Workshop Projects
TRUE-FLITE BARRELS FROM NEW ZEALAND
For the last two years, I’ve shot a 7mmWSM in 1000 yard benchrest. In 2006 this cartridge was extremely good to me – I not only set a new
In 2007, things didn’t go too well with the ‘seven’ however. I’d used Alliant’s Reloader 25 powder throughout 2006 but for 2007, I wanted to find something a bit more consistent. The Reloader double-base powders deliver superb accuracy and velocity but they can be inconsistent - varying significantly from batch to batch. If you intend to use Reloader powders in serious competition, I would advise buying as many tubs as you can afford from one batch.
My first two tubs of powder got me through the running-in process, load development and the first three shoots – which included setting the new UK record and breaking it again the following month! When I used up that second tub of powder, the next tub I bought was from a different batch and way faster. I ended up reducing the load by a full two grains. Developing a new load meant using up valuable barrel-life and when the barrel has an ‘accuracy’ life of around 750 rounds, it’s not good if you have to use up 20 or 30 rounds every time you change powder batches! What’s more, the new tub never quite delivered the accuracy of the previous batch.
Reloader 25 is down at the slow end of the burning-rate chart and for the 2007 season I wanted to wean the ‘seven’ off it’s RL25 diet and get it working on something of similar speed like Vihtavuori N170 – or maybe the double-base version - N570. I’ve found the Vihtavuori powders to be very consistent and the ‘N5’ series of double-base powders offer greater velocity without increasing pressure. I would also have loved to have tried some of Hodgdon’s Retumbo, which is also similar in speed to the RL25 but who imports it? Hodgdon’s H1000 is another option which also gives good results in the 7mmWSM.
My initial testing started with the Vit N170. It’s just a tad slower than the RL25 but even with a full case, it wouldn’t give me the required velocity (3000 fps) with the 180 grain Bergers. The double-base N570 did the trick however – excellent velocity, no pressure problems and seemingly good accuracy when testing at 300 yards but at my next 1000 yard match, I ‘lost’ a bullet. Nice little group on the target but only four rounds got there! Another competitor shooting a 7mm magnum-size cartridge also loaded with Vit N570 suffered the same fate. We were now driving the bullets too fast (over 3100 fps) and the odd one was blowing up. The burnt throat wouldn’t be helping of course – stripping copper off the jackets. In 1000 yard BR, a lost shot means a 20 inch penalty – you can’t come back from that so a Championship round wasted.
Incidentally, if you’ve never seen a bullet blow-up, it’s quite an interesting sight. It usually occurs about 50 to 100 yards from the muzzle. All you see is what appears to be a puff of smoke.
When I lowered the powder charge to drop the velocity, the groups opened up slightly and in desperation I went back to the dreaded RL 25, which meant yet more testing. The bore-scope was now revealing a throat which was getting blacker and blacker with severe cracking – the end was nigh! The remaining rounds of the Championship were very average with a sparsity of single-figure groups. As a competitive 1000 yard bench-gun, the ‘seven’ was dead!
I do have a spare 7mm Lilja barrel-blank but to be honest, I felt that I’d gone as far as I could with the WSM and I wanted something new for 2008 - to re-kindle my enthusiasm. Prior to the 7mmWSM, I’d had a 6.5-284 for a couple of seasons. A great round but now everyone has one and it’s become more of an F Class cartridge than a 1000 yard benchrest round though having said that, it’s still effective.
Prior to the 6.5, I had a 6-284. Now that was a cartridge. Winchester introduced the 284 in 1963 as a hunting round but it never really caught on and lapsed into obsolescence until legendary American 1000 yard benchrest shooter, Bill Shehane ‘re-discovered’ it and changed the world of long-range rifle shooting. Bill spotted that the 284 case had the ‘ideal’ capacity of around 60 grains - a magnum-size body but without the belt and best of all, a 308 rebated rim. Although the 284 is now best known in its 6.5mm guise, Bill necked it straight down to 6 millimetres. It worked superbly and Bill set a new Light Gun world record of 3.14 inches - if I remember correctly – in 1999.
To all those who now shoot a 6.5-284, let’s pay a little tribute to Bill Shehane. Without his efforts, the 284
At that time, Scottish gunsmith Callum Ferguson was building my rifles and Callum put together a great 6-284 for me based on a sleeved Remington action. At that time, we didn’t have the luxury of Lapua or Norma 6.5-284 brass and the 284
Again, the double-base Reloader powder was the way to go and 50 odd grains of RL 22 was capable of pushing the 107 grain bullets at unthinkable velocities but Bill had found that the optimum was around 3250 fps, which was convenient as it stayed nicely within MOD range limits.
F Class was also starting up in the UK around this time and my 6-284 proved to be an ideal long range F Class rifle but my round-count built up rapidly and then I started to ‘lose’ bullets…….. After 1000 rounds, the barrel was absolutely burnt-out for almost 50% of its length – a great cartridge but too expensive to run as an F Class gun!
In the intervening time, several things have happened. In addition to Lapua’s superb 6.5-284 brass, Sierra have produced the 115 grain 6mm DTAC bullets in conjunction with American High Power Champion David Tubb and a few more slow powders have arrived on the market.
Lapua’s 6.5-284 Norma case will hold about 59 grains of powder (depending on the grade) and with the 6.5-284 we use around 55 grains. With the 6mm, I was using only 52 grains. In other words, we are not using anything like the full case-capacity. Ideally, we need to be if we are to obtain maximum accuracy. The case is just a bit too big.
So, here’s the plan for this year’s 1000 yard Light Gun. Shorten the 6.5-284 case to reduce the capacity, neck it down to 6mm and use the 115 grain DTAC bullets. We should easily drive the DTACs at 3250fps so it should outperform my old 6-284. We will try some of the newer powders but resort to Reloader 22 – if we have to. Unfortunately, barrel-life will not improve but for this year, I have a barrel kindly donated by True-Flite Barrels in
From the left - standard 6.5-284 case, necked to 6mm, bumped 50 thou. and neck-turned. Extreme right - disasters can happen!
Ideally, I would have liked to have shortened the 284 case by at least a tenth of an inch but discovered that I could shorten it a maximum of fifty-thou. (0.05 inches) in one pass through the die. Any more than that and the shoulder would collapse. Rather than spend hours on the lathe turning-up a series of bushings to reduce the case-length even further, I decided to settle for 50 thou. Shortening the case-body usefully gives us the bonus of a longer neck, keeping the boat-tail out of the powder chamber.
A 6-284 ‘short’ reamer was duly obtained from Pacific Tool & Gauge with a 270 neck and free-bore to suit the 115 grain DTAC bullet. This will mean just a couple of thou. skim off the neck of the super-consistent Lapua brass, which can be accomplished in a single pass of the neck-turning tool. The photograph shows how the 6mm Extreem case is formed from the 6.5-284 case in four easy stages.
My Tru-Flite barrel came via Fox Firearms of Manchester, who are acting as
I got the barrel just before Christmas and between breakfast and dinner on Christmas Day, I chambered the barrel! Well – what did you do? Although a muzzle-brake isn’t strictly necessary on a 6mm, it’s useful for keeping rain out of the muzzle (which can seriously throw your shots) and Brownells were doing a ‘special’ on Vais brakes so I ordered one. It arrived between Christmas and New Year so I screw-cut the muzzle on New Year’s Day! I should perhaps have christened the cartridge the 6mm Noel rather than 6mm Xtreme!
Left, 308Win., centre 6mm Xtreme loaded with 115 DTAC bullet and right, 7mmWSM
The 30 inch barrel is now fitted to a BAT M action, bedded in a Shehane laminate stock in readiness for the start of the season. I’ve prepped 35 cases, which will be enough for a full season of 1000 yard benchrest and I’m about to start running-in the barrel and working up a load. Our first shoot will be at the end of March so look out for an update.
*Latest news - The first competitive outing for the 6mm Xtreme was a 600 yard benchrest competition. It was really just a load testing excercise for me but the 6mm got me smallest group of the day and a new UK record at 1.33 inches. The rifle is also working well at 1000 yards and I have already had a couple of five-inch groups with it.
BUILDING A 308 FOR F/TR CLASS
The F/TR class offers competitors an opportunity to shoot in top-level long-range rifle competition but for a realistic cost. Realistic? A custom-built ‘Open’ class rifle, chambered for one of the competitive ‘wunder’ cartridges will now cost upwards of £3000 – without scope and don’t forget, a barrel will barely last a season. There is a growing interest in the F/TR class and with a brand-new Savage F/TR rifle up for grabs for the winner of this year’s GB League, I’m not surprised.
Savage’s new F/TR rifle represents exceptionally good value at under £1200. The rifle uses the factory’s new solid-bottom action with small ejection-port which results in a very stiff-looking action. You won’t be surprised to hear that it also shoots exceptionally well and is a real bargain if you are looking for a single-shot 308. Not only that, Savage have also decided to make their ‘target’ action – as used in the F/TR rifle - available for less than £500.
The new Savage FTR rifle
This action is a real bargain. It comes complete with the Savage patented Accutrigger which, although not to the standard of a proper competition trigger like the Jewell, is more than adequate for an F Class rifle. In addition, we also get a good quality quarter-inch thick recoil-lug and a trigger-guard. These three components could easily add £100-200 to the cost of a custom action, so we are looking at a real bargain with the Savage. OK, I’m not trying to pretend that the Savage is in the same league as the BAT or Stolle action but for anything but a benchrest rifle, it’s got to be considered.
If there is a drawback with the Savage action, it’s bedding area. Although the action is a handy eight-inches in length, the rear action-screw is forward of the trigger - rather than being placed in the rear tang, as is more normal. However, Savage have attempted to address the bedding problem by adding a third screw. Having said that, I’ve already established - to my own satisfaction at least - that there isn’t really a problem with the two-screw action, as I have previously hung a very heavy 32 inch barrel off a standard Savage action in the BVSS laminate stock and it is shooting very well in the hands of its owner.
The new Savage target actions
The new Savage 'target' action could be the key to my (and your?) next rifle. Even better, I can get my hands on one right away as North West Custom parts usually keep one or two in stock and, as I will be doing the chambering myself, this hopefully gives me the opportunity to build a similar rifle to the factory F/TR but for less outlay – or preferably - a better rifle for the same outlay!
Savage is the only major rifle manufacturer to use that unusual locking-nut for securing the barrel. Using this method means that headspacing becomes part of the assembly process rather than part of the machining process. It neither adds to or detracts from the accuracy potential and in addition to keeping manufacturing costs down, it also allows the Savage owner to easily swap barrels and calibres if he wishes. On the downside, it limits the weight of the barrel – or at least the breech diameter – as it obviously must be smaller than the locking-nut. That nut is not something I’m particularly a fan of, so we will dispense with it for this project and simply ‘shoulder’ our new barrel up to the action-face. We can now use a barrel measuring 1.25 inches in diameter at the breech as opposed to the 1.125 inch maximum when using the nut.
We’ve established that this new action is rigid but does that automatically mean it’s got to be special – surely it’s just a mass-produced factory action, built to factory ‘mass-production’ standards? Yes it is, but in my limited experience, I’ve found the Savage to be the equal of other popular mass-produced actions and at least Savage are prepared to sell them. Also, perhaps more by accident than design, the Savage has another feature which contributes to it’s ‘above-average’ accuracy.
Have a good look at a Savage bolt. It’s made up of over twenty separate pieces – about twice as many as a Remington bolt. The reason for this is the same as with the barrel-nut – it saves a few costly machining techniques. The bolt-head is a separate unit which is pinned to the bolt-body. Loosely pinned to the bolt-body. This allows the bolt-head and lugs to articulate slightly – enough to keep the lugs in full contact with the action-lugs when ignition takes place. Do I need to emphasise the importance of full-contact with bolt locking-lugs? It is a basic requirement of an accurate action. It’s what we pay for in a top-end custom action. It’s what we get for free in every Savage action!
Well, I’m convinced even if you aren’t and to prove it, I’ve laid out my money so time to get going. Remember our goal - a better rifle for the £1175 it would cost for a Savage factory F/TR rifle and we’ve now blown £500 on the action. That leaves £675 for a barrel and stock and a few other bits and pieces.
At the moment, the pound is strong compared to the dollar, so any American-sourced bits should be good value. The Pacnor barrels offer exceptional value anyway and I’m impressed not only with their finish and accuracy but also their speed of delivery, so the next step is to order a blank from Pacnor. This is straight-forward and, thanks to the locking-nut system, you could even order a pre-chambered barrel for your Savage to your own specification – via your local RFD of course.
Ordering is simplicity itself from the Pacnor website at www.pacnorbarrels.com using your credit card. The site claims to be secure and I’ve had no problems so far. The following day, I had a nice re-assuring e-mail from Penny, one of the Pacnor girls, thanking me for my order and informing me that I could expect delivery in 8 to 10 weeks. It actually arrived even quicker - well done Pacnor.
An alternative would be to get in touch with North West Custom Parts, who supplied my action. They are constantly shipping-in pre-chambered barrels in a popular range of calibres at bargain prices. They can often be installed on your rifle ‘as you wait’ but proofing is of course a legal requirement. I’m also ordering a tapered Weaver-type scope-rail from www.kenfarrell.com These Farrell bases are really solid and superbly machined and good value at 80 dollars. There is a choice of steel or aluminium and as we are ‘weight-conscious’ with this build, I’m going for ally.
What about our stock? We will be shooting off a bi-pod as this is one of the requirements for the F/TR class. Although we won’t need a three-inch wide benchrest-style fore-end, we do need a stiff fore-end - remember, we are carrying a very heavy barrel. However, we must keep in mind our weight limit – just 8.25kg or 18lbs., (compared to 10kg. for an Open F Class rifle) and that includes bi-pod and scope. Although this seems generous, the weight soon adds up – the action, complete with trigger, screws, guard and scope-rail weighs 3 lbs, the barrel blank weighs 8 lbs., my Leupold 8.5-25 scope with rings, another 1lbs. 10oz and a Harris bi-pod is three-quarters of a pound. That leaves about 5 lbs for the stock.
I’m really looking for a laminate stock, even though they are slightly heavier than a fibre-glass version. Laminates can be trued-up, pared-down, re-shaped etc. – you can’t do that with a fibre-glass stock and to keep the project as simple as possible, a pre-inlet would be nice.
North West Custom Parts put me onto Sharp Shooter Supplies in
This is the Savage Shooter Supply Heavy Benchrest stock
Unfortunately, the NWCP stocks were spoken for but a few minutes with the credit card and my stock was on its way. Please have a look at these stocks, they are great value. I know I seem to push
Inletting is neat and you get pillars already installed. Finish is good enough to lacquer.
I've chambered the barrel using Pacific Tool & Gauge's 308 Palma reamer. This is designed specially for the Sierra Palma Match 155 bullet although it is not a tight-neck. For F/TR, the chamber must be to standard spec. and the reamer cuts a 345 neck. The shot below shows the final headspacing of the chamber. Note the Ken Farrell scope-rail by the way. Mine has a 20 MOA taper as most of my shooting will be at 800 - 1000 yards but you can also get a 30MOA taper.
That bullet-shaped thing with the green ring in the port is the 'go' gauge. That red bit is part of the Accutrigger
My Pacnor barrel is a heavy taper from 1.25 at the breech to one inch at the muzzle. The length of the blank is 33 inches and until the rifle is fully assembled, c/w scope and bi-pod, I will not know the full weight. The maximum for F/TR Class is 8.25 kg. and I would like to keep the barrel at 32 inches but I may need to crop it. At the present time, I don't actually have my stockcand the one in the pics was loaned to me by North West Custom Parts.
ULTIMATE TACTICAL RIFLE
You may have read about Rob Hunter's exploits in Czechoslovakia (see under Extreme Stuff) shooting in two sniper competitions and Rob is now preparing for the next one - in October and he has big plans to take along a new rifle - the ultimate tactical rifle. Interesting!
Here's Rob
I currently have two tactical-style rifles – I say ‘tactical-style’ for that’s what they are – target rifles built to look like a military tactical or sniper rifle. Why are we attracted to this type of rifle? My last benchrest rifle was finished in a bright metallic pink whereas my tactical rigs are camo. yet both are used on the same range simply to punch holes in paper. Fashion or fantasy?
Anyway, back to our project – the ultimate tactical rifle. The rifle will be built with the Czech sniper competition as the ultimate goal so it had better be right if Rob is to give a good account of himself against some of the best professional military and police marksmen in the world. Let’s start off by exploring the options for our project.
Calibre
The 308 Win./7.62 Nato would always the first choice for a true tactical rifle. Reason? This ammunition is widely available everywhere and it will do the job at all ranges out to 1000 yards. It might not be the best cartridge but what use is a rifle if you can’t readily get ammunition for it?
But we are not in the theatre of war, our ‘job’ is simply punching holes in paper, so are there better options than the old 308? I can think of several alternatives – like the 260 Rem. Improved or even the 6BR but the new Lapua 6.5x47 cartridge is the one that most readily springs to mind. I’ve had good results with this new cartridge in my own tactical rifle at all ranges and ballistically, it will better the 308 all the way to 1000 yards. The cartridge is slightly shorter than the 308Win. so it will load from a standard 308 magazine and good-quality loaded ammunition is readily available from Lapua, in a useful variety of bullet-weights from 100 – 139 grains. This could save a lot of reloading in the early hours and maybe allow Rob to sample the
Action
We could chose any of the quality custom actions for this project but remember, we want it to be magazine fed. That means that the action will have a large hole in the base for the magazine and this is difficult to do without compromising general stiffness of most actions. Also, as this is a ‘field’ rifle, which could be dropped, submerged and dragged through the woods, we need a bit more ‘bolt to body’ clearance than we would find in say a custom benchrest action. In fact, if you remember, our last project rifle used the Stiller Predator action which was built to ‘field’ tolerances and this action should be on the list. We could even use a standard Remington 700 action – some great guns are still built on these actions, including plenty of the top American military tactical rigs.
I also got to look at another interesting action recently when a fellow shooter imported a tactical rifle built around the Surgeon action. The Surgeon is American – of course – and it was designed from the ground-up as a tactical action. How so? Well, Surgeon realised that it would have that great big cut-out in the bottom for a magazine, so they compensated by stiffening the action with an integral Picatinny scope rail. This rail is part of the action-forging, not a screwed-on accessory and effectively puts back the metal removed for the magazine cut-out. The rail has a built-in 20MOA taper so this is another plus.
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The Surgeon action
Surgeon have also nullified another of my gripes by using an integral recoil-lug – rather than trapping it between barrel and action. This simplifies barrel swaps and bedding though I do not envisage Rob changing barrels in the middle of a competition!
Unfortunately, the extractor is the same old Remington spring-type which I personally don’t like and would much prefer a proper Sako-style claw but the manufacturers claim excellent reliability with this type of extractor and I must admit I’ve never seen one fail on a Remington. I hope this doesn’t prove to be the ‘Achilles heel’. Finally, the Surgeon action offers an identical footprint’ to the short Remington action so it will sit nicely in any of the ‘drop-in’ tactical stocks currently on offer from manufacturers like McMillan.
Stock
The stock is a critical part of any project and this rifle is no exception as it will be used in a variety of shooting positions including prone off-hand, prone with bi-pod, sitting and standing. My own tactical rifles are almost always used ‘prone bi-pod’ so the stock design is not so critical but when we are shooting off-hand, we need good balance and a high – or adjustable comb to give a positive cheek-weld.
The McMillan A5 stock
So what do we choose? The purist would surely go for the classic M40 ‘Marine Sniper’ stock. This is the stock of legends but in the last 40 years we have learned what is essential and what is not. The M40 has a slender fore-end and a steep rake to the underside of the butt as it is based on a hunting stock originally designed for use with an open-sighted rifle. In other words, although the M40 is still a great stock, there are better options. Beefier fore-ends mean better accuracy off the bi-pod and an adjustable cheek-piece helps with positional shooting using a scope. A flat underside to the butt is a great aid when using a rear-bag. I really like my McMillan A5 and I also have the older McMillan A2. I still think the A2 is the better-looking stock but I concede that the A5 offers superior ergonomics so this will be our choice. There may not be time to apply any paint but McMillan offer a good choice of moulded in camo. finishes.
Scope
Well dear reader, if you are living this fantasy-rifle with me, what would be your choice of scope? The Leupold Mk4? The Nightforce NSX? The Schmidt & Bender PM2? Yes, I agree, any one of these fine scopes will do the job. The Leupold Mk4 is built to true military standards, is compact and offers excellent optics and lots of adjustment. Similarly with the NSX, though for me, maybe a little on the large size. Again, the Schmidt & Bender is a true military offering and would do anything we ask of it. These are all great optics, proven in the field and offering rugged build-quality and accurate adjustment. We ideally need at least 20 power and preferably a zoom so that we (or at least Rob) can wind down the magnification where necessary and increase the field of view to assist in picking out targets.
But remember, this is to be THE ultimate tactical rifle – so don’t we want the ultimate tactical scope - regardless of cost? So far, we have not compromised on our components and we are not about to start now! In that case, there can only be one choice - US Optics. This is a fantastic scope (see 'Extreme stuff') with a really useful reticle offering accurate range-finding in the field. Optically, it is second to none and build-quality is legendary. You really can hammer in tent-pegs with this scope! What’s more, we can have it in a superb green anodised finish which will perfectly compliment our tactical theme. Buy the best and cry once!
Barrel
Ideally we are looking for a stainless steel barrel blank about 28 inches long which will finish at 26 inches. It doesn’t need to be ultra-heavy as this is not a benchrest rifle. We will need a twist rate of around I in 8.5 to stabilise our 123 grain 6.5mm bullets. If we stick to the 123 Lapua Scenars, a 1 in 8.5 should do the job but a 1 in 8 would give the option of using the 139 grain bullet. The competition is mid October and it’s now September so Rob was glad to get hold of a 1 in 8.5 Krieger blank. It was a bit heavier than I had envisaged but then again Rob is a big lad and he should be able to handle it off-hand.
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This is the bit of the barrel you never see. There's a lot of info. here - twist-rate (8.5) bore and groove diameters, year of manufacture and the barrel's number.
Trigger
Our Surgeon action is designed to take the Remington-style triggers but we will be looking for something a bit better than a standard Remmy. Yes, the Remington can be re-worked to give a lighter, crisper let-off but we need reliable a trigger built from the ground up to these standards - we can’t risk slam-fires and the like in a competition of this standard. For me, the best trigger on the market in Remington configuration is definitely the Jewell - not the 2 ounce benchrest variety but one of the HVR models set at perhaps a pound. Yes, the Jewell could be a problem with dust or water but it will best compliment the accuracy potential of our rifle and if I were Rob, I would consider taking a spare – if the trigger does lock-up, there’s little you can do – except change it.
Accessories
As we have previously stated, our rifle will need to be magazine-fed and for reliability, the super-strong Accuracy International ten-round magazines will be used. Scope rings will be US Optics own and they don’t come any tougher. We will also need a bi-pod.
So there we have it. That’s our spec. for the ultimate tactical rifle. Now, all we have to do is build it, get Rob to run it in and briefly test it and then it's off to wildest
UPGRADING A FACTORY SAVAGE FOR F/TR CLASS COMPETITION
Have a look at our 'Featured Rifle' section to see how we went on with this project.
THE NEXT PROJECT - DASHER OR SMACK?
After chambering a second-hand switch-barrel in 22 Dasher last year (scroll down for full write-up), I’ve had an urge to build a complete rifle using a new barrel in this chambering. Also, although the Dasher is a phenomenal little cartridge, I’ve recently experimented with a new chambering, based on the Dasher but with more case-capacity and a slightly longer neck. I’ve christened it the 22 Smack.
So what exactly is the 22 Smack? The ‘SM’ bit comes from the donor brass which is the 6mm Swiss Match case and the ‘ack’ part refers to Parker Ackley. Parker was one of the great American gun writers in the post war period and he ‘improved’ most of our popular factory cartridges. Ackley’s improvements usually involved steepening the cartridge-case shoulder-angle to 40 degrees and removing the taper from the body. This usefully increases powder-capacity and the steeper shoulder can even improve powder-burning characteristics and thus aid accuracy.
Left, the 22 Dasher. Centre, the 22 Smack and right, the 6mm Swiss Match
My 22 Smack is therefore is the 6mm Swiss Match case necked-down to 224 and the shoulder-angle increased from 30 to 40 degrees. A bit like a 22 Dasher on steroids! In fact, the Dasher reamer was used for the chambering – just run in a little further to accommodate the longer Swiss Match case. This means that it’s also a tight-neck chamber – 0.248 inches to be precise. Case-forming is easier than the Dasher and we’ll cover that later.
The 22-250 Improved would be very similar to the Smack but slightly larger, yet it doesn’t use all its case-capacity with heavy (80 grain) bullets and the Smack’s 40 grain capacity is closer to the ‘ideal’. Having said all that, the Smack remains unproven at the time of writing and with the help of Stuart Anselm of North West Custom Parts (www.nwcustomparts.com ) who supplied a Savage for the 22 Smack test rifle (scroll down for full write-up), we are still carrying out load-development.
But, back to the project rifle. This time, our project rifle is not being built with a particular discipline in mind. I’m just doing it for the fun of it. We’ll see how it shoots and then see what it can be used for. In either Dasher or Smack chambering, it should be a great little round out to 600 yards and maybe more. It should make a storming ‘field’ round and I’m looking forward to using it in the Egg Shoot.
Before we screw anything together, we’ll have an in-depth look at the various components that will make up our rifle. If you fancy a similar rifle, you can ask your favourite gunsmith to get all the bits and pieces on order – for this is what takes the time with a custom build. OK, here goes:
Action
We’ve said many times before that the action is the heart of any rifle. If you want an accurate rifle, start off with a quality action and you can’t go far wrong.
Quality action? If I were building a rifle for my number one discipline – benchrest – I would be pestering Bruce Thom (BAT) or Jim Kelbly (Stolle) but no, this rifle is not for benchrest. Do we really need a BAT or a Stolle? I’ve already built some accurate rifles using Howa, Savage and Remington actions as a base. If you can pick up any of these actions - or even a complete cheap rifle - it’s a good starting point for a custom rifle project. Cheap? Well, I’d not be wanting to pay more than about £350 as this kind of money can buy you a brand-new Howa barrelled-action from Fox Firearms (www.howauk.com) On top of this, you may need to pay your gunsmith for some accurising work. Suddenly, that ‘cheap’ factory action can start costing you a lot of money!
If we wanted to step up to a BAT or a Stolle, we are looking at even more money - £1000 minimum - just for the action, so that’s a big step-up! Is there anything in between? Next time you are surfing the net have a look at www.viperactions.com Click on ‘actions’ and then click on ‘Predator.’
The Stiller Predator is a Remington clone but with solid bottom (Mag. cut-out available.)
Stiller’s Precision Firearms are engineers to the American aerospace industry and proprietor Jerry Stiller is also a shooter. He has all the top quality CNC machinery to make precision actions and a few years ago, he decided to enter this small but competitive arena. In addition to his top-of-the-range benchrest stuff - like the Viper or Diamondback actions - he also makes the Predator. The Predator action is a Remington ‘clone’ but made to Jerry’s high standard.
Everything about the Predator is Remington but the fit ‘n’ finish is superior. Bolt to body clearance is slightly greater than what we would expect in a benchrest action as the Predators are designed to be used ‘in the field’ without risk of locking-up due to the ingress of a tiny spec of grit or other foreign-body. Although not built to benchrest standards, the Predator is superior to any mass-produced factory action. The US dollar price is $695 so with the exchange rate approaching two dollars to the pound, it may even be a saving on an accurised factory action.
I’ve read some great reports on the Predator via the internet, so I placed and order for one via Walker Custom Rifles (www.walkerrifles.co.uk). Several options are available as you will see from the website but my specification is for a right-bolt, right-port solid-bottom long action. This is basically the same as a long Remington but the ejection-port is much smaller and there is no magazine cut-out on the underside. This means the action will be much stiffer than the Remington equivalent and with its 8.7 inch length, it will give us lots of bedding-area to carry a really heavy barrel. The short version of the Predator would do for my tiny 22 Dasher or 22 Smack cartridge but there’s little difference in price and the long action will give me the option to re-barrel in the future with virtually any cartridge.
Barrel
So what are we going to chose for our barrel? So far in my previous rifle builds, I’ve used Hart, Krieger, Pacnor, Border and K & P. Is any superior to the rest? Not that I can tell and for this build we are trying yet another barrel-maker – Dan Lilja. Dan makes his button-rifled barrels in
The barrel is a three-groove .224 calibre blank to what Dan calls his HV profile. The barrel will taper from 1.25 inches at the breech to around an inch at the muzzle. Finished length? I haven’t yet decided. Remember, we are only burning 35 - 40 grains of powder, so 28 inches should be plenty.
Why three groove? Good question. I’ve read a few good things about three-groovers and I like the three-groove Hart on my 6PPC benchrest rifle. It seems to copper-up less and clean-up easier. With only three grooves, the lands tend to be wider and thus maybe less susceptible to burning in the throat area – especially with a cartridge which is ‘over-bore’.
Stock
Generally I prefer synthetic stocks. Why? In this country, we frequently have to shoot in inclement weather and nothing resists water better than a synthetic stock. Wooden stocks are a definite no-no in our climate but then again, I do like the wood-laminate stocks. There is almost as much resin as wood in the laminate so they are very dense and quite weather-resistant and with a few coats of automotive clear lacquer they are pretty well bomb-proof. If you are building down to a weight-limit, you might not want to choose a laminate as they are maybe 25% heavier than the same stock in fibreglass but in this case, that’s not an issue. Having said that, I’d like to keep the rifle under 17lbs so that it will qualify for the Light Gun class in 600 yard benchrest.
Some laminate stocks can look pretty awful whilst others look superb. It’s not just the finishing; you need to get wood of the right colour – or colours. When I went over to the States a couple of years ago, I got to shoot 1000 yard benchrest with Bill Shehane. I’m sure most of you know that Bill turns out some of the best laminate stocks in the business and I’m a great fan of his ‘Tracker’ stock. Bill of course shoots 1000 yard BR and he designs stocks that look good and shoot well. Most common action inlets are available and prices are very reasonable.
If I had any complaint about the Tracker it would be that it looks a little chunky – great for a 1000 yard bench-gun but a little too square and heavy for this project. Bill must have had thoughts along the same lines as has just released the Tracker 2. It employs all the good features of the Tracker but with more elegant lines. One of Bill’s rifles that I used at the Hawks Ridge range had the most beautiful wood I have ever seen on a laminate stock. Bill explained that it was one he had done for himself using English and French walnuts – a light and dark combination. If you speak to Bill very nicely, he will build you a stock in the two walnuts but be aware, they are a little more expensive than the normal laminates but in my opinion, well worth it. Check out www.scopeusout.com The pic of my stock doesn’t show the richness of the dark woods, that will only be revealed when we lacquer it.
Other bits & pieces
I love the Kelbly scope rings www.kelbly.com Again, they are the most elegant – and lightest - around but that means going with a Davidson rail rather than a preferred Weaver so it will be a set of leupold QD in silver.
The trigger will be a Shilen rather htan one of Arnold Jewell’s. The jewell is superior but this is no benchrest rifle and the Shilen - set at perhaps half a pound - will do the job foe about half the price.
The only other item will be a butt-plate. I’d like something a bit different for this, so we’ll see what turns up.
OK, here she is - the finished rifle - chambered in 22 Dasher. As yet she's unfired. You can read more about this project in Target Sports magazine starting with the June issue.
6.5-284 / 6mm Swiss Match / 6.5WSM F Class rifle (Updated 12.04.07*)
This particular project started with me re-barrelling my 308 RPA Quadlock Target Rifle with a Border barrel chambered in 6.5-284. The project turned out well and the rifle shot great - especially when I got a load sorted out. But, someone (Ritzo) made me an offer for the rifle so that left me temporarily gun-less! My new rifle will be built on an 8.5inch BAT action, 30 inch barrel and a Shehane wood-laminate MBR stock. I already have the Border barrel and the BAT action is on order and today, my Shehane stock arrived. This is excellent service as it is less than a month since I ordered it from Bill Shehane in North Carolina.
The BAT actions are so good that I intend to thread and chamber the barrel using my existing action and I'm hoping it will screw onto the new action with no adjustment in headspace needed! This is not the way to really do it but the BATs are made on CNC equipment and they are spot-on action to action so we'll see how it goes and keep our fingers crossed!
The 6.5 Border barrel arrived today - 1 in 8 twist and 1.25 tapering to one-inch at the muzzle. Jim Young did the profiling and gave me a beautiful finish which will just need a light polish. As soon as I can find the time, it will be in the lathe!
Chambered the barrel in 6.5-284 today - now just waiting for the BAT action. Until the action arrives, I can do some testing and running-in by using my existing BAT 'chassis'.
The Shehane stock is now 'bedded' using Loctite Hysol. If you look at the photo, I've just popped the action out and I now need to machine-out a hole for the trigger. The stock comes with a very good finish and just a light sanding will be required before painting with clear two-pack automotive lacquer. I should hopefully have it up and running for weekend.
The Shehane MBR laminate stock and the new bedding - which needs machining for the trigger.
The 6.5-284 made its debut this weekend at my local club's 800 yard F Class shoot and took a promising second place. We were using the new half MOA centres and I was quite impressed with the rifle's accuracy considering that I'm simply using my 'old' load of 52.5 grains of Reloader 22 with a moly-coated 139 grain Lapua Scener bullet.
I've chopped it about a bit! Unfortunately, it didn't do a lot for my paint-job.
Unfortunately, things have not gone well recently. I changed powder batches and quite honestly, I just can't get it to shoot as well as I know it will. I'm going back to Vit165 but first, a few mods to the stock. I've cut the underside of the butt so that it is now lower overall and the underside is parallel to the underside of the fore-end. The dimensions are now more like a Tracker stock. I've also cut about 0.25 inches off the underside of the fore-end and machined two 'rails' into it - which will hopefully help it ride the bags better.
Here's the finished rifle. Willie Dixon of Holmfirth has done the lacquering and it's really brought out hte colour of the wood. I've decided to try shooting off that aluminium bi-pod. Why? I'm getting too old to lug a heavy rest around the ranges! OK, maybe the rest will come out at 1000 yards or for serious League shoots.
The rifle was of course chambered in 6.5-284 but I've had a mad-moment and I've just chambered a barrel in what I'm calling Swiss Match Plus. This is basically the Swiss Match chamber but using the Lapua 6.5x47 'go' gauge. The Lapua case is very similar to the Swiss Match but the Lapua is 34 thou. longer in the body, bringing it closer to the Tubbs 6XC. It also means that I can neck-down the excellent Lapua brass with the small primer pocket which should be cheaper and easier to obtain. I reckon that it will do the business out to 600 yards and I can screw-on the 6.5 tube for longer ranges.
After running-in the 6mm barrel, I tried the same load I use in my other rifle chambered in 6mm Swiss Match. It was giving me groups around half an inch at 100 yards but I felt it could do better and a little playing with the load soon had the groups nearer quarter-inch.
Today 29.10.06 I shot my first comp. - but not an F Class comp. This was 20 un-marked shots at 300 yards. I ended up five-points behing the winner but was rewarded with small-group (see pic below) two and three-quarter inches - not bad for 20 shots.
I built the gun for F Class and I was well pleased with the 6mm's debut shoot today at 400 yards. We were shooting on the normal Bisley targets rather than the smaller F Class V bull and I managed a 100.20v - but so did a couple of other shooters so it was obviously an easy (but cold!) day. The little 6mm is lovely to shoot and the bi-pod works a treat. For a back-back I'm using one of the Hunter's of England 'sniper' bags. These are more like a 'bean' bag than a rigid benchrest bag but it works great with the bi-pod.
*I tried the rifle in a 600 yd benchrest shoot in February and was rewarded with a 5-shot group measuring 1.875 inches!
The Swiss Match Plus continues to impress me and at one of our 600 yard BR shoots i managed a 1.875 inch group. I've also shot the rifle at 800 yards but i have yet to try 1000 yards - which brings me to this latest update.
Last month, i rechambered the old 6.5-284 barrel in 6.5WSM - expressly with 800 - 1000 yd F Class in mind. I've spent the last few weeks attempting to obtain some 300WSM brass and after a few fruitless searches North West Custom Parts (www.nwcustomparts.com) came up with the goods - and at a very good price. So, I'm now running-in and fire-forming brass in readiness for the Blair Atholl shoot at the end of April. This will be the rifle's competitive debut in the 6.5WSM guise so anything can happen.
I seem to have got it shooting quite well on Reloader 25 - not my favourite powder but i just couldn't get the velocity with Vit 570. The RL25 gives excellent velocities and it was a matter of choosing a load which would not exceed the old MOD range velocity limit of 3275fps.
Unfortunately, although the 6.5 Border barrel has had only about 500 rounds down it, it is already showing the signs and i suspect the 6.5WSM will see it off by the end of the year!
6.5x47 Lapua (Updated 24.02.07*)
When news of Lapua's new cartridge hit the streets it certainly caused a ripple of excitment in the accuracy world and prompted a few questions: What was this cartridge intended for? Hunting? Target shooting? Where would it 'slot in'? It's bigger than the 6BR but smaller than the 308. Is it a mid-range or long range cartridge?
I was able to get answers to these questions at IWA where the new cartridge was the centre of attraction on Lapua's stand. The emphasis is very much on accuracy for this is definitely a target round. Initial cases were produced with a large primer-pocket but tests proved that a smaller primer-pocket delivered superior accuracy so future rounds which eventually go on-sale will have a small primer.
Left, the 6BR (105 gn. bullet) the 6mm Swiss Match (105 gn bullet) the new Lapua 6.5x47 (123gn bullet) and for comparison, the .308Win
Lapua had some pretty impressive ballistics for us indicating that the 6.5x47 is likely to offer superior performance than either the 6BR or the 308 right out to 1000 yards. A variety of bullets can be used from the 105 grain, the 123 grain and even the 139 grain Scenar but I reckon that the 123 grainers will offer the best balance. The case has the 308 head-size so a large variety of rifles are all ready to re-barrell! A loaded round will also comfortably fit into a 308 magazine which is also handy.
Lapua's Testing established that the small primer was more accurate
I've been very impressed with my 6x47 Swiss Match - which is an almost identical case and I was looking at building a 6BR but now it's definitely going to be a 6.5x47. My 308 McMillan tactical rifle will be the donor rifle. It has a detachable box-mag. and I use it for steel-plate shoots and tactical shoots. The 6.5 bullet will certainly have the knock-down power and hopefully less recoil so this will help in speed-shoots.
My 'donor' rifle will be this McMillan, currently fitted with an HS Precision barrel chambered in .308Win.
I will be looking for a good quality heavy match barrel as all shooting will be from a bi-pod and I'm looking to try something different. Barrels can be a right pain to get as a lot of the US manufacturers are reluctant to ship to the UK - even though a barrel-blank is just considered to be a lump of steel tube. Whilst surfing the net the other night I came across the Pacnor website and bunged in an order there and then for one of their standard profiles. The Pacnor is a button-rifled barrel and they offer a 'match' and 'super match'. naturally, I forked out the extra 20 dollars for the 'super'. Delivery time is quoted at 4 to 6 weeks - we'll see!
Meanwhile, the reamer is on order from Pacific Tool & Gauge. This time, I'm not going for a tight-neck as it might get in the way in a rapid-fire plate-shoot but I will be specifying a min. neck-clearance of about 4 thou.
Pac-Nor were as good as their ad. claimed and my new 6.5 barrel dropped through the letter-box just four weeks after ordering! The stock has gone to Hydrographics for a camo 'dip' so we are just waiting for the reamer.
The reamer has at last arrived! Dave Kiff informed me that he had dispatched it on May 18th but it has been sat in my local post office for three weeks! The lazy b****** postmaster was too idle to send me a postcard! By tea-time, the barrel was threaded and ready for chambering - which will be completed next week. Also, I've just read on www.6mmBR.com that 6.5x47 Lapua brass has arrived in the States and is on sale! Hopefully, it won't be too long before dies are available.
OK, all barrel-work done and the stock is back from Hydrographics. I still need to beadblast the barrel but Target Sports magazine want an update.
Here it is - the more observant will spot that the trigger is missing - I think the tiger-stripe camo. looks quite good though. As yet, I haven't shot it but that will happen in the next two weeks - beadblasted barrel courtesy of Pete Walker of Walker Custom Rifles.
*Note that the scope has changed from the pic above. For some unknown reason, the reticle wire broke - not whilst I was shooting. I just looked through the scope and it had snapped! It's now on its way back to Leupold for a repair. In the coming week we will hopefully start to run the barrel in and sort out a load.
I ran-in the barrel with about 40 rounds loaded with the 123 grain Scenar over 37 grains of Vit150. I was simply looking for a safe moderate load and this one proved ideal. It gave good grouping yet was only doing around 2750fps over the chronograph.
Chronographing the 6.5x47
For my next outing, I took along six or seven loads starting at 40 grains of Vit 550 and increasing in half-grain increments. I was looking for the pressure-spike - and I found it pretty quickly at only 41.5gn. The velocity was an impessive 3042fps but the primer fell out! Oops!
For my next experiment I intend to try some Vit560. I need to use all the 6.5's case capacity and get 3000+fps without blowing primers!
The Vit 560 was way too slow and even with a full case, I was no where near my target velocity of 3000 fps. The next step was to go back to the Vit 550 and try some moly-coated 123 grain Lapua Scenars. I'm no great fan of moly-coating bullets but I've successfully used this 'dodge' before to keep down pressure. Sure enough, I hit the magic 3000 fps with an almost full case and no blown primers. Having said that, this is a pressure load and I would like to find an alternative but accuracy is excellent at half MOA.
*Lapua have just sent me some of their factory 6.5x47 ammo. loaded with three bullet-weights - 100, 108, 123 and 139 grain bullets so we'll see how it performs.
I shoot the McMillan off a bi-pod in tactical comps. and although this set-up is a long way from a proper benchrest rig, it works well with the A2 stock. Although the McMillan has a 20 round detachable box-magazine which will take the 6.5x47 round with a bit to spare, all rounds will be single-loaded for the test. Four, five-shot groups is the order of the day in Precision Rifle, with unlimited sighters. I’d already started testing the 6.5x47 on a previous competition-day but the wind was horrendous and it would have been unfair to continue. It wasn’t that much better today – absolutely freezing and very breezy but at least the wind-flags weren’t blown away this time!
I decided that the heaviest bullet would be the best to start with as it would be the easiest one to establish a zero with and my first group was a respectable 2.16 inches. I was well impressed, especially off the bi-pod. A decent set-up would obviously improve things and I experimented with the next three groups to find the best option – hanging on to it or trying to ‘free-recoil’ it.
I achieved similar results with each bullet-weight but it was so easy to miss a wind-change and have a bullet spoil an otherwise decent group. Don’t forget, these four groups are just that – four groups. Not the best four of a large number of groups but one attempt and one attempt only at a 5-shot group with each bullet weight. There were a few full-house 1000 yard benchguns on the line that day but nothing was performing substantially better than my 6.5x47.
Here are my 300 yard targets
For the record, my four groups were: 2.164, 1.769, 1.770 and 1.659, giving an average of 1.84 inches. To put that into perspective, if you have a rifle capable of shooting genuine half MOA at 100 yards, don’t expect 1.5 inch groups at 300 yards - it is an exponential climb as the distance increases and I’m confident that my results would equate to sub half-inch groups at 100 yards - I have already proved that the rifle is capable of this kind of performance with my home-loads.
I was tempted to pull a few rounds and check the accuracy of the powder-charges but in the end, I took a sample ten rounds of the ones loaded with the 108 grain bullet and simply weighed the complete cartridge. Weights ranged from 306.3 grains to 308.8 grains. Just half a grain difference – try this with some of your own homeloads.
Currently, I would guess that I probably have the only 6.5x47 rifle in the
So, that concludes our cursory evaluation of the new 6.5x47 Lapua factory cartridge and concludes this project . When my dies arrive however, I will be shooting this round in tactical comps. and by the end of the year I should have a better ideal of it’s potential – hopefully out to 1000 yards – so look out for an update.
Although I speculated that mine is the only rifle so chambered in the
Brass and bullets are readily available from Tim Hannam and loaded ammunition should be available from Viking Arms in the not too distant future. The new version of the Lapua reloading manual will contain data for the 6.5x47 but I do have some advanced loading data courtesy of Lapua and I will happily share this with any reader contemplating building a rifle - subject to the usual disclaimer.
I wasn't happy with the results I got from my 6.5-284 in 1000 yard benchrest in the 2005 season. For some reason, I was plagued with vertical stringing which spoiled some otherwise good groups, so for this year I'm trying a new calibre - 7mmWSM.
The latest family of WSM’s (Winchester Short Magnums) and WSSM’s (Super Short Magnums) and the Remington SAUM’s (Short Action, Ultra Magnum) were of course aimed at the American Hunter. Hunting is where the money lies for
However, these cartridges – or at least some of them – fall into the accuracy seekers corner as they display some of the features we are looking for in an accurate cartridge – namely short, fat powder columns. Many of these cartridges look like a 6PPC on steroids – and of course, we all know that the 6PPC is the world’s most inherently accurate cartridge.
Left the 7mmWSM and right, the 6PPC
I found myself watching the American websites with renewed interest. When would the first WSM chamberings start to appear in benchrest competition? The big stumbling block was brass. American brass is not known for its accuracy potential and Lapua is the favoured brass manufacturer on both sides of the
Unfortunately, Lapua don’t seem interested in the WSM’s but Norma picked it up and started to offer the 300WSM. Meanwhile, the American’s had found that the Winchester brass wasn’t half bad – they could work with it and the first 1000 yard WSM benchguns started to appear. Initial reports were promising – promising enough for me to order a reamer – in 7mmWSM.
Although you can buy 7mmWSM cartridges off the shelf, the 300WSM has a slightly longer neck so this is the favoured option – 300WSM case necked-down to 7mm. The 300WSM case is also slightly shorter than the factory 7mmWSM but, because we don’t use all its capacity anyway, this is an advantage – another reason to start with 300WSM brass.
Few if any
Before we actually neck-turn however, we will trim our brass to length. Measure the length of all your cases and trim them all to the length of the shortest one. This should just mean a few thou. skim off each case.
My reamer – from Dave Kiff, of Pacific Tool & Gauge is designed to cut a 0.312 neck, so allowing for one thou. clearance all-round, we are looking for a loaded round with a neck diameter of 0.310. If we subtract the diameter of the bullet – 7mm or 0.284, that leaves us with 0.026 or 0.013 per side. In other words, we need to neck-turn our brass to a finished thickness of NO MORE THAN 0.013 inches. If you are unsure about working to these fine tolerances, it’s best to work on the conservative side and turn the brass to maybe 0.012 inches. Thousandths of an inch have a habit of ‘dissappearing’ and that could be dangerous. Always check the neck-diamenter of your final loaded-round to ensure that you have at least that one-thou. clearance all round.
Try a few dummy rounds in the chamber and make sure the bolt is closing easily. To do this properly, you need to remove the firing-pin/spring assembly. If the bolt won’t close easily and the neck-diameter of the round is two thou. below the chamber-neck diameter, you could be ‘crimping’ the bullet – if your cases are too long. DANGEROUS – this will raise pressure - you maybe need to check the trim-length and take off a bit more if necessary.
Of course, I’m not the first to pioneer this round in the
Russ’s load was 66 grains of Reloader 25. This is a double-base powder and I’ve ended up on 66.7grains which gives me an honest 3000 fps with a 180 grain Berger bullet from a 30 inch barrel. I must stress however, if you undertake a similar project, START OFF LOW AND WORK UP YOUR LOAD IN SMALL INCREMENTS!
The 180 grain Berger has a very high BC but the 175 grain Sierra is a great bullet and more readily obtainable. I've already mentioned the Wilson hand-die for necking-down the brass and re-sizong the necks after firing. For bullet-seating, I'm also using a Wilson hand-die. These dies are built to benchrest standards and usually work out cheaper than ordinary dies - but, you need an arbor-press to use them. Big cartridges like this one will soon need the shoulders bumping back and for this I'm using a Hornady die in my RCBS Rockchucker press. Hand-dies are not suitable for shoulder-bumping.
My rifle is built around a BAT 8.5 inch action in a Shehane Tracker wood-laminate stock. The barrel is a four-groove Krieger fitted with a Vais muzzle-brake – legal in 1000 yard benchrest Light Gun class but not in Heavy Gun or F Class.
Now we have mentioned F Class, I can’t help noticing that more and more shooters are exploring the bigger cartridges as the competition increases. Shooters are now looking for a cartridge which will out-shoot the popular 6.5-284 and the WSM’s are certainly an option. There is already a 6.5WSM on the circuit and I’ve heard good reports. However, the WSM’s are likely to be barrel-burners – maybe as short as 1000 rounds and although that will give you three seasons of 1000 yard BR it will only represent perhaps a year of F Class competition, so I’ll be sticking with the 6.5-284 for now!
If you are playing with a WSM and have some info to share, please get in touch. E-mail me at vinceb@precisionrifle.co.uk
Shooting the 7mmWSM
The barrel was chambered on 16.1.06 and the Vais brake installed. I took it to the range today (19.1.06) to run in the barrel. I just dumped a few powder loads of RL25 and used a Sierra 168 bullet. Accuracy was excellent but I had an extraction problem. The extractor will need a few thou. grinding off it as it is not clearing the rim on the Norma cases, so testing is on-hold until I get this done.
Sorted out the extraction problem by taking about 10 thou. off the extractor with a Dremel. It now slips over the case-rim and extracts without problem. I've put 20 rounds down the barrel with very little sign of 'coppering'. Next job is some serious load-development - when I get some 180 grain Berger bullets.
Thanks to a friend who visited the US Shot Show, I now have some 180 grain Berger 7mm bullets. They look fantastic and are reputed to have the highest BC of any 7mm bullet. Initial tests at 100 yards with RL25 powder are promising. This weekend, I'll try some 300 yard groups.
My 300 yards groups were dissappointing - around 1.5 to 2.0 inches. I've tried some further load testing at 300 yards and managed to get the groups a little better but the real test will be this weekend at 1000 yards.
My first 1000 yard competition went quite well. I had a couple of eight-inch groups and finished second so I think the potential is there. I will try some more load development before the next outing in April.
More testing today - in the snow! I'm using reloader 25 powder but I'm thinking it may be too slow for this cartridge so I'm trying some RL22. Velocity was very good at 3150fps before bolt-lift got 'sticky'. I've backed-off to 3050fps and now I'll try some accuracy loads.
Accuracy with the RL22 was slighly down on the RL25 so the next step was to try some Vit 170. Unfortunately velocity was well down and I was unable to achieve 3000fps. Primers were cratered and bolt-lift was decidedly sticky so it looks like the RL 22, as I have not managed to obtain any RL25.
*Three days before the UKBRA's next 1000 yard BR shoot I've managed to get hold of a tub of RL25. Sunday, the day of the shoot, started well. My first group in the morning was a six-inch dead. the second was a 'seven'. In the afternoon, I opened up with another 'seven' and then - amazing! A group measuring just 2.866 inches and a new British record!
Left - the 2.866 inch group and right another new record shot 18.6.06 measuring 2.67 inches.
At the very next UKBRA shoot in June, I was fortunate enough to shoot another record group, this time measuring just 2.67 inches and to cap-off a good season, I also managed to win the UKBRA's 1000 yard Benchrest Championship. The 7 WSM is now in bits and will be rebedded and re-built over the winter. I need to have a good look at the barrel to see if it has another season left in it!
*How time flies! It's now February 2007 and I'm just a week away from out first 1000 yd BR shoot. I've rebuilt the rifle around a new single-port BAT action and refinished the stock. I'm currently trying to get it to shoot on some of Vhitavuori's new H570 powder which I hope will be more consistent lot to lot than the RL25.
Our first shoot was abandoned at lunchtime due to rain and gale force winds but at the second shoot in April the weather was much more favourable. i was in line for a second place with an agg. of around 10 inches until i lost a bullet. I had a nice little group near to the centre of the target but - only four rounds in it! The butts crew never even heard the shot so it sounds as htough the bullet blew up. Another shooter using the 7mm Bergers also 'lost' one. I've checked the batch numbers on my bullet boxes and they are in two distinct batches - so I'll try the other batch next time - although we can't always blame the bullet!
22 PPC Short (Updated 12.4.07*)
This cartridge is a shortened version of the 6PPC. The case is shortened by one-tenth of an inch (though some shorten by as much as one-eighth). The cases are shortened using a cut-down 22-250 die - I used a Hornady. The neck diameter is 0.243 inches and we use a 52 grain bullet.
Is it worth the extra effort? I can't say yet but the world's biggest benchrest shoot - the USA Super Shoot has been won twice in the last six years with the 22PPC Short. When you consider that perhaps less than one percent of shooters use the 22, that's a pretty good 'hit' rate.
I used a 22PPC reamer from Dave Kiff of Pacific Tool & Gauge, which he supplied with a 'short' go-gauge. My barrel is a 1 in 14 Krieger and it is now screwed to my BAT Light Class rifle in readyness for the 2006 season but to date I have yet to shoot it.
Managed to put a dozen rounds down the barrel, cleaning between each shot. I hope to complete the running-in process in the next week or so. At the moment I'm using Hornady A Max 52 grain bullets and accuracy looks OK.
Running-in and load development continues but until I get my benchrest bullets, I won't know the true potential of this tiny cartridge.
*It was a 'baptism of fire' for the little 22 at the UKBRA's first shoot of 2006 as I had not even shot it with my new Bart's bullets, let alone developed a load. Two of us shared the rifle, both doing our own thing with regard to load-development and yes, you guessed it - I got beaten with my own gun! The little 22 took second-place (and seventh) which was a very good result considering the horrendous conditions - very windy with frequent hail and rain showers! At least I have a load for next time!
Unfortunately, I didn't get to shoot the 22 again until the very last shoot of the year. I decided to put the 6PPC barrel back on for the European Championships in Spain in September as I didn't feel fully confident with the 22. I think it was the right decision as i certainly couldn't have done better with the 22. (See competitions).
*With the new season underway, I've switched to H4198 powder for the 22PPC. This powder is a bit faster than Vit133 and seems to suit the smaller cartridge. Although I've had one or two groups in the 'ones', i don't seem to be able to string five decent groups together and my aggs are in the 'threes' - not good enough!
22 Dasher (Updated 30.5.06*)
If like me you keep your eye on the www.6mmBR.com website, you might have noticed James Phillips gun (week 30) chambered for the 22 Dasher. It sounded too good to be true so I just had to have a go. The Dasher is formed from the 6BR case by necking down to 224 and blowing the shoulder forward to steepen the angle from 30 to 40 degrees and at the same time, increasing case-capacity by about 10%.
Reamer again came from Dave Kiff and the Broughton barrel is now screwed onto my BAT M action in the Shehane laminate Tracker stock. After running-in the barrel, I'm currently developing a load using 80 grain Sierra Matchking moly bullets and H4350 powder. Velocities are around 3200 fps with 'promising' accuracy. I'm hoping that the rifle will be good for 300 to 600 yard competitions.
You can have your Dasher in either 6mm or 224 calibre. With the 6mm version, the brass is easier to form – just a matter of loading as for 6mmBR and letting the brass ‘blow-out’ in your ‘improved’ Dasher chamber. With the 22 Dasher, things get a little more complicated – especially when you specify a tight-neck reamer. My chamber neck is 0.248 inches in diameter - a few thou. ‘tighter’ than a standard factory .224 neck which typically comes in around 0.254 inches. Remember, a fitted-neck gives you that last ounce of accuracy and the great thing is - it costs you nothing - except in time, prepping your brass. If you’re about to spend hundreds of pounds having a new match barrel fitted, it’s worth going the extra yard and specifying a tight-neck.
Depending on your point of view, fire-forming is either a time-consuming, tedious process or an interesting exercise. Needless to say, the latter applies to me! Normally, my first job would be to batch-weigh my 100 new Lapua 6BR cases but we’re going to knock this little case about so much, it’s probably a waste of time – especially with Lapua’s super-quality brass. If I do batch-weigh, it will be after fire-forming, trimming and neck-turning – just to weed-out the odd ‘rogue’ case. Batch-weighing works on the reasonable assumption that weight is in some way related to volume but we have no way of knowing if a case that weighs half a grain more actually exhibits less volume, so really, the whole exercise is probably just a ‘feel good’ thing.
Reloading-dies can be a problem with an unusual wildcat and I’m not surprised to find that Dasher dies are not listed in any die manufacturer’s catalogue, so what do we do? The chamber is ‘tight-neck’ so we will need a neck-size die with interchangeable bushings. Bushing-dies are offered by
I came across the same problem with the 6mm Swiss Match chambering I used in the Howa tactical-rifle project and eventually I got a set of dies via
If you scan the catalogues, you can usually cobble something together. The Dasher neck-die will not be too much of a problem as Sinclair list a .243Win Improved die by Wilson which has (roughly) the same body and 40 degree shoulder as the Dasher but is about half an inch longer (0.4833 inches actually) so I will just need to chop a bit off the length. A bullet-seater die is even easier, as I can use the 22BR
The body-die is, in some ways, the most important of the lot as this will be used to full-length size the case and ‘bump’ the shoulder after firing - very necessary with ‘pressure’ rounds like the Dasher. Unlike bullet-seating dies, body-dies are hardened, so less easy to alter. Fortunately, some die-makers keep a close eye on the competition scene and often respond with limited runs of specialist dies. So it was with the Dasher; when the 6mm version took that NBRSA 1000 yard benchrest record, it created a ripple of interest amongst the accuracy community and the Redding Custom Shop responded with a small batch of 6mm Dasher body dies and yes, they would be happy to let me have one. Thank-you
The first step on the road to converting a 6BR case in to a 22 Dasher, is to run the cases through the
I normally use Hercules Bullseye for this process – about 40% of the case-capacity usually works well. It is important to hold your rifle vertical when you pull the trigger, to ensure that the powder is at the bottom of the case, covering the primer. This will give a good enough ‘blow-out’ (see picture) to enable us to go on to the next step – neck-turning – but a full ‘forming’ will not be achieved until the second firing using a bullet and we will not see a really sharp shoulder-profile until the brass has been fired another couple of times .
NOTE: FIREFORMING WITHOUT BULLETS IS NOT A PROCESS TO BE UNDERTAKEN LIGHTLY. IN NO WAY MUST YOU ATTEMPT TO PLUG THE CASE – THE WAX IS SIMPLY THERE TO STOP THE POWDER FALLING OUT AS YOU CHAMBER THE ROUND. DO NOT USE ANY OTHER CASE PLUG OR FILLERS.
Another ‘plus’ with bullet-less fire-forming is the cost saving – no bullets, less powder and more importantly, no wear on your barrel. This might seem trivial but I’m not expecting more than about 1500 rounds out of the Dasher barrel and if I get maybe seven or eight reloads out of each case that means fire-forming 200 cases – around one seventh of the barrel’s life could be wasted! The only downside with this process is cleaning the wax out of the barrel afterwards. I prefer to fire about five rounds and then push a few wet patches through the bore. This prevents an excessive wax build-up.
With a chamber-neck of 0.248 inches, we are looking for our loaded round to measure 0.246 across the neck. This will give us one-thousandth of an inch clearance all-round. The bullet is .224 inches in diameter (but check, they can vary!) so that leaves 0.22 inches for the brass thickness – or, 11 thou. per side. We must therefore turn each case-neck down to 0.011 inches exactly with a neck-turning tool but first we need to neck-up the brass with a 0.224 inch mandrel. The brass in the neck area now measures around 0.013 inches, so we just need a two thou. skim. This is easily accomplished in one pass on the neck-turner, though normally, I would do it in two cuts if more were needed to be removed - as with a 6PPC case for example, where we are taking off about 5 thou.
A tube (or ball) micrometer (see photo) is essential for monitoring the neck-turning process, otherwise you will not know the diameter of your loaded round until you actually seat a bullet. Better to check first. Having said that, I always mike each loaded round on first loading to ensure that they will have that one thou. clearance. There is no room for error here. The final job is to trim all our cases to the same length and carefully remove any burrs on the inside and outside of the case-mouth.
I’ve got some load data from the article on the 6mmBR website but I’m staying conservative for the second fire-forming with just 32 grains of H4350 and a 75 grain bullet. Eventually we will be using an 80 grain Sierra moly-coated bullet and about 10% more powder. These are the heaviest .224 bullets commercially available and I was amazed to find them in stock at Henry Kranks of Pudsey – they really do carry a good stock of Sierras. I’m also using the fire-forming process to run-in the barrel, so it’s ‘shoot one, clean’ for the first five rounds, then five-shot groups. Remember, although it is a second-hand barrel, the chamber and leade is brand-new and it is the leade which must be carefully smoothed out by the running-in process.
You can see from the photograph above that the cases now have a sharper profile on the shoulder and although maybe another fire-forming will be needed to obtain the final profile, they will be good enough for some load-development. If you are trying to sort out a load for a new cartridge, the first thing is to select the correct powder. Not easy but, if you pick the wrong one, you may never get good results.
Fortunately, thanks to information from the 6mmBR website, someone had already done all the hard work of load-development. But, this is a little ‘pressure’ round, so as always, it’s essential to start low and work up. I knew the final load would be around 36 grains which equates to a nice case-full but I loaded seven rounds, starting at 34 grains and working up in 0.3 grain intervals. I could see each shot climbing a little higher on the target as the chrono indicated an increase in velocity. Finally, the last three rounds made one ragged hole and the velocity hardly altered even though the load was still increasing – a sure sign that you have reached the limit. Pressure signs were not excessive, with easy bolt-lift and the primer just nicely flattened.
I settled on 36 grains with the moly-coated 80 grain Sierra Matchking bullet. It was however a bitterly cold day so I will need to watch things if I use the same load in summer. REMEMBER – ALTHOUGH THIS LOAD WAS SAFE IN MY RIFLE IT MAY NOT BE SAFE IN ANOTHER RIFLE. THIS MAGAZINE ACCEPTS NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE MIS-USE OF THIS INFORMATION. ALWAYS START LOW AND WORK UP THE LOAD IN SMALL INCREMENTS.
The Dasher had its first competitive outing on Boxing Day - best 5-shot group at 300 yards was a 0.734 inches - promising!
I shot the Dasher again today (14.1.06) in a 300 yard benchrest competition and managed another excellent group measuring 0.765 inches. My agg. for the five, 5-shot groups was 1.26 inches. My next target is to agg. under an inch.
DIGGLE EGG SHOOT 29.5.06 -
This was my real reason for building the Dasher. I always reckoned it would be the ideal 'egg' round. The Egg Shoot is over three distances - 100/300 & 500 yards. Three shots are taken at each range without sighters - a great test of marksmanship. You can access the full results under 'Competitions' but for the record, I managed to win just the 100 yard stage with a max. score of 45 and a group measuring 0.284 inches - but, I missed the egg! Nonetheless, the Dasher didn't dissappoint and I was well pleased with its performance. For next season, I would really like to get a new barrel on it.
PIMP MY RIFLE - THE 22 SMACK
What is a 22 Smack? It's a 6mm Swiss Match case necked-down to 224 and the shoulder angle increased from 30 to 40 degrees, Ackley style. Or, if you prefer, a Super-Dasher!
The new sibling Smack between its parents. Left the 22 Dasher, right the 6mm Swiss Match
What prompted me to do this? Well, the first of the new Long Range Precision rifles from Savage have just arrived in this country. You will see a picture of it under NEW STUFF which I took at the IWA show in Germany earlier in the year. These rifles are absolutely superb for an 'out of the box' factory rifle and come with the heaviest barrel I have ever seen on a factory gun and they also have an HS Precision stock. The stainless-steel actions have a small ejection-port and solid bottom. They are every inch a custom rifle but built by a factory.
The only downside is that they come in a range of really useless calibres - for the UK target shooter that is. My idea is to get a .223 version, buy a new bolt-head (you can do this with a Savage) with a 308 bolt face and re-chamber it in a more 'advantageous' chambering. The 223 barrel fortunately has a 1 in 9 twist so it should handle 75 grain bullets and even 80 grainers - maybe.
The idea is to run my 22 Dasher reamer in a little deeper to accommodate the length of a Swiss Match case - which is conveniently the same length as the 223 Rem. case. In fact, the work is already done but rather than ruin a brand-new rifle, I'm having a trial run with a secondhand Savage 12BVSS.
You may recall that this particular Savage has a good quality laminate-wood stock, a solid-bottom stainless-steel action and a button-rifled barrel. The 223 barrel is also ‘cosmetically’ fluted but the fluting is so shallow, it’s of little use as an aid to cooling or weight-saving. On the plus side, the barrel has a sharp 90 degree recessed-crown and it’s already proved to be a bit of a tack-driver.
With its 1 in 9 twist, it will handle 224 bullets up to 75 grains and shoot genuine half-inch groups at 100 yards – and I don’t just mean the odd fluky group. Owner Stuart Anselm won the Factory Sporter Class in a recent UKBRA benchrest shoot at his first attempt with 0.502, 0.652, 0.431, 0.546 and 0.453 inch groups to give him a 0.516 inch agg. Not too shabby, especially with mass produced (Hornady A Max) bullets.
So, it’s already an accurate rifle that has also brought Stuart some success in F Class competition but, it has its limits. Out to 300 yards, the 223 Rem can hold its own but at 500 yards, it’s beginning to run out of steam and at 600 yards it’s definitely on its last legs and certainly won’t live with the 6.5's. Eighty-grain bullets were tried but that 1 in 9 twist just isn’t fast enough – particularly when they are only leaving the barrel at around 2800fps.
Problem is, with a budget factory-rifle like this one, it’s difficult to improve it without spending more than the rifle is actually worth. A new match-grade barrel chambered in something useful like 6BR would be a great upgrade but we would be looking at around £600 for a quality re-barrelling job from one of our top gunsmiths and I'm not sure it's worth putting that kind of money into a £500 rifle. Come to sell it and I doubt that you would get your money back.
Now the Savage has a couple of features that you won’t find on any other factory rifle and it’s this which makes our project feasible. If you have a Savage, you might have wondered why it has a strange-looking lock-nut at the front of the action. Simple - the lock-nut system is a great aid to barrel-fitting at the factory. Instead of the final head-spacing being a skilled gunsmithing job, the locking-ring allows this work to be done by an unskilled operative - quickly, accurately and therefore cheaply. Also, to save on valuable complex machining costs, the Savage bolt is made up of a lot of simple parts – almost twice as many as in a Remington bolt. The bolt-head for example is a separate item so, if you have a 223 bolt and you want to go say 6BR (308 size bolt head) it’s a simple and cheap swap (about £30). Very handy.
The Savage in bits - note the barrel locking-nut and bolt-head
The Savage does have a downside however. If you want to re-chamber say a Remington barrel, the first job is to chop-off the old three-quarter inch long tenon and turn and thread a new tenon and cut a new chamber. You can't do this with the Savage as the barrel has no ‘shoulder’ where it abuts the action. The barrel-nut forms the shoulder! We can’t extend the barrel-threads either because they run into the barrel-taper – so there would be no depth to the thread.
If we want to easily and successfully 'pimp' our Savage, we ideally need a cartridge of similar length to the .223 Rem. Incidentally, the 223 Rem. case is approximately 45 millimetres in length, so the 22BR Rem. or 22 Dasher - an ideal re-chambering - would be a bit short at 40mm.
A 22 version of the 6x47 Swiss Match case would be the 'ideal' but spending £120 on a new reamer and ‘go’ gauge is not within the scope of this project. I do however have a 22 Dasher reamer but, if you recall, we’ve already established that the Dasher case is much too short at 40mm - but what if we run in the Dasher reamer an extra 10 mm or so? This is going to be a real pimping job! The Dasher has also got a 40 degree shoulder – rather than the Swiss Match’s 30 degree. The steeper shoulder can have two advantages – increased powder capacity (which we won’t need in this instance) but it can also offer better powder-burn, keeping the ‘turbulence-point’ within the case-neck. Not a great advantage but certainly not a bad thing.
Having the reamer prints for the 6x47 and 22 Dasher helped in working out dimensions prior to maching. That big black thing is the barrel locking-nut spanner.
I have reamer drawings for the 22 Dasher, the 6mm Swiss Match and the standard 223 Rem. so the next job is some careful measuring and drawing for although headspace will not be a problem with the barrel locking-nut system, we also need to consider bolt-nose clearance. After an hour or so of head-scratching, I’ve come up with a measurement for our new chamber, so the first job is to knock-up a ‘go’ gauge, then we can accurately cut the new chamber and also end up with the correct bolt-nose clearance when we set the head-space.
I’ve been itching to get the Savage barrel spinning in the lathe and hopefully we can get it to run reasonably true through the headstock if we are expecting this rifle to perform. With a good quality match-grade barrel it’s possible to true it up - on the rifling - to run within a tenth of a thou. – a ridiculously tiny error when you think that a ten pound note is about 6 thou. thick! I started off by indicating off the Savage’s existing 223 chamber as my DTI with its 1.5 inch ‘finger’ wouldn’t quite reach as far as the existing chamber-neck. I got the chamber running pretty true but I wasn’t really happy.
My 1.5 inch DTI 'finger' was too short to reach the 223's chamber-neck - so I had to cut a bit off the end of the barrel.
The only option was to lop a tenth of an inch off the back of the barrel (not a problem as we will have to cut even more off eventually). This would just allowed me to indicate off the chamber-neck (a better option as it’s closer to the rifling) and sure enough, there was a worrying five thou. difference to my first check in the end of the chamber. Ideally of course I would have liked to indicate off the rifling just forward of the chamber but I had no chance of reaching in that far and anyway, the area just forward of the leade takes most of the heat and it could be burnt and distorted so at this stage, I’m happy to go with the neck reading.
Next job, before we run in the Dasher reamer, is to bore out the old 223 chamber for about three-quarters of an inch. This will allow us to get the revolving-pilot on the forward end of the Dasher reamer to enter the rifling and ensure that we cut as true a chamber as possible. The boring must be kept as close as possible to the finished chamber-diameter measured at the shoulder. When the reamer makes its final cut, the slight taper on the body will just (hopefully!) ‘clean-up’ any marks left from the boring process and not leave any ‘ringing’ marks in the new chamber which could cause extraction problems.
Boring out the 223 chamber so that the pilot on the Dasher reamer will engage with the rifling.
The Dasher reamer must be run in far enough to cut a completely new neck as our fitted-neck will be slightly smaller than the 223's factory neck and fortunately, the chamber cleaned-up superbly. I was able to confirm this with the borescope and also check the new chamber-neck and leade. A final check with the DTI also confirmed that our new chamber is running absolutely true – an improvement on the original Savage one, though we are talking in thousandths of an inch here and I honestly don’t know if it makes any difference. Even if a top gunsmith were to fit a new match-grade barrel in .223 Rem. to our Savage, I doubt that he would be prepared to guarantee better accuracy than this rifle already displays, so just how critical are these tolerances? At the end of the day, if we are looking for ultimate accuracy, we work to the best of our abilities.
In goes the Dasher reamer - just far enough to clean out the old 223 chamber-neck
The only downside is that we have now lost some of our tenon length and we can't recover it so, it means that the recoil-lug will have to go. I’ll have to have a think about how we get around that one! I’ve swapped-over the 223 bolt-head for our new 308 one and the bolt-nose to barrel clearance is pretty well spot-on at seven thou. so we appear have a successful job – if it shoots!
Back together but we lost the recoil lug. I'll probably try a glue-in and see how it goes.
The Dasher reamer cuts a 0.248 inch diameter neck (in other words a tight-neck) so the next task will be to neck-turn some brass, fireform and sort out some reloading-dies for there won’t be any on the shelf for the 22 Smack for until I actually fire-form the first case, I won't know the dimensions of this brand-new round! The nearest cartridge to the Smack is probably the 22-250 Improved.
Swiss Match brass will be the basis of the Smack case but this is not usually found languishing on the shelves of your local RFD but, if you remember, I bought 1000 pieces for a previous project rifle so I still have plenty left. The brass is of excellent quality, as it is manufactured by Ruag of Switzerland purely for 300m ISSF rifle competition – one of the most demanding shooting disciplines. An alternative source could be Lapua’s new 6.5x47 cartridge case, which I have also successfully necked-down and formed into the Smack. In addition, the Lapua case also has the advantage of a small primer-pocket – a feature that Lapua found to offer superior accuracy in a case of this capacity.
My Dasher reamer, which I used for the Smack’s chamber, cuts a 0.248 inch diameter neck – in other words a tight or fitted-neck, so the next task will be to form some brass, neck-turn and sort out some reloading-dies, for there certainly won’t be any on the shelf for this round! One of the good things about this little round is the brass-forming. It can all be done in the reloading-room with no time-wasting fireforming on range, as with the Dasher.
Here are the steps required to form the 22 Smack case from the 6mm Swiss Match (or Lapua 6.5x47).
Forming the brass - 6x47 Swiss Match to 22 Smack - all done in the reloading-room
Step 1. The 6x47 case is first run through a 6mm Dasher body-die which bumps the shoulder to 40 degrees and slightly lengthens the neck.
Step 2. Trim the neck to give an overall case-length of 1.75 inches.
Step 3. Neck-turn the brass to give a wall-thickness of eleven thou. (0.011 inches) This will give a loaded-round neck diameter of 0.246 inches to suit our 248 neck.
Step 4. Neck-down the case to take the 224 bullet using a 254 and 244 bushings. This could be done in one pass but the results are better using the two bushings.
Cases are now close enough to be used in competition. Further fire-forming is not required but the shoulder corner will become slightly sharper after the first firing.
The next step is to source some reloading dies. It is of course possible to make a die-set using the excellent Newlon die-blanks. The big problem is that a full-length re-sizing die is normally three thou. smaller than the rifle’s chamber, so the dies could not be cut with our existing chamber-reamer. If we have to buy another reamer and die-blanks, the cost will be in excess of two-hundred pounds and well outside the scope of this budget project.
Maybe we can source some existing dies and the obvious starting point is the 22-250 Improved which is very similar to the Smack with a 40 degree shoulder but slightly longer. Although the 22-250 Imp. is not a factory cartridge, it’s been around for so long that dies are available off the shelf. By comparing reamer-prints, we can verify that the two cartridges are very close and a trim of around an eighth of an inch off the base of the 22-250 die will make them usable.
Redding 22-250 Imp. dies were shortened
I ended up buying one of
The final part of this project is to get the 22 Smack performing on range, otherwise all our efforts are wasted. Remember, the object of the project was to improve on the Savage’s .223’s ballistics without compromising accuracy and, if possible, stabilise the 80 grain Sierra Matchking bullet. If you recall, the original .223 with its 1 in 9 twist would not stabilise this bullet and velocity with the .223 case was around 2800 fps.
With an unknown cartridge like the Smack, where do we start? My early loads were based on knowledge I had built-up with the 22 Dasher and were disappointing. I was naturally reluctant to risk an overload and initially our 80 grain bullets were ‘crawling’ out at only 2900 fps. Encouragingly, they were already stable and accuracy was excellent, so we were encouraged to push further.
I searched the internet and found a couple of good sites offering reloading data for the 22-250 Imp. I also used the excellent ‘Quickload’ programme which offered me a variety of suggested powders and charge-weights together with computed pressure predictions. Clearly, I had been a little too conservative.
I ended up using Vhitavuori’s excellent double-base N560 powder, which incidentally is what I use in my 6mm Swiss Match. The charge weight was also similar, giving a full case and pushing out the 80 grainers comfortably in excess of 3200 fps – nicely within the velocity limit for ranges operating on MOD safety certification. Now that we have an idea of our powder-charge, we need to fine-tune the load – once the weather improves!
Remember that Thursday in January when gale-force winds closed several of our motorways, blew down trees and lifted the odd house-roof? That was the day we met up to test the Smack. Honestly, it was the windiest day I have ever experienced at Diggle. Stuart brought along his reloading gear and we started about half a grain down from my last test-load over the chronograph the previous month.
Stuart put one round on the target, zeroed the ZOS 8-32 scope and fired the first three rounds. The result was a stunning tiny ‘clover-leaf’ measuring well under half an inch which absolutely astounded us both. I ran back to the car to get my camera to record the evidence for Target Sports and returned just in time to see the wind rip off the target-face and send it disappearing over the
Further testing was pointless in these conditions but the result was sufficient to tell us that the Savage and the Smack have a future and Stuart has since proved the rifle’s effectiveness in a couple of F Class shoots. The last shoot was at 800 yards and I was interested to see how the Smack would fare against my 6mm Swiss Match. As stuart had no elevation settings for this distance, I gave him my setttings for the Swiss Match. His first round sailed over the target and he ended up with 4MOA elevation less than me! It was a far from ideal day, cold and blustry but Stuart had only one shot out of the V bull to end up on 100.19v to my 99.18v. very impressive for a little 22!
The only clue that something might be a little different with this Savage - no recoil-lug and the print on the barrel is upside-down!
One last point. Remember in Pt.1 we had to shorten the barrel-tenon and we ‘lost’ the recoil-lug? The easy solution was to glue the action into the stock. This was accomplished simply by using Araldite epoxy adhesive. This is an option because the solid-bottom action gives us a large surface-area and the Smack is a relatively small cartridge with modest recoil – I would be reluctant to glue in a 6.5-284 for example. The two action-screws are used to hold the action in place whilst the Araldite sets and also offer additional security. Should Stuart need to remove the action at any time, the application of modest heat will cause the Araldite to release.
I hope you have found this little project interesting. If you are contemplating something similar, then using the 22-250 cartridge – in standard or improved form - as a starting point would be a simpler option. The extra length would mean that the recoil-lug could be retained and quite honestly, you are more likely to find a gunsmith with a 22-250 reamer than a Dasher.
Remember, I already had the Dasher reamer and the idea was of course a cheap re-work of a budget factory rifle, so buying another reamer wasn’t an option. Also, we were able to take advantage of the excellent Ruag and Lapua brass but unfortunately Lapua don’t make brass for the 22-250. Steer clear of American brass and try some Sako if you opt for this route.
The finished rifle
Finally, thanks to Stuart Anselm of North West Custom Parts for trusting me with his .223 Savage. Stuart is an importer of Savage goodies and is able to offer barrel-swaps and a variety of stocks at very competitive prices. Have a look at the website at www.nwcustomparts.com Don’t forget, the interchangeable bolt-head means that almost any Savage rifle can be re-barrelled in a vast range of chamberings.