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Post by elkman1310 on Apr 28, 2021 9:00:50 GMT -5
Well I had the bug to build a new 6.5/284 for 1000 yard benchrest. 6.5/284 can be competitive even against the all mighty little 6mm Dasher which I truly love. All my Dashers shoots really well and my 300wsm can get right down into the dirt and hang with the Dashers for group size and score so I thought I would apply all the things I do to those two cartridge's and make the 6.5 shoot small groups. The other motivating fact is I have a good reamer and all the stuff to feed this gun so it was kind of a no brainer.
The new gun has a Defiance Tenacity action with a PTG single shot follower. This is a heck of action for $900.00 it has a Jewel 2 oz trigger a new Bartlien barrel 1-8 twist 29 inches long with a muzzle brake. A new laminated benchrest stock with 3 inch wide fore end and it currently has a Sightron 10x50x60 scope on it. Gun weighs 16-8 lbs
I broke the barrel in yesterday shooting and cleaning till I got to 20 rounds then shot another 15 to get the barrel to break in. My 100 yard groups were impressive just shooting different test loads but that's only 100 yards I have two know test loads that have worked in the past (1) 49.5grs of RL16 and a142gr SMK seated .010 into the lands the (2) is 53.6grs RL 23 and a 142gr SMK .010 into the lands. I didn't get to check velocity out of this barrel I know Bartlien 5R barrels usually produce more velocity than standard 4 groove so time will tell.
First test came last evening at 1,000 yards conditions looked decent we had a couple other guys testing for the matches this coming weekend, I tested RL16 load first and when I shot on the back bank at 1050 at clay birds I noticed I was not holding vertical not a good sign my first 10 shot group was a disappointment till I looked at the other targets the other guys were shooting there was definitely a vertical condition going on I had 8 shots in 4 inches and two odd balls and One went high out of the group for a 7.5 inch group my buddy shot his Dasher next to me and he had a small 6 shot knot and then 4 wild shots all vertical the next target down had over 12 inches of vertical so it looks like RL 16 might shoot. Rl23 was big and round not a good sign . Sierra's don't shoot well above 3000 fps and that load got on with only 20.5 moa that is smoking for a 6.5/284 I am only getting .001 expansion on the cases and they have been fired a bunch of times so I do believe I will need to chrony these loads and keep the velocity down in the 2950 range.
Time will tell if I can make the gun really competitive. |
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Post by elkman1310 on Apr 28, 2021 21:24:12 GMT -5
Well this morning I reloaded 20 cases I used for my first 1000 yard test. I wanted to chrony each one and see what velocity the each turned up. These cases have all been gone over and made as close as possible but there is always a difference no matter how close they check out. I used the same load of RL16 49.5 grs and the 142gr SMK. I shot several fouler shoots to get the barrel settled in and then I shot 5 shot strings and recorded each numbered case one through 20.
In the first batch of 10 I had a low of 2965 and a high of 2999 fps the bulk were 2975 to 2985 which explains the vertical I saw. The second batch of 10 was really good the velocity went up to 2998 to 3004 except for shot #20 which was 2975 fps. The velocity did go up sum once the barrel had more rounds through it that's common and it tells me that I need to shoot at least 10 shots before I shoot a record target. So I took the best 10 cases and marked them for record and then the next closest 5 for last for sight in on the target and the others for shooting on the back bank along with others I have marked for sighters and see if I get ride of the odd ball vertical shots. You have to get your deviation as low as possible 5fps or less is ideal and doable.
I also shot several cases I had left over that were loaded with RL23 which shot big and round and got on with 20.5 Moa. they went 3090fps which is way to fast for best accuracy with the 142gr bullet. When I say the group was big it still would have put every shot in the kill zone on a deer but I am not hunting I am target shooting with the smallest groups possible.
I won't get to do anymore testing till next week the week is going to suck after tomorrow.
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Post by elkman1310 on May 5, 2021 6:57:51 GMT -5
Sorry no current shooting updates the weather sucks. Our matches have been windy to say the least and cold this week doesn't look much better so I have been working on a new stock for my heavy bench gun. it weighs currently weighs 65lbs and shoots extremely well but I simply can't handle 65lb guns anymore my hands are about shot. So I reworked a old wood stock I had to get the gun down to around 25lbs that's plenty for a 6mm Dasher with a muzzle brake. If it doesn't track good then I can go back to the heavy stock but I am sure it will.
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Post by buckeye68 on May 5, 2021 12:54:02 GMT -5
Sorry no current shooting updates the weather sucks. Our matches have been windy to say the least and cold this week doesn't look much better so I have been working on a new stock for my heavy bench gun. it weighs currently weighs 65lbs and shoots extremely well but I simply can't handle 65lb guns anymore my hands are about shot. So I reworked a old wood stock I had to get the gun down to around 25lbs that's plenty for a 6mm Dasher with a muzzle brake. If it doesn't track good then I can go back to the heavy stock but I am sure it will. Picture? |
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Post by elkman1310 on May 6, 2021 22:07:47 GMT -5
well I took some pictures with my phone and sent them to my email account and now I see that good old AOL changed the way my pictures are sent and so far I can resize them to send any.
But I did get to shoot the 6.5/284 this evening at 1k.the last time I tested it with 142gr SMK they didn't shoot very well and I blamed all the vertical on my brass. I shot 20cases and picked out the best 10 for record and the others for sight in. Well the vertical was there again and bigger than the first time which proved to me this barrel flat out doesn't like the 142gr SMK. I did load up new brass with Berger 140gr Hybrid with the same load and I had only 2 inches of vertical but the group was 7 inches wide. I didn't see where conditions were that windy to give me a 7 inch wide group. The vertical was great which was a good sign so the next test will be with the 140gr hybrids and add a few tenths of powder at a time to see what happens.
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