6mmBR Help?...

[Tim Singleton]

What kind of seating depth teat should I run? It did seem moving back off the lands helped. As far as the canted problem yes its the rest cause its not sitting perfectly flat. Ok I'll keep working at 100yrds an see of I can get some repeatability out of it. I currently have 92rds through the rifle.

This is a method I learned from Tony Boyers book and it works very well. IMO seating depth is the most important thing
One one piece of poster paper or I use old Manila file folders. Start a graph across the top and down the side. Shoot 3 shot groups then confirm with 5
For a 6br and 105amax I would go across with 28.5,29.5 and 30 grains of varget
Down the side .005 .010 .015 .020 off of the jam for that bullet and neck tension
You wouldn't think the same barrel in the example target could shoot that well at one depth and so bad just .003 away.
The goal is to find a seating depth that works across a wide charge of powder. The seating depth can be found in under 50 rounds

This particular barrel was nothing to special. You can see how the top left group was nice but scattered at the higher charges. On down the page scattered out. At .009 it came back into more what I was looking for all three charge weights shot pretty well with the middle and high pretty good. Then at .012 off it scattered again. This barrel bullet neck tension seating depth is .009 off jam

 

[snakepit]

*UPDATE*

Taking some advice from you guys I tried to use a "free Recoil" technique.

I would think you could not use the "Free Recoil" technique with that bottom of the line Caldwell rest that you have been using, it has such poor stability. In fact as has been mentioned before it may be a waste of time trying to do load development and especially free recoil shooting with that rest. You mentioned you might be able to get a good deal on a Caldwell Rock BR so go for it or as someone else mentioned in a prior post, try to borrow a good front rest or have someone who is proficient and has a descent rest help you or even shoot for you. It is hard to load develop until you have all the mechanical aspects of your shooting worked out.

 

[sgreen3]

*UPDATE*

Taking some advice from you guys I tried to use a "free Recoil" technique.

I would think you could not use the "Free Recoil" technique with that bottom of the line Caldwell rest that you have been using, it has such poor stability. In fact as has been mentioned before it may be a waste of time trying to do load development and especially free recoil shooting with that rest. You mentioned you might be able to get a good deal on a Caldwell Rock BR so go for it or as someone else mentioned in a prior post, try to borrow a good front rest or have someone who is proficient and has a descent rest help you or even shoot for you. It is hard to load develop until you have all the mechanical aspects of your shooting worked out.

Yea probably so, I don't have anyone that uses rests like I would need. But Im going to try and get that Rock BR this Friday so Im hoping that will help.

 

[sgreen3]

What kind of seating depth teat should I run? It did seem moving back off the lands helped. As far as the canted problem yes its the rest cause its not sitting perfectly flat. Ok I'll keep working at 100yrds an see of I can get some repeatability out of it. I currently have 92rds through the rifle.

This is a method I learned from Tony Boyers book and it works very well. IMO seating depth is the most important thing
One one piece of poster paper or I use old Manila file folders. Start a graph across the top and down the side. Shoot 3 shot groups then confirm with 5
For a 6br and 105amax I would go across with 28.5,29.5 and 30 grains of varget
Down the side .005 .010 .015 .020 off of the jam for that bullet and neck tension
You wouldn't think the same barrel in the example target could shoot that well at one depth and so bad just .003 away.
The goal is to find a seating depth that works across a wide charge of powder. The seating depth can be found in under 50 rounds

This particular barrel was nothing to special. You can see how the top left group was nice but scattered at the higher charges. On down the page scattered out. At .009 it came back into more what I was looking for all three charge weights shot pretty well with the middle and high pretty good. Then at .012 off it scattered again. This barrel bullet neck tension seating depth is .009 off jam

Hey thanks!!!!! Im going to resize my brass today and Ill clean my barrel. Ill get a paper made up with those specifications and see what it does. But I may wait and try it after I get my better front rest. Im assuming I should do this at 100yrds?

 

[sgreen3]

Also should I be using higher rings? Or are my low rings ok for the application. Just trying to rule out any possible problems.

 

[snakepit]

Also should I be using higher rings? Or are my low rings ok for the application. Just trying to rule out any possible problems.

Your rings should be just fine. As long as the scope does not touch the barrel there should be no problems.

I am not sure how much trigger pull you are using but you might try adjusting to a lighter pull especially if you are using the free recoil you talked about. The Savage target trigger works just fine at light settings but it takes a while to get use to it and the idiosyncrasies of a light pull Savage target trigger. Although I have moved up from my original Savage 12 6BR I thought it was a great over the counter rifle and gave me great results at 600 yards where I used it the majority of the time.

 

[sgreen3]

Thanks, yea I just thought a higher ring might keep my cheek from hitting the stock as easy when trying to fire. Yea I've thought about trying to lighten it a bit although it feels pretty light lol. I do know that it seems like I might be pulling the trigger to the side I need more practice on pulling the trigger straight back I think also.

 

[snakepit]

If you are having trouble with your cheek hitting the stock then one of the possibilities that may help you would be taller rings. The other thing you mentioned is that you might be pulling the trigger to the side and that is something you may have to work with. Practice dry firing may help. If you get the Savage Target Trigger set light enough you will find that the rifle will not fire unless you pull it straight back with no side force. As I said in another post to you, the mechanical aspects of your shooting need to be perfected to enable your load development to be accurate.

 

[sgreen3]

Very true, I got one of the Rock BR benchrests on its way to my house, and ordered a set of taller rings. So one my rest comes in ill start testing again. Didn't figure there was much point until I got the better rest. Then it will just be working with the trigger.

 

[sgreen3]

Was able to get the 6BR back out yesterday and with the help of Tim I shot the chart that he suggested. Not the results that I wanted for sure, really wanting to see all three shots in one hole. I just need to keep trying and working on my shot though I think. I think I just may go back to shooting how I normally shoot and leave the "free recoil" technique alone for a while. I did get my new rest and it is a lot nicer for sure. Going to get some more loaded up either tonight or tomorrow morning to try out tomorrow hopefully. Just not real sure which way to go. It seems to be from what I've read that people have trouble getting the Amax I'm using to group, I still have the 80gr Bergers so I may try a few more of those and see what happens and try a few more of the Amax's until I can get some 105Bergers. I did notice that I was having some issue with the Accutrigger locking up (seriously annoying!) anyone have a fix for this? Any other load ideas for the bullets that I currently have? Thanks fellas!

Here is a pic of the target

 

[Mozella]

......... snip ............... I did notice that I was having some issue with the Accutrigger locking up (seriously annoying!) anyone have a fix for this? .......... snip.............

I've got a couple of Savage Accutriggers, all of which are set up with a very light pull for competition shooting.

They lock up whenever I pull the trigger off to the side. They NEVER lock up when I pull the trigger properly; i.e. straight back. Assuming your trigger isn't somehow defective, I would suggest you evaluate your trigger pull.

Be sure you're using the meaty part of your index finger and that you pull straight back. Not to say that you're doing it wrong, but when I see people at the range having trouble with their Savage triggers misbehaving, they're invariably using incorrect trigger finger discipline.

If that's not the problem with your trigger, I don't have any further suggestions other than to have a gunsmith take a look. When I adjust my Savage triggers properly and pull them properly they simply never cause a problem.

 

[sgreen3]

Hey thanks for the reply, I will defiantly take a look at that. I'm not perfect by no means so it very well could be me.

 

[snakepit]

Another thing you must be careful about with the Savage Target Accutrigger set to a light trigger pull is to be easy in closing the bolt. If you slam the bolt closed or close it with too much force this will often lockup the trigger requiring you to recycle the bolt to clear the locked trigger condition.

 

[sgreen3]

Another thing you must be careful about with the Savage Target Accutrigger set to a light trigger pull is to be easy in closing the bolt. If you slam the bolt closed or close it with too much force this will often lockup the trigger requiring you to recycle the bolt to clear the locked trigger condition.

Ah ok Ill keep that in mind. I adjusted it down a little more than what I had it and seems like it may work a little better now. Hopfully that will be one less problem I have to worry about now.

 

[Motor Man]

I'm fairly new at this BR shooting and got a Savage 12F a few months ago. I found that 31.0 grains of varget with Berger 105 hybrid match target bullets and CCI 450 primers in Lapua brass grouped best when loaded -.010 off the lands. I'm using Redding competition bushing type neck die (.266 bushing) and Redding competition seating die. I also use a Gempro 250 to measure the powder weight. This combination is able to do tight 3 shot groups at 100 yards for me. No pressure signs at this powder load but increase the load in increments if you chose to try higher powder levels than you are now. (You know that already).

I've also been using a bald eagle front rest and an Edgewood rear bag. I never tried a different bullet or powder but went with the recommendation of a knowledgable friend. I did shoot 100 rounds of Lapua 105 scenars factory ammo first to get some reloadable brass and their results were not very good. Had me worried till I loaded up my own and worked up the charge weights and seating depth. Things improved tremendously at that point.

About the trigger, mine does the same as yours, it's just that it's pull is set very light. Works fine if I close the bolt slowly and pull the trigger straight back. Takes some getting used to. If I push the trigger to the side at all it will lock up. I could make the pull heavier but chose to take time getting used to it as I like the light pull it has.

 

[sgreen3]

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it. I actually have the rifle boxed up and ready to be sent back to Savage in the morning. After talking with a number of people on here and here local there may be something wrong with the barrel. My rifle will not group at all to amount to anything. Which is what I've shown in the pics, and that's from using anything from 65gr Vmax, 80gr Bergers and even the 105gr Bergers at various charge weights and seating depths nothing will make it shoot consistently or make it put 3 shots into even remotely the same hole. I cant even begin to tell you the number of "pet" loads that I've tried of different 6br shooters and none will group like we would expect from the caliber or gun. Aside from being the most frustrated I've ever been with a rifle I figured Id give it the benefit of the doubt and see if there is truly something wrong with it and give them a chance to fix it. If they find nothing wrong with it and that's just the way it shoots I guess Ill make the choice to either keep it and like it (which I doubt will happen, since this is the most expensive bolt gun I've ever bought) or sell it, or re-barrel it. So we'll see what happens.