Barnes 112 Match Burner load development for 6x47 Lapua

[dstoenner]

A while back I had asked if anybody had done any load development with these new bullets in a 6x47. That didn't get much response. I had said that one I get this new barrel broken in I am going to give them a try. The new barrel is broken in and so today I got to take my test loads and see what these bullets look like. I loaded 4 each from 38.2 to 39.6 in .2 grain increments using H4350. Lapua brass with 5 firings on it. CCI-450 primers. I measured my new barrel and to the lands was 2.726 so I loaded these at 2.710.

First up was to fire 1 of each load to see if I got any pressure indications. The picture below shows the first cold clean shot at 38.2 and then the next 7 levels piling into one bigger hole. No pressure signs at all, the 39.6 primers looked only slightly flatter than than the 38.2. Very happy for these results. These correlate well with my older barrel and the load testing I did for 115 DTAC's.

I might note that the POA was the big diamond. For this I didn't care where they landed. I didn't adjust the scope. But I did adjust the scope down .625 MOA for the next set of shots.

Next was to shoot 3 shot groups at each powder level and gather chrono data. I used a Magnetospeed and did have two shots that didn't register so I don't have a full picture but I think it is clear enough. Here are the 8 sets of shot sets

It looks like I have a good node at 39.2/39.4 I would pick 39.3 and do some more testing when I put this barrel back on. Right now I am putting my older barrel back on and will use it this next season till either the season is finished next fall or if I see this barrel acting funny my new barrel is ready to go.

My observations on this is that these bullets shoot VERY similar to the 115 DTACs. My current match load is 39.2 H4350 at a MV of 2950. What is interesting to me is that the DTACs in the same ladder sequence had really poor performance at 39.6 just like the 112's. I don't have quick load but to me there must be some resonance in the powder burn to get such horrible SD's.

I had also loaded some of my current barrel match load to see how the 115's would do in the new barrel. They turned in 2 groups less that .5 MOA so it looks like if I do have to change barrels I am in pretty good shape.

I will come back and do some seating depth tests with these 112's. At the difference in price point they might just replace the DTACs in my line up. They have the same BC and they are a little faster by 40 FPS than the 115's in this barrel. I think they are worth a try at one 1000 yard match to see how they do, maybe 600 for a maiden voyage.

HTH

David

 

[The boogalorian]

I have been loading for a 6x47 this year for the first time. Started with smk 110's. They did not work out. Moved onto the Berger 115 vld's. I only got to shoot once a month on average so it took all year before I settled on a load with RL16 that yielded 3005fps out of a 26" barrel, averaging about .4 moa at 100 but a bit more at 200. After rereading a few posts from others I decided to drop the powder charge to find a lower node. Low and behold around 2940fps I was shooting 2's and 3's pretty consistently, the 60-70fps loss only translates into .5 moa at 600yards by my calculator. So now I am backing down my powder charge in favor of the slower but more stable load. Lesson learned.

Moral of the story... don't get caught up chasing velocity. If you are at the upper end of case's capacity/ pressure and the load is sometimes unstable then revisit your initial ladder test, there maybe something good hiding in the results that you passed buy for something faster.

 

[dstoenner]

I agree about not having to go for the fastest node especially in known distance matches. But i do want a fairly full case to eliminate any positional inconsistencies. The 39.6 load was not even close to a maximum load based on the primer. It still had a radius on it. And the bolt was normal to open. But if the 38.2 was somewhere in a lower node it doesn’t beat my 115 load for wind drift so it would drop out of contention. I just find it interesting that both bullets seem so similar in performance.

I found the 110 smk would not really allow you to load long enough to chase the lands. I didn’t do any load work up just sort of picked a load of 4451 to try it and it held about .75 10 shot groups.

when i put this barrel back on i am going to try RL16. Everybody raves about it. But i have about 8 lbs of h4350 left which will last these 2 barrels


David