6mm HAGAR Hornady Brass Arrives — Varminters Take Note
Here’s good news for AR shooters looking for a 6mm option. 6mm HAGAR brass is now available from Hornady, and it looks like this brass is quite good. Those of you who follow the National Matches at Camp Perry know that Carl Bernosky won multiple National High Power Championships shooting the 6mm HAGAR cartridge from an AR Platform rifle. The 6mm HAGAR was derived from the 30 Remington cartridge, and it has the same case head diameter as the 6.8 SPC, also a 30 Remington derivative.
The 30°-shoulder 6mm HAGAR is just about the longest 6mm cartridge that can be loaded in a two-column AR15 magazine and still feed reliably. The advantage of the 6mm HAGAR is that it offers enough “boiler room” to drive 6mm bullets to impressive velocities, yet it can still fit and function well in AR mags. But note, if you are restrained to a mag-length COAL, you can pretty much rule out using 95-108 grain bullets, because they would have to be seated too deep in the HAGAR case. That actually means that the “advantage” of the 6mm HAGAR’s case capacity is lost to some degree — at least when using long, heavy bullets. On the other hand, when loaded with shorter varmint and hunting bullets, such as Hornady’s 75gr V-Max, you can load to 2.260″ mag length and use nearly all of the HAGAR’s case capacity.
For this reason, we think the 6mm HAGAR may ultimately prove more popular with varminters than with the High Power crowd (at least those who do not want to modify their mags to allow heavy 6mm bullets to be seated longer.) If you’re using shorter bullets, you can fill up the HAGAR case and drive 60-75 grain projectiles at serious velocities.
6mm HAGAR Basics
The 6mm HAGAR uses a 6.8 SPC AR-15 bolt and 6.8 SPC magazines and a conventional upper receiver, barrel extension, and bolt carrier assembly. Typically this cartridge has been used for varminting, hunting, and High Power competition. We think the 6mm HAGAR should be a kick-ass cartridge for varminters shooting ARs with shorter varmint bullets.
On the other hand, because the 1.775″-long HAGAR case takes up so much space in an AR magazine, the 100-108gr bullets aren’t well-suited for mag-fed 6mm HAGAR applications (unless the mags are modified). These same 100-108 grainers DO work well in single-load situations provided the chamber is properly throated for such bullets.
NOTE: Some High Power shooters have slotted AR mags to allow loading of long bullets up to 2.340″ max, i.e. beyond normal mag length. See modified magazine at right.
Hornady’s 6mm HAGAR Brass Is Shipping Now
Until recently, 6mm HAGAR brass was hard to obtain. Cases could be formed from 30 Rem brass, but this was a tedious, time-consuming process. Now, however, quality 6mm HAGAR brass is available from Hornady. An initial run of 150,000 pieces of 6mm HAGAR brass was produced. Vendors who got some of the first run of HAGAR brass include AR-X Enterprises LLC (Robert Whitley) and Creedmoor Sports.
Robert Whitley reports: “We’ve received our first shipment of factory 6mm HAGAR brass from Hornady. This Hornady 6mm HAGAR brass is hard at the base but well annealed at the neck. The brass has a small primer pocket and a small flash hole. All of these features enable the brass to hold pressures well and to remain serviceable and usable for multiple re-loadings. Internal H20 capacity of the brass case is right around 37.0 – 37.5 grains of water weight. With its larger case capacity the 6mm HAGAR can accurately push the bigger 105gr to 108gr bullets in the range of 2800 fps (when these bullets are seated long and single-loaded, not mag-fed). However, because of its rather long case length (1.775″) relative to max mag-fed cartridge OAL of 2.260″, the 6mm HAGAR may work best with the smaller and lighter 6mm bullets (75gr and under).” [Editor: Do the math … 2.260″ minus 1.775″ leaves only 0.485″ clearance for a bullet to extend beyond the case mouth.]
*Left = 75gr Hornady V-Max at 2.260″ OAL (bullet diameter at mouth of case is .243″.)6mm HAGAR Brass, Dies, Mags and Complete Uppers Offered
Along with 6mm HAGAR brass (at $84.00 per hundred), ARX Enterprises has 6mm HAGAR dies, and magazines. ARX Enterprises is also building complete match and varmint AR-platform uppers chambered for the 6mm HAGAR. You can find out about all these products on Robert Whitley’s 6mm HAGAR web page. To order 6mm HAGAR uppers, die sets, brass, magazines and related products contact:AR-X Enterprises, LLC (Attn: Robert Whitley)
199 North Broad Street
Doylestown, PA 18901
(215) 348-8789
e-mail: rcw3 [at] erols.com
Left Center = Berger 100gr BT at 2.260″ OAL (bullet diameter at mouth of case is only .225″.)
Right Center = Sierra 107gr MatchKing at 2.260″ OAL (bullet diameter at mouth of case is only .222″.)
Right = Hornady 105gr A-Max at 2.260″ OAL (bullet diameter at mouth of case is only .225″.)
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Tags: 6mm Hagar, 6mmAR.com, AR platform, AR15, ARX Enterprises LLC, Carl Bernosky, HAGAR, Robert Whitley
PRI 6.8 SPC magazines allow loading to a COAL of 2.295-2.300″. I have read ASC magazines can also. My older C-Products magazines cannot, but apparently some later ones can.
Mike:
Thanks for the info on the PRI mags. Robert Whitley says the 2.260″ is a generally accepted COAL for AR mags. But But even with an extra .035″ clearance, you can see that the 96+ grain bullets are NOT practical, unless you cut open the front of the magazine (or single-feed). These long match bullets would have to be shoved WAY down in the case, and the full-diam. may actually be BELOW the case mouth.
If you don’t mind leaving little margin for error or for bullet tip variance, you can load rounds that long with the PRI mags but I will not do that when I need to be sure I can quickly load up magazines for use in a match or in the field. All you need is one round that’s too long and is sticking in a magazine to create a problem. It’s just not worth it for me.
Just to be clear here – – in my opinion it is not appropriate to load the HAGAR with any of the bullets 95 gr. or more at a magazine length of 2.260″ OAL or even at the modified magazine max length of 2.340″ OAL. These bigger bullets are only appropriate for being loaded out long (generally over 2.550″) and close to the lands on a long throated chamber. Examples – a Sierra 107 hits the lands on my chamber at 2.610″ OAL, a Hornady 105 A-Max at 2.568″ OAL and a Berger 100 at 2.574″ OAL, and with these longer OALs the bigger 100-108 gr. bullets are fine, but not loaded at 2.340″ or shorter.
Loading long bullets, seating the bearing surface behind the case neck shoulder juncture is not safe, and not ideal for accuracy. Both pressure issues and flyer issues can and will result.
Nat Lambeth
Heavy bullets were never intended to be loaded at magazine length in the 6mm Hagar. John designed this round to optimise performance with single loaded 105-107gr bullets for across the course 600yd. performance. This it does. The Hagar is very accurate with varmint weight bullets loaded to mag. length. The combination of velocity and accuracy with the Hagar is impressive!
http://www.6mmhagar.com is the web site for H&K associates LLC.
I’m a little puzzled. Why anyone would go the 6HAGAR route when the 6mmAR line already offers the same capabilities and is much more debugged?
Editor: I asked the same question — but Hornady seems to think it can popularize this cartridge. As Robert Whitley notes in the story, the best application of the 6mm HAGAR, at least in AR platform rifles, may be as a high-velocity varmint cartridge shooting 60-75gr bullets. It does enjoy a case capacity advantage over the 6mmAR (which is a 6.5 Grendel necked to 6mm). But then again, you can ask yourself, why not just run a .223 Rem, or a .20 Practical, if you don’t have the advantage of the higher-BC, longer 6mm bullets.
I would like to order 100 rounds of 6mm Hagar brass and a 6.8 SPC bolt.
641-751-0309