Any reason not to go 6BR?

[Tangent]

Some great suggestions, thanks. Seems I can't go too far wrong. Being the other side of the pond makes the logistics that much harder, lots more rules and cost/scarcity of components, we're bottom of every manufacturers list! It pays to get your choices right first time as mistakes are costly and time consuming to rectify.

No fire forming or turning appeals, a few less steps or complications. I think I'm more or less set on a 6mm for this rifle, low cost, great accuracy, low recoil, plenty of components and works well for 600m and in. I was thinking of a do all rifle but a second one for 600m+ seems wiser, something in 6.5/7mm with 150-180gr bullets.

I usually try to just outshoot myself and if I win anything that's a bonus. The current aim is to regularly stay under 1 MOA at 500m, not exactly BR standard but realistic given the range (tricky wind) and I'm shooting a Tikka my wife bought me.

Lapua brass isn't too hard to find here or VV powder, bullets and primers are another matter. Hornady always seems to be available but my measuring of them showed a lot of variation. I gave up on the Lapua Scenar-L's I'm currently using as they were very consistent. I have found a "local" custom bullet maker that produces something similar to the 115 DTAC. Would that be too heavy for 6BR and better suited to the 6GT?

 

[marchx]

No reason. I shoot 6br up to 800m with 105 hybrids or barts, n140. I got 2820-40.

When I rebarrel, I will get a gt. Gives you competitive edge in moderate wind conditions. It’s like shooting 6.5creedmoor with less recoil.before you decide, run wind drift in ballostoc app for all those cartridges up to 600m.

 

[Tangent]

No reason. I shoot 6br up to 800m with 105 hybrids or barts, n140. I got 2820-40.

When I rebarrel, I will get a gt. Gives you competitive edge in moderate wind conditions. It’s like shooting 6.5creedmoor with less recoil.before you decide, run wind drift in ballostoc app for all those cartridges up to 600m.

Will do thanks, the wind is the main reason I'm looking to rebarrel. A 155gr .308 out of a 20" barrel struggles to compete with the 6BR and .284 Win that a couple of fellow shooters use!

 

[muleystalker]

Go a Dasher or BRX and don't look back! Everything a BR is and better suited for the 109's and 115's and you rant giving anything up to the 6GT... maybe on paper but at distance on target when the smoke clears your giving up nothing .

 

[Bill Norris]

Go a Dasher or BRX and don't look back! Everything a BR is and better suited for the 109's and 115's and you rant giving anything up to the 6GT... maybe on paper but at distance on target when the smoke clears your giving up nothing .

Thats what Im talking about right there.

 

[dusterdave173]

Got my first 6BR--Loaded right off of this sites BR page 30g varget, 450 primer, 107 SMK
went out and shot single digit ES with small group--OK powder done--did 12 rounds depth test and shrank groups to almost unbelievable
Reloaded that same load three times shot on different days, weather , etc Same results
Load development done
Stupid easy to look like a pro with a 6BR

Now I can shoot like one too. No brass forming, etc just open the box, load and look good.
Lapua and Peterson same results Shilen Select Match 8 twist Bull Barrel I think free bore is around .094 or so whatever their usual chamber is James at Northland said buy it, shoot, smile

LOVE my 6BR

 

[AckleymanII]

I would urge you to go 6 BRX, the extra speed at 600 you will enjoy. Accuracy is a given.

 

[LVLAaron]

Got my first 6BR--Loaded right off of this sites BR page 30g varget, 450 primer, 107 SMK
went out and shot single digit ES with small group--OK powder done--did 12 rounds depth test and shrank groups to almost unbelievable
Reloaded that same load three times shot on different days, weather , etc Same results
Load development done
Stupid easy to look like a pro with a 6BR

Now I can shoot like one too. No brass forming, etc just open the box, load and look good.
Lapua and Peterson same results Shilen Select Match 8 twist Bull Barrel I think free bore is around .094 or so whatever their usual chamber is James at Northland said buy it, shoot, smile

LOVE my 6BR

Not to hijack, but this is really good to hear. I just built a BRA that I haven't shot yet. I'm excited to start playing with it.

 

[marchx]

Go a Dasher or BRX and don't look back! Everything a BR is and better suited for the 109's and 115's and you rant giving anything up to the 6GT... maybe on paper but at distance on target when the smoke clears your giving up nothing .

nothing against dasher, but with lapua gt brass and gt reliability in feeding from mag gt just seems a better option right now. No fireforming. GT seems like a better design- accumulating benefits of 6BR (easy tu tune, brass available) and dasher (mag feeding).

 

[JFrank]

Not to hijack, but this is really good to hear. I just built a BRA that I haven't shot yet. I'm excited to start playing with it.

Short range or Long range ?

 

[Geronimo Jim]

None except the 6 bra has a little more capacity but more importantly
has a better shoulder angle to keep brass from having to be trimmed
as much. Both minor stuff though.

 

[Tangent]

So many great options or variations on a theme. I was originally after a 25x47 or 25CM. Both great, high BC, moderate recoil options but the current .25cal bullet availability, especially over here put me off.

 

[RegionRat]

If I were in the UK, I would work backward from components that 1) you know will make you happy in your game, 2) that you can stock about 2X barrel life or at least two seasons worth.

There has been some great posts, but often I find suggestions are cold comfort if the stuff is unobtanium.

On number 1 above, any BR variant is going to be excellent at 300 and at least competitive at 600. So picking one of the 6 BR or variants is not the challenge. However, number 2 above is another story....

Many suggestions that were easy to support in terms of logistics a few years ago, are no longer easy. My guess is in the UK the bullets and brass will be just as difficult as they are here.

Before I would commission the rifle, I would make sure you can actually get the brass and bullets and then I would do those first.

 

[Tangent]

If I were in the UK, I would work backward from components that 1) you know will make you happy in your game, 2) that you can stock about 2X barrel life or at least two seasons worth.

There has been some great posts, but often I find suggestions are cold comfort if the stuff is unobtanium.

On number 1 above, any BR variant is going to be excellent at 300 and at least competitive at 600. So picking one of the 6 BR or variants is not the challenge. However, number 2 above is another story....

Many suggestions that were easy to support in terms of logistics a few years ago, are no longer easy. My guess is in the UK the bullets and brass will be just as difficult as they are here.

Before I would commission the rifle, I would make sure you can actually get the brass and bullets and then I would do those first.

Totally agree. Access to components is an issue, not only the price, we pay more, but at any price they are often unobtainable or rationed. We're the poor relation when it comes to sales priorities, understandable given our tiny market. My first priority will be brass, bullets and dies. Hence anything too off the beaten track becomes exponentially more difficult. I like to do things a little differently but the head needs to remain firmly in charge!

Waters do do a 6BR mag for the TAC A1 but a couple of those would buy me a nice set of dies and change. I'm leaning towards 6GT now with Lapua brass, being in Europe the supply isn't too bad. It will feed out of my existing magazines, plenty of umph for the heavy bullets and 6mm bullets are very popular over here so availability is good. I think the strategy is wait for the brass, stock up and then get in the rest of the components before getting the rebarrel done.

 

[muleystalker]

nothing against dasher, but with lapua gt brass and gt reliability in feeding from mag gt just seems a better option right now. No fireforming. GT seems like a better design- accumulating benefits of 6BR (easy tu tune, brass available) and dasher (mag feeding).

Except in F-Class , as the OP said he is using this for, you aren't feeding from the mag your single feeding. Not to mention at this time there are probably more PRS shooters shooting a BR or BR variant than any other cartridge..... so they must feed just fine. Any cartridge can have feeding problems it's just knowing what to do to rectify the problem.

 

[Tangent]

Except in F-Class , as the OP said he is using this for, you aren't feeding from the mag your single feeding. Not to mention at this time there are probably more PRS shooters shooting a BR or BR variant than any other cartridge..... so they must feed just fine. Any cartridge can have feeding problems it's just knowing what to do to rectify the problem.

I think the issue isn't which cartridge, it's that I really want all of them! I will be mostly single feeding but never like the idea of having a mag fed rifle that doesn't feed. That can be rectified I've found with some relatively expensive magazines.

Any suggestions which of the many suggestions on this thread will shoot 115gr at 2850fps without having to push the cartridge to its limits?

 

[RegionRat]

Any suggestions which of the many suggestions on this thread will shoot 115gr at 2850fps without having to push the cartridge to its limits?

Pushing a 115 to 2850 isn't a short order. That isn't easy territory for a straight 6 BR.

The 115 grain at 2850 is 2074 ft*lbs or 2813 Joules of muzzle energy.

A typical 6 BR is supposed to be a little over 1800 ft*lbs in order to keep the pressure down.
If you keep the pressure down to 58.7 KSI, your 115 will only be doing about 2550 fps.

A Dasher is roughly 2029 ft*lbs pushing a 105 at 2950, folks can push these harder, but it takes pressure to do it and that isn't always good for your brass.

It takes roughly 32 grains of Varget to get a 105 Hyrbid to 2950 in a Dasher. You can stuff more powder into it and go out to 3100 fps but it kills your brass to do this.

If you must have a 115 grain going 2850, you will want to consider something larger than a Dasher, like the 6 GT, 6 XC, 6x47, or 6 Creedmoor.
Or just back off the bullet weight or speed and you can run one of the BR variants. YMMV

 

[Tangent]

Pushing a 115 to 2850 isn't a short order. That isn't easy territory for a straight 6 BR.

The 115 grain at 2850 is 2074 ft*lbs or 2813 Joules of muzzle energy.

A typical 6 BR is supposed to be a little over 1800 ft*lbs in order to keep the pressure down.
If you keep the pressure down to 58.7 KSI, your 115 will only be doing about 2550 fps.

A Dasher is roughly 2029 ft*lbs pushing a 105 at 2950, folks can push these harder, but it takes pressure to do it and that isn't always good for your brass.

It takes roughly 32 grains of Varget to get a 105 Hyrbid to 2950 in a Dasher. You can stuff more powder into it and go out to 3100 fps but it kills your brass to do this.

If you must have a 115 grain going 2850, you will want to consider something larger than a Dasher, like the 6 GT, 6 XC, 6x47, or 6 Creedmoor.
Or just back off the bullet weight or speed and you can run one of the BR variants. YMMV

Thanks, that's very helpful. Sort of tallies with what I was reading, that 115gr takes a bit more powder. I do have a potential supply of some 115gr bullets that I'd like to try out. In the current climate the logistics of component supply seems to be as important as which cartridge to shoot.

 

[Allen Corneau]

Any suggestions which of the many suggestions on this thread will shoot 115gr at 2850fps without having to push the cartridge to its limits?

Just a point of reference... I'm running a straight 6BR and finally got the Berger 115's to run at ~2735fps (~2615 joules) using 29.9 to 30 grains of N150.

According to GRT 29.9 grains is 104% case capacity (Lapua brass) and making 62,490 psi of pressure. Luckily I'm not getting any pressure signs so I'm considering it good to go.

 

[Tangent]

I'm running a straight 6BR and finally got the Berger 115's to run at ~2735fps (~2615 joules) using 29.9 to 30 grains of N150.

According to GRT 29.9 grains is 104% case capacity (Lapua brass) and making 62,490 psi of pressure. Luckily I'm not getting any pressure signs so I'm considering it good to go.

What barrel length and altitude?