Rocky

[Skinny Shooter]

Hey Rocky, do you have a source that gives comparisons of the 243, 243AI, 6mmRem and 6mmBR Norma and their case capacity with water?
Thanks
Allen

[Rocky Raab]

According to Load From A Disk, the WATER capacity of those cases is:

243 - 54.0 grs

243AI - 57.0

6mmRem - 55.0

6BR - 36.3

Those numbers are approximate, but I've found the 243 nukber to be right on with WW brass.

[Jack]

Rocky, if you would please, what's the water capacity of the 6mm Ackley Improved?

[Skinny Shooter]

Thanks guys.
So what do you all think of the 6mmBR and the 243 AI?
I like the idea of the shorter case which allows seating a bullet out further to the lands and still feed from a SA mag well. The 6mm doesn't do that and don't plan on spending bucks to open up the mag well. My 308 VLS is going to get a new tube and am going back and forth from 6mm to 6.5 calibers. The 260 rem is a also being considered.
Allen

[Skinny Shooter]

Sierra, thanks.
I had meant the Norma version. Heard that Norma changed the original Remington design by lengthening the neck.
Have been reading thru this site: http://www.6mmbr.com/index.html
I guess some modification of the follower and spring would be required for proper feeding.

Allen

[Rocky Raab]

Thanks from me, too, Sierra. I didn't have data for the 6mmAI or the BR Norma.

Skinny, I don't think you could go wrong with the 260. The AI rounds don't have benefits that outweigh the cost of special dies, IMO.

[Catfish]

The 6 BR is the most used round by the bench rest shooters at this time. It probibly has alittle edge in accuracy if you want to build a bench rifle. If your just going to build a hunting rifle I would go with eather the .243 or the 6mm. Redding dies for the 6BR Start at abt. $44 a set, brass runs abt. $ .50 ea. If your going to varmint hunt with it what you lose in max. point blank do to its slower velosity will cost you far more than what you gain in accuracy. To figure the increase in velosity you get when you go with an Ackley Imp. round it very simple. The percentage of increase in velosity is 1/2 the percentage of increase in volume. With the .243 for example, you can get 3,100 fps with the parent round. So what if you AI it??? Your parent case has a capasity of 54 gns. and the imp. has a case capisity of 57 gns. for an increase of abt 5.5%. 1/2 of that is 2.75%, your increase in velosity, so you would expect your .243 AI to push a 90 gn. bullet at abt. 3,272 fps. You normaly get an extra 5 yrds. of max. point blank range for ea. 100 fps. so it would increase your max. point blank range by abt 8.6 yrds. According to the Serria manual with their 90 bullet your max point blank ranges are as follows. At 3,100 fps. - 285 yrds. at 3,200 fps - 290 yrds. and at 3,300 fps - 300 yrds. Looks like my rule of thumb holds pretty well.

[Skinny Shooter]

Catfish, not to single you out but I've read this a number of times on the board: "If you're just building a hunting rifle then..."
My apologies and should have explained better earlier in this thread. I'll be hunting groundhogs, not biggame. And attempting them at long range which is 400 yards and beyond.
That puts me on the road to needing a rifle that is better than the average deer rifle. Fortunately (at least for me) I don't use PBR when zero'ing my guns so that really won't affect me.
If you went with a 6mm Rem, how would you load from the magazine and seat your bullets just off the lands in a SA? Or would you just try for an accurate load with Factory OAL?
Single loading is not an option.
Rocky, the 260 Rem seems good, just need more info from users. Hornady has a 95gr Vmax which seems light. I was hoping to find a heavy for caliber bullet for groundhogs that would buck wind to 600 or so yards.
Thanks,
Allen

[Jack]

Skinny, one of my hunting buddies uses a 6.5x55 with 95 V Max's for woodchucks. Works pretty well, but I wouldn't pick it as a 600 yard bullet- too light for the caliber.
I think you want to stay with the 6's.
The 6mm AI or the 6-284 would kind of interest me, but I don't mind single loading- at 600 yards, if they charge ya, it takes a long time for 'em to get to you.

[royinidaho]

Skinny Shooter,

Go here: http://club.guns.ru/eng/norma.html

Says a 106gr bullet goes 2800+ which ain't too shabby. Chamber may be a bit much $ wise as the Norma reamer may not be just laying around on the table, but maybe a good smith can do a workaround.

I'd seriously shifting the money from reamer etc to smithing and barrell. get one of your better smiths to install something like a 3 groove lilja in 243, AI if if ya want. Get the correct twist for the bullet weight you want and shoot single shot. Also stretch that barrell out a bit to like 26" that'll help with velocity but probably put some dings on the inside of the vehicle as you're driving along and see the chuck on the mound, hit the brakes and grab the rifle.........

You may want a couple of detachable mags full of shorter rounds just in case the chuck charges from beyond 600 yds when that first shot doesn't go just right.

Good luck, springs a commin, that snow's gotta melt one of these days

[Skinny Shooter]

Thanks guys, I'm looking at putting on a 28" tube. Might be a Mike Rock or Lilja.

[Skinny Shooter]

Sierra thanks for that additional info.
I forgot to email you. Some of my manuals show info for the BR cartridge.
Heard at a gunshow that a guy used one for the new 1K world record but didn't read anything "official" about it.
Is it really that lonely over in Norway

Allen

[Jack]

Skinny, just a thought. Since you're rebarreling, you could go to a different head size cartridge by getting a new bolt body- all the bolt parts should interchange.
That would let you switch to a 243 WSSM or something based on the WSM case.
Shouldn't raise the cost of the job that much, and it gives you some more possibilities...

[sierra22]

HA HA! I can speak with people... some...
And I can honestly say I strapped on my skis to go shopping the other day!