Loads for the new BIB 95 grain flat base

[dreever]

Well, I thought I'd get the ball rolling so here's my current load. Remember always work up cause your mileage may vary.

Case: Lapua 6BR .269 neck
Bullet: BIB 95 grain FB
Seating depth: .015 into the lands
Primer: CCI 450
Powder: Varget
Charge weight: 30.7 grains
Velocity: 2984 fps
E.S.: 7 fps

I began to see cratering at 31.0 grains so just to be on the safe side I backed off .3
I currently have Dave Kiff regrinding my reamer for this bullet so will let you know the particulars when I get it back as far as free bore is concerned. I presently am using an eight twist Shilen, but have a nine twist Krieger on order since I feel that the nine twist will be ideal for this particular bullet.

What are the rest of you Guinea pigs using?

Danny

 

[dreever]

Lynn,

After talking to Dave Kiff I'm going with a new reamer with a little longer freebore instead of messing with my really nice .060 freebore reamer. Especially since the current lots of Lapua brass measures a bit bigger at the web.

Randy sells the bullets in multiples of 500. Order time you'll have to ask Randy what it is right now since he makes them by hand and it just depends on how many orders he has in front of yours. He's a good guy to deal with and if he tells you it's XXX days or weeks that's what it will be. Not like some other manufactures of Benchrest stuff we know.
Forgot pressure ring measures .2436 on the 1000 I just recieved.

Danny

 

[AlNyhus]

Danny, you may want to consider having Dave make up a throating reamer. That way, your reamer can be used for the body/neck and you can throat seperately for the bullet you are going to use....opens up a lot of possibilities for a reamer.

We've been doing this for quite some time and it works well. There are some benefits to throating in a seperate operation that aren't readily apparent.

Good shootin'. -Al

 

[jb1000br]

Al -- care to share the advantages of the 2-step process?

All i can see is better machining because the throating reamer is ONLY cutting a very small amount of steel each time.

JB

 

[oldjad01]

What twist is needed? Nothing up on the BIB site about this bullet the last time I looked. JimDee

 

[dreever]

Jim Dee,

Randy said they'll work in eight nine or ten twist barrels,which could get iffy at sea level or in cold temperatures).

As long as you don't push them at 3200 or above in the faster twist as they will blow up. Personally, I'm shooting them in my eight twist now at 2984 fps with no problems. I have a nine twist on order which I feel will be ideal for this bullet.

Yep, they are to new, and haven't made the web page yet.

Danny

 

[GermanS1]

 

[GermanS1]

I shot the groups show above this morning, all shooting was done prone, in a sling, at 200 yards. There was a 2 to 7 mph,measured) wind from the left, temperature was in the low 80's, humidity below 20%. The target is the NRA MR52, slow fire 200 yards. The X ring is 2 inches, the ten ring is 4 inches. The first bull has two pasted holes, these were my sighters and were fired with Lapua 105s.

While these groups may not excite the benchresters among you, the ones fired with the 95 BiB are as good as I've ever shot with the 6BR. The Lapua and Berger 105 groups are shown for reference as these are my normal loads and the groups fired are about average for them. I have no chrono data, the rest of the info is:

Rifle: Remington 40X
Barrel: Broughton 1:8" twist 6mm, 30" long Palma contour
Trigger: Jewell single stage 4 oz.
Scope: Leupold BR24,Tucker conversion)
Stock: Master Class Stocks prone model

Brass: Lapua, 9X fired previously
Powder: Varget 922034114,a slow lot)
Primers: CCIBR4
Bullet Coating: NECO Moly Coat with wax
Seating Depth: BiB bullets 0.015" into lands, Lapua and Berger 0.010" into lands.

 

[Forum Boss]

German,

BIBs shot nothing but Xs it looks like. Nice Shooting!

I guess the question is whether the enhanced accuracy,tighter groups) pans out at 300m, when considering wind drift. I bet you'd be tempted to try these at a match though...

Man you just obliterated the X in that second BIB target.

I just communicated with Randy this morning. He plans to resume production as soon as he can get more jackets.

Thanks for the great test. Seeing is believing!

I'll try to chron some at 30.5 and 31.0 Varget, but I have a shorter barrel. I suspect, with moly, you may be able to up the charge a bit. Would you agree the 31.0gr load seems the most promising? It appears to have the least vertical.

 

[GermanS1]

The 30.5 load is the one that really caught my attention. The one high shot in that group was the first and I then took one click down. I should also mention that there were no pressure signs of any sort. All primers were fully radiused at the edges, there was no cratering at all and extraction was like on an empty chamber. Between the moly and my slow lot of Varget, I'm sure that contributed to the low pressure.


As for shooting them at 300 Meters, have no doubt about that! As soon as I can speak to Randy my order will be in.

 

[Forum Boss]

Ah,

I clicked on the other photo link and realized what I thought was vertical was horizontal. Based on that, yes the 30.5 looks the tightest, given your click correction. Five shots just ripping the X. You have to be proud of that!

Guess the .015" into lands wasn't a bad place to start.

FYI to readers--this was the first time German tried these bullets. So this is basically the result of zero load dev, other than the stepped charges. We still don't know how they might shoot jumped, or with a faster powder...

 

[GermanS1]

I fixed the first picture so it's correctly oriented now.

I absolutely agree that this by no means shows the full potential of these bullets. Three "guessed-at" loads with a single powder is in no way definitive. I can't wait to get a good supply of these to really work with!

 

[dreever]

German,

What O.A.L. are you using? Are you into the lands or seating them for use in a magazine?
The groups you are shooting prone with a sling are indeed phenomenal.

Off a concrete bench using my 1000 yard front rest and Edgewood Mini Gator rear bag I've shot groups measuring .5 or less at 300 meters using the new BIB seated .015 into the lands. O.A.L. just using the calipers measures 2.375.
I find it interesting that your 30.5 grain load and my best load of 30.7 are within .2 of one another. Perhaps there is a window here. Although your barrel length is four inches longer so your velocity must be in the 3000 fps range.
I've a new reamer in the works by Dave Kiff ground specifically for this bullet, and a nine twist Kreiger on order which I feel is the ideal twist for the new BIB. Although the way it's shooting in my eight twist I'm half afraid to take that barrel off .

Danny

 

[GermanS1]

Danny, I was 0.015" into the lands as well. I don't know what the OAL was as I didn't measure that and now I have no more 95's :^,

I'm very pumped-up about this bullet, I placed an order for 1000 with Randy. As soon as he can make more I'll be back to shooting them and will report back.

Your 300 Meter groups have me drooling! If I can do 2" from prone at 300M it's a great day. I have no bench technique whatsoever, every time I try it's a disaster. But I've been shooting prone since 1971,when I was 11) so I have a good handle on that!

German Salazar
www.ShootersJournal.com

 

[dreever]

German,

Shooting of a bench is easy compared to that prone stuff! It's all rests and bags and free recoil. Heck if the rifle didn't need me to pull the trigger it would shoot itself! LOL!
The BIB is definately a great bullet. It might not have big BC numbers, but it really flies well and seems real easy to tune compared to some of the VLD's.
I hope Henry Childs gets some to tell us what the BC really is. I'm guessing around .450 or so, but could be wrong.

Danny

 

[JamesnTN]

I've been working with the new BIB 95 grn FB in my 6 Dasher and so far the accuracy node has been right at 3000 fps with an ES of 4 fps that yields .190 at 100 yds and 2 3 shot groups at 300 yds yielded an avg of .902 This is from a 7 3/4" x 28" Krieger barrel chambered in a 6 Dasher. My next accurate Node was at 3174 fps with an ES of 19 fps the next level it popped a bullet on leaving 2 shots on paper and guessing the 3rd shot never made it down range.

The target shown is what it shot at 300 yds from my rifle.

 

[RGRobinett]

As indicated by James' results, the J4 jacketed 95 Gr.BIB FB bullet is not well suited to twist rates faster than 1:9": it is best suited to twist rates between 1:9" and 1:10". Via the faster twist barrels, we have found that 3100 FPS seems to be the "speed limit" for reliable performance; while via 9 & 10" twist barrels, we have yet to experience a failure - even at MVs well in excess of 3400 FPS.

Interestingly, some rifling types may well be more forgiving - that is, cause less damage/stress to the jacket - one individual, using an 8" twist Broughton barrel, featuring the 5C rifling profile reports no problems - is this an individual barrel quality, or a real attribute of the 5C profile? R.G.

 

[JamesnTN]

Randy,

If the winds lays down for this weekends match in St Louis it looks like I may be shooting your 95 grn in my 6 Dasher. I'm heading out tomorrow to reverify the load and accuracy for consistency.
Have you guys tested them at anything over 500 yds in the wind? If so how are they comparing say to the 105 Berger's in the wind and grouping? I sent some to Henry Childs so he can test for a real BC so we all can know what the actual BC is.
I'd be interested in knowing how they are holding up in the wind esp. since 3000 fps is as hard as I can push them accurately and still stay together.

 

[flatlander]

Danny, back to the subject of your reamer's freebore dimension - I've got throating reamers from Dave Kiff for both 6 & 6.5mm. Reason for buying the 6mm throater was a barrel I was having problems with - the lands in the leade were of uneven length after finishing a Dasher chamber. The throater was an attempt to rectify the situation that didn't work. Fortunately, the barrel maker replaced the blank, and I've had no problems with their barrels since. The 6.5 was needed because I specified too short a throat length on a 6.5x55 reamer, and wound up with 139s or 142s seated with the boattail/bearing surface junction well below the case's neck/shoulder junction. Dave's throaters cut like a hot knife through butter, so you have to proceed with caution, but the results have been very satisfactory. The 6.5 Krieger the throater was used on is shooting better than it did when new at 1000, and has saved me the cost of a new finishing reamer with proper throat length.