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PRS Cartridge change advice

Steve_O

Steve_O

Sergeant of the Hide
Full Member
Minuteman
Aug 29, 2020
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New PRS shooter here, went from a 6.5 Creed shooting 140’s to a 6.5x47 shooting 123 Scenars now looking at the 6BR/A. I got to shoot someone’s BR only at 300 yards but really liked the recoil impulse and accuracy, never owned a 6mm so have a few questions for you all. Would it be worth it to move away from the 6.5x47 to a 6BR/A? I like the idea of the BRA getting alittle more MV and using 109’s. I hear it’s easy to fire form BR to BRA, and like that idea since I want to keep things as simple as possible if Iam going to fire form. I currently have Varget and CCI 450’s from my x47. I like the idea of the BR/A because of the Lapua brass, ease of tuning, longer barrel life I hear about. I really like the 6.5x47 but wanted to hear from the guys that have switched and see if it’s worth the change. Again Iam fairly new to PRS but want to make sure I spend wisely if Iam going to make the change. Thanks
 
I think the best money spent in any shooting discipline is on ammo and range time. You’ll improve more by spending the money on the rig you currently have and learning to shoot it. That said if you just want a new gun there isn’t anything wrong with that either. The 6mm’s have less barrel life then the 6.5’s your running.

The 6bra is fantastic though, super low recoil, super easy to tune, super accurate. You can compete with forming loads as it’s generally so accurate. I have both 260 and 6 bra and I much prefer the 6bra.
 
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I won’t be building a new rifle just rebarreling the one I have, I agree 100 percent about shooting what I have and practicing more but after shooting that guys BR it had me thinking lol.
 
Seems like you have access to components & find it interesting to switch so go for it. I'd calculate out how often you shoot to determine life span of your stash and availability when you run out.
 
Hey I’m all for new toys, I can’t seem to stop trying new actions, new calibers etc but I firmly believe best money spend is on range time/ammo basically.

I know for years people told me to try a br/variant and I always went a different route until last year I stumbled across a deal too good to pass and got my first 6bra. 100% it’s my favourite caliber and I’ll never go without one. The pure simplicity and ease of shooting and load development makes it a game changer for me
 
I’d go dasher for a few reasons reasons…you can get factory brass now, additional case capacity and it’s still king of the records in the benchrest game.

Get a .104 freebore reamer, Berger 105 hybrids or 108’s and let it eat.
 
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I'm extremely happy with my 6bra, alpha brass, 33gr H4350, 105hyb at 2950fps, shoots fantastic! I have freebore length of 0.130 which is a bit long for 105s, but works very well for 109s, 110s, 112s, and even keeps dtacs put of powder space. 33gr H4350 went 2880 with 115 dtacs. You can fireform peterson, lapua, or get straight alpha bra brass. It's a fantastic lil cartridge. The dasher shoots a lil faster, not much, but forming dasher definitely takes more work than bra.
 
I vote 6 dasher. Alpha brass and hornady 108's are on the cheaper end of the spectrum and they perform well. You throw 30 grains of varget and your done.
 
I have multiple comp guns from 6 creed - 6.5 x47 - 6 dasher. There is no magic cartridge, practice and getting in position and getting your hits and seeing where the rounds go are what you need.
 
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Judd said:
I’d go dasher for a few reasons reasons…you can get factory brass now, additional case capacity and it’s still king of the records in the benchrest game.

Get a .104 freebore reamer, Berger 105 hybrids or 108’s and let it eat.
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Between dasher and bra…the dasher has more records? Interested
 
I shoot 6x47lap. I like feeding without having to mess with magazines. You already have everything you need.

6bra is great, but it wont magically make you a better shooter or get you extra points. Practice will.
 
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4O6shootist said:
I'm extremely happy with my 6bra, alpha brass, 33gr H4350, 105hyb at 2950fps, shoots fantastic! I have freebore length of 0.130 which is a bit long for 105s, but works very well for 109s, 110s, 112s, and even keeps dtacs put of powder space. 33gr H4350 went 2880 with 115 dtacs. You can fireform peterson, lapua, or get straight alpha bra brass. It's a fantastic lil cartridge. The dasher shoots a lil faster, not much, but forming dasher definitely takes more work than bra.
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Is that a compressed load with the H4350? Do you have to use a drop tube to achieve that?

I use H4895 for my BRA, but I'm almost out. Have plenty of H4350 though.
 
kthomas said:
Is that a compressed load with the H4350? Do you have to use a drop tube to achieve that?

I use H4895 for my BRA, but I'm almost out. Have plenty of H4350 though.
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I use a 9" drop tube. Not compressed. Powder settles at base of neck, with the longer freebore and short 105hyb, no crunch. Case fill is 100%. Es isn't great around 20. But I've shot groups at 300 and 400y in the 1s and 0s. Avg quarter moa if I'm doing my part.
 
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What bullets do you guys recommend, 105 Berger, 109 Berger or new 109 ELDM?
 
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Steve_O said:
What bullets do you guys recommend, 105 Berger, 109 Berger or new 109 ELDM?
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They're all similar in wind deflection at BRA speeds. Fastest 105 will be less drop. I honestly think 105s in a br variant is a tough combo to beat unless you can get the 109s over 2900fps, the 105s will hold slight advantage within 800y
 
How does the BRA shoot out to 1000? As far as dealing with wind ect. I will be shooting out to 1000 on occasion, what’s the optimal barrel length for the BRA in PRS?
 
Steve_O said:
How does the BRA shoot out to 1000? As far as dealing with wind ect. I will be shooting out to 1000 on occasion, what’s the optimal barrel length for the BRA in PRS?
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My bra runs 105s at 2950fps, which is where dasher runs and a lot of 6cm guys run them for prs. It does the same as they do. 6bra has been winning a lot of events in the benchrest game at 600y and 1k y. So the accuracy is there. Reading wind is just like reading wind with any other cartridge, it may require and extra tenth or two.
 
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4O6shootist said:
My bra runs 105s at 2950fps, which is where dasher runs and a lot of 6cm guys run them for prs. It does the same as they do. 6bra has been winning a lot of events in the benchrest game at 600y and 1k y. So the accuracy is there. Reading wind is just like reading wind with any other cartridge, it may require and extra tenth or two.
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What’s your barrel length?
 
Steve_O said:
What’s your barrel length?
Click to expand...
28" 237 bore hawkhill 4 groove. It shot very well at 2910-2920 with varget too. Like single digit ES on 10 round strings. I just prefer to run slower burning powders. In the first 500 rounds on the barrel, I only measured 0.004 throat erosion using the Wheeler method and burning mostly varget in this time frame. Very impressed with this. A load will stay in tune for a LONG time. In reference my 6gt running 109 hyb at 2920 with H4350 moved around 0.060" in 2k rounds. I have not tried the 109s in the bra. But may do so eventually.
 
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The 6mm class is alittle harder to see impacts and misses at 1000+
Some projectiles will expand better and produce more splash.
 
Which brass should I buy between Lapua, Peterson or Alpha? I know I would have to fire form Lapua and Peterson which isn’t a big deal for me to make BRA vs Alpha selling BRA.
 
The alpha ocd is getting great feed back but there none ocd brass isn’t as tough as Lapua which is why I went for Lapua brass in mine and 0 complaints
 
Steve_O said:
Which brass should I buy between Lapua, Peterson or Alpha? I know I would have to fire form Lapua and Peterson which isn’t a big deal for me to make BRA vs Alpha selling BRA.
Click to expand...

I use Lapua because that was the obvious choice when I got into the cartridge years ago.

You do have to FF, but FF loads are stupid easy to make and stupid precise.
 
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Alpha has a loaded diameter of 269 neck. So you'll want a 273 or 274 nk chamber. Lapua will be 267 so most lapua chambers are 272 neck. I like my 130 freebore 244 diameter. Bra throats move very little from the guys who have tested it extensively, so no fear of chasing lands. Lapua brass does hold a lil more powder.
 
Just switched from 6.5cm to 6br about 3 months ago. I really like the cartridge but if i was to do it again id go dasher or gt. Id be able to go down to a 24" barrel with a maverick and get the same speed as my 28" br without pushing it. Also opens you up to a better selection of powders. Personally id go steaight br over bra just becuase fireforming sucks and at least with 223ai takes 2 firings before sd calms down.
 
Also the hornady 109s shoot lights out. My buddy ran his lot over the ab radar and had less than 1% bc variation. Have some berger 109s on back order and have been running 110 atips in the meantime. If youre newer id go with the cheaper bullet so you can shoot more unless money isnt a issue
 
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M4orturnate said:
Just switched from 6.5cm to 6br about 3 months ago. I really like the cartridge but if i was to do it again id go dasher or gt. Id be able to go down to a 24" barrel with a maverick and get the same speed as my 28" br without pushing it. Also opens you up to a better selection of powders. Personally id go steaight br over bra just becuase fireforming sucks and at least with 223ai takes 2 firings before sd calms down.
Click to expand...

Well alpha makes brass for the bra so you don’t have to fireform if you don’t want too, and something about the bra Lapua brass that the fireforming loads sd’s were 3 for me
 
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I vote dasher. I personally run BRA right now, and it's excellent. I shoot it at 2785 FPS with 105s or 109s and Varget, and it's great, BUT: I could run the same node in Dasher with 8208 XBR, Varget, h4895, or h4350, and you likely have access to h4350 more often than you do for Varget or h4895. To top it off, I could also run my bullets in the 2950 node if I wanted, which I'm not really willing to do with my BRA, because faster component wear at that pressure.

I had a 6 GT before the BRA and didn't love it. Speed was great with h4350 and 107s, but feeding in a KRG was a no go. The only magazine I could reliably get it to feed from was an ARC mag, and there is no shortage of BR mags for Dasher, and I kind of wish there were an AW mag kit for the GT, but there isn't. GT seems to me like a solution searching for a problem. I never had issues with my 6 XC with speed, load development, or feeding, and I had issues with feeding in the 6 GT at the same speed as the XC.

TL;DR: Dasher can do anything with any powder/bullet combo unless you want 3050 FPS, and you don't want 3050 FPS.
 
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rothgyr said:
I vote dasher. I personally run BRA right now, and it's excellent. I shoot it at 2785 FPS with 105s or 109s and Varget, and it's great, BUT: I could run the same node in Dasher with 8208 XBR, Varget, h4895, or h4350, and you likely have access to h4350 more often than you do for Varget or h4895. To top it off, I could also run my bullets in the 2950 node if I wanted, which I'm not really willing to do with my BRA, because faster component wear at that pressure.

I had a 6 GT before the BRA and didn't love it. Speed was great with h4350 and 107s, but feeding in a KRG was a no go. The only magazine I could reliably get it to feed from was an ARC mag, and there is no shortage of BR mags for Dasher, and I kind of wish there were an AW mag kit for the GT, but there isn't. GT seems to me like a solution searching for a problem. I never had issues with my 6 XC with speed, load development, or feeding, and I had issues with feeding in the 6 GT at the same speed as the XC.

TL;DR: Dasher can do anything with any powder/bullet combo unless you want 3050 FPS, and you don't want 3050 FPS.
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Is lack of reliable feeding the only drawback to the 6GT ?
 
> Is lack of reliable feeding the only drawback to the 6GT?

In my opinion yes. Both me and another local competitor have had a ton of issues with GT whilst everyone else running dashers gets the same ballistic performance but no feeding issues with their MDT mags, AW HRD mags, and ARC mags. Obviously some people have no problems with the GT, so I'm not dogging it, but if you're about to dive into the short cased 6mms, it's worth noting.
 
Judd said:
I’d go dasher for a few reasons reasons…you can get factory brass now, additional case capacity and it’s still king of the records in the benchrest game.
Click to expand...
bodhisafa said:
Between dasher and bra…the dasher has more records? Interested
Click to expand...

The 6BRA currently holds most of the records in benchrest for 600 yard and 1000 yard smallest groups. 600 yard smallest 5 shot group 0.311" and 1000 yard smallest 5 shot group 1.087" are both 6BRA records.

Steve_O said:
How does the BRA shoot out to 1000? As far as dealing with wind ect. I will be shooting out to 1000 on occasion, what’s the optimal barrel length for the BRA in PRS?
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Shoots great out to 1000, tiny bit more wind drift but not a major difference. The nicest part is watching the bullet go *exactly* where you aimed it (after wind). The precision is awesome when you can make very accurate corrections to center up on plate.

I've got both Dasher and BRA, both are similar, if pressed I'd choose BRA. I run them about 2860-2880 fps with a 105. I have used 26, 27, 27.5 and 28" barrels, all work well and at the slower speed there's no issue getting that velocity without having to worry about excess pressure. I currently lean towards 26" to be a little more maneuverable.

I'm not a fan of running 2900-2950 with a BRA. I've done it before but I think everything plays nicer with less pressure in the mid 2800's.

Yes, you will notice a difference going from 6.5x47 to 6BRA. Won't magically make you a better shooter but IMO it's a competitive advantage because it does take more consistent fundamentals to manage the 6.5 recoil and the 6 is a bit more forgiving and also lets you see downrange more easily.
 
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Surprised on feeding issues with gt. I've ran gt on impact, origin, and nucleus using pmags, arc, and mdt without much hiccup. I know guys running gt on ai rifles install hrd kits in aw mags but thin the rear block plate a bit and have had good luck with that.
 
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I think it depends on setups. I run KRG chassis where all my buddies run XLR and we all have different issues. The guy I know who had problems ran an MPA. The biggest problem is that as the rounds move forward in the mag under recoil, the back of the top round becomes unsupported and the bolt fails to pick it up. I had other serious issues running GT in an accurate mag too. I switched to ARC mags and the problems mostly went away. Hrd with a thin back plate sounds like a win. I wish hrd would make a GT plate.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice, probably a long shot but does anyone know where I can find Lapua 6br brass? I have all the other components just lacking brass.
 
I know it’s expensive but should I just order a box of Lapua BR 105 ammo shoot it to fire form so I have some brass or order some Alpha brass?
 
Steve_O said:
I know it’s expensive but should I just order a box of Lapua BR 105 ammo shoot it to fire form so I have some brass or order some Alpha brass?
Click to expand...


I fire formed a bunch of Lapua for my BRA with mild loads using the least expensive and easiest to find heavies, which happens to be Hornady 105 BTHP. Wouldn't be afraid to shoot a match while fire forming, I have a friend who has done the same with factory Lapua ammo.

Also shoot 6.5x47L, and I prefer it over the BRA.

If you look around, you can often find Lapua 6BR ammo on sale. I snagged some for less than $1 per round delivered off of GunBroker.
 
I would have zero issues fireforming at a match with 6BRA.

Because I am a bit OCD with these kinds of things, I would ensure the ammo is all from the same lot for consistencies sake.
 
Alpine 338 said:
I fire formed a bunch of Lapua for my BRA with mild loads using the least expensive and easiest to find heavies, which happens to be Hornady 105 BTHP. Wouldn't be afraid to shoot a match while fire forming, I have a friend who has done the same with factory Lapua ammo.

Also shoot 6.5x47L, and I prefer it over the BRA.

If you look around, you can often find Lapua 6BR ammo on sale. I snagged some for less than $1 per round delivered off of GunBroker.
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Curious why you like the X47 over the BRA? I really like the X47 also but wanted to try a small 6 this time around. I can’t find Lapua BR brass right now that’s why I thought about just getting box ammo for the Brass. I hear some people like Alpha brass and I can find it but never used it and no Lapua is good to go.
 
Steve_O said:
Curious why you like the X47 over the BRA? I really like the X47 also but wanted to try a small 6 this time around. I can’t find Lapua BR brass right now that’s why I thought about just getting box ammo for the Brass. I hear some people like Alpha brass and I can find it but never used it and no Lapua is good to go.
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Alpha 6bra is legit, in stock as of today too
 
Steve_O said:
Curious why you like the X47 over the BRA? I really like the X47 also but wanted to try a small 6 this time around. I can’t find Lapua BR brass right now that’s why I thought about just getting box ammo for the Brass. I hear some people like Alpha brass and I can find it but never used it and no Lapua is good to go.
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Recoil doesn't bother me, I can see trace, and impact. Cut through the wind better than any of the 6mm I have or owned. I've shot my 6.5X47's out past 1400-yards with consistency. Easy to load for, good barrel life, etc.

Yes, the BRA is easy to shoot, and very accurate, but the 6.5X47L for me fills the Jack of all trades role.
 
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Steve_O said:
I just looked on their website and says out of stock? Is it somewhere else?
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www.bluecollarreloading.com

Alpha 6mm BR Brass with OCD Technology

Product Information Cartridge: 6mm BR Finish: Brass Condition: New Quantity: 100 or 500 *Same Lot Number Primed: No Primer Size: Small Primer Pocket *This is not loaded ammunition.
www.bluecollarreloading.com www.bluecollarreloading.com

Heres some alpha straight br. Bra was in stock earlier today.
 
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Alpine 338 said:
Recoil doesn't bother me, I can see trace, and impact. Cut through the wind better than any of the 6mm I have or owned. I've shot my 6.5X47's out past 1400-yards with consistency. Easy to load for, good barrel life, etc.

Yes, the BRA is easy to shoot, and very accurate, but the 6.5X47L for me fills the Jack of all trades role.
Click to expand...
I agree I love my X47. Question to you is should I just buy some factory 6BR Lapua ammo so I will have it for the brass (fire forming it to BRA) or just get Alpha brass?
 
4O6shootist said:
www.bluecollarreloading.com

Alpha 6mm BR Brass with OCD Technology

Product Information Cartridge: 6mm BR Finish: Brass Condition: New Quantity: 100 or 500 *Same Lot Number Primed: No Primer Size: Small Primer Pocket *This is not loaded ammunition.
www.bluecollarreloading.com www.bluecollarreloading.com

Heres some alpha straight br. Bra was in stock earlier today.
Click to expand...
Yeah I seen the BR, should I fire form that or wait for the BRA brass to come back in stock?
 
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