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6br vs 6 Dasher

Tony1320

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Feb 13, 2017
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I'm looking at switching to a 6mm for my next barrel after shooting a 6.5 for the last 2 years. What would you go with?

Target range 300 to 1000 meters a lot of targets inside 600 meters

For match use

6br is load and shoot no hassles of fireforming but I give up velocity, possible feeding issues
- primal rights kit seems to solve the feeding issue

6 Dasher proven track record, higher velocity, slight advantage for the long range targets, less chance of issues feeding
- have to fireform brass but hydroformed brass solves that

I want to shoot 105 hybrids with varget

Is one easier to tune than the other or finicky to stay in tune? Any issues I should be aware of with one or the other?
 
I went with a Dasher. Fireforming while you break in a barrel isn't a real big deal. If you don't hotrod too much that brass can last a couple barrels. I wanted to lessen the chance of feeding issues and a few more fps never hurt.
I am happy with my choice but I don't think you can go wrong either way.
Good luck.
 
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If just shooting paper or steel,6br all day.
0 recoil
No neck turning
No fire forming
Longer brass life (20+ reloads if not hotrodeed)
Longer barrel life
Prob the easiest to load for. Some guys don’t even weigh and use a old school powder thrower
Held all the records at 300 and 600 for a long time.
Loaded lapua ammo isn’t expensive and shoots under 1/2 MOA is almost any rifle.
 
I went with a Dasher. Fireforming while you break in a barrel isn't a real big deal. If you don't hotrod too much that brass can last a couple barrels. I wanted to lessen the chance of feeding issues and a few more fps never hurt.
I am happy with my choice but I don't think you can go wrong either way.
Good luck.

I would be using hydroformed brass if I went with a Dasher, brass life isn't a huge concern I don't plan to load to the limit. I'm with you more velocity and more reliable feeding is what's interesting me

If just shooting paper or steel,6br all day.
0 recoil
No neck turning
No fire forming
Longer brass life (20+ reloads if not hotrodeed)
Longer barrel life
Prob the easiest to load for. Some guys don’t even weigh and use a old school powder thrower
Held all the records at 300 and 600 for a long time.
Loaded lapua ammo isn’t expensive and shoots under 1/2 MOA is almost any rifle.

I will be shooting mostly steel at matches but also a bit of paper in practice
I think the Dasher is comparable in recoil, also no neck turn, I would use hydroformed brass balances out, I have read the 6br is ridiculously easy to load for but how about the Dasher? I never shoot factory ammo

I’d go with the 6.5 you’ve been shooting for 2 years.

I just want to try something different after this barrel burns out. I should run out of 140 hybrids around the same time and I already have some 105 hybrids stocked up

6br works great at those ranges. 1000 might be pushing it unless it's fairly calm or you are good on wind calls. I've had several, and prefer h4895 with 105-107gr bullets

At 300-600 I don't think a 6br is giving up much if anything to a Dasher but at 1000 is the extra work worth the gain? What about energy on target? Is there a noticeable difference between the 6br and 6 Dasher or pretty much the same?
 
Tony, the 1000yds. was the kicker. The 6br would be an easy choice for 600 and in.
In most of the recent matches that are 600 and longer, the 6 Dasher and 6 BRA and a few 6x47's
are whats winning. You can't count on the wind to be calm all the time. the extra 100fps and heavier bullets
will come in handy. The 6br is an easy load and shoot round, dies and brass. The 6Dasher and 6BRA will require
you to buy hydro formed brass or fire form it yourself, another process to shoot them.
Only you can decide what you need.
 
I was in the same boat I went 6br and have never looked back. If I wanted to go fast again I would go 6 Creed and shoot up all my 115s.

6br is stupid accurate, easy to load for and now that mdt is making mags it's idiot proof.

Those is why I run two barrels on my tl3... 6br 1000 and in (which honestly is the bulk of at least my shooting) and if I want to go long I go back to 6.5.
 
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Both are easy to tune in my experience.I would say pending your action choice I have found the 6 dasher much more reliable at mag feeding and especially ejection .I use unmodified aics and HRD AW kits in my defiance,with my old bighorn action I used unmodified ARC.
 
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Both are easy to tune in my experience.I would say pending your action choice I have found the 6 dasher much more reliable at mag feeding and especially ejection .I use unmodified aics and HRD AW kits in my defiance,with my old bighorn action I used unmodified ARC.

Good to know. Ill be using my impact action. I'm leaning towards the dasher
 
Good to know. Ill be using my impact action. I'm leaning towards the dasher
I have an Impact 6 dasher and couldn't be happier. I use the PVA mag kit and the feeding has been a non issue. Hydro brass, load, and shoot. 105's with Varget was an easy to tune load for me. RE15 also is very good.
 
I prefer the Dasher to the BR. I like being able to use unmodified proven magazines for peace of mind on reliability. I'm not a fan of fire forming; just don't care for the time commitment. However, as mentioned hydro formed brass readily available and before the year is out a big brass MFG will have excellent quality brass available. In fact, I've gotten to play with some of the first batch for testing purposes and it is outstanding. That brass will change the game for guys thinking about their fist Dasher.

Both are great cartridges and perform well.

Take care.
 
I prefer the Dasher to the BR. I like being able to use unmodified proven magazines for peace of mind on reliability. I'm not a fan of fire forming; just don't care for the time commitment. However, as mentioned hydro formed brass readily available and before the year is out a big brass MFG will have excellent quality brass available. In fact, I've gotten to play with some of the first batch for testing purposes and it is outstanding. That brass will change the game for guys thinking about their fist Dasher.

Both are great cartridges and perform well.

Take care.

That's great news by the time I'm ready for a new barrel hopefully it will be available

Any chance you are able to share who's making the brass?
 
The whole buying hydro brass or using up a 200 rounds of barrel life was the only thing keeping me from
a Dasher. Instead been very happy with the 6br. But if you could give us a small clue as to who it might
be than I would get a barrel chambered for a Dasher and have it ready for when the brass comes out.
I talked to Alpha last year and they weren't to keen on making it. To many other things going on. ( 6GT, 25 Creed)
Lapua said they were looking at it. Petersen or ADG?
 
No one would buy it. (n)
They will come out with it in ten years. Too little to late is their company philosophy now.
 
I prefer the Dasher to the BR. I like being able to use unmodified proven magazines for peace of mind on reliability. I'm not a fan of fire forming; just don't care for the time commitment. However, as mentioned hydro formed brass readily available and before the year is out a big brass MFG will have excellent quality brass available. In fact, I've gotten to play with some of the first batch for testing purposes and it is outstanding. That brass will change the game for guys thinking about their fist Dasher.

Both are great cartridges and perform well.

Take care.
It’s about time!!!!
Can’t wait to hear more,plz keep us updated with any information you are able to disclose.
 
As a guy who has finally gotten all of his dasher brass formed I say to stick to just a br or step it up to a 6xc/x47/creed. The dasher is in a middle zone where it doesnt improve performance over the xc/x47/creed but is a bunch more work than the br.

105s at a br 2850 vs an xc 2980 arent that big of a difference once you have the rifle doped. And with a brake or can installed its just splitting hairs as far as recoil is concerned.
 
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for 800-1000, dasher.

if you plan to shoot more than 50% past 600, with moderate wind.

Seriously consider 6x47 and 6XC.

you'll be able to run the 115 dtacs, and still push 2950-3000fps
 
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As a guy who has finally gotten all of his dasher brass formed I say to stick to just a br or step it up to a 6xc/x47/creed. The dasher is in a middle zone where it doesnt improve performance over the xc/x47/creed but is a bunch more work than the br.

105s at a br 2850 vs an xc 2980 arent that big of a difference once you have the rifle doped. And with a brake or can installed its just splitting hairs as far as recoil is concerned.

Are you getting 2850 with a 105 hybrid out of a 26" barrel or are you running a 28"?
 
I'm a little conflicted myself. Darn if my 26" 6mmBR prefit isn't very accurate and fast, 105 hybrids at 2906 fps in the high node with 30.3 grains of Varget.

The last practice match I went to, with some of AZ's top shooters participating, tough stages and one stage out 1300Y, 1st and 4th were shooting 6mmBR and 3rd was shooting a Dasher.

For barrel life I'd be looking at 6mmBR and for performance the Dasher, recent records for 2018 were set with 6mmBRA in 600 and 1000Y benchrest. If I change I am opting for 6mmBRA.

A friend just shot his highest standing with a 6BRX.

There certainly isn't a wrong choice!!!
 
Are you getting 2850 with a 105 hybrid out of a 26" barrel or are you running a 28"?
I misspoke, 2850 is possible with 31 gr forming load but that was where I stopped my pressure testing while fireforming, it wasn’t the best shooting.

Accuracy load was 105 rdf in a 26” criterion, 30 gr varget forming the dasher with lapua. That was the best and I was at 2760 and they hit 800 just fine where I wasted a bunch of them, 5.8 mils. My 6xc is 2970 and 5.1 mils. Windage is .2 mils different. It’s just a difference of knowing your rifles dope to accommodate. Wasting 1/6 of the rifles barrel life forming 300 pieces of brass and then a bit more finding a different load means you’re only at 80% of the 1800 round barrel life. If you’re only getting that many shots on a barrel you might as well go big and not worry about mags. If you want to go small than go small so it will last you awhile.

That said, depending on the host rifle you can run large primer in the xc or creed and not have to bush your bolt face.
 
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I would go with the dasher. Your 6BR barrel won’t even broken in for 200-300 rounds, so you might as well be fireforming. And if you form 500-600 pieces you shouldn’t need to do it again for a few barrels. And fireforming only takes 1 extra step to get the brass ready. 6BR you have to at least run it through a 6mm mandrel out of the box, dasher you mandrel up to 6.5 and then run it back through your dasher die to create a false shoulder. It should also be more consistent feeding, and you get an extra 50-100 FPS.

6x47 is also super easy to load for, has pretty decent barrel life, feeds perfectly, and has more speed than a dasher.
 
6br or 6brx my 14 year old shoots the 6br out to 1100 yards in matches all the time. I’m going to change over to 6brx for the hell of it . You can use the same dies and actually het higher velocity than dasher.
 
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I've been shooting the same lot of Dasher brass for 3 barrels. Started out with 330pcs. I'm now down to 280'ish from losing brass at matches. I still have the original barrel for fireforming. For the last two barrels it's just load and go. The only thing I've done differently on this current barrel is switch to a compressed load of H4350. The lands are moving much slower than with Varget. It took 280rds to see 2 thou of erosion.

I also have a 24" BR. 30.1gr of Varget nets me 2800 with 107's. 30.3gr gets a little bit of pressure occasionally so it's not a mild load. For whatever reason I wanted a BR barrel and bought a PVA prefit for $480 on one of the Black Friday sales.

I'm currently shooting a 6br at 2800 in a local 600yd heavy positional match, a 6Dasher (105HYB at 2900) in a 1100 yd club match that is 70% positional, and a 6Creed (115Dtac at 3000fps) in a all belly field match.

I think a person could shoot all those matches with a longer barreled 6BR just fine.
What’s your compressed load data for the 4350? I’ve been interested in trying some...
 
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If you couldnt get SRP Lapua in 6 Creedmoor I could make the case for building a dasher. If I wanted an inherently accurate case to build off of and more barrel life then you have the 6x47 to fill that void, although every 6 creed I have owned made damn tiny little bug holes and was stupidly easy to load for. I swear sometimes I think if top shooters shit in a sock and used it as a bag people would start doing it.
 
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If you're starting fresh, don't discount the Norma Dasher brass. Its excellent brass and holds up well. You just need the Norma chamber that has the longer 6BR neck. I have two 6BRs and two Norma Dashers and they have all been stupid easy. 29.5gr Varget in the BRs, 32gr Varget in the Dashers, both under a 107. Done. Sub-half MOA inside 300. I just use a standard Whidden 6Dasher die and seater. (A 6BR seater works too)



Brunos is where I bought it last time but it's back ordered so I assume Grafs will be the main distributor.

The Caveat, I single load. I use these for highpower matches with 30" barrels. Not apples to apples as far as field conditions but the magazine feeding has been addressed already.
 
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Can I throw another question out there and ask for a comparison on advantages/disadvantages for dasher VS 6x47?

I only shoot locals but would like to become a little more competitive this year. We have targets out to 1200 in them too.

Thanks y’all
 
223 does well in local matches (yes even out here) so...between the two there's no difference

6x47 might get you a little more speed for a little more powder, but speed isn't everything

both have lapua and peterson brass available. same primers and powder. same bullets.

i'd pick the dasher because it's just stupid easy to load for
 
223 does well in local matches (yes even out here) so...between the two there's no difference

6x47 might get you a little more speed for a little more powder, but speed isn't everything

both have lapua and peterson brass available. same primers and powder. same bullets.

i'd pick the dasher because it's just stupid easy to load for

And I'm right to say though that either of them (also include the 6cm just for the sake of intrigue) have poor barrel life? 6.5cm has superior barrel life, but inferior accuracy to the two? 6.5 cm has an advantage out to distance though right? Under 600 yards these 6mm cartridges can't be touched. agree?

Interesting to see how the industry has solved for all the feeding and loading issues for the dasher though.
 
And I'm right to say though that either of them (also include the 6cm just for the sake of intrigue) have poor barrel life? 6.5cm has superior barrel life, but inferior accuracy to the two? 6.5 cm has an advantage out to distance though right? Under 600 yards these 6mm cartridges can't be touched. agree?

Interesting to see how the industry has solved for all the feeding and loading issues for the dasher though.

I wouldn't worry too much about barrel life if you're making 10k a day...

Accuracy is on the shooter, precision would be the term you're looking for, and I think you'd be hard pressed to objectively prove that the 6mm options you listed have greater precision than the 6.5cm. YOU will be the limiting factor by far.

The 6mm options are popular because they offer a better blend of low recoil and high BC bullets.
 
under 600y i'd take a 223

they're all accurate.

barrel life is a complete wash by the time you factor higher 6.5 projectile and powder cost

out to distance depends on your ability to read wind and splash not the cartridge
 
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I wouldn't worry too much about barrel life if you're making 10k a day...

Accuracy is on the shooter, precision would be the term you're looking for, and I think you'd be hard pressed to objectively prove that the 6mm options you listed have greater precision than the 6.5cm. YOU will be the limiting factor by far.

The 6mm options are popular because they offer a better blend of low recoil and high BC bullets.

My dad owns a dealership, so obviously my form is impeccable. Joking aside I appreciate the response. I'm just trying to wrap my head around everything I'm reading. Seems there's reasons why F-class shooters and pros of the like lean to these 6mm cartridges because recoil management can play into your precision.

But also I've always heard it opposite to what you're describing. Accuracy is on the machine, precision is on the shooter. But tomato tomawto

under 600y i'd take a 223

they're all accurate.

barrel life is a complete wash by the time you factor higher 6.5 projectile and powder cost

out to distance depends on your ability to read wind and splash not the cartridge

Appreciate the reply, I think it's fair to say though that you have a wider margin of error on a 6.5cm though since it's a heavier bullet and thus less susceptible to wind.
 
My dad owns a dealership, so obviously my form is impeccable. Joking aside I appreciate the response. I'm just trying to wrap my head around everything I'm reading. Seems there's reasons why F-class shooters and pros of the like lean to these 6mm cartridges because recoil management can play into your precision.

But also I've always heard it opposite to what you're describing. precision is on the machine, accuracy is on the shooter. But tomato tomawto



Appreciate the reply, I think it's fair to say though that you have a wider margin of error on a 6.5cm though since it's a heavier bullet and thus less susceptible to wind.

FIFY. but the shooter and rifle still both have an effect on both parts

also maybe but not always with a 6.5 vs 6 and 'margin of error'. bullet vs speed.
 
My dad owns a dealership, so obviously my form is impeccable. Joking aside I appreciate the response. I'm just trying to wrap my head around everything I'm reading. Seems there's reasons why F-class shooters and pros of the like lean to these 6mm cartridges because recoil management can play into your precision.

But also I've always heard it opposite to what you're describing. Accuracy is on the machine, precision is on the shooter. But tomato tomawto



Appreciate the reply, I think it's fair to say though that you have a wider margin of error on a 6.5cm though since it's a heavier bullet and thus less susceptible to wind.

This may help illustrate it for you:

1000001093.jpg


Ballistic Coefficient (BC) is the number you should pay attention to not weight. There are lighter bullets that have a higher BC than a heavy bullet and will drift less in the wind. BC is also a function of velocity which is important to remember.

Based on how new you seem, just pick a 6 or 6.5 creedmoor and sign up for a reputable course. That will be the quickest path to getting up to speed.
 
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I'll take your guys word for it. seems vortex nation podcast is giving bad information!


But I'm still leaning towards the dasher honestly.
 
still leaning towards the dasher honestly.

Do you reload? If not, stick with a Creedmoor. So many logistical advantages over one of the fancy 6BR based cartridges.

Do you want honest advice? Whatever caliber you pick won't make you shoot better.

You'll need to put the time in and practice frequently. Making sure you are doing so correctly; that's why I recommended a reputable course. You don't want to reinforce any bad habits that you likely have. Getting expert, hands-on instruction at the beginning will put you so much farther ahead.
 
*sigh* I hate internet forums. Okay here goes: Yes I reload with high end equipment, yes I have a chronograph, yes I have a kestrel, yes I have a good tripod and rangefinder, yes I've shot a bees dick off at a mile (338 LM master race crew checking in), yes I have a UTV to carry my gongs 2 miles down range, yes I go shooting and drink scotch almost 30 weekends a year, yes I am new to the competitive format of shooting sports, no I'm not a poor retard.
 
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*sigh* I hate internet forums. Okay here goes: Yes I reload with high end equipment, yes I have a chronograph, yes I have a kestrel, yes I have a good tripod and rangefinder, yes I've shot a bees dick off at a mile (338 LM master race crew checking in), yes I have a UTV to carry my gongs 2 miles down range, yes I go shooting and drink scotch almost 30 weekends a year, yes I am new to the competitive format of shooting sports, no I'm not a poor retard.
Only a mile, eh, better practice a bit more, we expect a nat’s appendage at 2.5 miles. The bees knee is too large anyway.

On a more serious note, every 6mm ever thought off short of a .243 has been mentioned except the GT. It seems to work decently at the ranges you are thinking off, and can be store bought, and is no issue to reload. (My main gun loves 105 Bergers. The other has an affinity towards the 107 Sierras. Our son’s shoots great with the 105’s as well)