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Been looking for bullets suitable for my bolt action 6mm Arc that are most suitable for deer hunting. The Speer 100 grain Grand Slam recently became available again. We will see for how long Any one have much experience with these?
Wanting a little more insight on how low of velocity they are still expanding well. Who here has worked with these over the years? I for one think this is a good old design. although may not be suitable for the 16" barreled guns & really question how the AR's may feed the Spire point bullet. Again my purpose is for a Bolt action & specifically a controlled round feed CZ 527.
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09-24-2021, 10:41 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-24-2021, 10:41 PM by Old Bob.)
I've been looking for the 100gr. 6mm Grand Slams on-n-off for awhile. Midway USA has 'em so I ordered some.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/101983109?pid=230810
I've used Grand Slams in .270 Win. & they've been DRT bullets for me. Federal Fusions are good too but you can't get 'em as components. I've never seen 'em sold that way. The 100gr. 6mm GS should be about perfect for Antelope...
The trick is growing up without growing old. -- Casey Stengal
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Yes I picked up the Grand slams as well & been shooting them a bit this week. Tonight I put one through a series of 5 water jugs, that is the bullet was caught the 5th jug at just a bit shy of 100 yards.
This bullet was leaving the muzzle at a velocity of 2869. the retained weight of the slug was 74.1 grains. better than any cup and core bullet I have tried thus far.. Good though I still think I may do well to just go with a GMX or a ttsx if bullet retention is what I am after.
Now for a bit of unpleasant experience with the 100 gr Grand slam. The bullets turned out, to be a few tenths of a thousanth tapered with the base measuring .2428 and .2426 near the cannelur. What I am experiencing is the base is resizing the neck and the tension ends up being a bit less than desired when the bullet is fully seated. I am able to press the bullet deeper with my fingers and no tools.
The whidden dies that I am working with allow a switch out of a bushing to alter the Neck sizing up or down as needed. Well I reduced the neck diameter by .001 with little improvement. The same was experienced when reducing the neck another thousands.
Spoke with a service person with Speer and was left with little comfort in knowing the bullet was made within there specifications. Nevermind I have loaded many other 6mm bullets for this cartridge with no such issues. Guess I failed to share my displeasure with there premium bullet in this respect.
As for the Fusions, a number of us did come across the fusions as a pulled bullet from american reloading. They were only available for a short while. As a pulled bullet I have to say they do shoot quite well in terms of accuracy. As for weight retention Ill need to put at least one through a test yet.
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I tried some of my lead tipped pills in both my ar style and bolt, and for me I found all of them got nicked so the tip was off-round. Now couple of guys saw the same but say they shoot ok for them, but I’m saving my lead tips for 243 and 6 creed. For the 6arc I’m using either Berger’s or poly tips. 103 eldx, 90 Sierra Tgk, 95 SST, etc. my next trip my 6arc is coming along, the bolt, with 95 bergers. Plenty of knock down inside of 250 yds. The sie 100 gr sbt, would be my choice if I was going lead, it’s done well for me in the field. I thought I had an eldx load With a good powder charge but have to re-think it, it seems too hot.
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Really came across an accuracy node for my rifle with those fusions tonight with Ramshot Tac. Velocity was only 2731 for that node. Then at 2809 one of those 95 grain fusions was sent through 3 water jugs and caught in the 4th. Controlled expansion on that bullet is text book could actually say perfect in my book. Better than 2times diameter expansion. Retained weight is 75.9 grains. May have a hard time talking myself out of using this for deer this fall.
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10-02-2021, 06:13 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-02-2021, 06:14 PM by CZ527 Guy.)
Received the lee collet style crimp die this week I started off seating this bullet roughly .09 off jam to utilize the cannelure and was surprised to see accuracy was just fine. And yes this did take care of any concerns I had with neck tension. Dosent take much, a little additional tension with a light crimp gets us what we are looking for. Ill experiment more with seating depth and not utilizing the cannelure to see if accuracy may improve even more.
Looks like I have at least three very good bullet choices on hand for medium game with the 6mm arc
. Been very satisfied scratching this itch to have a CZ 527 chambered in a near optimum 6mm chambering for this little mini Mauser bolt action type rifle.
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(10-02-2021, 06:13 PM)CZ527 Guy Wrote: Received the lee collet style crimp die this week I started off seating this bullet roughly .09 off jam to utilize the cannelure and was surprised to see accuracy was just fine. And yes this did take care of any concerns I had with neck tension. Dosent take much, a little additional tension with a light crimp gets us what we are looking for. Ill experiment more with seating depth and not utilizing the cannelure to see if accuracy may improve even more.
Looks like I have at least three very good bullet choices on hand for medium game with the 6mm arc
. Been very satisfied scratching this itch to have a CZ 527 chambered in a near optimum 6mm chambering for this little mini Mauser bolt action type rifle.
...FWIW, one of the ways I found works for me with the Lee collet crimp die is to run an empty, sized case to top-stroke of press ram then screw the die down until it makes contact on the casing then lock it down at that point. Once you actually seat a bullet there will be enough expansion of the case mouth that when it enters the crimp die it does enough to prevent bullet set-back when feeding. Granted, if you are looking for absolute accuracy in your loads, then neck turning before setting the die would give you even more consistent results.
If you're just loading practice/plinking ammo on a progressive, this works out very well and you do gain some improvement in your ammo's consistency, YMMV.
