6mm bra, vapor trail 103, varget load. What's working for you ?
- Thread starter JMayo
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See if Bart will thread the barrel for an Ezell Tuner. Around 32 gn of Varget should work.
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What has worked for me is Varget, with bullets about .007" in lands (that is past "first" touch measured with Hornady LTL tool). A known accuracy node is around 2950 fps. That was easy for me to reach with a 28" Brux barrel.
Re seating depth, I hesitate to give a fixed number because different techniques yield different results. I take 4-5 measurements and usually get 3 within .0015. Maybe one in five bullets will "hold" in lands but come out with a tap on the rifle, muzzle up. What's .007" to me might be .010" to you, depending on tools/technique.
Also... with your new barrel, you'll need to re-measure after 20, 50, 100 rounds. It is common for the throat area to smooth out a bit, which can cause the effective length-to-lands to increase.
With the 2950 node you should have good brass life. However, if you already have 10 firings on that brass, you should anneal. After about 7-8 firings I would start to see variance in neck tension that did show up as higher ES/SD.
Seating with Wilson Dies I was able to hold .0015" base to ogive for my loaded rounds.
There is a higher 3000+ FPS node too, but I felt no need to go there. The 2950 was shooting in the high ones for 4 shots in morning zero wind conditions. I had lower ES (and slightly better accuracy) seating in the lands vs. jumping .020", but YMMV.
Another tip -- leave the brass long if you can. Some guys trim everything to match the shortest case. I typically find a couple cases out of 20 are short. I use those for sighters. AFTER fire-forming, I trim the others the minimum amount possible.
After firing I brush the inside of necks 3-4 times with nylon brush. I do not attempt to remove all the carbon. I get smoother, more consistent bullet seating that way.
Re seating depth, I hesitate to give a fixed number because different techniques yield different results. I take 4-5 measurements and usually get 3 within .0015. Maybe one in five bullets will "hold" in lands but come out with a tap on the rifle, muzzle up. What's .007" to me might be .010" to you, depending on tools/technique.
Also... with your new barrel, you'll need to re-measure after 20, 50, 100 rounds. It is common for the throat area to smooth out a bit, which can cause the effective length-to-lands to increase.
With the 2950 node you should have good brass life. However, if you already have 10 firings on that brass, you should anneal. After about 7-8 firings I would start to see variance in neck tension that did show up as higher ES/SD.
Seating with Wilson Dies I was able to hold .0015" base to ogive for my loaded rounds.
There is a higher 3000+ FPS node too, but I felt no need to go there. The 2950 was shooting in the high ones for 4 shots in morning zero wind conditions. I had lower ES (and slightly better accuracy) seating in the lands vs. jumping .020", but YMMV.
Another tip -- leave the brass long if you can. Some guys trim everything to match the shortest case. I typically find a couple cases out of 20 are short. I use those for sighters. AFTER fire-forming, I trim the others the minimum amount possible.
After firing I brush the inside of necks 3-4 times with nylon brush. I do not attempt to remove all the carbon. I get smoother, more consistent bullet seating that way.
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I was using 30.6 gr varget and my barrel liked the bullet just kissing the rifling. got some really nice groups at 600 and 100 with that load. of course I have switched to h4895 and my groups have gotten more consistent and smaller. as always, ymmv
I use 30.6 h4895 .003 in the lands will shoot under 2in if conditions is good . Varget would not work for me.
jackson1
Silver $$ Contributor
Using H4895 at 31.1, CCI BR primers, neck turned Lapua cases, with Vaportrail bullets with 0.005 jam. Developed this in cold weather, going to retest this summer and may need to find a lighter node. Am very pleased with the results. Also will test CCI 450 and Federal Match primers. Also have gotten decent results with Bart's Hammers in testing. Practice alone regularly, match shooting is still some what intimidating for me.
JMayo
Silver $$ Contributor
I went to my club to do the break in and some "look see" at different load behavior.
Seems this barrel is gonna be different than my last two.
Didn't like my pet load of 30.6, touching lands. Seemed to like 31.0
30.8. (100 rounds, 30.2 -31.0)
Going in 7 thou and trying it again soon.
All the cleaning was a bitch but I really wanted to do this one right.
I'll scope & recheck touch today..maybe...
Last barrel I just shot it and it seemed to be a very good shooter. Wonder if I had broken it in correctly what it would have done.
Seems this barrel is gonna be different than my last two.
Didn't like my pet load of 30.6, touching lands. Seemed to like 31.0
30.8. (100 rounds, 30.2 -31.0)
Going in 7 thou and trying it again soon.
All the cleaning was a bitch but I really wanted to do this one right.
I'll scope & recheck touch today..maybe...
Last barrel I just shot it and it seemed to be a very good shooter. Wonder if I had broken it in correctly what it would have done.
jackson1
Silver $$ Contributor
After over a year in the safe (life happens), started testing again this past week. In my infinite wisdom lost my OAL length note I keep in my ammo box. Was planning to test at +0.005, 0.000, and -0.005. I knew it would some time before I would shoot these rounds, so I loaded them long with the intent of setting the length before shooting them. At the range, the shot OK, but not what I was hoping for, they were +0.015. My Labradar had them at just over 3000 fps, in upper 50 degree weather. Very mild pressure sign of slightly heavier bolt lift. Will test again for OAL and at a lower charge weight, next week. Best cold weather groups were a around 2950. Don't want to be at a match in 90 degree weather and have problems. Testing will be with H4895 between 30.6 and 31.0. Would prefer to be at the lower end of the charge weights.
JMayo
Silver $$ Contributor
Update
Testing powder loads both Berger 108's and VT 103.
The VT's ogive measurements are very consistent.
The Berger's vary 5 different ways.
The weights seem to vary between both & surprised me.
I'm finding a slight difference in seating and powder.
Using MY calipers on MY rifle Berger jam 1.835.
I backed away from jam to 1.831 ..30.6 - 30.7 varget seems to be best so far.
VT jam 1.813. Backed away from jam to 1.811, 30.5 - 30.6 varget so far.
After shooting 100 shots jam changed roughly .04.
All these measurements are with my "comparitive" equipment so ...
Yours Will be different more than likely.
Testing powder loads both Berger 108's and VT 103.
The VT's ogive measurements are very consistent.
The Berger's vary 5 different ways.
The weights seem to vary between both & surprised me.
I'm finding a slight difference in seating and powder.
Using MY calipers on MY rifle Berger jam 1.835.
I backed away from jam to 1.831 ..30.6 - 30.7 varget seems to be best so far.
VT jam 1.813. Backed away from jam to 1.811, 30.5 - 30.6 varget so far.
After shooting 100 shots jam changed roughly .04.
All these measurements are with my "comparitive" equipment so ...
Yours Will be different more than likely.
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