6X6.8 Has Arrived

[GLSHOOTER]

The RW&B truck stopped by the house a bit ago and the nice lady handed me a big brown box. Well worn and traveled but intact. Return address was Ritch Johnson, who runs RPG, so I knew I was in luck.

Inside was the new 6X6.8 upper he put together for me. This one is a BHW 20" stainless 3R threaded for a brake. This barrel has the new BAT barrel extension and they are, to put it mildly, a work of art. Since it is threaded and I don't have a brake selected yet I screwed on an EGW thread protector. I had Ritch add a KIES Adjustable Gas Block and a Young Manufacturing FF tube. The upper was an old OLY I've had since the early 80's that needed a new breath of fresh air. The BCG is a CMT/STAG 6.8 set up.

I put a 24 X Leupold that I normally use for testing on the upper, oiled up the BCG and slipped a tactical charging handle in it and it went together as smooth as a set of satin sheets in the Biltmore Plaza!!

I mounted it up on a lower that runs a 3 pound Timney trigger and an ACE Skeleton stock. I like good positive operating surfaces and this one has the Magpul enhanced trigger guard and selector along with a Wilson over-sized bolt release.

I run this lower on my varmint rifles and some IPSC 3 Gun. This rifle will be used for those endeavorers also so I will be working with the VMAX 58's and the heavy 87's for initial load work ups. I love the 87's for their higher BC and energy down range on steel in matches and the VMAX for their "activity" on live targets.

I ran some numbers the other day also and this one is actually OK to run in a tactical rifle match here in Phoenix. They are shooting some WOA's in the match and doing well and I do believe that this one will do all the WOA will do and in an easier to make case format.

I made up 100 pieces of brass using Silver State 6.8 and a set of Redding Type S F/L sizing dies. It takes two passes with the bushing dies if you want to do the cases up right and then the obligatory trimming as the cases grow when you neck them down.

I'll load up my break in ammo and test subjects tomorrow and try them out on Sunday. I hope to get some good numbers and targets for posting. I've got a myriad 6 MM bullets and it should be fun.

That all being said here is the new cousin to the 6X45 I just started working with:





Greg

PS: Yes, the carpet is pink and it was here when I moved in in 1998. I thank it contrasts nicely with Tactical Black.

PPS: Thank you Carl and the entire BHW crew for turning out another great piece of gear.

[Deleted]

Rich does some wonderful build work. Looks great. Looking forward to seeing how it does.

One of these days you'll have to get yourself one of those pink and white Hello Kitty ARs I keep seeing around the internet to match the carpet.

[GLSHOOTER]

Apr 20, 2012 9:12:26 GMT -8 @kizmit said:

Rich does some wonderful build work. Looks great. Looking forward to seeing how it does.

One of these days you'll have to get yourself one of those pink and white Hello Kitty ARs I keep seeing around the internet to match the carpet.

Thanks Kiz. The suggestion is great but while I am a nurse I'm a male male nurse. It would be striking with my black BDU's but just not the ticket for non-mall Ninja wear.

Now if it were purple the wife would like that one.

Greg
PS: Now if some one sent me one I'd haul it to a match and shoot it in a heart beat!!

[Deleted]

hehehe...

[GLSHOOTER]

Well, I’ve had my rifle for about five days now and it was time to give it a go. I’ve been busy shooting the BHW 6X45 in F-Class the past week and had to let this one set in the corner glaring at me every time I came into the reloading room. This is what I pulled together yesterday on the first outing with the 6X6.8. My thoughts and impressions such as they are.

First off. 20” barrel 1:10, no muzzle brake. 24 X Leupold. Range 100 yards. Temperature 100-104. Winds up to 8 MPH switching. Light was full sun.

Bullets shot: 70 Speer TNT, 80 Remington PSP and 87 Hornady BTHP.

Cases were all Silver State, new, necked to 6 mm with 0.271 necks with a 0.268 bushing. Primers were Remington 7 ½ BR. All cases trimmed to 1.670. All cartridges loaded to 2.295, magazine length for 6.5 Grendel ASC magazines.

Initial break in was done with the 80 grain Remingtons. Powder was RL15. I have been using this one a great deal in my 6X45 I am shooting F-Class with and I knew it would do well as a SWAG starting point. Remember there are no published loads for this round yet although WOA and DTI information could be beneficial if you have access to it.

This phase was not good for groups as it is shoot one clean one etc. I hit 2856 and was happy with no pressures and a functioning rifle. I like this powder a great deal and will be trying it with some other bullets.

Once I got the barrel prepped I tried out the 70 Grain Speer TNT as my potential entry in to PD shooting, It has done well in the 6X45 and a 243Winchester and always works wonders downrange.

First up was H322. An old standby for group shooting in the BR game and the varmint fields. I managed 3216 with this one with decent pressure signs and groups in the much sought after sub-MOA level. This would be a good PD round but I know it can be beat.

Second try was RL10. This one is well known in the 223 based rounds and is mostly seen in the light weight bullet applications. I found it to be well behaved and toped out at 3292. Better speed but a bit bigger groups with MOA still doable with some skill at the trigger.

The last tried was AA2015. A very good powder in the 223 sized cases and excellent in my 6X45 varmint rifles I know it to be a bit fast but not overly so. The 2015 didn’t let me down. It clocked a very respectable 3331. The groups were excellent and a solid 0.6 MOA. I might back off the top speed a bit for better accuracy but this one will work until I try some other propellants that have some potential if experience counts for anything.

Next up was the 87 grain Hornady BTHP that I have been using in my 6X45’s for years. I did find this bullet was in the lands at MAX magazine length and need to adjust for that using a case from my Stony Point tool. I know I can jump the 87’s to the lands very well so this won’t be an issue in the future.

Being in the lands tends to increase pressure. I knew that these fast powders can be touchy with big bullets and the heat. I’ll have to shorten this round if I want to use these but there was plenty of case left at the load levels I tested. I elected to shoot them at this length but would not do this on a normal hunting round. Extraction of one that is pushed up in the lands can be problematic and I don’t like problematic.

H322 came through like I had hoped and clocked a solid 2934. I was at the top of the pressure curve but I believe the length could be adjusted down and still get some great speeds. Accuracy was only slightly over an MOA at 1.053 so this one will work with a bit of a tweak.

The next two powders were RL10 and the AA2015. Historically they have always been used with lighter bullets in my shooting past. The 2015 has been used with the 70’s in my 6X45 on many trips to the PD fields and I hoped it would work out but I was not confident of the results.

I found that both powders generated velocities of 2900+ but the load levels I started with and the land engagement made them very iffy. I leaked a primer with both and being a cautious fellow carefully closed the lid on the last two test batches and called it a day.

My initial impressions:

I think that this cartridge provides a very good platform for use in the varmint world. I do believe it can do dual duty with application on bigger game with a properly constructed and evaluated bullet, i.e. 85 grain Nosler Partition, it could easily work on deer as it is does offer a superior performance to the 6X45 as evidenced by what level of success I had with the H322 and knowing that there are better powders out there for the big boys.

I will not pursue any real heavy weights of 100 and above. I will probably shoot some Berger 95’s to see how it handles them as with a BC of .456 it would provide a usable 600 yard cartridge for precision/tactical rifle matches for me.

I will shoot the 58 grain Hornady VMAX in my next tests and will also go back to the 87’s on a reshoot. Looking at burn rate charts I knew that all three powders tested were on the fast end. A case of this size may well respond to slightly slower powders in the area of Benchmark, IMR 8208 XBR and H4895. These three should produce the velocities at a lower pressure. I believe there is a lot of room above current velocities with any of the three powders mentioned.

I can see where the accuracy on this cartridge is there and that some careful load work will really make this one produce. I already am considering it for a viable 3 Gun round as the BC is good for long range and it does give me a bit more velocity than my current 20” 6X45 that I shoot.

The 20” barrel is something that will often skew perceptions. I am use to what a 24” barrel will produce and have used them almost exclusively for years in my varmint shooting. A 20” barrel putting out 2900 FPS with an 87 grain bullet is pretty good when taken in the cold light of day. I reached my goal with that one with a powder that I consider less than ideal but still usable. The 70’s were hauling the mail extremely well for a standard length barrel.

The ability to use a basic set of bushing dies and brass without bumping shoulders back and changing the shoulder angle or having to fire form is a real attractive aspect on this one. Tactical Ammunition will be selling factory loaded rounds so if a guy doesn’t want to jump in to reloading right off the bat there will be ammo available.

The availability of Gendel magazines is a plus if you can‘t find 6.8‘s or already own a bunch of 6.5‘s. I used 6.5 Grendel magazines and I experienced no failures to feed. I have heard that some have tried even standard 556 magazines with god luck and I want to test drive a few of those too. If I were to fork over the extra cash for the PRI’s I would have a longer COL available but until I measure my lands I will hold on to that first born child money. I was shooting ASC magazines and they will let you go to 2.300 but I loaded them to 2.295 for a bit of a cushion. They are not expensive and I understand they are the old C-Products magazines that have a decent reputation.

Perhaps a little disjointed but I wanted to post here first about my experiences with Ritch Johnson’s brainstorm melded into a super quality Black Hole barrel.

Thoughts?

Greg

[bhwoodsman]

Disjointed? No way! Spot on as you had me right at my reloading bench and at the shooting bench evaluating and tweaking.

Like you, I have had great accuracy with 322 and very consistent pressures at varying temps. But, even heavy .224 pills pushed hard and my favorite smokin' 110-115 6.8s just aren't fast enough with these heavier bullets. This case and heavier bullets will demand a slower powder for the greatest efficiency. Which will it be?

Can't wait for your next report using slower powders and 75 - 87 grain bullets.

[GLSHOOTER]

I spent Sunday afternoon trying some new bullets and powders out in the 6X6.8. My goal was to get a general idea of how some powders were going to act with different weight bullets and to see what could be pushed harder or to see what I needed to take a step back from.

I shot three different bullets. The Hornady 58 and 87 VMAX and the Nosler 70 BT. I used three powders. 748, IMR 8208 XBR and H4895. The first two bullets were shot with all three powders at three charge weights.

This is a wildcat in that no data is available. The closest thing to it is the WOA and the DTI. The WOA guy says to start with hot 6 PPC data and go to the lower end of the 6 MM BR stuff. Not a bad approach. I pondered a bunch of loading sources before I came up with some numbers. One thing I learned was that with the light bullets on some propellants you run out of case capacity and that is a safety factor in and of itself. All that being said here is a thumbnail of what I got done.

Shooting conditions were a balmy spring coolish 90 degrees. Winds were variable from six to three o'clock up to 10 MPH. Range 100 yards. Full sun. Test rifle is a BHW 3R Stainless 20" barrel. 24X Leupold target scope. Lower has a Geissele High Sped Match Trigger set at about 8 ounces for the second stage. Magazines were 6.5 Grendel ASC production. My socks were black.

First up was the 58 grain VMAX.

748 yielded high velocity for the day at 3550 average. Groups on this one started out at 0.976/3 at 3371, 1.117/5 at 3448 and opened up to 1.427/5 at the top end. Not a bad showing for a powder that I have used for years. Its' only downfall is it can get erratic at the higher temps and being a ball type does not like being compressed.

H4895 was a bit slower MAXED at 3363. I got a nice 3 shot of 0.546 at 3315 and a sub-MOA at 1.024 at the top load. I'm going to reshoot this one as I really like H4895 in my 6X45 and I might want this as a fall back choice.

Third powder was IMR 8208 XBR. This one has really been working in a lot of the smaller capacity cases like the LBC family and 6 PPC stuff. Velocities were low but I have a bit more case available on this one to try for a bit more gusto. I toped out at 3276. However a PD hit is a PD not missed and this one would get'er done if I need it. Best group was a nice round 0.874/5 and I was happy with that. I think I can get another 100 FPS out of this one.

I shot the 70 grain Nosler with only one powder on a whim to duplicate Ritch's test. Mine were slower but I have a bit of room to play. I was also shooting this one at longer than magazine length but off the lands so my pressures were probably down from his loads, hence, a lower velocity would be expected.

The winds were moving a bunch when I shot this one at 1.3/5 and I am sure that this one is capable of much more. It will be a test subject down the road as I have a small boat load of the Speer TNT's that I dearly like to use.

The big bullets came out at the end. Previously I tested some powders that were borderline and a bit too fast IMHO. This time I slowed it down and saw less pressure. I did find some workable stuff though.

First powder I went with the 748 that has launched about 5,000 87's in my 6X45's and was not happy with the holes on out there. Velocity was poor at a top end of 2781. Groups were around 1.25 and it just didn't seem to want to work. SD was good once I started off my starting load but SD's don't win matches.

I loaded up the next batch of rounds filled with H4895. This one has more case volume to use if I want and pressures were lower. Velocity was way below what I consider acceptable at 2622 and the groupings bigger than I like. The velocities showed that H4895 is not a powder to work with using this particular bullet.

Last powder to burn on Sunday was, once again, the 8208. Did I tell you how much I like 8208? I finally hit my desired 2900 plus 23 with this one. Pressures were very nice and the best group fired was 0.774. I am going to reshoot it with some on both sides of the final charge weight and see what happens.

All my loads were nice and comfortable today. No leaky or blown primers. The rifle ran 100% so I was happy. The more I shoot this one the more I like it. I can see a 3 Gun match in the future once I get some bigger magazines. 25 round Grendels are pretty cheap so I figure four or five of those will be in the kit PDQ.

My future efforts will be with powders close to the 8208 burn rate and with some heavy refinement. I am shooting an initial three shot group with each powder at a low charge weight and then two six shot groups at charges heavier that the starting load. The three shotters give me some idea of bullet impact so I can make adjustments to get them closer to the aiming point and also let me know quickly if my pressures are out of the safety zone. I also want to revisit the 70 grain bullets as they are mid-weight for the cartridge and offer a huge potential on the varmint population when I get a chance to address that venue.

The initial thrash to get various powders evaluated does not lend itself to the best proof of performance in the reloading world. I normally will shot about forty rounds to evaluate a given bullet/powder combination and then when the best two charge weights are found I start working with those. I look upon these initial tests as the raw approach and will be putting the polish on them.

I’ll post more as I go.

Greg

PS: I will do a short note on the X Factor 223 later today.

[GLSHOOTER]

Moved my postto the TESTING HAS STARTED.

Greg