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June 12th, 2007
Berger Bullets has issued three new prototype non-VLD 6mm bullets for testing, in 105, 107, and 108 grain weights. Initial results are promising to say the least, particularly with the 108s. Here’s a photo of all three by Wm. Roscoe.
Danny Reever reports: “Here’s the best group I shot today with the Prototype Berger 108 grain BT at 500 meters (547 yards). The group measured a fantastic .870 inch! The worst group I shot today with the same bullet measured 1.752 inch which is none too shabby either.”
Danny adds: “I do think this new bullet is a winner. All the bullets shot well for me, but the 108 was hands down the best performer. I had the chance to test the new lot #591 105gr VLD since Eric polished the die out and it shot very well also. Best group being a 1.544″ @ 500 meters which was shot in a 5-15 MPH wind. I’m now anxious to find out which bullet they will select for production. If it’s the 108 I’m going to order 3000 right from the get-go. That’s how impressed I am with that bullet!” Danny’s load was Berger 108, .015″ into the lands, neck-turned Lapua 6mmBR brass, CCI450 primer, 30.5 grains of Varget (the usual disclaimer applies here).
Bob Woodward (Matsubob) agrees: “Here is a group I shot with a 6mm Grendel on an AR15 space gun at 200 meters (8-twist Whitley upper). Very good group for an over-the-course national match rifle.”
What’s the secret to the accuracy of the 108s? It looks like Berger is pointing up nice, consistent meplats. But it appears the 108 has a shorter boat-tail than the 105 or 107 prototype. We should add that the 107s are shooting well too. William Roscoe got promising results with the 107s. Holding dead center (no wind correction), five of the new 107s went into .614″ vertical at 330 yards. More Details.
June 10th, 2007
Black Hills makes some of the best .223 Rem ammunition you can buy. Here’s a good deal on .223 match ammo loaded with the very accurate 69gr Sierra MatchKing. Now through June 30, 2007, a box of 50 rounds, item #522299, is just $34.99 at MidwayUSA. That’s $6.50/box off the regular price. This is new ammo, boxer-primed, and reloadable. USER REVIEWS of this product have been very positive, with many guys reporting 1/2 MOA groups or better. Here’s what Daniel F. in Missouri reports: “I shot this ammo through a Rock River Arms AR varmint model with a 16.5″ barrel. I usually shoot Fed GMM but this was on sale so I decided to give it a try. With the Fed ammo I routinely shoot sub 1/2 MOA groups @ 100 yds. My rifle likes this ammo better. I shot three, 3-shot groups. Largest was .46″, smallest was .21″. Great ammo at any price, even better at about $0.80 a round.” NOTE: With this sale, this ammo is now $0.69 per round.
May 31st, 2007
Recently, Jason Baney got hold of some of the new 103+ gr Spencer 6mm match bullets. Jason noted that these are some of the most consistent bullets he’s measured, and he hopes to test them soon at 1000 yards. We talked to Clay Spencer and Clay explained: “These bullets are so good because of the extra effort we put into making them–plus outstanding Niemi dies. We inspect each batch of jackets. If the jackets don’t meet my standards, they go back to J4. We also have very expensive pointing dies that do a superior job.”
Are the 103s available? Clay replied: “Right now we’re waiting on jackets, and I’ve got 9,000 bullets advanced-ordered. So folks will have to stand in line. But let me tell you, if I had 100,000 sitting here now, I could sell them all in a couple of days.” Clay does have 1400 6mm 95-grainers in stock that use the same design as the 103s, they are just scaled down. The first lots of the 103s were priced at $37.50/100, but Clay says the price will go up because jackets and cores have increased in price.
The big news is that Clay is working on a radical new 210gr long-range 30-caliber bullet, using completely new dies from Niemi. Clay reports: “We’ve produced the first 200 of these 210-grain 30s. Bobby Rosen will be testing them shortly. If these bullets shoot as well as we think, I’ll be committing to $11,500 in equipment and we’ll put the 30s in production. These 30s will be different than anything you can buy now–we’ve developed a new, shorter boat-tail design.”
Clay also produces 68gr 6mm match bullets, 52gr 22-caliber match bullets, and a 115gr 30-caliber bullet for the 30BR Score Shooters. For more info on the new 103+ gr 6mms, and the prototype 210gr 30-caliber projectile, visit Spencer Rifle Barrels, or call Clay Spencer at (434) 293-6836.
May 30th, 2007
There’s been some controversy surrounding the “ideal” 6mm bullet diameter. This is compounded by the fact that 6mm match barrels are available with both .236″ and .237″ land diameters. It has become quite clear to us that bullet diameter is an important variable to consider when choosing the best projectile for your particular barrel. Some barrels prefer “fat” bullets while other barrels prefer “skinny” bullets.
Jason Baney recently took the time to measure 12 different sets of 6mm Match Bullets, including a couple different lots of the same bullet design. Interestingly, Jason did measure the “old” Berger 105 VLD, the “new” Berger 105 VLD (first lot from the new die), and the “new, improved” Berger 105 VLD from the new die, after it was polished. Ten (10) Bullets were measured per type. Each bullet was measured three times (3X) around the largest circumference, normally where a pressure ring would be located (some bullets have a pronounced pressure ring, others do not).
Download this CHART as an MS Word Document.
Columns one and two of the chart show the smallest and largest bullet diameters measured for each 10-bullet sample. The third column shows the extreme spread over each 10-bullet set. Note, these numbers are NOT averages, but represent the “low” and “high” diameters for each set. (FYI: Jason noted that while the Lapua Scenars measured very consistently the earlier 2005 “JEVDAK” lot had noticeably smaller meplats than the current 2007 lot.) A Mitutoyo Micrometer was used, zero-checked for each bullet.
May 17th, 2007
MidwayUSA just announced a special deal on bulk brass sales. For a limited time, Midway is including free shipping in the price of certain Remington and Winchester brass. The Free Freight offer only applies to listed large quantities of specific brass. Qualifying products include:
Winchester .204 Ruger brass, quantity of 1100, item 319113, $191.99 delivered
Winchester .223 Rem brass, quantity of 1200, item 322911, $195.99 delivered.
Remington 22-250 brass, quantity of 700, item 911747, price $174.99 delivered.
Remington .308 Win brass, quantity of 700, item 844510, price $193.99 delivered.
This is a limited time offer, and restrictions apply. You must order the exact product described, sorry no mixing or matching. Any other items added to the invoice will be shipped in a separate box and will incur normal shipping charges. Shipping method is USPS Priority Mail for delivery within 7 days.
May 16th, 2007
 Federal Rifle Primers have been in short supply. We checked with Graf & Sons, Grafs.com, today and learned that they do have a large supply of the standard Small Rifle (FD205) primers in stock. Price is $23.39 per box of 1000 primers, or $109.99 per case of 5000. Unfortunately the Small Rifle Match (FD205M) primers are sold out as are the Large Rifle (FD210) and Large Rifle Match (FD210M). Graf & Sons will be carrying the Wolf (Russian) Primers, but the Wolfs are not expected to arrive for another 2-3 Weeks.
May 14th, 2007
Bryan of Powder Valley has advised us that he has some exciting new product arrivals: IMR 4007 SSC (in stock now) and Russian primers from Wolf (ETA first week of June).
NEW IMR 4007 SSC
First, a shipment of the new IMR 4007 SSC has just arrived. This is a medium burn rate powder with characteristics suitable for a wide variety of cartridges. Price is $17.25 for 1 pound or $116.00 for 8 pounds.
Hodgdon, which distributes IMR powders, reports: “IMR 4007 SSC falls between IMR 4350 and 4064. ‘SSC’ refers to the new ‘Super Short Cut’ grain shape.” With its short powder kernels, Hodgdon says, 4007 SSC meters better than long-grain extruded powders. Accordingly, charge weight consistency is improved. Hodgdon claims that the enhanced load density of 4007 SSC will allow velocity gains compared to longer extruded powders. Hodgon reports: “the shortened grain drops smoothly into small case necks making it perfect for classic varmint cartridges like the 22-250, 220 Swift and 243 Winchester. Users of popular big game cartridges such as the 30-06, 300 WSM and 7mm WSM can attain top velocities typical of extruded powders, with the precision metering inherent in this new product.” Click HERE for a .pdf file with IMR 4007 SSC product info and some suggested loads.
Wolf (Russian) Primers
Bryan said Powder Valley is expected to receive Wolf Primers in the first week of June, 2007. Many top shooters such as David Tubb believe these primers give great accuracy and low ES. These new Wolf Primers are from the same Russian manufacturer as the “Russians” formerly sold by PMC.
May 10th, 2007
Robert Whitley provides this report on Lapua’s new factory-loaded 6.5×47 ammunition:
Lapua (through Grafs.com) sent me some 6.5×47 factory ammo to test out. Recently, I’ve tested it for velocity and accuracy in my MAK repeater Tube Gun (with 1:8.5″ Brux barrel). I can affirm this ammo is outstanding.
Chrono Testing:
100 gr BTHP Scenar, 2846 fps, ES 54, SD 21 (Very mild)
108 gr BTHP Scenar, 3020 fps, ES 12, SD 5
123 gr BTHP Scenar, 2903 fps, ES 11, SD 5
139 gr BTHP Scenar, 2780 fps, ES 25, SD 9
The two bullets that I feel are best for the 6.5×47 Lapua are the 108 and the 123 Scenar. They both gave excellent velocity and chrono numbers, as well as excellent accuracy. With the 139s running close to 2800 fps, that’s a lot of velocity for that big of a bullet in that small of a case. The picture below shows the four different loadings. Left to Right, the 100 gr BTHP Scenar, the 108 gr BTHP Scenar, the 123 gr BTHP Scenar, and the 139 gr BTHP Scenar.
Accuracy Testing:
After the chrono testing, I shot one 10-shot test group (prone with sling and scope) using the Lapua 123gr factory ammo. This produced a 10X clean. For factory ammo, it does not get any better than this! At 2903 fps with an ES of 11 and an SD of 5, this is great. When I can shoot a group like that prone with sling, it tells me the gun is shooting better than 0.5 MOA.
Powder Inspection:
I pulled down some rounds for inspection and measuring. Here’s what I found:
100gr Scenar Ammo: OAL 2.728″, 29.3 gr. of powder
139gr Scenar Ammo: OAL 2.728″, 35.8 gr. of powder
123gr Scenar Ammo: OAL 2.725″, 36.1 gr. of powder
108gr Scenar Ammo: OAL 2.719″, 34.2 gr. of powder
I am not sure what powders Lapua is using in the ammo. The powder in the 100gr and 108gr ammo had a finer grain than that used in the 123gr and 139gr ammo. All of the ammo, from 100 to 139 grains, worked well in my chamber, which was cut with the .160″ freebore reamer listed on the 6mmHOT.com website. The 100gr bullets need to jump a fair amount, but the others only jump around .015″.
May 1st, 2007
 Bryan from Powder Valley notified us of two new specials, one an exclusive for our readers. First, Powder Valley is offering 8-pound jugs of Ramshot TAC for just $77.95. TAC is a high density ball powder that works well in the .223 Remington and varmint cartridges. Supplies are limited at this price, which works out to $9.74 per pound, so place your orders soon.
Hornady 5-Pack Special: For a limited time only, you can save 5% on Hornady bullets when buying in Master Pack (5 box) quantities (100 count boxes only). Mention 6mmbr.com or AccurateShooter.com and receive an additional 5% off. That’s a total of 10% off for visitors to the 6mmBR.com | AccurateShooter.com website. For more info, call Powder Valley at (800) 227-4299.
April 30th, 2007
 MidwayUSA’s very affordable “DogTown” bullets have been popular with varminters who may load thousands of rounds for an extended varminting holiday. These are made by a major bullet manufacturer under special contract for MidwayUSA. Now though May 31, 2007, 20-cal and 224-cal “DogTown” bullets are on sale. The 34gr HP 20s (item 984804), 50gr Soft Point 22s (item 834645), and 55gr Soft Point 22s (item 817539) are just $8.99 per hundred. That’s a steal. Here’s what some of MidwayUSA’s customers have said about the 34gr 20-cal “DogTown” bullets:
“Tried them for the 1st time in my Savage 204. Five shots into a quarter inch. Three shots into one small hole. I have not gotten groups this small with any other brand of bullet. And [the DogTowns are] at a reduced price too!”
— R. Vernon, Idaho (3/20/07)
“Outstanding bullet! Using W748 … this bullet will perform hands down. Shooting a Kimber .204 with a 12 twist I kept three shots you could cover with a nickel at a 100 yards[.] Also great consistancy in weight values as well, nothing more than 2/10ths of a grain between each bullet. I’m also using the Redding Comp dies and seating them just off the lands.”
— P. Jones, Texas (4/9/07)
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