Hey all-

A question occurred to me while posting in the Long Range Shooting thread. It seems like it would be betrer asked over here:

Those of you that load and shoot "barrel burner" cartridges like 6mm Creedmore and others, do you have a "test mule" rifle that you use to work up loads before finishing dialing them in on your "match rifle"?
Or do you do development on your primary rifle and just get comfortable with barrels being consumables and change them every couple of thousand rounds?

I ask because the window between break in, shooting good, and shot out sounds pretty small.

What's your method, for load development?

Bruce

I have equipment that makes testing more repeatable and less work, by eliminating me as a variable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG13s1bj-jw

quote:

Originally posted by jmorris:
I have equipment that makes testing more repeatable and less work, by eliminating me as a variable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG13s1bj-jw

Ok, that's pretty sweet! Care to share pics and an explanation of your setup?

This is it using a bag at the rear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng39ce3Ii_w&t=5s

This is how it was in the 1st video I posted.

quote:

Originally posted by RNshooter:
Those of you that load and shoot "barrel burner" cartridges like 6mm Creedmore and others, do you have a "test mule" rifle that you use to work up loads before finishing dialing them in on your "match rifle"?
Or do you do development on your primary rifle and just get comfortable with barrels being consumables and change them every couple of thousand rounds?

Offgrid will be among the best to discuss this issue. I think he chambered about ten Dasher barrels through Jonathan Elrod, plus others in 6mm through 7mm bores. To the best of my knowledge, offgrid confirms loads on each barrel. However, evidently the 6 Dasher is pretty easy to tune, and Jonathan's chambers are very consistent.

I don't know of people who use a "test mule" barrel. I suspect they burn more rounds on the first barrel getting a load, then the process is quicker on subsequent barrels.

I shoot factory ammo and haven't consumed nearly the number of barrels as others. However, I do have experience with three different Wilson Combat 16" SS AR-15 barrels. Barrels #1 and #3 are fluted, #2 is not. All three are chambered in 5.56. Barrel #1 had a twist rate of 1/9, #2 and #3 had 1/8. Understand that I use factory ammo.

#1 -- Shot best with FGMM 69 and Hornady 55 VMax. Did quite well with various 52 grain HPBT match loads. Didn't care much for Hornady 75 grain match. Liked 40 and 50 grain VMax loads. Sometimes didn't shoot accurately with FGMM 77, but yet the best 5-round 100-yard group I ever obtained (a mere .37") with this barrel was with FGMM 77.

#2 -- Finicky from the start, in part due to installation issues where the gas block touched the rail when the barrel was warm and I loaded the bipod hard. Prefers 68 and 69 grain ammo, pretty much exclusively. Best results from Aussie Outback SMK 69, then FGMM 69, then Hornady 68 BTHP, then Copper Creek SMK 69. OK with VMax bullets, but nothing special. Doesn't really care for any 73-77 grain ammo.

#3 -- More like barrel #1 than #2, but better with heavier bullets. Pretty much likes any match or quality ballistic tip bullet, from 50 to 77 grains. My only 5.56 chambered barrel that likes Hornady 73 ELD-M -- although I need to do more testing at 400+ yards in low winds to better see how it holds vertical at distance. This is a good barrel.

I suspect you need to treat each barrel as its own. Should you choose a chamber with a short life, then load development just needs to proceed more quickly.

Good advice, Fritz.

I guess that by the time I am ready to switch from .308 to one of the barrel burners, I will have my reloading down well enough that I'm less often testing loads for pressure, safety, and consistency so I can just load them and see if that known good load is one that my barrel likes.

Bruce

quote:

This is it using a bag at the rear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng39ce3Ii_w&t=5s

This is how it was in the 1st video I posted.

That's a sweet setup, thanks for sharing!