If Berger made a 130 grain 6mm bullet!

[BT Sniper]

95 grain 6mm Berger VLD on the right and Berger's 6mm 105 grain hybrid on the left. In the middle is the 6mm bullet I made at a weight of 130 grains. I don't know if the 8 twist 243AI would be able to stabilize this bullet but it certainly looks pretty cool and would certainly have a pretty good BC. I'll bring the weight down to 105-115 grains and see how it does. Might have to make a jacket trim die.

[Artful]

Wow, got a length on that puppy?

[BT Sniper]

130 grian = 1.410" in length
105 grain = 1.250"
95 grain = 1.135"



BT

[725]

130 grian = 1.410" in length
105 grain = 1.250"
95 grain = 1.135"



BT

Wow. That looks like perfection!

[AZ-JIM]

Get it down to 105-107 and I'll be happy to test them in the Dasher for you

Looks very nice!

az-jim

[C. Latch]

According to Litz's ballistics program, you should have a stability factor of 1.28 with a .243" bullet that's 1.410" long.

I'd bet that in optimum atmospheric conditions and at high speeds, it would stabilize, but not for long.

[BT Sniper]

Yep, I figured as much as well. I'll have to shorten them up and reduce weight a little. I'll still be shooting a few of these heavy weights just for the heck of it. Maybe if I had a 7 twist...... I was even looking at bigger 6mms cartridges maybe a 24-06AI, or 6mm-284 but for now I'll stick with the 243AI I know it is an 8 twist and I think it is possibly 28" if not it's 26"....

To make the 130 grain slug I drew down an RCE 6.5mm jacket and stuffed it with two 42 grain cores I use in the 22lr jackets. Just wanted to see if it would work and it looks like it worked out well, but a bit long. Now I'll just make them a bit lighter.

What I am really excited about is how well these long VLD ogives are coming together in my dies. I put this bullet on the concentricity gauge and I think I'll have to take a quick video to show the results, I was pleased.

BT

[mckenziedrums]

Fantastic looking bullets Brian! That's a hefty gal to be sure... Maybe a 6-06 with a long fast twist barrel? Cram a bunch of RL22 under it and let it rip...

[BT Sniper]

Got a chance to go out and shoot the long 130 grain 6mm bullets. My 26" 8 twist 243AI was unable to stabilize the long bullet sufficiently for top accuracy. They where not key holes at 200yrds but the hole in paper showed the bullet had a good yaw to it.

I loaded them up with H-1000 powder with a starting load of 48 grains. Loaded up by half grain increments to 50.0 grains. I got incredibly stable velocities with each load with very small ES and SD numbers. With the 50 grain load I got 3090 FPS, the pressure was ok but there wasn't any additional space to compress much more powder, maybe with a drop tube. If I hade a chamber throated for the long bullet there may have been room for maybe 3-5 more grains of powder. But..... I don't think it would matter as these long 130 grain bullets do not appear to be able to stabilize in an 8 twist.

I worked some numbers on this bullet and the BC had a LOT of potential, it was in the neighborhood of the high .600s to almost .700 G1 !!!!

I already got nearly 3100fps from this 130 grain bullet so I think the 243AI case is able to hold enough powder to push this bullet at a good pace but if I had a 30" tube throated a bit longer with a 7 twist??????? It certainly has me thinking!

It was nice to get out shooting a little today. All the snow that I had got stuck in last week had melted completely making for a much more pleasant trip to the range.

I'll have to load up some shorter 105-110 grain 6mm bullets for this 8 twist barrel and place the long 130 grain pills on the back burner till I can afford a new 7 twist barrel.

Good shooting and swage on!


BT

[BT Sniper]

Purchased a new barrel with these 130 grain pills in mind. A 6mm-06AI with a 7 twist. I wanted one at 30" but what was available (and a heck of a good price) was a 27" barrel from X-Caliber that looks pretty darn good and has a 6 groove configuration.

Got it mounted to a simple Savage action and sized down some spare 30-06 brass I had, a simple pass in the 25-06 FL die then a pass in the 243 to give it a snug fit in the chamber for fire forming.

I loaded up my 130 grain bullet with H-1000 at a length of about 3.325 for a .020" jump. My starting load was 55 grains and worked up to 57. Really just breaking in the new barrel as I am now sending it off to be Melonite Black Nitride processed, should help to extend the barrel life a bit and maybe get a few more FPS out if it.

So I am happy to report where the 243AI with the 8 twist was unable to stabilize these bullets, even at a speed approaching 3100FPS, the new 6mm-06AI with the 7 twist allowed all bullets to fly true and hit on target. Quite accurately actually. First three shot group (with cleaning after each shot and a windy day) went 3/4", had I not pulled the second shot the groups size certainly would have been smaller as the other two landed in a nice .250" group. I certainly think the potential for very good accuracy is there.

Like before the ES and SD numbers where very good for all loads shot with these 130 grain bullets and the H-1000. I would have to check actual numbers but as far as FPS goes the 55 load was about 2850, 56 grains went about 2900 and the 57 grain load went 2950 fps.

I entered the bullet data into the quick load program, but as the program doesn't have the 6mm-06AI I used the 243 Catbird (pretty similar) for starting loads and to get an idea of a potential max. I would say it was pretty darn close as the CCI BR primmer was a bit flattened with the 57 grain load, not the load I would use for fire forming, but it will certainly be interesting to see if there is any pressure and fps differences shooting the fire formed case vs. not.

It will be interesting to see if there is any advantage to this 130 grain pill vs. say the 105, 107 or 115 grain offerings already available. I'll play with it a bit more for sure. Entering the bullet profile data for this 130 grain pill gave estimates of BC numbers in the .650 G1 range, it looked like if I tightened the meplat diameter a bit more the BC estimates jumped to almost .700 G1 at a FPS of roughly 2950, I know these are just computer/paper estimates and I really don't care too much so long as accuracy at long range can be obtained. Might even be able to kick up the FPS a little with the fire formed brass and the Nitride treated barrel????? we shall see.

I am thrilled the bullets are performing well in the faster twist barrel. Not sure if I will be able to obtain any better results the if I was to simply shoot the 105 grain Berger or 107 Sierra but I was able to make a 130 grain 6mm pill and wanted to see if I could get it to shoot well, it was a pretty small investment in the new barrel to show myself it was possible and that is always a pretty cool feeling when it all comes together on target.

This is just the beginning with this 130 grain adventure though....

Swage on!

[mckenziedrums]

Hmm I wonder if my 1:7 243 barrel could handle those... it's 26" long. Would be a stretch but with one of the slower powders it might work.

[clodhopper]

Pretty cool, What powder do you think would be better than H1000?

sarcastic attempt at humor: Or do you just slow down your powder with ground kingsford briquettes?

[BT Sniper]

I want to try rl-33 next and think it might get more fps, but h-1000 has a lot of good reports in the over bore 6mms.

[BT Sniper]

Hmm I wonder if my 1:7 243 barrel could handle those... it's 26" long. Would be a stretch but with one of the slower powders it might work.

Your 7 twist would certainly stabilize a heavy, long bullet like this. Bet the fps from the 243 could approach 2900fps, maybe a pinch more?

BT

[BT Sniper]

A look at testing day in the new 27" 7 twist 6mm-06AI barrel and my 130 grain VLD pills. Case shown is the typical 6mm-06 before fire forming.








Swage on!


BT

[mckenziedrums]

That's a wee bit crazy... and thus I love it. How'd they do? Any chance you got chrono data?

[BT Sniper]

Yeah I did, got the targets too. I'll have to look it up and get back. As I recall max load of ...... 57 grains H-1000 went about 2950 but again I'll have to look it up. That was with just fire forming the brass, I hope to gain about 100fps more with correct size brass and the nitride finished barrel. I need to pick up some Rl-26 and RL-33 for testing. Expect the barrel back in a couple days. Of course I got to make more bullets now, got 1750 cores already swaged for the 130 grain 6mm VLD bullets.

BT

[Regulator.]

Brian great news there.
Please keep us posted great idea would love to see some groups at the 800 yard and beyond. Should be performer.

[BT Sniper]

Thanks,

Got the barrel back. In the process of ordering some Norma 30-06 brass for sizing down. Got 1750 cores swage and cleaned.

Need to draw down the jackets then swage 1750 bullets.

Brian

[BT Sniper]

Took a long time to get the 30-06 Norma brass but I have a few hundred now ready to be sized down to 6mm-06 brass. Also got a couple jugs of RL-33 powder. Barrel is Nitride processed, polished and ready to assemble. Now I got to get the cream of wheat fire forming loads together and make some bullets.

Getting closer!

BT