6BR Practical

[mattri]

Wanted to build a 6BR for a "Practical" rifle.

Not a dedicated comp gun, but something that could be shot at the range, in the field, from various positions, be light enough to carry, stable enough to shoot well, an all around "practical" shooter.

Hope to use this rifle for target work at various ranges while honing my mechanics, reloading skills, wind reading etc etc.

PTA action, bone stock except for a swap from the .378" to .473" boltface.

Shilen SS Select Match 6BR from Jim at Northland.

HS Precision 3 screw stock, pillar bedded but otherwise stock.

Vortex Viper 6-24 PST EBR-1 MRAD

Load work up started with 105gr Amaxs over 28gr of H4895 in Lapua cases with CCI 400s at 2.350"COL, no 450s, BRs or Varget were available.

Have not shot this over a chrono yet but estimate appr 2600fps.

So far so good, really liking the 6BR and this set-up. Need to add a little weight to the stock to help the balance but with such a mild load the report and recoil are nil while the accuracy is decent.

Have about 45 rounds down the tube as of this afternoon. Initial break in and scope zeroing went well, no fouling to mention. Got to stretch it out to 200 yards today, conditions were pretty terrible, wind gusting and switching like crazy but the gun shot really well.

Need to look at seating depth and load tweaks but workable for now.

http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab333/rritchie1027/IMG_2070_zpsnzu2gvnd.jpg (http://s877.photobucket.com/user/rritchie1027/media/IMG_2070_zpsnzu2gvnd.jpg.html)

3 shots at 200:
http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab333/rritchie1027/IMG952072_zpsr4gypkt2.jpg (http://s877.photobucket.com/user/rritchie1027/media/IMG952072_zpsr4gypkt2.jpg.html)

[wingzero]

Congrats.

What is the length and profile of the barrel? How reliable is the ejection.
Thanks.

[mattri]

28" bull, I removed the ejector so can't speak to that.

[bflee]

I cant see the holes, you need to move the penny!

[mattri]

Not a precise measurement, I'll grant you that;)

[mattri]

Got to shoot the 6BR a little more, have been very happy with the round. I still need to add a little weight to the stock to balance it out but so far so good.

As stated earlier the purpose of this build was a "practical", all around rifle that would be useful in various situations. So far I've just been shooting off the bench but I have already noticed one big difference, 200 yards off a rest:

http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab333/rritchie1027/IMG_2183_zps0lpaev2b.jpg (http://s877.photobucket.com/user/rritchie1027/media/IMG_2183_zps0lpaev2b.jpg.html)

And 200 yards off a bipod:

http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab333/rritchie1027/IMG_2184_zpseutayfth.jpg (http://s877.photobucket.com/user/rritchie1027/media/IMG_2184_zpseutayfth.jpg.html)

So apparently I need some practice shooting of a bipod. Those were from the other day, will post again in a bit about today's session.

[mattri]

Ran out to the range at 3 Mile Lake today, conditions weren't optimal:

http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab333/rritchie1027/IMG_2223_zps4fy4hvhs.png (http://s877.photobucket.com/user/rritchie1027/media/IMG_2223_zps4fy4hvhs.png.html)

Had some 87gr V-Maxs loaded up to try, didn't know what to expect with the weather being what it was but wanted to shoot so went ahead and tried them. Didn't have any hard data so load was a bit of an extrapolation but seemed to do pretty well, here they are at 200:

http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab333/rritchie1027/IMG_2231_zps1sltk7pd.jpg (http://s877.photobucket.com/user/rritchie1027/media/IMG_2231_zps1sltk7pd.jpg.html)

And at 300:

http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab333/rritchie1027/IMG_2229_zpsvlaciykc.jpg (http://s877.photobucket.com/user/rritchie1027/media/IMG_2229_zpsvlaciykc.jpg.html)

Folks who have been to 3 Mile will recognize the gongs, for anyone planning to shoot there anytime soon be aware its pretty soupy:

http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab333/rritchie1027/IMG_2230_zpsadla0x98.jpg (http://s877.photobucket.com/user/rritchie1027/media/IMG_2230_zpsadla0x98.jpg.html)

Anyway, loving the round and the rifle, looking forward to learning a lot with it.