Quick updates – 6CM first shots, Canadian Firearms Journal, Reloading and Case Prep

It’s been a while since my last post; there has been some personal things going on that needed my attention.   There has however been some movement with the reloading area and the 6CM.   So – to start this post off – let’s check out some shots of the finished rifle!

Canadian Firearms Journal

Earlier this year, I submitted some images for the National Firearm Association’s magazine Canadian Firearms Journal, in hopes of getting included in the Jan/Feb 2016 issue.   The editor quite liked the images I submitted and ended up using them on the cover!  This is a huge first for me; first cover, first publication and first paid gig.  I am pretty excited and hopefully will have more material to submit in the future.   The editor also included a nice little write up on the inside for me with some promo for my website.

6CM fireforming and load development

So – earlier in January – I hit up the range to do some load development with the 6CM – starting out at the fireforming charge load – which was 46gr of H1000, working my way up to 49 in .3gr increments.   The fireforming is easily a sub-moa round – and would likely hold it’s own out to about 500m – getting right around 2700FPS velocity.  All the data and reading I have looked over from the guys that have developed this caliber, is 100% true – it is a very highly accurate caliber.

My analysis went to 49gr, which is where the groups opened up hugely – it was a substantial change in size, and one that I feel is attributed to needing to clean the barrel.    I will be redoing the 49gr load.   Velocity was getting pretty nice up at that point too, averaging 3100fps – so I am getting right in and around the sweet spot for this calibre – I just need to find a nice tight group, that will hold out to the 1000m mark.   Interestingly enough – I was not getting any pressure signs here – so I have the ability to push this even faster by going upwards towards 50gr of H1000.     By redoing the 48.7, 49gr charges after giving the rifle a good cleaning, will tell me if those nodes were actually that large;  and allow me to push past that to find another accuracy node, or they will tighten up substantially and be good at 49.  Either way – I intend to find out.  My goal is to have an accurate node, around 3150-3250 FPS – so going up to about 50gr – should put me there hopefully.

Below are two images from that load testing session where I was getting close to the velocity nodes that I was looking for.    All were shot at 100m, 5 shots, 1/2″ dots and dime for scale and are all quite good.   Both of these are sub-moa and would do well out to 6-800m if I chose to use them, but knowing that the caliber can achieve faster than that, flatter than that – I will be going further with the development.   The one on the right, 48.4gr – I got excited at putting 3 rounds in the top right hole, that I didn’t take my time shooting the remaining two.   Never fails!

Here is the third image – where we can see how much the groupings opened up – which is really drastic considering the two previous groups – we went from .405″ to .527″ to nearly 1″ – this is not normal behavior in my (limited) reloading experience.   This is the main reason why I will be redoing the charge loads and re-testing them to see if it is was the rifle of the load.

New reloading bench

In the interim – I have also been doing some renos on the house – which included putting up a wall, and building a cheap, heavy-duty reloading workbench on the backside of it.   I took an old solid-core door, some 2×4 and a bunch of time and built a nice 6′ long x 2′ wide bench.  It’s very heavy, sturdy, and now has my vice and two presses mounted to it.   It doesn’t look pretty but it gives me a huge amount of space, allows me to have the room to work on rifles, reload and build things if need be.  All for a cost of about 80 bucks in materials.

For all you DIY guys out there – this is the where I got the plans and modified them to fit.  Instructables is an invaluable resource.

As you can see below – I have also thrown up a shelf.  There is still some finishing to do on the drywall, and to hang some lights and I will be good to go.  There is a lot of space below as well – as there is a shelf underneath for more storage.  Not a bad way to spend the stat holiday

Case Prep Checklist

I put together a case prep checklist to keep track of my steps in reloading, that can be printed out, laminated and put in the ammo case lid.  Mark it up with sharpie and use some windex to wipe it off and reuse it when you are done.   I dig it.

Have a peek at it at the link below – and download it to use yourself if you like it.

Case Prep Checklist download

Finally – some links for your consumption!

Amputee Shooter Facebook

Amputee Shooter Instagram

Modern Rifleman Radio

JSA Tactical

Big news coming soon!  Stay tuned!

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