6bra vs 6ppc barrel life..?

[Eric Leonard]

No, the competitive 6PPC is.
It's a teeny tiny little capacity, with a good amount of barrel steel around the chamber, in an aftermarket action, burning a small amount of a fast magical powder, that just happens to burn the coolest.
It's pressure is driven deep into diminished returns, which also equals diminished variance of returns. So while the powder may be metered instead of measured, and primers jammed into pockets, and cases smashed into higher capacity variances with FL sizing, all combined means nothing to that kind of pressure peak, and results measured at point blank ranges.
This also works to provide total burn and amazingly low muzzle pressures, even in ~21" barrels with very low twist rates, so that light flat base bullets release exceptionally clean. In 10.5lb gun it doesn't twist or hop or recoil much.

Now you could dramatically increase the accurate barrel life of a 6PPC, up to ~3600rnds, with a drop in load pressure. That would be well beyond useful 6BR Imp life, but then whatthehell are you gonna use that 6PPC for? It would be about as useful as a non-competitive 30BR.

Improved 6BRs hold a different evolutionary path. Plenty of other uses.
Declare the load and I'll declare the accurate barrel life for it, born of math and less subjective. Or PM me and I'll email you a spreadsheet to see how it turns out the way it does.

my 6PPC load is 68 gr flatbase bullets and 28.6 grs LT32in the 3370 FPS range
my 6BRA load is 80 gr flatbase bullets and 31.6 grs IMR8208 in the 3260 fps range.
would you compare the 2

 

[mikecr]

PM sent

 

[Dave Way]

Barrels are components

I have to agree Dusty. I don't think you stand a chance of being competitive(not saying that I am) until you reach the point where you stop thinking about barrel life and realize they all quit at some unknown point. That may even mean giving up on a barrel at 300-400 rounds and moving on-not all barrels are created equal. I have two backup barrels right now and will likely have more in the future. No one ever said this was an inexpensive sport but my wife says I could have worse vices.

Dave.

 

[500yards]

My vote is Dasher. The top nationally ranked PRS shooters in our region have gone from 6XC, 6 SLR and 6 Creed over to the Dasher or other 6BR based variant. Biggest advantages are low recoil and less muzzle blast/pressure wave due to a lot less powder being burned, and a cartridge that holds consistency better over the life of the barrel. Less tuning/tweaking needed to keep it shooting well.

There's nothing wrong with a lower velocity round if you've got it dialed in perfectly for your dope at distance. Think of this... you need roughly 80 fps more velocity to make up a click of wind at 1000 yards in a 10mph wind. In the grand scheme of things that's nothing. Your hits aren't going to come from whether your wind hold was 1.3 or 1.4 mils, it will be whether you got the call right in the first place or whether you could spot your impacts and make corrections. Last match I shot 2 weeks ago the winner ran Dasher at 2920 fps with a 105. I just worked up a load with a Sierra 110 for my Dasher and settled at 2820fps because it shot the best there. Just took it out to confirm dope and it painted a perfect waterline on every target from 800 out to 1225 yards.

6BR is a great round too, if your action is capable of feeding it. I wouldn't hesitate to run a 6BR in my Bighorn TL-3, my fireforming loads have all fed well. If you're going Dasher or 6BR and haven't yet decided on an action, the TL-3 would be something I'd look at closely.

 

[powderbrake]

I believe the 6PPC has a "shorter barrel life" than a 6BR variant because the 6PPC is used in Short Range Benchrest, where if you don't agg in the .1's and .2's you are not competitive. The good shooters can tell when the barrel is not performing as well.
With the larger groups shot with a 6BRA at long range, the small loss of accuracy is more difficult to determine, so it may appear the barrel lasts longer.