6mm Creedmoor

Reddnobb

Reddnobb

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Now that I have fired a few shots with the caliber I feel it's time to give it it's thread. I've been gathering information and parts since last summer and it's really nice to finally send some lead downrange and see what the fuss is all about. I found out about the caliber while doing research for my next toy which would be my first "match rifle". I plan to use it in ORA precision rifle, I caught the bug after just one try last summer.

As it's name implies, it's a wildcat formed by necking down a 6.5 mm Creedmoor case to 6mm(.243). Case capacity is the same as a .243 Win in Lapua cases. It's a George Gardner ( Mr. GAP) creation.

There are a few different versions of the reamer available from PTG so to avoid any confusion I got in touch with Mr. Kiff and once I told him what I wanted to shoot,he said: " that's simple I'll send you the same reamer GAP uses". The reamer I got has a .183 freebore and a .277 neck.

There are a few options for reloading dies. Hornady makes them for GAP and Whidden Gunworks is another source. That's what I got, a regular non bushing resizer and match seater. Recently I also ordered a bushing type resizer which will work for 6.5, 6 and 22 Creedmoor depending on the bushing used.

The load that everyone uses pushes a Berger 105 gr. Hybrid @ 3150 fps using a stiff load of H-4350. Run the numbers through a ballistic calculator and you'll see why it so popular. This is a wildcat, so there's no "official" load data but the information was very easy to find on the various forums.

Now about shooting the gun.

First I did my pressure test at the shop in our test range to see how the rifle would handle the loads. My rifle has a Bartlein 5R 1-8 twist 25.75 long screwed onto a Borden Tube gun action witn one of my comps at the end.

Cases: Hornady (new) 6.5 Creedmoor, flash hole debured, primer pocket unisized, not trimmed.
Primers: CCI LR 200
Powder: Hodgdon H4350
Bullet: Berger Hybrid 105 gr.
COAL: 2.800"
To ogive: 2.210

My pressure test went like this

40.0 gr. 2880 fps clean barrel
40.3 gr. 2923 fps
40.6 gr. 2962 fps
40.9 gr. 2972 fps
41.2 gr 2999 fps
41.5 gr. 2986 fps clean barrel
41.8 gr. 3045 fps
42.1 gr. 3046 fps
42.4 gr. 3105 fps

No pressure signs, easy bolt lift and the primers from 42.4 look the same as the 40.3. Barrel showed no signs of copper so I considered the break in done.

Next came a pre Cerakote test drive, I loaded 5 rds of each weight starting with 41.5 and going up to 42.7 again in 0.3 grains increment and headed to the range. The 41.5 were shot in sequence as sighters, and then I shot all the other loads round robin. Never really took a break to let the barrel cool down other than the occasional small talk with fellow shooters.

Here's the results of this first test

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The second rifle I'm building is just about done and I should get to do it's test drive very soon. This one is built on a Tac 30 and has a Benchmark 5R 1-8 medium palma finished at 26 inches. Both barrel required the same reamer bushing (0.2370") so the bores should be closelly matched and it'll be interesting to see the difference between the two. Load compability would be a freaky bonus since this one is for my shooting partner.

That's what I've learned so far about this caliber, hoppefully this was informative and will helped to shed some light on this nifty little caliber that building up quite a reputation for itself south of the border.


Paul
 
I shoot the 243 ACKLEY and have found H4350 at approx 42.2grs up to 42.6 has worked well giving me a velocity of 3020 FPS, using the 105 berger. This changes with different powder lots but I try to stay with this velocity as it shoots well.
enjoy
 
The other pic was huge. Copper Creek Ammo makes ammo. But, they're small...

Brass exists. GAP had a lot made. They and Creedmoor Sports is also selling it. I spoke to Hornady about it. They're considering making it a standard offering if the interest keeps growing. I think it will, the 6.5 Creedmoor is well on the way to replacing the 260 thanks to the cheap match ammo Hornady is offering.
 
kombayotch said:
The other pic was huge. Copper Creek Ammo makes ammo. But, they're small...

Brass exists. GAP had a lot made. They and Creedmoor Sports is also selling it. I spoke to Hornady about it. They're considering making it a standard offering if the interest keeps growing. I think it will, the 6.5 Creedmoor is well on the way to replacing the 260 thanks to the cheap match ammo Hornady is offering.
Click to expand...

Well, I know I'd be interested in some for sure. What's the best way to let Hornady know?
 
It made it into the gun mags a year or so ago. There is definitely interest in this chambering and the more PRS style matches catch on, demand can only increase.

Given the relation to brass most manf are already making, it would be pretty straight forward to tool up.

Best part for the manf, alot of this brass is left behind at matches so there is always a demand for new supplies. high rds counts, high consumption, music to a bean counters ears.

Hopefully, the cost per piece can come down...

Rednobb, love to hear how these loads group at further distances anything from 300 to 500yds.

Jerry
 
It's a cartridge that's used in a discipline that's growing like wildfire, where people lose 1/4 or more of their cases at each match. They'd be stupid not to make it a standard offering.
 
kombayotch said:
Send inquiries about whether they are going to offer it.
Click to expand...

Here's my correspondence with Hornady.

Hi There,

I was just wondering if there were any plans to offer 6mm Creedmoor brass. It is unavailable in Canada and if it was a factory offering from Hornady, then the dealers could order it.

Thanks

Thank you for your email. Our records show that we have been shipping our SKU#86281 6.5 Creedmoor Unprimed Brass to Canada. We suggest that you contact our Distributor and they can tell you which Dealer they have sold it to. Following is their information:
KORTH GROUP
101, 103 STOCKTON PT
OKOTOKS, AB T1S 1A7
Phone 403-938-3255
Thank you again.

Thanks for the quick reply, but I am specifically interested in 6mm Creedmoor not 6.5mm. GA Precision has been selling Hornady 6mm Creedmoor brass which I understand was a contract production run.

GAP will not ship to Canada, so I was wondering if there were any plans for Hornady to make the 6mm Creedmoor available.

Thanks again

Thank you for your reply. Sorry we do not make a 6mm Creedmoor Unprimed Case. We will forward your email to our New Products Division for their consideration.
Thank you again.
 
So... GAP makes it and headstamps it Hornady?

This is someone at the bottom of the food chain that isn't aware. Hopefully, the right people see these inquiries.
 
Ha, I know.

K, Jerry, you guys have been in this game a lot longer than I have so let me know if there's someone else to reach out to.

Is it worth phoning Korth?
 
If someone has an exporter on the US side, George will ship to them. He just doesn't want to deal with exporting. Maybe IRUNGUNS can bring some in...
 
Gentlemen, you are hard.

I come here all happy to introduce my new bride and you not only tell me that she's been around the block once or twice but also that 600 000 sailors have her name stamped on their butts. That's harsh...

It's also what attracted me to the caliber, because it was "paint by number" wildcatting.
Researching the various match 6's I read about some of the issues associated with certain calibers ( donut effect being one of them) and I did not want to have to deal with that in a rifle that could need a big quantitiy of shells. Being an old IPSC shooter, I too, like a few of you, hope to one day shoot PRS style matches this side of the border.

I did get in contact with GAP hoping to bring some brass in through Prophet, but at the mention of my Canadian credit card # GAP refused to go through the process. So I grabbed every piece of 6.5 Creedmoor Brass I could find this side of the border.

Back to the testing, I ran the same pressure test through the second rifle which has the 26 inches Benchmark 5-R 1-8 barrel , load data is identical to previous test.

40.0 gr. 2955 fps clean barrel
40.3 gr. 3001 fps
40.6 gr. 3032 fps
40.9 gr. 3043 fps
41.2 gr. 3050 fps
41.5 gr. 3043 fps clean barrel
41.8 gr. 3088 fps
42.1 gr. 3097 fps
42.4 gr. 3138 fps.

Once again I detected no pressure signs so I loaded for the next test. One difference to mention is that I did not load higher than 42.4 gr. for this test since that load had produced the speed I wanted in the pressure test. So the test batches went from 41.2 to 42.4 gr in 0.3 increment. No signs of copper on the patches, another easy break in.

Here are the results.

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Please do not draw any conclusion on barrel make quality or superiority from this test. Experienced shooters know that it means nothing at this point, but I would like to point that out to less informed readers. Part of the scaterring is user induced, some days I shoot better, some days less better. Happy with the results I could now paint this one and leave further load developpment work to my partner.

While still at the range, I switched the scope over to the first rifle and tested 3 loads that had shown promise on the last session. I was also planning to try some Lapua 105 Scenars but after loading 2 rounds I noticed an issue in the loaded rounds. ( more on that later) so I did not load any more.

The two Lapua rounds were used as sighter/fowlers and then I shot the differents charges as groups not round robin. Here's the target

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I wish I had shot a 3rd fouler, I have a feeling that that flyer would have been inside the clutter on that 41.8 gr. target. I will look into the 41.8 load later, but for the next test I would be trying a 10 shot group with the 45.5 gr. load to see how that goes.

Showed up to the range with the barrel still dirty from the last test, warmed up with a couple of other rifles that needed attention and once I was ready I shot the group. Not rapid fire but without letting the barrel cool down. Cold bore shot was dead on and the rest just followed the first one. Of course I got nervous towards the end and pulled the 8th out of the cluster, but I'm still quite happy with the results. One click right and I'm sighted in.

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One thing I'd like to mention is that the shot numbers on my program print out do not match the order the bullet were shot in, on none of my reports. I do not really pay attention to the target while I shoot and do the paperwork later just putting markers on holes at random.

Now about the loading issue with the Scenar, well actually it's also present on the Hybrid, just to a lesser degree. I'm getting a ring on the ogive of the bullet caused by the seating die. The combination of new Hornady brass and the Whidden die is giving me an outside neck diameter of 0.2675-0.268"so neck tension is too high and the bullets get deformed by the seating die stem. No big deal, to take care of the issue I ordered an expander ball set which will allow me to set the tension to a level that doesn't deform the bullets. Folks using bushing dies seem to prefer a 0.270" bushing so that's what I'll set my dies to produce. Keep in mind this was with new brass, I loaded some dummy rounds from once fired Hornady 6.5 factory loads and on these, the Scenar seated without any trace from the stem.

100 rounds so far shot with this caliber, I'd have to be an idiot not to be happy with the results and I can see why it is gaining in popularity in PRS. It is designed especially for this discipline by one of the top shooter and he seems to have done his job right.

Or course, I still have to see how it handles longer ranges, but I'm not too worried about that, far better shooters than me have already proven that it is hard to beat in the game it was designed for. 0.5 MOA or better in a practical mag fed bolt gun that's so easy to load for, it could practically be factory ammo. I did prep my brass, but I read that it's not even required and doesn't gain you anything. I just do it out of habit.

As soon as I set my dies with less neck tension, I'll load up a batch and run them through the chrono to see what kind of consistancy this load delivers.

As for the questionable wildcatter status, just to be on the safe side, I ordered a 22 Creedmoor reamer cause if my baby settles down too quickly , I know her little sister has a few more wild years ahead of her.

.224 75 gr. VLD @ 3450 fps run those numbers in a ballistic calculator and smile. That'll make one hell of a coyote gun.

p.
 
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