6mm BR Build Questions

[Tris]

Hi Everyone,

I need some advice. I am considering building a 6mm BR. I was looking at using a Barnard Action as have used one before and was blown away by how smooth it was. As far as barrel goes I was thinking of using Shilen but I am open to suggestions. I’m wanting the rifle for shooting whitetails and coyotes up to about 500 yard. I wanted it to be short so was going to use a 20” barrel in probably a #3 or #4 contour.

I was thinking of buying a prethreaded and chambered barrel and then getting a smith to put it on the action. I then feel confident that I can put the trigger, stock, etc on. Is this a good way to go or are there better routes?

I’m thinking I will probably shoot 70 grain bullets so what would be the best twist rate? I would ideally like a twist that will allow me to shoot from 55 grain Noslers up to 87 grain Bergers. Is having a short barrel going to make shooting lighter bullets problematic or not?

Any advice would be appreciated as I have exhausted the internet.

 

[Erik Cortina]

Welcome to the forum.

Go with a #4 which will give you enough girth to thread the muzzle to 5/8-24 if you ever need to.

Get a barrel blank and let the gunsmith do all the machining on it. I think a 1:10 twist might work but I would prefer a 1:9"

20" barrel will work well. I built a Dasher with a 22" barrel and it shoots great.

 

[Tris]

Hi Erik,
Thanks for the welcome and the advice. Would you to able to recommend a good gunsmith? Also any recommendation on barrel manufacturer? I also wanted to ask do I need to get a 20 MOA rail or not as I won't be shooting at any distances past 500 yards? How are you getting on with your dasher? I always liked the look of that as a round.

 

[Erik Cortina]

Hi Erik,
Thanks for the welcome and the advice. Would you to able to recommend a good gunsmith? Also any recommendation on barrel manufacturer? I also wanted to ask do I need to get a 20 MOA rail or not as I won't be shooting at any distances past 500 yards? How are you getting on with your dasher? I always liked the look of that as a round.

Speedy Gonzales is in Opa-Locka, FL. I'll PM you his info.
Your rail needs depend on your scope's overall travel. You might get a 10 MOA to be safe.

Speedy will guide you properly as well as build you a killer rifle.

 

[Tris]

Thanks for sending me his information, I will get in touch with him. Really appreciate your help.

Tris

 

[carlsbad]

Tris,
As erik said, I don't think you'll gain anything shopping for a prethreaded barrel. The gunsmith is going to have to fit it and you might find it doesn't save you anything.

A dasher has more muzzle velocity than a 6BR. 20" seems short to me but it will certainly be light and stiff. But with lighter bullets muzzle velocity shouldn't be an issue.

If money is an issue, using a remington 700 action won't cost you on accuracy. But it won't be as smooth. The gunsmith (barrel) is where the accuracy is so if you need to same money, do it on the action. Don't have the rem 700 "blueprinted" if you use it.

If money is not an issue, all t he custom actions are great and your choice will make a great rifle.

You can never go wrong with a 20 moa rail unless you want to shoot your rifle upside down.

Bartlein, Shillen, kreiger, brux barrels all work well. there are other good ones too.

http://precisionrifleblog.com/2014/01/02/best-rifle-barrel/

--Jerry

 

[Dusty Stevens]

If youre gonna shoot 70gr bullets you need a 12 or 13tw. But speedy should remember that from his benchrest past life. Dont buy anything til you talk to your gun builder. Good luck.

 

[Tris]

Hi Jerry,

Thanks for the advice, why do you say not to have the Remington action blueprinted? I was thinking of a custom action but I am really open to all possibilities. I am also open to different barrel manufacturers, I don't really want to have to wait 4+ months for a barrel so I will go with whatever is good and most readily available, the reason that I wanted a 20" barrel was I already have a 6.5x284 with a 26 inch barrel and wanted something shorter.

Thanks too Dusty, I will definitely talk to Speedy and then go from there.

 

[Erik Cortina]

Speedy will advice you properly. You can ask him about benefits of action blueprinting as well.

Good luck with your build and please update us with your finished rifle specs and pictures when it's done.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Tell him the benchrest community misses him

 

[David]

I built my youngest daughter a 6BR off a model 7 action for her to deer hunt with. I used a 1/8 twist, #3 contour Benchmark barrel finished at 22" and load 95gr Berger VLDs for her using R 15. 2 deer so far and both have been one shot kills. 125 yards for one and 112 yds for the other.

For the bullets your wanting to shoot, the 12 twist will work perfect.

 

[carlsbad]

Hi Jerry,

Thanks for the advice, why do you say not to have the Remington action blueprinted? I was thinking of a custom action but I am really open to all possibilities. I am also open to different barrel manufacturers, I don't really want to have to wait 4+ months for a barrel so I will go with whatever is good and most readily available, the reason that I wanted a 20" barrel was I already have a 6.5x284 with a 26 inch barrel and wanted something shorter.

Thanks too Dusty, I will definitely talk to Speedy and then go from there.

Tris,
I know a lot of people disagree with me but as a physicist/mechanical engineer I don't see the ACCURACY value of blueprinting a Remington action and I haven't seen any good scientific results supporting blueprinting.

Frankly, the spring pressure from the ejector probably does more to misalign a case in the chamber than a non-blueprinted action ever could.

What I especially don't like about blueprinting is the relatively random thread size that you are left with after blueprinting requiring your barrel threads to match that random thread size. Sure, that can be done by a competent machinist (most gunsmiths are competent machinists but not all) but I think it is needless work. The chamber / barrel is where the accuracy resides. The bolt needs to hold the casing in the chamber and deliver the firing pin. Truing the action could improve the alignment of the face of the bolt some small fraction of a degree but I don't think the bullet would ever know the difference.

I know a lot of people disagree with me. Custom actions always guarantee fine craftsmanship and I'm a fan of that. I do a lot of custom machine work and I make the same guarantee. But I think that if money is no object and you want fine craftsmanship, buy a custom action. I'm not a detractor of custom actions, I just don't think they add accuracy. Sure, rifles with custom actions tend to be more accurate, but that is because spending the money on the custom action is accompanied by the top quality barrel and gunsmithing that it takes to be accurate.

Just my 2c. If you choose to have your action blueprinted after reading all of this I won't be offended.

As for barrels, there are lots of good barrels showing up for sale for immediate delivery in the for sale listings on this site. I've bought barrels there.

--Jerry

 

[Erik Cortina]

Carlsbad, just because an action is "custom" does not mean it's machined right.

 

[carlsbad]

Carlsbad, just because an action is "custom" does not mean it's machined right.

OK. I haven't looked at them all but one of the main selling points of most of them is precision machining vs mass production...if you try to market a "custom" action, and I agree there are much better monikers for them, and you don't machine it right, you might get a "fail" meme named after you.

--Jerry

 

[Tris]

The two actions that I am looking at are the Barnard SM or a Nesika Hunter, I would be open to advice as I have looked at a barnard before and they are incredibly smooth and while I know the Nesika actions are smooth two I don't know how the two would compare? The other thing is that I know it can be hard to find a stock that properly fits a barnard action as they don't have the same tang as a lot of 700 clones do. Any suggestions?

 

[noload]

Bat SV is as smooth as it gets, If you don't mind spending. I also agree with Carlsbad, so an action for half that price would also work. In that case I would get a Savage or Rem.

 

[Lapua40X]

I'd go for the 1:10. The 1:9 should work fine with the heavier bullets but when you get down to 55 grain Noslers the slower twist will, IMO, perform better.