Shots fired ! 6 Dasher: first 20 rounds

[garandman]

Took the new gun to the range. Specs:

• Rem 700 action
• 1:7 28" Douglas bbl (gave it a good cleaning before firing. Very blue patches came out) @Stan Taylor
• Lapua chamber, measures 2.348"
• MPA chassis
• Nightforce NXS scope

Here's the gun:



Loaded up 20 rds 28gr Varget under 105 Berger VLDs. 2.347 OAL Peterson brass. No neck turning required, true Dasher brass. Per barrel makers recommendations, loaded virgin brass light to set primer pockets. Break-in consisted of fire 5, clean for 20 total rounds.

Bolt lift was heavy at times on fired rounds. Here's the fired brass:






Here's how patches came out after each cleaning:



Note the sequence (left to right) and how the patches showed. 2 wet patches, BoreTech Eliminator, 10 strokes wet brush, 2 more wet patches, then 2 dry patches. STILL getting some blue.

Here's the target, noting order of rounds fired:



For a first firing with no load development, I'm pretty pleased. The fourth group (rds 16 - 20) were all one-hole till the last shot, the last round in the mag. It got hung up while chambering and I wonder if the bullet got set-back at all. Thinking if I'm firing 5 round groups, maybe use a dummy round. / load 6 total.

Rds 2 - 5: first shot was 10" high and I had to re-zero.

Rds 6 - 10: Bad set up of rear bag caused vertical stringing???? I do that sometimes.... being too lazy to set rear bag up right and instead try to hold butt steady

Rds 11 - 15: Muscling rifle rather than allowing free recoil ??? Had it well tucked into sholder pocked and off hand with solid grip on rifle butt / rear bag. I'll hafta see if this rifle prefers free recoil.

Still figgering what it all means. Hoping to compete in 600 / 1000 yd F- class, And seriously improve on my reload skills.... brass prep, sizing, etc.

 

[1shot]

Great looking rig that is showing a lot of promise. More importantly, good note taken. This will pay HUGE dividends going forward.

Lloyd

 

[fkimble@charter.net]

Might want to get the firing pin hole bushed on your bolt. The primers are flowing into the hole even with that light load. What primers are you using? Might can switch to 450's or 205 Federals to reduce the flow.

Frank

 

[Liven The Dream]

Good Luck with your Dasher !
I have a Norma Dasher it is a Amazing Rifle and Round .

 

[garandman]

Might want to get the firing pin hole bushed on your bolt. The primers are flowing into the hole even with that light load. What primers are you using? Might can switch to 450's or 205 Federals to reduce the flow.

Frank

These were CCI BR4s, so yeah, prolly 450s w/b better. I will try that. I was hoping somebody would comment on firing pin strikes. Thanx.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

What did the carbon on the outside of the necks look like? Did you measure headspace on the new unfired brass?

 

[garandman]

What did the carbon on the outside of the necks look like? Did you measure headspace on the new unfired brass?

I got a Harrells Precision neck bushing sizer die. It came with a case mouth / neck collet, that allows me to measure unfired case length. The averaged 1.386- 1.387 (going off memory, here)

Fired case - 1.402 - 1.404 , or .015 - 0.020 stretch. I may be misunderstanding your question, or answering it wrong.

I'll need to double check carbon on outside of neck. Maybe post up a pic.

Good, helpful questions to get me thinking. Thanx.

 

[Mark W]

These were CCI BR4s, so yeah, prolly 450s w/b better. I will try that. I was hoping somebody would comment on firing pin strikes. Thanx.

I just went through this with a 6 BRA built on a 700 action with a PTG bolt. Even using CCI 450s it was cratering so bad with starting loads that I was not comfortable working up loads. I sent the bolt to @carlsbad and had it bushed and the firing pin turned down to a smaller diameter. My primer strikes went from looking like yours to looking like this pic.

 

[mudduck]

I’m not a dasher shooter but I don’t think you should be have heavy bolt lift with 28 grains of varget. Unless it is some crazy fast lot of it.

 

[KMart]

I’m not a dasher shooter but I don’t think you should be have heavy bolt lift with 28 grains of varget. Unless it is some crazy fast lot of it.

If he was moving the shoulders forward .020" that case was slamming around the chamber pretty good. Plus, my limited experience with Peterson Dasher brass, it has a tendency to give you a heavy bolt lift. Had the same results from the first generation of Alpha brass. I have some of the Alpha OCD brass but haven't tried it yet,

LAPUA BRASS HAS SPOILED A LOT OF US.

 

[wkdickinson]

I just installed a new Criterion 1:7.5, 28", 6 Dasher on a Savage "Target" action and have been doing some load development using Berger 105gr hybrids, Varget, CCI 450 primers and new Alpha brass. The barrel was chamber by Criterion using a PTG reamer. I did a ladder with Varget from 31.9gr to 32.8gr and found a very consistent node between 32.1 and 32.4, so I picked 32.3gr. No pressure signs all the way up to the top of the ladder and no heavy bolt lift. I then did a jump test from jam to -0.027 in 0.003 increments and found a node between -0.003 and -0.006 where it will shoot <0.2 moa at 200 yds. (3-shot groups). My neck tension is about 0.0015", set with a mandrel. I have about 150 rounds through the barrel.

 

[KMart]

I just installed a new Criterion 1:7.5, 28", 6 Dasher on a Savage "Target" action and have been doing some load development using Berger 105gr hybrids, Varget, CCI 450 primers and new Alpha brass. The barrel was chamber by Criterion using a PTG reamer. I did a ladder with Varget from 31.9gr to 32.8gr and found a very consistent node between 32.1 and 32.4, so I picked 32.3gr. No pressure signs all the way up to the top of the ladder and no heavy bolt lift. I then did a jump test from jam to -0.027 in 0.003 increments and found a node between -0.003 and -0.006 where it will shoot <0.2 moa at 200 yds. (3-shot groups). My neck tension is about 0.0015", set with a mandrel. I have about 150 rounds through the barrel.

Is this the initial issue brass from Alpha or the updated OCD brass?

 

[Bill Norris]

Took the new gun to the range. Specs:

• Rem 700 action
• 1:7 28" Douglas bbl (gave it a good cleaning before firing. Very blue patches came out) @Stan Taylor
• Lapua chamber, measures 2.348"
• MPA chassis
• Nightforce NXS scope

Here's the gun:

View attachment 1284853

Loaded up 20 rds 28gr Varget under 105 Berger VLDs. 2.347 OAL Peterson brass. No neck turning required, true Dasher brass. Per barrel makers recommendations, loaded virgin brass light to set primer pockets. Break-in consisted of fire 5, clean for 20 total rounds.

Bolt lift was heavy at times on fired rounds. Here's the fired brass:

View attachment 1284854




Here's how patches came out after each cleaning:

View attachment 1284855

Note the sequence (left to right) and how the patches showed. 2 wet patches, BoreTech Eliminator, 10 strokes wet brush, 2 more wet patches, then 2 dry patches. STILL getting some blue.

Here's the target, noting order of rounds fired:

View attachment 1284856

For a first firing with no load development, I'm pretty pleased. The fourth group (rds 16 - 20) were all one-hole till the last shot, the last round in the mag. It got hung up while chambering and I wonder if the bullet got set-back at all. Thinking if I'm firing 5 round groups, maybe use a dummy round. / load 6 total.

Rds 2 - 5: first shot was 10" high and I had to re-zero.

Rds 6 - 10: Bad set up of rear bag caused vertical stringing???? I do that sometimes.... being too lazy to set rear bag up right and instead try to hold butt steady

Rds 11 - 15: Muscling rifle rather than allowing free recoil ??? Had it well tucked into sholder pocked and off hand with solid grip on rifle butt / rear bag. I'll hafta see if this rifle prefers free recoil.

Still figgering what it all means. Hoping to compete in 600 / 1000 yd F- class, And seriously improve on my reload skills.... brass prep, sizing, etc.

In reference to hard bolt lift with Peterson brass, even with reduced charges as recommended by Peterson I have experienced it with ALL Peterson brass including 6BRX, 243AI, & 260AI. I do understand I am blowing out brass with each one.

 

[wkdickinson]

Is this the initial issue brass from Alpha or the updated OCD brass?

I don't know. About 4 months ago I bought 197 pieces from a fellow on here. It was brand new/never fired, but I have no idea how long he may have owned it. Seems to work fine as far as I'm concerned.

 

[wkdickinson]

In reference to hard bolt lift with Peterson brass, even with reduced charges as recommended by Peterson I have experienced it with ALL Peterson brass including 6BRX, 243AI, & 260AI. I do understand I am blowing out brass with each one.

Maybe when you are fireforming it, but I bought new SRP Peterson for my 243 Win (6 reloadings) and LRP Peterson for my 6.5 Creed (4 reloadings) and have not experienced hard bolt lift with either. But I also anneal after each firing, use a Widen FL bushing die to bump the shoulder back and finish the neck with a mandrel.

 

[garandman]

Case necks:



And unfired, virgin brass...




Vs. Fired brass





Pretty consistent 0.010 stretch.

 

[Stan Taylor]

I rather suspect a wet chamber is heavy bolt bolt lift.

 

[garandman]

I rather suspect a wet chamber is heavy bolt bolt lift.

Dry patch it ?

 

[Adam in WI]

Unless you use nylon brushes and nickel plated jags, you're very likely to keep getting a little blue on your patches using Boretech, Sweets, or the like

 

[garandman]

Primer test: