Starting Powder Choice For 6mmBR

[CentrePunch]

Hi guys,
With powders costing on average $70 a tub here in the UK i cant afford the luxury of several tubs to start my load develpement.
I am therefore looking for the best powder to suit lighter bullets and the 1-14 twist of my rifle.
I am mainly concerned with powder for 70grn SMK's, which i will be using on the range but for varminting i shall be using 55-75 grn bullets.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Ian.

 

[BoydAllen]

A friend is getting excellent results with VV 133.

 

[jwv2001]

First of all, let me say that, I’ve only had experience with 65-75 grain bullets is my 6mmBR 26” 14” twist rifle. The powder I’ve found that pretty much works with all has been VihtaVuori N135. Let me also say that the 75 gr. will be the heaviest bullet you will be able to shoot in your rifle. I’ve found that the 65 gr. Hornady Vmax is probably the optimum in my rifle but when I tried the 75 gr. Vmax I had trouble keeping it on the paper. When I tried the flat base Sierra 75 gr. HP Varminter, I got groups like the 65 gr. Vmax’s. The 75 gr. Sierra is a shorter bullet that the 65 gr. Vmax. I think this is the reason it shoots so well.

Load for the 65 gr. Vmax is: 32.5 gr. VV N135 3471 avg. velocity

Load for the 75 gr. Sierra HPFB is: 32 gr. VV N135 3320 avg. velocity

My range buddy, who is probably the same guy Boyd is talking about, gave me his load using a 65 gr Vmax and 32 gr. VV133. Average velocity with this load was 3590!! I’m going to back off a little and try this powder again.

 

[ReedG]

Hey CenterPunch,US spelling!):

Welcome to the board.

The three powders I see as being most successful in 6BR are VV135, Varget, and RL-15.

I personally have only used Varget of those three. I have had two 6BRs with 1:14 twist shooting light bullets, up to 70-gr., mostly 66- and 68-gr. custom BR bullets. Varget has a reputation of burning "dirty", but the temperature stability and accuracy are hard to beat. I've put 2,600 rounds through the first barrel and am at 2,100 rounds on the second barrel, all with Varget except for a few hundred trying BL-C,2), W748, Benchmark and H322.

Personally I think the 6BR is a very forgiving cartridge to load and when you find the seating depth that each bullet likes it will shoot great with a variety of powders. That being said, if I was starting from scratch, I would probably try VV135 and/or VV133 just because I hear so many positive reports from them and they seem to burn much cleaner than Varget.

Some of the smallest groups I've ever shot were with 55-gr. BlitzKings using Benchmark and H322. The Sierra 70-gr. MKs and Speer TNTs both shoot extremely well with "hot" loads of Varget. If you can afford them, Berger 68-gr. Match FBs are just about unbeatable in the 1:14 twist. You'll amaze yourself with how small a group they will shoot. But you must experiment with seating depth to really get the good load. My barrels have both wanted bullets seated .020" to .025" into the lands before real consistency showed up.

Good luck. Keep us informed on how you do. Feel free to email me if you want some load data, although the "Favorite Loads" link here has some good data for you. Every gun is a little different, so take time to find what your barrel likes.

 

[Forum Boss]

Load for the 65 gr. Vmax is: 32.5 gr. VV N135 3471 avg. velocity

Load for the 75 gr. Sierra HPFB is: 32 gr. VV N135 3320 avg. velocity

Just one word of caution. With CCI 450 primers, with a Pac-Nor 8-twist, I maxed out at 31.5 N135 with the 75gr Sierras, which a Shooting Chrony said were moving 3350 fps.

You always hear the caution to "start low and work up." Given barrel differences and lot to lot variations, we've now seen numerous examples of up to a full grain difference between 6BR rifles, shooting the same bullets at the same velocity. Add moly into the equation and you may have 1.6 grains difference.

 

[CentrePunch]

Thanks for that guys,
I think i will start my load developement with Vit 135 and maybe some Benchmark.

Ian

 

[EdAtts]

My PacNor 1 in 12 barrel shoots very well with 34 gr. Varget behind 58 V Max and 55 Sierra Blitzkings. I recently acquired a pound of 748 and 35 grains of this powder shoots 1/4 or smaller with the Blitzkings. Hodgen 322 also works well with the 55 and 58 grain bullets.

I have actually had a proble trying to decide whether Varget, 322, or 748 is best since all three shoot half dime size groups. Bullet seating depth may be the biggest variable.