Masterpeice Arms BA PMA Pro Rifle II in 6MM GT

[Ernest T]

I started a thread in the Axis forum about changing the barrel in my 6.5 CM Axis II Precision since I hit 3000 rounds. Before I got around to the project, I discovered the 6MM GT cartridge and became intrigued by this round. Since most of my shooting is between 300 and 1000 yards, this cartridge seems perfect for me. I hemmed and hawed around for a week, then ordered Forster sizing and bullet seating dies, 8 lbs. of Varget powder along with 200 pieces of Alpha SRP brass. Then I bit the bullet and ordered a new rifle to go along with the reloading equipment. It should be delivered in 14-16 weeks. I'll transfer my Luepold 5HD 7X35 from the Savage to the MPA and put my Arken SH4 24X50 scope on the Savage. Can't wait to work up a load and test it out.

[charlie b]

That's what I like to hear. Buy the dies and brass first, then pick a rifle :) Have fun with it.

[Robinhood]

Hoping you have fun with the Gay Tiger. I know a few guys who shoot it and the swear by it.

[LDSILLS]

Some guys have all the fun! Keep us informed.

[Ernest T]

That's what I like to hear. Buy the dies and brass first, then pick a rifle :) Have fun with it.

That just seemed the way to go. You guys taught me so much when I started reloading 6.5 CM that I have a much better understanding of the process. I still have a few odds and ends to pick up like a .375 bushing for the comparator to measure case length and pick the bullet I want to start reloading with.

Hoping you have fun with the Gay Tiger. I know a few guys who shoot it and the swear by it.

I'm hoping its as good as advertised.

Some guys have all the fun! Keep us informed.

I will, I'll probably start a reloading thread as I work through the load development process. There are a lot of youtube videos on loading this cartridge and unlike those on 6.5 CM, they are very consistent on powder charge and seating depth.

[Ernest T]

I bought 500 Berger 105 gr hybrid target bullets, a .375 insert for sizing brass with the Hornady comparator, and a Wilson cartridge gauge. Its going to be a long 14 weeks waiting for the gun to arrive.

[charlie b]

LOL yep. I thought a month to wait on a stock was a long time.

[Ernest T]

It finally showed up! I can't wait to take it to the range, but first I have to get a scope on it. I can't afford the optic I want to put on this gun right now, so I'm going to have to do the scope shuffle to get my Leupold 5HD on it. I want to put a Toric UHD 4X25X50 on it because it has 160 MOA of internal adjustment. Getting the Luepold on this gun is going to cause me to shuffle the scopes on 3 other guns. I'm hoping to have them all moved and zeroed by next week. The barrel on this gun is massive adding to the 14 3/4 lbs it weighs without accessories. I do have a Accu-tac BR-4 bipod that I will be switching back and forth between my Ruger Precision Rifle and the MPA and an Energetic Lux suppressor that I'll share with my three 6 and 6.5 mm guns. The trigger is a very crisp 1 1/2 lbs with no creep whatsoever and the fluted bolt is very smooth. Everything feels very tight and precise.

[Ernest T]

Already ran into the first glitch. The rings I have on the Leupold scope are too short for this rifle. If I can't find them locally, it'll be another week to ten day delay.

[Blue Avenger]

to short? or to low?

[Ernest T]

to short? or to low?

Low, the bottom of the scope hits the top of the barrel.

[Robinhood]

Handsome rifle Ernest. Nice decision on optics as well. The 34mm tube is the way to go in my opinion. Have you considered something besides Leupold rings. I really like the Spuhr but they are overkill. The ARC ended up the most reasonable quality rings for us. I know rings are a personal preference and there are many quality options. I was just interested in your thoughts.

[Ernest T]

Handsome rifle Ernest. Nice decision on optics as well. The 34mm tube is the way to go in my opinion. Have you considered something besides Leupold rings. I really like the Spuhr but they are overkill. The ARC ended up the most reasonable quality rings for us. I know rings are a personal preference and there are many quality options. I was just interested in your thoughts.

Thanks! I'm not sure my thoughts on using Leupold rings are worth much! I pretty much buy the same brand rings as I do scope. Since I tend to buy quality glass, I haven't worried that the scope rings by the same manufacturer aren't up to the task.

[Ernest T]

Well, I had a bad day. I’d ordered a Weatherby VGD in .223 and when it arrived it looked like it’d been thrown across a gravel road. The box was pristine, the gun awful. I got my money back. The 35 mm rings for the Leupold arrived and despite having a seal on the clear bubble plastic packaging, it was obvious the screws for one of the rings were missing. I sent those back and got a refund.

[charlie b]

I really hate when things like that happen.

[Ernest T]

I really hate when things like that happen.

Me too. Another set of rings should be here tomorrow, hopefully they will be the right size. I'm a little perturbed by Bass Pro Shop/Cabela's. Before I left, the manager told me I couldn't order another gun and have it shipped to the store. Since I refused the damaged gun, it would be returned to stock and I'd get the same gun back if I ordered another on-line. He said I'd have to look on-line until I found another store with one in stock, then call the store and buy the guy over the phone and have it shipped to my local Bass Pro. This is a real WTF business model. Oh, and as a bonus when they returned my DL after I refused the gun, they neglected to give me back my LTC, now I have to drive 30 miles back over there to pick it up!

[charlie b]

At least the mgr was honest about how they do business. Sad to hear they will just pass this off to another unsuspecting person.

[Ernest T]

At least the mgr was honest about how they do business. Sad to hear they will just pass this off to another unsuspecting person.

I called the store in Maine that listed a new one in inventory and the manager said they had one, but it was used and not in great condition! So they are listing stock in two stores and both are actually used guns. It's not surprising that they don't have inventory since this is a discontinued firearm, but jeeze louise, don't list them as new!

[Ernest T]

After two more delivery delays, the rings showed up and are exactly the right height for me. I've taken to raising the scope a little higher to get more comfortable behind the gun at the bench. I've got twenty rounds loaded with a mild charge of 33 gr of Varget and a 105 gr Berger Hybrid Target bullets for zeroing the scope. The manual says because of new metallurgy and machining methods, you don't need to follow an elaborate break in procedure like you used to. It is rather vague though. It says for the first 100-200 rounds, shoot 10-20 rounds, then clean, and work your way up to 50 rounds before cleaning. I'm going to interpret that as shoot 20 and clean and do that three times so I've shot 60 rounds, then clean after 50 rounds through 200 rounds. Anyone have a better idea?

[charlie b]

My Shilen took 5 rounds to 'break in'. Fire once. Copper solvent until no more blue. Fire again. A little less blue. Third shot almost gone. Fourth shot gone. Fifth shot just to make sure. Took about 20min at the range. Did all that while fireforming brass and establishing a starting point for load development.

[Ernest T]

My Shilen took 5 rounds to 'break in'. Fire once. Copper solvent until no more blue. Fire again. A little less blue. Third shot almost gone. Fourth shot gone. Fifth shot just to make sure. Took about 20min at the range. Did all that while fireforming brass and establishing a starting point for load development.

yeah, I'm not sure it takes 100-200 rounds to break in a barrel. I shot 20 rounds today while zeroing the scope. Damn I wish I was better at it! I was actually pretty close with my hillbilly boresight, just about 3" high, but 7" left. Then I got confused and ended up farther left before getting impacts back to toward the center. I did manage to save 8 rounds for actual target shooting. Three from my zeroing effort and five for a good group. The flyer in the 5 shot group was the last one. Aren't they all? The four shots were working on a good group.

I'm really happy with the results of this ad hoc load. The velocity was 2843 for all 20 shots so I'll work my way up towards 34 grains and also work on seating depth a little. These were set to book overall length, give or take a few thou. I've got 200 cases to shoot before I can size the cases for the chamber and worry about where the length is in relation to the lands.



The barrel didn't heat up very much.

[charlie b]

Not bad for first day out.

And, yeah, I've turned the turrets the wrong way too many times to count :)

[Ernest T]

I upped the load to 33.2 gr of Varget and shot 20 more rounds today, working through the 200 cases of new Alpha brass. This gun shoots great, but I'm having feed issues with these short, fat cases - the bolt won't chamber the third round in the magazine. This is very consistent and no amount of shoving upward on the magazine has any affect on it. Removing and replacing the magazine seems to be the cure. They sell an adjustable magazine release for this issue, it allows you to raise or lower the height of the magazine up to .092". That doesn't seem like a lot, but I guess it's enough to make it work. It's only $35.99, but it seems like they'd just go ahead and supply the adjustable catch with guns chambered in these short 6 mm calibers. This was today's result. Those numbers 1-4 are the order I shot these orange dots, not part of the group size! I need to adjust the scope a couple clicks to the left.

[Ernest T]

I worked my way up to 34 gr of Varget and I'm going with that load. I plan to see what changing seating depth a little might do, but I can spend a lot of time and burn up a lot of gunpowder and not improve on these groups. These are also my first 6.5 PRC rounds with Retumbo and I got better results than I did with H1000 or Magnum.



I wish I could shoot that middle group every time! The groups on either side are interesting because they are very consistent vertically and the velocities are extremely close. The SD is below 10 for all three 5-shot groups.