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THE HANDLOADING BENCH


6mm NORMA BENCH REST (Part 5)


‘crater’ and ultimately pierce if the firing pin isn’t a perfect fit in the bolt-face and this may limit your pressures and MVs a bit if like me you are using an unmodified factory (Remington 700) action. Primers were seated with an inexpensive Lee Auto-Prime hand tool throughout.


Forster ‘case graphiter’ used without the motor mica to clean the inside of case-necks.


Note that such cloths should be left outside of their sealed storage cartons for the minimum amount of time as the active ingredient evaporates out. For the inside walls on case-necks, I’ve adapted another Hannam product, the Forster ‘case graphiter’ that incorporates three different diameter stiff and long- lasting bristle brushes. The kit comes with a small packet of white Motor Mica mineral powder to use as a neck sizing lube but I discard this and use the dry brushes to remove all but a thin film of carbon residue – three or four brisk strokes per case suffices. This carbon film also seems to lubricate the bullet in seating and provides more consistent bullet release, especially if there is a long period between loading and use. (Anybody want some free motor mica? As Mrs H says, if we’re ever raided by the Drugs Squad, having small sachets of anonymous white powder lying about will cause great excitement initially followed by considerable disappointment amongst the boys in blue!)


Priming and Seating


I covered the small primer and undersize flash-hole issue a couple of months ago but I must mention which primers are favoured. With small primers in use and a high-pressure cartridge, Small Rifle Magnum (SRM) or BR types are recommended. Most American users go for the CCI-450 SRM but I prefer the CCI-BR4 version in my match loads that have given me better results.


However, I’ve also employed Remington 7½BR and PMC (Russian) SRM primers happily in many of my test loads. As with most high-performance small primer equipped cartridges, primers are prone to


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Forster Co-Ax makes easy work of sizing 6BR cases. (Seen here with Forster seater die.)


to ascertain the exact COAL that sees a bullet touch the lands but it’s easy, quick and, as I tend to seat all tangent ogive bullets a full 0.015 inches off the lands - VLDs the same amount into them - is more than accurate enough. It also lets you easily redo all your bullets annually or every 500 rounds to accommodate throat erosion.


Putting powder selection and charging to one side, that just leaves bullet seating. I’ve used a standard (non-micrometer top) Forster BR seating die ever since I started loading the cartridge and usually set it up for whatever bullet I’m loading with an inert ‘seating dummy’ that I’ve made up beforehand.


COALs are obtained using a Stoney-Point / Hornady OAL Gauge, modified Remington 6BR case and the same company’s two-part bullet comparator assembly on callipers with a 6mm insert selected. I know there are slightly more precise methods available


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