terryh

James, FDPC shoots at Warminster and Langport regularity and also head up to Bisley quite often. Good selection of types of shooting and competitions and associated club guns should you not have to appropriate firearm yourself. Friendley bunch - not my main interest but the 22rf indoor practical shooting is good fun - especially with the lights off 😉 Brgds terry

Colin, By ‘semi-custom’ again I’m assuming you’re looking at having a nice barrel in the cal/cartridge you like with the ideal twist and profile fitted to a base rifle, so the 6mmBR (or possibly 6mm Dasher?) at 600 yards with 100+ grain bullets it will be cruising 😎 T

Colin, Can I ‘assume’ that you are going to reload then as you have given a 6mmBR as an example cartridge (very nice cartridge BTW 😎). My suggestions would be to first define what you want from the rifle i.e ‘what do you want it to do?’ - are you going to be shooting with a local club who’s normal ranges go to 600yards with the occasional trip to Bisley out to 1000? Then sort your budget to cover rifle, scope and reloading kit, none of which needs to be extortionate to get you going. Then define the rifles and scopes you fancy and get behind them if you possibly can (more important for the scope IMHO) Lot of good factory rifles out there now but not many in 6mmBR - can only think of one. You really do have a lot of options, see what is being used at your club? Terry

As per Brushy’s post FDPC shoot at Langport and also on Warminster. both pretty nice ranges t

Miles, Concur the 55 is a nice old cartridge, even better when loaded to Skan levels, I used one for years as my deer rifle. But I do not think anyone now chooses a large capacity case if a smaller more efficient owner is available e.g. 6x47/6mmSwiss match vs a 243 and I believe during transition to 308 for TR and folks, mainly US, had the option of still using the 30-06 no one choose to keep using the 30-06. all down to efficiencies. My current sporting rifle is in 6.5x47 as I saw no advantage in the 55 over the 47, very accurate factory rifle and as a bonus shoots target bullets well for sporting rifle comps. 😎 Al, Thank you for your detailed response. sort of supports my own decision(s) in sticking with the 47, had 4 barrels on my current rifle over quite a few years, different makes on occasions, and it has always shot, easy to get shooting. Had the opportunity to change cartridge with each replacement barrel but when looked could not see a valid reason to swap. Brgds T

Only 11?? 🤔 😉

Regardless of the method used and its pros/cons etc. And back to original couple of post. 1” or 1 1/4” group at 600 yards is nothing to sneeze at, I’d be quite happy with either and to me it is getting to the limits of the ‘systems’ involved as in rifles, bullet etc. - taking out the nut behind the butt 😏 But here is a question to Al - and I’m not trying to spark a which is best ‘debate’ free for all - that’s been done to death. Al, you appear to have built a few 6.5’s, so what have you found to be the easiest to tune on the assumption that they all shoot as well/consistently once their load’s been tuned? Or put it another way - which 6.5 cartridge would you choose if spending your own money? Cheers Terry

DAVE, RS80 or N170/570 would probably be pretty good starting. With N170 I had good results under the 230g but a bit slower than I was after. \with a 200g bullet might be better? T

BHG, Are you using the 120i on its own or with the auto-trickler kit? If with the kit then A&D PSU does not have enough 'oomph' aparently. T

MA Must be me then? 5 minutes is impressive, about a minute a side per stone! 😯 I'll read the instructions again. T

MA, Had one for years, never been ‘that’ impressed 😒 looking for ‘paper/tomato’ sharp 😎 Brgds T

Just picked up a OKC Rat-3 to go in my day sack, simple and just right size. I like the ESEE knifes for same reason. Never been impressed with Swiss army knives, seem a bit gimmicky- their car rescue knife being the exception. Quality multi tool is a ‘must have’ even on the range IMHO My challenge now with knives in general is learning how to sharpen them? 🙁 T

Currently have Streloc pro, TRASOL and AB mobile with custom curves and still ‘comparing’ They all need tweaking but the AB mobile seems to be the best fit. T

Chris, Have only ever used N150 in the 303 with pretty good success, 41.5g under SMK's Assuming you are looking at the normal 173'ish grain bullets then you could give it a try, but one comment, Vit themselves only list N140 & 540 in their tables, which is probably for a good reason? But here is a basic run on QL FYI: Cartridge : .303 British Bullet : .311, 174, Sierra HPBT MatchK 2315 Useable Case Capaci: 49.522 grain H2O = 3.215 cm³ Cartridge O.A.L. L6: 3.075 inch = 78.11 mm Barrel Length : 27.0 inch = 685.8 mm Powder : Vihtavuori N150 *C Predicted data by increasing and decreasing the given charge, incremented in steps of 2.0% of nominal charge. CAUTION: Figures exceed maximum and minimum recommended loads ! Step Fill. Charge Vel. Energy Pmax Pmuz Prop.Burnt B_Time % % Grains fps ft.lbs psi psi % ms -20.0 82 35.20 2069 1654 24061 4833 92.2 1.823 -18.0 84 36.08 2118 1733 25587 4976 93.2 1.777 -16.0 86 36.96 2166 1813 27215 5113 94.2 1.731 -14.0 88 37.84 2215 1895 28950 5246 95.1 1.688 -12.0 90 38.72 2263 1979 30802 5372 96.0 1.645 -10.0 92 39.60 2312 2064 32779 5493 96.7 1.603 -08.0 94 40.48 2360 2151 34893 5607 97.4 1.563 -06.0 96 41.36 2408 2240 37142 5714 98.0 1.523 -04.0 98 42.24 2455 2329 39523 5814 98.5 1.481 -02.0 100 43.12 2503 2421 42048 5906 99.0 1.441 +00.0 102 44.00 2550 2513 44743 5989 99.3 1.403 +02.0 104 44.88 2598 2607 47622 6064 99.6 1.366 ! Near Maximum ! +04.0 106 45.76 2644 2702 50698 6130 99.8 1.330 ! Near Maximum ! +06.0 108 46.64 2691 2798 53990 6187 100.0 1.295 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE! +08.0 110 47.52 2737 2895 57515 6234 100.0 1.261 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE! +10.0 112 48.40 2783 2993 61294 6274 100.0 1.229 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE! Brgds Terry

OOTOT Indeed 😎 Folks think it's snow camo until they get up close 😁

Defiant deviant works on mine, not sure what the coating is they apply but it feels pretty nice?

This is where I’m at currently, works very well and does not slow my loading process significantly, I can live with 2-3 seconds 😎 but being fully auto the V3 with iPad connection does look rather tempting T

What a strange statement/comment? 🙄 (That’s a rhetorical statement BTW!)

This! Varget in the US is one of the most popular powders in the 6mm Dasher. Silly in all ways trying to cling onto Varget here - its gone. Substituted 4166, obtaining near identical velocities per grain as Varget is advertised in delivering and from my memories of Varget a lot less carbon. T

Mark, apologies, miss read your OP typical components for a very good home brew: indeed Amazon is your friend, thus: https://www.amazon.co.uk/SHL-BRAND-ISOPROPANOL-Isopropyl-Alcohol/dp/B003D8QFR8/ref=sr_1_9?crid=3DF0DRA64SNVK&keywords=isopropyl+alcohol+99.9&qid=1565107508&s=gateway&sprefix=Isopr%2Caps%2C150&sr=8-9 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Now-Foods-Solutions-Liquid-Lanolin/dp/B00028MLKC/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2LCOA3P511Q1U&keywords=liquid+lanolin&qid=1565107575&s=gateway&sprefix=Liquid+lanolin%2Caps%2C134&sr=8-2 but you can normally find Lanolin in health food shops https://www.amazon.co.uk/OFNMY-Odorless-Leak-proof-Cleaning-Treatments/dp/B07GSLSQWV/ref=pd_sbs_194_20?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07GSLSQWV&pd_rd_r=32bc7017-27bc-4b3c-b1a3-2bf219f11370&pd_rd_w=AHP8N&pd_rd_wg=sZfOb&pf_rd_p=15756fbb-4ceb-4379-9d2c-7af36daab01e&pf_rd_r=2XQTYJ40BG4ETDVFBYYW&psc=1&refRID=2XQTYJ40BG4ETDVFBYYW Really is a great case lube

Mk2 buy a carbide sizing die and remove the need for putting lube on and cleaning it off perhaps?

Re. OP Some ‘real world’ data for factory Hornady 143g ELD-X Precision hunter ammunition: Tikka Tac 21. 2620 fps Ruger RPR. 2660 FPS Re. Balance of associated mail ref calibre's and cartridges etc. always interesting to chase different goals, what makes rifle shooting interesting for some. But you do have to wonder at 20+ pound rifles shooting small bores and light bullets? 😳 A few years back, way before PRL etc, when everyone was started using ‘wind cheaters’ (think 1st one at a comp was George gardener turning up with a 243 and 115g DTAC’s against everyone else’s 308’s) RO ran a 308 only comp using issued ammo to level the playing field and put it all down to the shooter (fyi CORE BON manf. ammo, 175g SMK’s in both Lapua and Win brass - worked in everything ). It echoed one of the comments above, learn how to shoot , strive for hits rather than spotting misses, or, tongue in cheek:

Furyan, Not sure they'd go to that much both? Making two different near identical powders etc.? The Factor ammo was observed to be accurate if somewhat slower than could be obtained/expected if reloaded, which seems to be bore out by others experiences? T

From memory N150 is the powder used by Lapua in its factory rounds, so probably optimised? T

Been using N140 and 130g bullets in my ‘range’ 47 for a while, seems to be working well, 36g+ load, CCI450 primers. RS62 is working very well in my ‘deer’ 47 under slightly heavier bullets. Lapua - off OP, true, on paper/psychologically the Creed is slightly better than the 47, been shooting my 47 for over 10 years, misses are due to me not the cartridge but can see its appeal when you get into an arms race eg PRL