Ritch built me a new upper using with a Tactical Ordnance 6X6.8 barrel a couple months ago but thanks to the Arizona winter being wetter and windier than normal I had not shot it. I’ve been getting reports on how well these barrels shoot and was anxious about getting it to the range. The chamber on this one is cut to the original specifications and designed to allow for reaching the lands with most bullets from the ASC magazines I favor that will load out to 2.316.
As many of you know Starline has come out with 6.8 SPC brass. I have lots of 6.8 made by Federal and Silver State but wanted to evaluate it at the same time. I decided to run these against same same loads using old Silver State Armory brass. Case forming was easy this time as I used the new one step custom Hornady dies that we had ordered. The cases were as pristine coming out as going in.
So here goes the range report of my foray. The set up as I used that day in the desert is pretty basic. Temperatures ranged form 83 to 97 degrees over a six hour period. I shot three different rifles that day and put around 250 rounds down range. I hadn’t touched a long gun in almost four months and my technique was terrible. I do need to go in and readjust the trigger as the let off was a bit inconsistent and in tandem with my poor bench work I turned many ½” groups into 0.8’s and 0.9’s. Lots of yips..LOL
I fired a couple rounds to get on at 25 yards and moved out to 100 yards. This one shows the first three groups I shot from this tube. I knew it had some potential after the five shotter. H322 has been getting some good press here for the 6X6.8 and this barrel likes it. My other ones have not responded this well.
I moved on to some H4895 and was pleased how it handled it. This one is one of my favorite powders in the 6.8 variants.
The above groups were all Starline. I backed up the H4895 group with some SSA and baring the leaker I was a happy camper as it would have been right at a nice 0.4.
I did try some groups with RL15. I use it in my long range 6X6.8's and wanted to try it in the short tube. The speeds as noted across the board in this 18" barrel are quite nice and RL15 sure carried the mail there.
I was pleased on that one but some SSA loaded up a bit more made me giggle. Three shots yielded a happy dance for me.
Across the board I was happy with the 85’s in this barrel. Now for the scoop on the brass. Firing same same loads in the SL vs.the SSA I found that none of the Silver State had issues in rim or ejector markings. On the Starline out of 50 cases fired I experienced mild rim bending from the lowest to highest in all three powders. The H322 that I shot first was relatively mild to start but at 27.0 grains I was seeing definite bend. The H4895 loads showed nothing on the lower loads but quickly bent and ripped rims at a grain higher level of 29.1. Not good. The RL15 loads at 29 were showing bending with the 30.0 showing slight burrs and ejector markings. Assessment? Not a good choice for these. The decreased capacity is working against the brass as is the obvious softness.
Numbers are L-R top to bottom.
6X6.8 STARLINE H322 1/2 26.0 RL15 3/4 29.0 H4895 5/6 28.1
................................7/8 27.0.... 9/10 30.0 ..... 11/12 29.1
The SSA brass below was the same charge weights at those above them.
As you can see many had the rims bent and some more than a tad. I've shot these loads before with no issue so it was showing me I have very soft brass and a case capacity reduction working against it.
The above rounds put the cartridge squarely at home as a deer cartridge but since the 6X6.8 was originally designed as a varmint round it was necessary to try out some 58 ZMAX to see how this one would do. For this test it was the same same loadings using SL and SSA brass but using only H322. MWP and Ritch have hounded me on this combo and my BHW barrels I've shot them in have not been very inspiring.
I shot the Starline through three levels of 30.7 to 31.1. The groups were 0.873-1.112-0772. Not bad for a quick test. The unfortunate thing was the rims were bent at the lowest level slightly and the 0.772 is a two shot group that blew primers on both of the cases and ripped the rims off. I deferred testing above the 31.1 level on that basis.
I then duplicated the charge levels from 30.7 to 31.5 with 0.2 between steps using SSA brass. Even at the highest charge weight I saw no case head indications of issues. There were no bent or ripped rims. The primers were nice on these and better yet stayed in the case. The last five down range in this one made me feel like it would be worth a re-shoot.
To show what happened here look at these. L-R were the SL with H322 at 30.7-309 and a pair at 31.1. The rims on the SL on the first two are bent right near the stars .Directly below are the same in the SSA with the two to the right being 31.3 and 31.5. Not how nice the primers look on even the top load with no swipes or extraction marking.
Across the board I can say that this barrel with the OG chambering is shooting better than any of the other three I own. It is showing to be very easy to tune with virtually no work. Across the powder choices it gave me something in each to tell me I have lots of options and if the ZMAX load on a first outing with H322 is any indication this one will be a dream to work with on varmints.
I can say that the Starline will not be added to my brass supply line at this time. I did shoot some against brand new 6.8 also and even at a very moderate charge level it exhibited some rim bending in comparison to Hornady, Remington, SSA and Federal. Factory Hornady with the 110 VMAX that was hotter than my test loads did not have any issues. I went so far as to severely under-gas all of these to help tings along to no avail.
I have been forwarded some communications from SL that says they are reworking their brass for harder case head and walls for the future. Wile the brass is certainly usable they are aware that it can be improved and I will await the revamp.
Just my little report from the desert last week.
Greg
PS: The Hornady dies were a joy to use and after seeing the 22X6.8 batch that MWP showed I might up the heavy $$'s for a one off set of those too.
As many of you know Starline has come out with 6.8 SPC brass. I have lots of 6.8 made by Federal and Silver State but wanted to evaluate it at the same time. I decided to run these against same same loads using old Silver State Armory brass. Case forming was easy this time as I used the new one step custom Hornady dies that we had ordered. The cases were as pristine coming out as going in.
So here goes the range report of my foray. The set up as I used that day in the desert is pretty basic. Temperatures ranged form 83 to 97 degrees over a six hour period. I shot three different rifles that day and put around 250 rounds down range. I hadn’t touched a long gun in almost four months and my technique was terrible. I do need to go in and readjust the trigger as the let off was a bit inconsistent and in tandem with my poor bench work I turned many ½” groups into 0.8’s and 0.9’s. Lots of yips..LOL
I fired a couple rounds to get on at 25 yards and moved out to 100 yards. This one shows the first three groups I shot from this tube. I knew it had some potential after the five shotter. H322 has been getting some good press here for the 6X6.8 and this barrel likes it. My other ones have not responded this well.
I moved on to some H4895 and was pleased how it handled it. This one is one of my favorite powders in the 6.8 variants.
The above groups were all Starline. I backed up the H4895 group with some SSA and baring the leaker I was a happy camper as it would have been right at a nice 0.4.
I did try some groups with RL15. I use it in my long range 6X6.8's and wanted to try it in the short tube. The speeds as noted across the board in this 18" barrel are quite nice and RL15 sure carried the mail there.
I was pleased on that one but some SSA loaded up a bit more made me giggle. Three shots yielded a happy dance for me.
Across the board I was happy with the 85’s in this barrel. Now for the scoop on the brass. Firing same same loads in the SL vs.the SSA I found that none of the Silver State had issues in rim or ejector markings. On the Starline out of 50 cases fired I experienced mild rim bending from the lowest to highest in all three powders. The H322 that I shot first was relatively mild to start but at 27.0 grains I was seeing definite bend. The H4895 loads showed nothing on the lower loads but quickly bent and ripped rims at a grain higher level of 29.1. Not good. The RL15 loads at 29 were showing bending with the 30.0 showing slight burrs and ejector markings. Assessment? Not a good choice for these. The decreased capacity is working against the brass as is the obvious softness.
Numbers are L-R top to bottom.
6X6.8 STARLINE H322 1/2 26.0 RL15 3/4 29.0 H4895 5/6 28.1
................................7/8 27.0.... 9/10 30.0 ..... 11/12 29.1
The SSA brass below was the same charge weights at those above them.
As you can see many had the rims bent and some more than a tad. I've shot these loads before with no issue so it was showing me I have very soft brass and a case capacity reduction working against it.
The above rounds put the cartridge squarely at home as a deer cartridge but since the 6X6.8 was originally designed as a varmint round it was necessary to try out some 58 ZMAX to see how this one would do. For this test it was the same same loadings using SL and SSA brass but using only H322. MWP and Ritch have hounded me on this combo and my BHW barrels I've shot them in have not been very inspiring.
I shot the Starline through three levels of 30.7 to 31.1. The groups were 0.873-1.112-0772. Not bad for a quick test. The unfortunate thing was the rims were bent at the lowest level slightly and the 0.772 is a two shot group that blew primers on both of the cases and ripped the rims off. I deferred testing above the 31.1 level on that basis.
I then duplicated the charge levels from 30.7 to 31.5 with 0.2 between steps using SSA brass. Even at the highest charge weight I saw no case head indications of issues. There were no bent or ripped rims. The primers were nice on these and better yet stayed in the case. The last five down range in this one made me feel like it would be worth a re-shoot.
To show what happened here look at these. L-R were the SL with H322 at 30.7-309 and a pair at 31.1. The rims on the SL on the first two are bent right near the stars .Directly below are the same in the SSA with the two to the right being 31.3 and 31.5. Not how nice the primers look on even the top load with no swipes or extraction marking.
Across the board I can say that this barrel with the OG chambering is shooting better than any of the other three I own. It is showing to be very easy to tune with virtually no work. Across the powder choices it gave me something in each to tell me I have lots of options and if the ZMAX load on a first outing with H322 is any indication this one will be a dream to work with on varmints.
I can say that the Starline will not be added to my brass supply line at this time. I did shoot some against brand new 6.8 also and even at a very moderate charge level it exhibited some rim bending in comparison to Hornady, Remington, SSA and Federal. Factory Hornady with the 110 VMAX that was hotter than my test loads did not have any issues. I went so far as to severely under-gas all of these to help tings along to no avail.
I have been forwarded some communications from SL that says they are reworking their brass for harder case head and walls for the future. Wile the brass is certainly usable they are aware that it can be improved and I will await the revamp.
Just my little report from the desert last week.
Greg
PS: The Hornady dies were a joy to use and after seeing the 22X6.8 batch that MWP showed I might up the heavy $$'s for a one off set of those too.
