is running 34.3gr of R-16 and Berger 108 Elites at 2947fps and she consistently out shoots me with it.

Yep,
I generally run 2980 to 3015 node using a host of powders and have had zero issues with three different lots of Alpha dasher brass. I took it to the upper deck with 103’s and N-150….. never an issue.
CW

 

[AckleymanII]

I wish someone with a Micrometer would post New Brass dimensions:

Lapua Web dia

Alpha Web dia

 

[LVLAaron]

There have been more than a few people running into problems using ALPHA brass in Dasher chambers that were not cut using the Alpha reamers and if I remember correctly a good part of them the problem was the Web/.200 line as AkleymanII also stated. All my Dashers are the Norma Dasher for the Norma Dasher brass and I like them a lot. If I was going to use Alpha brass I would definitely go with the Alpha reamer, if not I would ditch the Alpha brass if I was going to use your reamer and use Lapua.

Dasher, or 6BRA?

 

[muleystalker]

Dasher, or 6BRA?

Dasher and I have also heard with 6.5 Creed. I have some Creedmoor but haven't tried it yet. I was going to just sell it since I am using Lapua but now I may just keep it and try it in one of my other Creedmoors just to see what it does, But I think it might have 1-2 firings on it so thats really not great circumstance for any type of a real conclusion. I'll have to dig it out and take a look. I know one thing its supposed to be some very tough brass.

But again there are so many 6 Dasher reamers floating around out there that people have spec'ed out with their own changes they thought were good for their purpose that can give problems with other brands of brass also.

 

[Kings X]

My customer bought Alpha brass and a reamer from them. He shot a 1200 at 600 yards in OKC F Class match. Had a National one day record for about 3 minutes.

 

[JLT]

My customer bought Alpha brass and a reamer from them. He shot a 1200 at 600 yards in OKC F Class match. Had a National one day record for for about 3 minutes.

And it's been working really well for Clif ever since! I recall you had something to do with at least three rifles that shot 1200s that weekend . . .