Building a precision rifle in short action caliber, caliber advice
- Thread starter Mike112288
- Start date
Guys use 6mm Dasher in PRS shooting. So you should be able to get them to feed.
I've burned through a 243 win barrel quicker than I thought it should go. I'm turned off by the 6 creedmoor and 243, 6xc due to barrel life.
Personally I shoot 6.5x47. I think it's a spectacular round but it's for the handloader only. I think a couple places might have factory ammo for it. You might be best served with 6.5 creedmoor, 260 Remington or 6.5x55 Swede if you are open to going LA on the Swede.
I've burned through a 243 win barrel quicker than I thought it should go. I'm turned off by the 6 creedmoor and 243, 6xc due to barrel life.
Personally I shoot 6.5x47. I think it's a spectacular round but it's for the handloader only. I think a couple places might have factory ammo for it. You might be best served with 6.5 creedmoor, 260 Remington or 6.5x55 Swede if you are open to going LA on the Swede.
Just looking at 6.5 mm 140-150 grain bullets I’m so impressed I don’t see why anybody who can easily afford to would not rather go 6.5 over a 308. Unless we’re pushiing 230grain 30 cal bullets in a 300 magnum of course. 22 Valkyrie, 6mm and 6.5 stand out to me. 6.5 taking the lead. A 284 win wouldn’t be a bad idea either I’m sure. I fired a few shots out of one before.
Mystic Precision
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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- Summerland, BC
Since you want a mag fed repeater, I assume you are going to use AICS type mags?
operating OAL is 2.9'ish". That will quickly limit the use of the heaviest 6.5 projo's... yes, I am shooting them now. The 6.5 CM is ideal in the 139/142gr class and that is plenty effective to 1 mile.
I really like my 6.5 CM's... many prefer the 6mms and packaging with the heavies out of a 6mm CM is easier.
Easier still is the 22 CM and I am really enjoying this one. Just put some lead on target at 1310yds.
If you need to mag feed, start with the OAL that work and then go backwards to the bullet/case combos that actually fit.
if you are going to single feed, alot can be said about the 308 and current gen heavies in a nice long barrel.
Jerry
operating OAL is 2.9'ish". That will quickly limit the use of the heaviest 6.5 projo's... yes, I am shooting them now. The 6.5 CM is ideal in the 139/142gr class and that is plenty effective to 1 mile.
I really like my 6.5 CM's... many prefer the 6mms and packaging with the heavies out of a 6mm CM is easier.
Easier still is the 22 CM and I am really enjoying this one. Just put some lead on target at 1310yds.
If you need to mag feed, start with the OAL that work and then go backwards to the bullet/case combos that actually fit.
if you are going to single feed, alot can be said about the 308 and current gen heavies in a nice long barrel.
Jerry
Don’t forget the 6.5x47 I showed you awhile back. When you look into the heavy 6.5 cal bullets you are going to need a heavier recoiling gun to benefit the high BC. I’m not anticipating any feeding issues with my Dasher build. If you want something different look into a Sherman short or his SST in 6.5 or 6mm. Actually a 25SST with the new 131 gr Blackjack is kicking the 6.5’s. It’s a real wind cheater. Hunting version coming out this fall.
I love my .260 Rem. I shoot it out to 1500m with great success.
I have 139 gr Scenars going 2930 fps.........
If you reload that I would go this route.
If you strictly shoot factory ammunition I would go 6.5 Creedmoor.
Huh? Thats mighty fast! Is that going downhill?
Sorry but that's sound like the arguments of the guy that missed the 6.5 creed boat and is stuck with a 260 lol.
260 as nothing for her. More case grow, longer package that put in the perspective of a 2.950 max oal cancel the small case capacity margin.
Get the 6.5 creed or the 6.5x47L. Simple and proven calibers that plain work, better brass and are easy to drive.
Depending on your financial situation you may want to consider the cost of brass.
Premium brass is always expensive, but with military calibers such as 223 and 308 you have options to purchase brass much cheaper.
What I do is purchase once fired brass in bulk. IVI or Lake City is fine.... Preferably Lake City... it's thicker in the web.
Now you may be cringing right now but hear me out...
Once fired brass might cost $15 per 100 instead of $80 to $150 per hundred for new, so you can purchase once fired brass by the thousands for the cost of new brass by the hundred.
I do a full process on this once fired brass including annealing using the salt bath method... so its cheap.
For 308 I also neck turn the brass for consistency.
I swage the crimped primer pockets... works better than reaming.
Once I'm done resizing I weigh all the cases and write the weight of each right on the case with a sharpie.
Then I sort the cases into lots of 100 according to the closest weight
So while there may be a 4 grain weight difference from the lightest to the heaviest, within the sorted lots of 100 I have them in groups with a total weight spread of less than 1/2 grain.
If you want them really close in weight, start with a larger lot. The more you have, the closer the total weight variance will be in the end. For 308 1,000 rounds sort into 100 lots come to about 1/2 grain weight variance... for 223 3,000 sort to about 1/5th of a grain.
Sounds like a pain? Well maybe... but I end up with so much brass for the money that performs as well as any expensive brass.
Just watch for defective rounds and the occasional mismatched head stamp in there. You want them all the same.
Premium brass is always expensive, but with military calibers such as 223 and 308 you have options to purchase brass much cheaper.
What I do is purchase once fired brass in bulk. IVI or Lake City is fine.... Preferably Lake City... it's thicker in the web.
Now you may be cringing right now but hear me out...
Once fired brass might cost $15 per 100 instead of $80 to $150 per hundred for new, so you can purchase once fired brass by the thousands for the cost of new brass by the hundred.
I do a full process on this once fired brass including annealing using the salt bath method... so its cheap.
For 308 I also neck turn the brass for consistency.
I swage the crimped primer pockets... works better than reaming.
Once I'm done resizing I weigh all the cases and write the weight of each right on the case with a sharpie.
Then I sort the cases into lots of 100 according to the closest weight
So while there may be a 4 grain weight difference from the lightest to the heaviest, within the sorted lots of 100 I have them in groups with a total weight spread of less than 1/2 grain.
If you want them really close in weight, start with a larger lot. The more you have, the closer the total weight variance will be in the end. For 308 1,000 rounds sort into 100 lots come to about 1/2 grain weight variance... for 223 3,000 sort to about 1/5th of a grain.
Sounds like a pain? Well maybe... but I end up with so much brass for the money that performs as well as any expensive brass.
Just watch for defective rounds and the occasional mismatched head stamp in there. You want them all the same.
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Well... that's throwing money at it, I've done it too, and that's fine if..
A) You can afford it
or
B) You don't shoot much
or
C) You only have one rifle to feed
For the cost of 100 rounds of Lapua, I get 1,000 rounds that are probably closer in weight per batch of 100 than Lapua is.
Brass has just gotten so expensive lately that I put effort into finding a cheaper way to get it done.
Sure it takes a little time, but once I'm set up for it, things move along quickly enough. Just put on some reruns of Top Shot and get to it.
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For the price, I find 7.62 L.C Brass to be quite accurate actually. I get consistent .25 to .35 MOA without weight sorting it. I anneal every 4 times or so. Run pretty hot loads and haven't had a single case failure yet.
Good bang for the buck for sure!
Good bang for the buck for sure!
Weight sorting might be a form of superstition but seems to makes sense to me at least from a theoretical perspective.
In all honesty I have never made an extensive chronograph evaluation to prove or disprove the value of weight sorting brass, but the most consistent chronograph results I got was from brass that weighed the same.... 10 shots 1 FPS ES 6x47 Lapua with large primer brass.
I have a buddy who insists upon weight sorting his primers as well, but you will need a very precise scale to do that, which I happen to have. If you cant weigh to 0.001 grains, you are probably wasting your time sorting primers.
Bottom line I think is if you shoot far, you will see a difference in vertical dispersion as a result of velocity fluctuation.
The weather is warming up and I hope to test some of this myself soon.
The problem is there are so many factors that affect muzzle velocity and brass weight is only one of them, all we can do is try to reduce as many variables as possible and hope for the best.
Very accurate & long barrel life.
Sorry, didn't miss the Creedmoor boat......I avoided it like the plague and purposely went .260 Rem.
One of my shooting buddies shoots a 6.5 Creedmoor and my .260 Rem doesn't give up anything in comparison.
