My new wildcat 6mm

[Hotolds442]

Got the Boyd's laminated stock set up tonight to properly hold the centerfeed box mag properly, action is in place, but I need to shorten the front action screw at work tonight. Loaded up 5 more rounds starting where I left off, still looking for maximum with the H4350 at .010" off the lands.
http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y471/chevypowrd/Rifles/Savage%20111%2006/7F40E0B8-D9DC-43E8-A197-8665337302C1_zps0fd6snr9.jpg
6x55 Improved 30°, Savage 111 Long Action, center feed. Savage large knob bolt handle. 24" Apache Gun Works 8 twist Varmint contour barrel. Leupold 4-12x40 on Leupold rings and bases. Boyd's Prairie Hunter stock in Cinnamon.

On the big brown truck: 20moa EGW scope base, Burris Extreme Tactical low rings, Zeiss Conquest 6.5-20x50 scope.

[scope eye]

I see you are running H4350, and have a lot of room left in the case, I would try burning some H4831sc, Win780, or RL22 with loads 50gr + I am sure you would see better numbers and probably tighter groups,

Dean

[Hotolds442]

I'll be trying the 4064 before I try anything else for now, after I finish working up with the H4350. I won't be buying any RL-anything due to the temperature sensitivity, and 4831sc is not on my horizon., nobody has it in stock. I still have the H1000 to experiment with, as well as IMR4831.
The scope, mount, and rings are installed, and Thursday I'll finish working up loads of H4350 and start on the IMR4064. I might even play around with some Varget.

[Hotolds442]

Work has gotten in the way of this project update, so I finally made time to update the thread some. I'm right at 250 rounds down the tube, and have settled on a load, which for now is better than I thought I would be without trying several powders. I settled on 49.5 grains of H4350, mainly because I couldn't argue with the accuracy I was getting. 100 yard 5 shot groupings are averaging right at .2", while my 200 yard groups are .25 average. I sighted the rifle in at 250 yards and then took it out to 1000 to see if I could still maintain the accuracy. Shooting at a 3" plate with no spotter, my first two shots came in about 3" low with a calculated 18 moa dialup. I gave it one more click and was on the gong instantly. 20 rounds later, I had 18 hits on the plate. The Zeiss Conquest worked really well at 1000, so well that I ordered another for my 22/250 project. Reloading has so far consisted of using a 6br neck die, and that's it. As far as using a gutted 6.5x55 for FL resizing, that won't work for my rifle since the 6br reamer removes most of the Swede case taper and the FL die tries to put the taper back in necessitating fireforming again. I have about 20 rounds that have been loaded for fireforming once, and then reloaded 5 times neck sized only, and still have no problem chambering the loaded rounds. Trimming has thus far not been necessary. My next step later this fall is to try the 105 AMax, although the Hornady 105 HPBT leaves nothing to be desired. As it stands right now, the rifle has bagged 6 coyotes, and 2 crows. Jim at Apache did an excellent job on this one, I can't commend him enough for his work.

[scope eye]

You can full length 80% of the case without touching the neck, which is more than enough.

Dean

[ShaneG.]

I ended up taking a piece of o2 tool steel and made a die blank with a thru hole then ran the reamer in deep enough so I could use it to size the bottom portion of the case. Took out any click I was getting on a few cases.

[Hotolds442]

I finally got my hands on some MagPro, time to work up some loads and see what happens.

[upSLIDEdown]

Tag. Seems like an awesome round.

[Hotolds442]

I'm Spent some time on the firing line today with this one, I had some single loads progressing from 49.5gr to 51.5gr of H4350 and from 54.0gr to 57.5gr of MagPro, loaded only to find maximum powder charges. I was shooting with user NW Hunter from the board, and his friend Mike. We strapped a magnetospeed on the barrel and recorded velocities for each round using only the Hornady 105gr HPBT. The velocities weren't nearly what I was hoping for, but different powders may yield better results. I was hoping for 3400fps, but it still might be attainable with the right powder.

These rounds were all loaded with the bullets at .010 off the lands
49.5gr H4350 2.965 COL clocked 3236fps
50.0gr H4350 2.965 COL clocked 3276fps
50.5gr H4350 2.965 COL clocked 3310fps and the bolt was stiff when opening. Group size of those three rounds was .337 not bad for three different powder charges.
54.0gr MagPro 2.965 COL clocked 3132fps
54.5gr MagPro 2.965 COL did not light off the primer
55.0gr MagPro 2.965 COL clocked 3167fps
55.5gr MagPro 2.965 COL clocked 3128fps and the bolt was again hard to open. Notice how the velocity fell off once the pressure indications were there. Group size for the 3 MagPro rounds was .427, also not bad for three charges with 1.5grains difference between them.
I checked my notes and the 51.5 loads I reported earlier were a typo, somehow between my phone and my PC the load data got messed up. I was shooting 49.5gr. Thanks To the cloud for screwing that up...
http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y471/chevypowrd/Rifles/405ed7d625000557e18020e71b09c9a8_zps8f3dba86.jpg
I'm really happy with the groups this rifle is turning out, my next loads will be with H-1000 and more work with the IMR4064. I hope to be able to get velocities for those work ups too.
I plan on working with some of the loads I shot today, increasing jump to the lands and see what happens.

I also got to shoot my Model10 PH in 243AI, shooting groups with varying overall lengths, and found a couple of promising loads. I'd previously settled on 42.5gr of Varget for both the Sierra 75gr HP and the Barnes 72gr HPFB and at .010 off the lands, the Predator Hunter shot a 3 shot group of .242 with the Sierra bullet, and a 3 shot group of .469 with the Barnes at .020 off the lands.

http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y471/chevypowrd/Rifles/80536472f0067aca52f77a7f2eb8dc64_zps189d3f82.jpg


We weren't able to stretch anything out past 100 yards as we were in the clouds all day and long range visibility wasn't happening. Thanks again Randy for the invite and the use of your chronograph, and it was nice meeting you Mike, we will have to do it again!

Note: All loads noted in this thread are safe/unsafe in my rifle only, as such, always reduce by 10% for your particular rifle.

[scooterf79]

Thanks for the update HotOlds.....Im a little suprised at the velocities myself, but maybe a different powder will work better. The groups sound promising. Surely that speed is attainable, just right off the top of my head, isnt case capacity near or slightly more than the 6-284? Interested in hearing about your next round of trials. Groups in the 2's with the 243 AI....very nice!
Scooter

[Hotolds442]

The 284 based round has a couple of grains of water on the 6x55. They should be within 100fps of each other. The 105 in the 6mm is considerably flatter than the 140 in the 6.5x284 according to iStrelok. The extra 350fps helps a lot there. Hopefully the next time out, we'll run the 6x55 against the 6.5x284 at long range. The two groups from the AI surprised me, it had 700 rounds on it before being reamed to the AI, and another 800 since. I didn't expect much for accuracy. .010 in or .010 out and it groups entirely different. It definitely has a sweet spot.

[Hotolds442]

I've adjusted my fireforming loads down to 39.5 grains of IMR-4064 and the shoulders are nice and crisp. No more ejector marks either. I should have more chronograph data late next week. My Magnetospeed will be here by then and I'll have a couple of weekdays off to do some shooting.

[scooterf79]

Sounds good! Hopefully I will be able to at least do some fireforming in the next week or 2. Look forward to your report on your new toy also. 😊
Scooter

[Hotolds442]

Sounds good! Hopefully I will be able to at least do some fireforming in the next week or 2. Look forward to your report on your new toy also. 
Scooter
The Magnetospeed arrived today, right before I left for work. I didn't even have time to open the package. I might set it up on my 50 yard range at the house and do some playing this weekend, but sleep sounds better than shooting. This 3pm-3am crap is getting old already.

[scooterf79]

You must have the same ups guy that I do! I leave for work at 615, and when does he show up? Right about 610.....every time! Lol So I feel your pain. About the same amount of hours also....by the time I get home I don't even feel like looking at the stuff I get. Anyway, sorry for the rant lol, but cant wait to see the results of both. I know youve got plenty of the 105s to play with but are you going to try anything lighter...say maybe the 87gr vmax or anything like that? Ive got a box to try in mine after I form my brass.
Scooter

[Hotolds442]

Ill probably try the 87 VMax, but I won't spend too much time getting loads worked up for it. If I stray away from the 105, it'll be to develop loads for a hunting bullet. I've got some 85gr TSX's and some 85 gr Nosler Partitions for that.

[scooterf79]

Gotcha.....I built mine just for varmint hunting so, I'm gonna probably stick with the varmint type bullets, I do think this would make a dandy deer rifle as well....
Scooter

[dKilla]

If I may ask, what was the turnaround time on the Apache barrel from the time you placed the order to when it arrived?

[scooterf79]

I had mine in about a month......
Scooter

[Hotolds442]

I ordered the barrel on 2/20/2014, and it was on my doorstep on 3/12/2014. So roughly 20 day turnaround. Those days are gone as Jim is now a very popular man.