New Stick II. Run Milpark Run!! You Too Wile E.

[GLSHOOTER]

I have had the urge to start some more 3 Gun competition over the past year or so but wanted to bring in some new toys for the endeavor. I kind of let that slide as the F-Class stuff is pretty fun. After the advent of the 6X68 I kind of let it drop but then as I got to shooting my first one the cartridge just kept getting bigger and bigger in my mind. I finally talked wit Ritch and he figured it would be a fun one to play with. I've shot a 6X45 for over 20 years in those matches so a non-223 was not hard to visualize. This one won't quite make major but I'll cure that down the road.

I made the call to Andy a few months ago and told him I wanted an 18" threaded standard weight 6X68 for 3 Gun. I realized a a bit late that fluting would be nice as this one is for run and gun but I somehow spaced out on that and never contacted BHW. I had talked with Andy and Ritch did also about the project and somehow my thoughts were transmitted telepathically. I was almost GTG on the barrel until the move happened and it got boxed up with the rest of the unfinished projects. They managed to find it and get it into the finishing area. Andy and Carl both looked for it nd surprise, surprise they found it and just "forgot" to tell me about it!! LOL

Anyway last Thursday Ritch got a package and called me right away after discovering it leaning on his front door column. He cracked the package as we talked and he found an 18" standard profile mid-length with full fluting fore and aft. He said it "looked good" One thing about Ritch understatement is named after him!! Ritch had all the parts waiting so proceeded to get it together so I could have it this week. Aero upper, BTE adjustable Lo Pro GB under a Young Manufacturing FF tube. Ritch dd a single ventilation holes so I can adjust the GB as needed.

Here is what Ritch sent me as a teaser just to give me anxiety.



And the barrel showing the nice fluting and specs.



Not sure what scope will show up but it will probably run two optics. Muzzle device has not been picked yet but that will happen soon.

I'll get some pics up soon. I'll try it out with the Tactical Ammunition factory loads. I hope to shoot it with TA ammo in the matches I get into.

Greg

[bt8541]

Looks really nice. One can never seem to have to many.

[GLSHOOTER]

Jul 8, 2013 14:59:06 GMT -8 bt8541 said:

Looks really nice. One can never seem to have to many.

Thank goodness they engrave the chamberings on the end!! They look a lot alike unless you have cosmetics done to the, A 24" bull looks just like the next as does a 22" standard. Trust me on that!! LOL

Greg

[bt8541]

Telling them apart has been a challenge at times. When that happens, I tend to get rid of a couple just so I can build a couple more.

[GLSHOOTER]

Well I took the 18" gun out the other day along with a 20" standard weight that I had barreled up a few months ago before I got heavy on my 20 Practical upper. For an opening shake down on the two I loaded up 58 ZMAX and 70 Noslers. I used 8208 on the 58's and 70's along with some CFE 223 on some of the 70's.

Identical loadings were shot through both guns on the same day. About as same same as I can get on testing barring the fact that it got a tad hotter as the morning wore on thanks to the Arizona sunshine. I started at 88 and finished at 100. Cloudy day for openers with the clouds leaving in about 30 minutes after I was done with the 58's. The sun hit and the mirage was doing its Disco dancing through the scopes. Wind was none to light with a variable direction.

The 18" gun now wears a Miculek comp as I intend to run it in 3 Gun matches. Of course it will make a lively little live game gun too if pressed into service. The first load shot through the rifle was the one that I helped develop for Tactical Ammunition. This load has shot well in virtually every 6X6.8 it has been tried in. A surprising thing since it is available as a factory loading from TA. The short tube robs velocity as we all know but it was not excessive.

Here are the first two groups after sighting in the new scope.



Those made me smile as I had a feeling that this one will fill the bill nicely for my run and gun fun.

Next I shot some of the 70 Nosler BT's over 8208. I had not shot a lot of these in the 6X6.8 so wanted to give them a whirl in the shorty. The velocity was right what I expected on this one. There is some space left to go up and I will cautiously bump it from here maybe up another 0.5 grain or so as I think it wants to shoot based on the group progression from lower charge weights.



Not a 500 yard PD load yet but it may well be in there somewhere. Certainly good for 300 yard IPSC targets or coyotes given the chance.

The CFE 223 loads showed good speed but the accuracy just wasn't there. I have a few pounds of it so I may well try some bullet seating depth changes.

The 20" 6X6.8 is pretty vanilla. Just a regular standard BHW poly rifled tube with a target crown. This one was just whim build so I wanted to see how my whim worked out this time. Once again I tried the same loadings.

The 8208 58 ZMAX load that shot well in the short gun did OK but I was seeing some vertical stringing. I had a set of rounds loaded up with another 0.5 grains so I hoped the extra kick would pay off. I have had good luck with it in several other guns also so the results did not surprise me. It is still a bit vertical so I want to try another 0.3 in this one I suspect the extra nudge will pay off.



That one errant shot was me getting froggy. I think that was about the time I got bit by a big old black ant on the shin!! LOL

Moving up to the 70 grain loading was interesting. I shot the 8208 again under this one and I was very happy across the board with all of them. The first nine shots out of the bag, I used #10 to set my sights did themselves proud.



I shot the same bullet with 0.5 and 1.0 grain more and got usable sub-MOA groups on them.

I moved on to the CFE 223 stuff and the 70 Noslers for my last testing of the day. I had forgotten my cleaning rod so all these groups were shot dirt barrel meaning I had 90 rounds through each tube on the last shot. I did find that the groups were string up and down on this one two until I got up in charge weight. The last two groups went into 0.873 AND 0.882 if I get to Mulligan the LAST SHOT of the day!! The CFE speeds were up a bit over the 8208 as expected.




I was very pleased with the last batch and will be reshooting that recipe again.

I learned that the 2" of barrel added up pretty well across the board to 70-80 FPS difference. Extrapolated out I found the speeds right on with my 24" gun that I had shot some in previously. I am pleased that the 18" shows promise and the 20 is sure no slouch when it comes to slinging them together. These loads were all made up using the Federal once fired stuff I picked up from LWRC. I fully processed it in a three day session. Pressures shown in both guns at all levels showed no pressure signs. No ejector swipes or even shiny spots. I am looking forward to seeing how these hold up.

I'll post up more as I do the load development on these two and maybe even give a report once I get my old tail down to the 3 Gun matches.

Greg