6 Dasher or 6x47 Lapua for PRS/NRL Competition

Kudu

Kudu

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Hey Guys, as the title states I am looking at building a new rifle for precision match shooting in either of these two calibers. For a bit of background, I have been competing for the last few seasons in BCRA, club matches (NWPRL) and PRS matches down in Washington State with my 6.5 Creedmoor, and I have learned a ton from it! I will be keeping my 6.5 CM (running 139 gr Lapua Scenar's at 2790 ft/s and testing with Nosler RDF's now) and can never see myself selling the rifle, but will transplant some parts over to the new rifle.

So far I have a Defiance Deviant Elite action on order, a 6 mm barrel ready to go, a chassis lined up and a scope/rings setup that is solid, I just need to figure out which caliber to go with. If I choose the Dasher, my load goals are; 105 gr bullets going 2900-2950 ft/s (26" barrel), Lapua 6mmBR brass, load long/jam/fire to form. If I go with the 6x47, the load goals are similar; 105 gr bullets going 3000-3050 ft/s, Lapua 6.5x47 Lapua Brass, neck down and go!

I have considered the 6 Comp Match, 6 XC, 6 Creedmoor, 6 SLR, 6 BR and 243 Win, but there are factors to each that have drawn me away and narrowed my selection down to these two.

If you have any hands on experience with either of these calibers, input would be greatly appreciated!

- Kudu
 
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Lapua 6mm BR brass is sold out for now although some dealers may still have some or perhaps there is Norma product. Lots of 6.5X47 Lapua brass. More 6mmBR brass in July.

Regards,

Peter
 
They are really similar, neither is going to give you any meaningful edge over the other. Besides from availability, only difference I can think of is the Dasher will need magazines with shorter followers and blocks to feed; the 6x47L will run out of normal AICS 308 magazines with no trouble.
 
The regular 6mmBR at 2850 gives up .1mil to the Dasher at 1,000.

Alpheus is right that Br cases need a mag kit to work. There are lots on the market now and some are very high quality.

I am headed to RLRR and sort of expect the Br to be a little undergassed but that is OK. For most of the matches in AB the distance is 800M and in and the Br gives up nothing at that distance.
 
I have done both the 6x47 and 6 dasher, both are awesome and crazy accurate, only down side is the extra step in brass prep, dasher you have to fire form and 6x47 you have to neck down. Neither is a huge deal but I ended up settling on the 6xc for the ease of loading. IMO I think all the 6mm’s are great and have or have had most of them. You really can’t go wrong with which ever one you choose.
 
I also love my 6XC and the Norma brass has been fantastic too. Plus Peterson is supposed to have small primer XC brass coming. If you didn’t want to do brass prep?
 
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The two cartridges that most of the top shooters in the PRS are moving to are 6 Dasher and 6.5x47L. Reason being ease of tuning, consistent performance, resonable barrel life and quality brass.

I switched from 6x47L to 6 Dasher after the Finale. The difference is night and day. The Dasher on a typical day is the 6x47L on it's best day. Huge nodes, SDs in the low singles and ragged hole groups. I would not take my 6x47L into a match with more than 900 rounds on it because you start seeing velocity dropping at around 1200 rounds. It'll still shoot well to 2000ish, but you NEED consistent velocity through a match and train-up (figure fo 300 rounds). Dasher you can go to 1800. 6.5x47L to 2500 before velocity starts dropping.

6XC is nice except for the brass situation. But, Alpha is supposed to be releasing small primer 6XC, so that will make it attractive. Many report some lots of Norma 6XC dying quickly. That is holding back the 6XC...
 
I had not heard of any people directly, who had bad experiences with their XC brass? I know several other long time XC shooters who have all had good luck like me with it. Not to say that isn’t possible, but maybe I just got later Gen brass?
Some of mine has at least 8-10 reloads on it, and have hardly lost any so far. I have ran some pretty hot loads too. I will definitely be trying out the Peterson brass though when it comes out, just to see if I can see any improvement.
 
kombayotch said:
The two cartridges that most of the top shooters in the PRS are moving to are 6 Dasher and 6.5x47L. Reason being ease of tuning, consistent performance, resonable barrel life and quality brass.

I switched from 6x47L to 6 Dasher after the Finale. The difference is night and day. The Dasher on a typical day is the 6x47L on it's best day. Huge nodes, SDs in the low singles and ragged hole groups. I would not take my 6x47L into a match with more than 900 rounds on it because you start seeing velocity dropping at around 1200 rounds. It'll still shoot well to 2000ish, but you NEED consistent velocity through a match and train-up (figure fo 300 rounds). Dasher you can go to 1800. 6.5x47L to 2500 before velocity starts dropping.

6XC is nice except for the brass situation. But, Alpha is supposed to be releasing small primer 6XC, so that will make it attractive. Many report some lots of Norma 6XC dying quickly. That is holding back the 6XC...
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K, what are you doing for mags for your Dasher?
 
I 3D print my own spacers and followers. Here are some I've made for Accurate 10 rd. mags (without plate), and 13 rd. and 10 rd. MDT mags. I use springs from MDT plastic mags. Once I'm happy with the MDT ones, I will send them the models and let them decide if they want to make them.

0421180937.jpg

I know several people who have had the Norma 6XC brass get loose primers after 5-6 firings. One of the US shooters who has come to MLRSC twice (Edward G.) had issues at the fall Big Dog Steel match because of it. If Alpha makes their 6XC brass as good as their other brass, it'll fix that. And with SRP, you'll be able to drive it faster.
 

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kombayotch said:
The two cartridges that most of the top shooters in the PRS are moving to are 6 Dasher and 6.5x47L. Reason being ease of tuning, consistent performance, resonable barrel life and quality brass.

...
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Interesting to me to still see the two calibers.... 6mm AND 6.5mm

I think you could put it another way.... 6mm 105/107gr at 2950'ish fps.... 6.5mm 140/142gr at 2700'ish fps (or the 130gr equivalent or whatever). These have been the accuracy nodes for these two options forever. Really doesn't matter which case you run as long as you have the basics of load tuning dialed in. Hit these speeds with 8 twist barrels and the bullets cluster together.

I like the simplicity of a "longer" case so feeding is a no brainer. Running high pressures has never paid dividends for me so I am not worried about super strong brass (I can certainly offer and do use it, but strong is not why I would choose to run them). The larger case lets me use a bit more powder at lower pressures for the same velocity.. tuning is rarely ever a problem close or far... and bore/throat life is substantially better.

For brass, Lapua, Norma, Peterson, Alpha.. all excellent choices. Hrn is on a mission to dominate anything "creedmoor" and is making superb brass at surprisingly good pricing.... it took a big drop a couple of months ago.

all good fun...

Jerry
 
What interesting to me is almost regardless of chambering or barrel maker it is - as Jerry says - the FPS that causes those nice little clusters.

My 6mmBR pushes 108 Berger BT's ( my fave little 6mm ) at 2942 SD 5 while my 6.5-47 pushes the 139 Lapua Scenar at 2729 (9) so these are almost exactly the magic 2950 and 2700. My 260 moves the same 139 pills at 2744 which is close but the odd duck out is my 6xc which is stunningly accurate with the 108's but only manages 2876. I would be tempted to tinker with the 6xc but it is hard to argue with the results on paper so I will leave it be.
 
Mystic Precision said:
Interesting to me to still see the two calibers.... 6mm AND 6.5mm

I think you could put it another way.... 6mm 105/107gr at 2950'ish fps.... 6.5mm 140/142gr at 2700'ish fps (or the 130gr equivalent or whatever). These have been the accuracy nodes for these two options forever. Really doesn't matter which case you run as long as you have the basics of load tuning dialed in. Hit these speeds with 8 twist barrels and the bullets cluster together.

I like the simplicity of a "longer" case so feeding is a no brainer. Running high pressures has never paid dividends for me so I am not worried about super strong brass (I can certainly offer and do use it, but strong is not why I would choose to run them). The larger case lets me use a bit more powder at lower pressures for the same velocity.. tuning is rarely ever a problem close or far... and bore/throat life is substantially better.

For brass, Lapua, Norma, Peterson, Alpha.. all excellent choices. Hrn is on a mission to dominate anything "creedmoor" and is making superb brass at surprisingly good pricing.... it took a big drop a couple of months ago.

all good fun...

Jerry
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I built a 6mm Lapua 7 years ago with a barrel from Mystic Precision and It`s a super cartridge but today I would definitively go with a 6mm Creedmoor (if shooting mostly 600 yards and under) or with a 6.5 Creedmoor (if shooting a lot over 600 yards).
In fact, I'm thinking or rebarreling a BCL102 to 6mm Creedmoor because of super low recoil, super accuracy and ability to kill any varmint and any deer at any range!
Finally, if you looking for a magazine feed cartridge to stay with a 6.5 Lapua or a Creedmoor based cartridge. (308 based cartridges are now not worth it considering modern alternatives)

Alexandre
 
I bet on Dasher and my barrel should be getting spun up imminently at Insite. Now to find some brass.... I foolishly did not hoard it when it was available here....
 
AlexF said:
I built a 6mm Lapua 7 years ago with a barrel from Mystic Precision and It`s a super cartridge but today I would definitively go with a 6mm Creedmoor (if shooting mostly 600 yards and under) or with a 6.5 Creedmoor (if shooting a lot over 600 yards).
In fact, I'm thinking or rebarreling a BCL102 to 6mm Creedmoor because of super low recoil, super accuracy and ability to kill any varmint and any deer at any range!
Finally, if you looking for a magazine feed cartridge to stay with a 6.5 Lapua or a Creedmoor based cartridge. (308 based cartridges are now not worth it considering modern alternatives)

Alexandre
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Glad that 6.5 has worked out well for you.

let me know if you want a BCL barrel. personally, for an AR10 platform, I would go with the 6.5 CM. I like that the bullet weights are closer to the 147gr that the system was built around. Can you tune for lighter bullets, of course but the higher pressures and larger gas volume of the 6mm may make things a bit more fussy to set up.

The 6.5 CMs have been relatively straight forward barrel swaps.

Jerry
 
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