Fire form with clay??

[Stev]

I have a 'ton' of 6mm brass to fire form into 6AI. I read somewhere about loading a fast pistol powder with modeling clay in the neck in place of a bullet. That would be easy on the rifle and the pocket book. Any info would be appriciated - especially the load.

 

[Preacher]

Lots of time the fireform loads for a 6mm AI are accurate enough to use for varmints, so I just shoot em up that way...
I'll assume that clay is about as nasty as cream of wheat, and none of that stuff will be in any of my barrels.....
I would rather hunt down some cheap fire form bullets and have at it if there were no varmints around....

 

[rayjay]

I would use dental wax. I fireformed 15 30BR cases and there was no visible residue in the bbl. I think modeling clay would eventually stop up the bbl.

 

[wc872]

If the gunsmith is close by have him chamber a piece of steel and then turn it to fit in a single/double bbl. shotgun. One of the coolest things my gunsmith did for me. I wasn't looking forward to sending lots of bullets or anything else down my match bbl. Used the cream of wheat method makes nice cases it's just really loud. He just made an insert shaped like a long steel 12 ga. shell. It worked really slick. I personally would not use clay as it is slightly abrasive. Clay bars are used to take the high spots off car paint when detailing.
Semper FI

 

[Stev]

Site $$,if you don't mind me using your first name),

I'm not familiar with dental wax. Where can I buy some?






In a free society, the opportunity to succeed is directly proportional to the opportunity to fail.

 

[Stev]

mc872,

I believe the clay bars for restoring auto paint is impregnated with a fine abrasive for that purpose. That being said, I doubt that that clay would damage steel. If it had any effect it might polish a little and that might be good. The Tubbs 'bore lapping' bullets are pretty gritty but don't remove any measurable metal but are proved to increase accuracy and velocity........


In a free society, the opportunity to succeed is directly proportional to the opportunity to fail.

 

[ChuckMiller]

I use the cream of wheat process and frankly it's a snap. I've evem modified a 20gallon trash can and do it at home in the garage. From the street, about 100feet, you can barely hear it and I have the comfort of doing it at my leisure, no trip to the range, etc. With a 6mmAI where barrel life is minimal you'll be wasting about 20% of your barrel life before you even start load workup, fireforming with bullets. If this is a hunting rifle, which I doubt since the AI version won't feed reliably from a mag, make sure you have moa accuracy and use it hunting. Considering the size of the cartridge,ie barrel life) you won't be using it for PD's so getting 100pcs of brass will take you awhile. I have 2, one a 1-8,rem700)for shooting 105-107's, the other a 1-12,Sako L579) for zooming 75's at warpspeed, neither will feed from a mag reliably. Both are customs and neither will shoot better than 1" with fireforming loads, but...sub .5" with formed brass. Good luck.

 

[rayjay]

You can get dental wax at the pharmacy section of most grocery stores. I think Kroger had it the cheapest around here. The chain drugstores were app $1.00 higher for each package which is absurd.

I bought a bunch and then didn't like the results on the 30BR. A few months later one of my nieces got braces so I gave it all to her

Note: Locally it will be at least $1.00 per package higher than the price in the link.

http://www.planetrx.com/shop/detail.cfm?sku=A2959&rfr=NEX&zmam=1000941&zmas=26&zmac=107&zmap=A2959

 

[Stev]

What 6AI fire form loads do you use for wax or Cream of Wheat loads??

 

[cliffe]

when i fireform cases i use unique powder and cream of wheat. for my 7mm gibbs 11 grains powder and fill the rest with cream of wheat and plug with a small piece of toilet paper.cream of wheat and toilet paper won't hurt the bore, it's those darn bullets that wear it out! clean the bore right after fireforming and check between shots that the bore is not plugged. you should be good to go. cliffe

 

[Magical_Merlin]

I also used the cream of wheat and toilet paper method on my 260 AI. I have heard that cornmeal is a lot easier to use instead of the cream of wheat.

 

[Stev]

Does anyone have a powder load for the 6AI Cream of Wheat load??

 

[Magical_Merlin]

I use 15 grains of Unique pistol powder when I FF my 260 AI. Make sure and fill the case up with cream of wheat past the neck/shoulder junction. I filled my case up to about 1/8" from being full.

 

[ChuckMiller]

I use 10grs of Unique then fill the case to the top with COW. Wipe it off and shove a piece of toilet paper in it and shoot. I'll set up a RCBS powder thrower and charge 100 cases at a time, take a funnel and fill to the top with COW letting it overflow, simple enough when through to dump the excess in the trash. Nice thing about doing it at home is you can do a single case, go in the garage fire it off, check the shoulders and increase if you need it. After 25 rounds I'll take a swab and patch it out and when through give it a good cleaning with solvent, brushes, ie the whole deal. I've bore scoped mine when through and there is no evidence of any adverse effect to the barrel.

 

[Obtunded]

Bees wax works just as well and is easy to clean out