6mmBR in Factory AI AT

[Wolf762x51]

Hello all! I recently purchased an AT in .308 , in the future I was thinking of getting a 6mmBR barrel to play games with. Will the AW mags feed those little cartridges or would I be better off with something else? I wanted a 6mm but something that wpuld be a little easier on a barrel than a full-on 6 Creed. Thanks!

 

[diggler1833]

Most seem to recommend the HRD kits for the AW mags. The biggest problem is finding them in stock. Their lack of availability is why I went 6 GT.

 

[TylerN]

HRD kits have worked near perfect for 6 Dasher for me. I just started loading 22 BRA and the same mags have nosedive issues. I think the longer body and projectiles of the Dasher work better than the 22. I'm not sure if a 6 BR would work more like the Dasher (great) or the 22 BRA (poor.)

If your only goal is to extend barrel life with a 6 maybe look into loading your existing 6 Creedmoor slower. If you want a 6 BR based round though for reasons... then go for it.

 

[bribri]

I've been down the same path as you. I too wanted a 6br in my AI, but then I read about the feeding issues of the smaller cases in the AW mags with and without the mag modifications.

One of the many reasons I shoot an AI is their reliability and that's why didn't want to mess with perfection and modify mags. Which is why I went with the 6XC, but I think the 6 GT would work well to.

 

[mr_fullmetal]

HRD mag kits seem to be the answer for reliability in the AW mags but you just can’t find them. 6GT sounds good on paper but brass and dies are what’s holding me back from taking the plunge. I’m in the same boat with my AT-X and I’m just going to stick with the factory 6cm for now.

 

[Rio Precision Gunworks]

6gt is hit or miss in AW mags.

The only mags the 6gt was designed to work for are AICS mags.

 

[Bucket]

Mine runs flawlessly until it doesn’t…….
I ran an 80 rd match a couple of weeks ago with no issues, but occasionally it will nose dive on about the 8th round from an AW mag.
Straight BR AW mags with HRD kits and a fair bit of fluffing around with the feed lips.

 

[96C]

I've been working on a 6BR with 108 ELDM' in Lapua brass, AW mags with HRD spacers this year... It is amazingly accurate and effortless to shoot, but feeding issues are horrendous. Normally when down to the last couple of rounds in a magazine, it nosedives more often than not. Tweaked mag lips, polished followers, tried 9 different AW magazines to try and fish out the 'best one' to no avail. You CAN run it, but every time you run the bolt you really have to be paying attention and feel / see a round go into the chamber.

Switched to 6GT a couple of weeks ago with Alpha OCD brass, 110gr ATIP' from AW mags without spacers. Have only put 100 rounds through it so far doing barrel run in and basic powder charge weight tests. It hasn't skipped a beat however mags have not been fully loaded or run at any great speed. It has however been a vast improvement over the shorter 6BR.

6CM was too fast for our shorter local ranges but had flawless feeding along with a really poor barrel life.

A few others in Australia have been switching from 6.5CM over to 6GT also for the same reasons.

 

[blbennett1288]

I have about 2500 rounds of 6BR through an AX and ATX with zero feeding issues. This has been with AX mags and HRD Gear spacers. I don’t know if the vision chassis accepts AX mags, but that would be the direction I would be looking if you really want 6BR to work; something that accepts AX mags.

 

[TheOfficeT-Rex]

I've been working on a 6BR with 108 ELDM' in Lapua brass, AW mags with HRD spacers this year... It is amazingly accurate and effortless to shoot, but feeding issues are horrendous. Normally when down to the last couple of rounds in a magazine, it nosedives more often than not. Tweaked mag lips, polished followers, tried 9 different AW magazines to try and fish out the 'best one' to no avail. You CAN run it, but every time you run the bolt you really have to be paying attention and feel / see a round go into the chamber.

This was my experience with BRA in the HD kit. I shot with guys who dropped the HD kits in several AW mags and never had a single issue, maybe needing to bend feed lips once. I even borrowed a mag and it was magic. But my two kits were constant nosedives. I ended up modifying the follower to stop the nosedives, and eventually moved to 6 creed instead for the better feeding.

I'd absolutely go back to another BRA - they shoot so well it outweighs the fact you're going to have to jerry rig a mag solution IMO.

 

[Wolf762x51]

This is why an AI can't be your primary gun. Or even your main competition rifle. Even if you dump $2,500 into a chassis and another $500 into a competition trigger. You will just keep running into roadblocks and obstacles.

Its still a good rifle, .308 that I can drag to hell and back. If it cant run a gamer cartridge then nbd. Just figured Id ask before I dumped a bunch of money into it.

 

[Wolf762x51]

Its funny you say that, my barrel HATES hornady 173gr match but shoots GMM 3/4 or better and it shoots one-hole with my 175 SMK handloads from my old Ruger American. I wasnt pleased when I found put their factory barrels were 1:12...