I tryed some Lapua Palma brass in my AW today to see if I might need to have my bolt bushed to shoot small rifle primers. I ran some Palma loads that push a 155 Sierra at about 2800 out of my 20inch AW. I don't see any cratering at all. Does this load produce enough pressure to give an indication as to if I will have problems with a 6.5x47 or creedmoor in this rifle? I'd like to shoot 6.5x47 but don't want to bush my bolt.
- Thread starter Norseman1950
- Start date
Hard to tell so far away from them and looking straight down on them but it does appear to be mildly cratering a bit. But if youre not blanking primers continue on.
I don't think you have enough info to know if small primer 6x47 will crater or pierce in your AW. I have a 2008 AW like you that I bought a 6.5 CM barrel for and I have only shot large primer 6.5 CM loads that show mild cratering driving a 140 ELDM at 2750. The only way to know if Lapua small primer brass will be ok is to try out my loads in this rifle and see what happens.
The two on the left are large rifle 308, the two on the right are small. All the cases in the original pic are 308 small rifle primer. Not a very large sample I know.
A lot depends on who does the barrel,
Headspace issues, if they just give you an off the shelf barrel for the 6.5 it can pierce and crater, odds are that is a factory 308 barrel you are comparing correct ?
I had my 97 AW a 260 for 10 years and never pierced a single primer because it was custom fit to my rifle. I put an off the shelf 6.5 on my AX and it pierced the primer, because it is not fit to my rifle. Moved to a Small Firing Pin AX and the same barrel works.
Headspace issues, if they just give you an off the shelf barrel for the 6.5 it can pierce and crater, odds are that is a factory 308 barrel you are comparing correct ?
I had my 97 AW a 260 for 10 years and never pierced a single primer because it was custom fit to my rifle. I put an off the shelf 6.5 on my AX and it pierced the primer, because it is not fit to my rifle. Moved to a Small Firing Pin AX and the same barrel works.
There you go, I'd say Frank gave you great info. My 6.5 barrel was off the shelf from EuroOptic. If you want increase the chances that your large pin AW won't pierce, I'd send the rifle off to get a barrel made for it from someone who knows Accuracy Int'l, like Dave Tooley, Wade Stuteville, or Mile High.
Yeah its an 06 factory 308. I'm assuming headspace on the snug side is beneficial in this case then? I'm in Utah where I have the advantage of high altitude but the wind never stops blowing so there's shiz in the air constantly. Is .002 on a factory case enough room to account for some crap in the chamber but not so loose as to cause problems? Appreciate all the info...
FWIW, my EuroOptic 6.5 CM barrel, which was chambered by Wade Stuteville, has headspace on the loose side in my AW, with fired cases ending up at +.004" over SAAMI minimum, whereas my FN SPR, which was built by AJ Brown but rebarreled to 6.5 CM by Wade Stuteville, has fired cases ending up at +.002" over SAAMI minimum. Wade said he could redo my barrel to lower the headspace but that would then not meet Accuracy International specs for factory barrel headspace. I chose to leave things alone.
