22 replies to this topic

[One Eye!]

I have a question for everyone or anyone.I HAD a very nice shooting fairly new Remington 700ADL in 30-06.I had a new Hart barrel put on it in 6.5-06AI. I had visions of SPEED! What I came out with was a 3000fps rifle that ended up eating barrels! At 300 rounds of the lightest load I could put thru it. It looks like the barrel has about 1/2 the life left in it. Adding insult to injury it shoots around 1 1/2" to 2 1/2" groups with 5 different powders. I got the same group size when I was fire forming the brass. Started with 100 rounds of 270 brass necked down to 6.5-06 then fire formed to AI. We (the gunsmith and I) thought we had a bad barrel so we installed a new Barrel.200 rounds into it and this barrel show wear signs. And it still shoots 1 1/2" to 2 1/2" groups.Anyone have an idea or want to buy a nice shooting 6.5? Might go pretty cheap with 2 barrels! :-}

[Cranky Farmer]

Sounds like you need to put the 30-06 barrel back on there.

[One Eye!]

Odds are good your right. Really hoping some one out there would have the magic answer so I dont have to go back!After all the work getting here only to find out its not accurate nor will it last till I have a good load for it.I hear there are great loads for 6mm-06AI's

[Fjold]

The 6-06 is quite an overbore cartridge, AI'ing it is like adding an afterburner to it. Even with burning the barrel out I would expect an Hart barrel to do better than 1.5" as long as it was screwed on to a straight action.

[One Eye!]

Me to.The Smith called Hart for information. Hart said that they had trouble with the 6.5-06AI eating barrels? Not sure of the reason but they knew it happens. I thought with the 7mm Mag and others like it that the 6.5-06AI would eat the barrel at around 4000 rounds. At the rate im going it will be a Hart shotgun by 2000!

[ShooterJohn]

At the rate im going it will be a Hart shotgun by 2000!

sorry for laughing but it was funny.

[One Eye!]

No offence taken. Laughings a good thing!

[A17Shooter]

Rod93312,It's a shame that you aren't getting better groups. The barrel erosion seems to be about what I would expect based on my experience with the 6 X 284. Generally, my friends and I expect about 1500 rnds out of a barrel before the 6 X 284 starts to go away. At the end, they tend to go from shooting well to not being able to hit the cardboard in about ten shots. I kept meticulous records on a 17 Mach IV, until it made me sick. I found that five rounds produced .001" of throat erosion. Don't do the math on that or you may stop shooting.A17Shooter

[Iron Worker]

The 6-06 is quite an overbore cartridge, AI'ing it is like adding an afterburner to it. Even with burning the barrel out I would expect an Hart barrel to do better than 1.5" as long as it was screwed on to a straight action.

Man that is strange I have a Hart BBL in 6x284 and as of yesterday it still is going strong I bet I have close to 1,000 threw it and I load some hot stuff. Plus I've many times shot well under 1/4MOA. So this rifle is bedded and you have a great trigger. Shot off a stable rest,scope mounts are AOK. Not letting bbl get too hot. Dang just yesterday a dude next to me was shooting the same caliber and BBL maker. Only his rifle had all the bells and whistles. Some thing is being missed some where.

[A17Shooter]

Some thing is being missed some where.

Ditto that, I know that sometimes all the barrel makers let a bad barrel get out the door and the best gunsmiths will mess up a job on occassion. Why is this rifle not doing well after the redo?A17Shooter

[One Eye!]

Sorry about being so slow getting back to everyone whos been trying to help me on this Rifle.I went back to the gunsmith with my last targets. He loaded up some ammo and went back out. I had used IMR 4064 4350 and 4895. Shooting them over a chronograph they shot around a 250fps differance. He loaded some with Hodgens Benchrest and the differance is right at 6fps. Shooting 0.33 with 100gr Nosler BT in 5 5 shot groups!I think im happy now! :-} Ive learned a pretty good lesson with this gun. I dont know why the powders didnt work for the gun? But the gun really didnt like the powders. It loves that Benchrest!We also tried the loads with Fedral Match primers & with standard Winchester Westerns. The group size stayed the same but the volisity went up using the Wenchester by around 60fps.If it continues to shoot this well ill be happy till the time its wares out. Makes me look good! :-} Thanks for all the help!

[A17Shooter]

Well, that sounds better! Congrats on your accurate rifle. A17Shooter

[Iron Worker]

You mean you had a SD of 250 FPS between rnds? Its good you have a gunsmith that was willing to take the time to test your rifle.

[One Eye!]

He did a great job and was a lot of help getting me straighten out!The only reason I can figure for the wide range in between rounds is I didnt fill the case up far enough? found out it liked a different powder than what I was giving it..

[ShooterJohn]

Rod, most of your top performing loads will be very full cases. But it's nice your gunsmith helped you out before you burned out your new barrel finding the right load. It should be a good shooter now. Though you can always tweak the load now that you're in the ball park.

[One Eye!]

Thanks!With any luck and a little help I think this thing will shoot better than the operator.Ill try a few more powders and bullets to see if something jumps out at me, but for now Im hoping to find a few ground squirrels or coyotes to take out some of my frustrations! :-}

[Iron Worker]

Whoa slow down bro. You said he got it to shoot 5 5 shot groups .033? Lets see if I got that right 1/3 MOA at 100yds. Hey don't forget murphys law "If its not broken don't try and fix it" Those measurements of the groups you reported are the stuff! You made it? Don't mess with it. What are you wanting to do shoot ICBM out of the sky? I bet that gunsmith has some well polished bench practices. You otta see if you can shoot those groups with his loads. There a lot of factors involved in getting those tight groups.If you set your rifle on the rest(Or sand Bags) diffrently then your smith that will make a big diffrence. That's called pressure points A short story I once had a M-1A with Iron Sights I tried the best I could to shoot I was lucky to put 5 shots into 2MOA at 100. I met a former Marine sniper from VietNam (so he said). I let him shoot my rifle.He shot that rifle like it was a Laser beam.Then he told me" this rifle needs some work" I learned something that day.

[One Eye!]

Iron Your right the way you hold or the way the bags, the rest hold all come into play.When I first got the gun I went down a bought a table from Walley world. Its one of the plastic tables for family get togethers the name i think is lifetime? Anyways the thing is so slick that I was shooting 4 inch groups!the gun would slide all over the place no matter how hard I held it. I went so far as duct taping the table top so I could get some traction!That helped a lot! Now I have a table that is sturdy and stable and holds my rest and the sand bags in place! Then I started trying to put the 6.5 on paper for groups. Before that i was fire forming. so the sliding around wasnt to worry some. The duct tape worked but now I need a shooting bench thats portable and light enough for me to carry.Anyone have any ideas?

[ShooterJohn]

I have two of these along with a half dozen different benches. But these made by MTM are really nice not heavy and fold up to be very portable.http://www.mtmcase-g...ting_bench.htmlThey've gone up in price a bit. They're $69.99 at Midway USA. I got mine when they first came out. Great bench though and only weighs 14 pounds.http://www.midwayusa...leitemid=677747

[Iron Worker]

I have two of these along with a half dozen different benches. But these made by MTM are really nice not heavy and fold up to be very portable.http://www.mtmcase-g...ting_bench.htmlThey've gone up in price a bit. They're $69.99 at Midway USA. I got mine when they first came out. Great bench though and only weighs 14 pounds.http://www.midwayusa...leitemid=677747

John I have that bench also. I like it a lot but it isn't perfect I was useing last June on a Hot day and the thing warped into the air(Table top) when it cooled down it returned to its normal shape. But I still like it.

[vmthtr in green bay]

You can make your own table pretty inexpensive. I used 2 peices of 3/4" plywood glued and screwed together, 1 1/2" pipe flanges and some aluminum pipe for legs. I can give pics of the bottom also if needed. That is my son on his first dog trip this summer.Mike  VIGB__Small_.JPG   73.84K   10 downloads

[ShooterJohn]

Mike I've built the very benches you show in your picture and they are extremely sturdy. But they are HEAVY and unless I can just dump it out of the truck I won't use them. Unfortunately the places I use a bench preclude me setting up for long periods so I wanted something light and fast to setup. I move a lot and assembling and disassembling a bench is out. But if you had a prairie dog town to sit over most of the day, I'd take my bench out like your's Mike.

[One Eye!]

Thanks for the Ideas!Shooter for some reason I couldnt get the links to open. Ill try opening another page and add the link to the search line and see if i can get it from there. If not ill just go to Midway and see it there.Sorry it should have read Vmthtr nice benches and a really nice Idea. I need to make me one for the shooting range that I go to out in the sticks. A light one for traveling would be nice to. The no stick top I have on the table im using now lets my guns slip to easy. and the duct tape wont last forever! How did your boy like his first outing?