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Gunsmithing Waiting Impatiently for my 6-223

bohem

PVA's HMFIC
Commercial Supporter
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Minuteman
Jan 6, 2009
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Southeast, PA
www.patriotvalleyarms.com
I decided what to do with my Sav. 12 in 204 Ruger once I shoot the 20 cal barrel out of it.

I'm going with a regular 6mm-223 because of the copious amounts of 223 brass I have and wanting something cheap to shoot with very low recoil so my girlfriend will be more likely to head to the 600y range with me.

I just ordered the reamer, barrel, barrel wrench and now I need a neck sizing die and the backorder to be filled for the barrel...

Waiting is overrated...
 
Re: Waiting Impatiently for my 6-223

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: bohem</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

Waiting is overrated... </div></div>

Sure is!
 
Re: Waiting Impatiently for my 6-223

I just reviewed my order from Midway and realized I forgot to add a 6mm neck sizer on there, I thought I added it. Time to call and see if I can catch the order.
 
Re: Waiting Impatiently for my 6-223

Caught the barrel order today and snagged a Shilen select match and the sizing die, tossed in a box 'o boolits and I'm stoked to make some chips!

It should arrive on Friday... have I mentioned I'm excited?
 
Re: Waiting Impatiently for my 6-223

Is that the 6x45? I was toying with the 6x45 as opposed to 223AI....info on the 6mm 223?
 
Re: Waiting Impatiently for my 6-223

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: dontstrokeme</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Is that the 6x45? I was toying with the 6x45 as opposed to 223AI....info on the 6mm 223? </div></div>

Yep, it's a 6x45 and that's what's etched on the reamer too. I have no experience with it I'm just looking at comparable ballistic coefficients and velocity capabilities.

The reason I moved from the 223 or 223AI to a 6x45 was because I wanted something with a longer tube life. I was thinking about doing the 6T/CU which, as I understand it, is the 6-223AI. I chose the straight up 6-223 because of 3 reasons.

1) The reamer was in stock and not a "special 90 day order" from Midway
2) The AI versions of things have a reputation for shorter throat lives (secondary consideration even though the AI has more powder capacity)
3) I wanted to neck, load, shoot and not have to deal with fireforming

My barrel blank is a 28" shilen, so I expect it will finish up around 26.5-27" and compared to the loading data at 24" tubes I should be around 250 fps faster for 75grn pills. This puts a 75gr Vmax at 3100-3200 fps depending on Powder.

I would like to shoot the 95 and 105 Amax with it (or the 105 JLK) which boast BC's that are on par with the 190's in my 30-06. A little under half the powder charge, 55% of the bullet cost, and comparable tube life to a 30-06 with very close ballistics and trajectory.

I'll take pictures as I get things apart, cut, assembled and fired.
 
Re: Waiting Impatiently for my 6-223

Left to Right (just a cell phone picture, sorry)

204 Ruger, 32 Vmax
223 Rem, 55 FMJ
6mm-223, 75 Vmax, loaded to 2.355" COL. Puts the base of the BT at the base of the neck

6223comparison.jpg


I'm cutting the chamber tomorrow if all goes well. Hopefully I'll have some pics to post up at the end of the day or at least by Monday morning.

 
Re: Waiting Impatiently for my 6-223

Sounds great, I'm thinking about building an AR in 6x45. Waiting to hear from Dtech about barrel availability.
 
Re: Waiting Impatiently for my 6-223

I got the "unfinished" blank from Shilen in a 1:18 twist 28" long. I figured I would be spending HOURS with a file and sandpaper getting the thing to look nice since they come with black "slag" on the outside.

I figured I would run it through the wire wheel first and it turned into a TGP grade finish from the start. About 5 mins with 600 and another 15 with 1000 grit on the lathe and it shines almost like a mirror. I didn't bother to put buffing compound on it for the time involved.

Turning the barrel and threading was dirt simple for a Savage, those shallow little threads take all of 10 passes or so to cut to a snug fit. Crowned it up with an 11* "target" crown and polished it up. The powder burns on the crown come out perfectly uniform, I like the way it looks quite a bit.

It took me a little while to get the chamber cut, I opened the breech up with a couple steps of drill bits, then used the reamer.

All said and done it took about 45 mins to cut the chamber, a little more to polish it up and headspace was a snap. I really like working on this Savage action.

I haven't grouped it yet, but I'll let you know how it goes. Right now the rifle weighs in around 20# I bet, it's a heavy bitch.

I thought the throat was longer than it is so I might be getting a throating reamer to open that up some more. Before I get that going I'm going to buy some 95 Amax or 105 JLK's to see how they fit in the chamber.


 
Re: Waiting Impatiently for my 6-223

Seems to hold around 4.5" at 400y which is a significant decrease in what I was getting before. The barrel is quickly floated in the stock though, I have a feeling that it's not totally free. I was also using thrown charges so I have to take some time to do a "soot" test and see if the barrel is touching the stock anywhere tonight. I'm goint to load up some individually weighed charges and bring them back to the range. I'm hoping it was just hasty loading and a possible contact issue somewhere in the stock.

Just for reference the 204 Ruger loads were shooting sub 2" all the time and 4 of the 5 shot groups (5 total) hit within 1.5"

Overall, no recoil at all from the heavy ass barrel, but it's a pain in the neck to transport at the range. 28" of truck axle gets annoying to move around.