Question on Varmint load development in 6mmBR

[kjo]

A friend of mine and i are having a cpl 6mm rifles built to use on a june prairie dog hunt in SD; first rifles for us in this caliber. we could use some advise on loads. the barrels will be 1 in 12.

here is the issue: we would like to use the reloading data from this forum; get the cases, recommended bullets,hornaday v-max) and recommended powder,VV135) and work out a chrge volume that gives us best accuracy in our rifles. another friend says get a variety of bullets, variety of powders, and then try out all of these various combinations; and then fine tune that combo to our rifles.

it seems to me that we can skip all of those combinations and tap into the boards experience and start right off with a particular bullet/powder combination.

do you all see anything wrong with "cutting to the chase" and cutting out trying out all of those different bullet/powder combinations?

thanks for the advice.

kevin

 

[Slamfire]

The great thing about this cartridge is that many loads will work great. I like 32 grains of h322 behind a 55 grain ballistic tip at about 3700fps. I have yet to find a load using the recommended bullets and charges from the books that doesn't print well. I want to try those Vmaxs though, I have heard great things, but the load above has been great prairie dog medicine and I fear change.

 

[chino1969]

My 6BR 1:14 Hart barrel likes 34.5 grn. Varget, 65 grn. Horn. V-Max, CCI 450 mag. primers, Lapua brass. The same load works for the 65 grn. Beger MEF boat tail. I'm still experimenting with 68 grn. & 70 grn. bullet combinations. I've used alot of the info. on this website and it is one of the better websites.

 

[mikecr]

Everyone hopes for an easy out.
You risk nothing in going that route, and you might get lucky.

 

[3X5doggin]

Dear KJO,

What you're asking for is not quite so simple.

The heat in SD is high most of the time and the elevation is high.

I live in MN and find most of my loads print higher in ND and SD during the summer.,About 1.5" higher) So it's important that your load is stable at the conditions you'll experience during your hunt schedule.

Varget is a great poweder that I use in many of my loads, as it does not seem to increase pressures in ND and SD when the temps are high. This is very important! If you're loading to the edge, the load may become dangerous if the pressures increase dramatically.

I'd suggest you bring along a portable target and print your preferred load at the beginning of your trip. Too often, I've seen shooters arrive with a load that works great in their hometown only to have it way off the mark in the field. One of the best solutions we use is to mark your zero @ whatever range suits you and set the dial up points for each additional range point. If you do this in advance, it's a simple matter to dial in your scope to the conditions you may encounter in the field.

Good shooting!

Dave