6.5 sst (sherman short tactical) arrived

[elkaholic]

I shot my first match with the new SST yesterday. I still I'd some things to work out with the rifle but I wanted to see how it was going to preform.

I didn't have the rifle zeroed and I didn't have a velocity with the new seating depth yet so I got there early to take care of that. 3030fps at the .060 jump using 55.3 grains of Reloader 26. I'm pretty happy with that.

I only had one AICS magazine ready to go. With a 2 round extension from AxisWorks, I can get nine in there but the first one won't feed. I think I can fix that but I haven't tried yet. So essentially I had one eight round magazine. This ended up really hurting me in this match. I timed out on every stage trying the dig two more bullets out of my pocket. Last thing that isn't quite ready is My shoulders aren't bumped (Whidden is rushing the dies but they aren't quite here yet). As soon as the dust started kicking up, I was fighting stiff bolt and extration issues. That'll go away with the dies and I'll probably go with a 2 piece rail just so the brass has more room to eject.

So, now that my excuses are out of the way, the rifle shot light out! The wind was switchy and ate people up on several stages. I just aimed center target. When the wind settled to something resembling constant, I just went left of center. If I could get solid, I hit the target. This little caliber is awesome for PRS! I was a little worried about recoil coming in because spotting shots and adjusting is so important but I never had issue spotting shots. It worked out great!

I ended up 18th out of 65 shooters. I lost at least 5-7 makable points because of the magazine issues that will be worked out. This was by far my best match of the year. It's just a lot easier when you don't have to factor in the wind.

Great job Thane! This has really been a RUSH to get ready for sure. I think when you get a couple of those bugs worked out, it will be an awesome performer and the barrel life should be very good! At 3030', you are just above idle a bit!
I should have my SST very soon and will start testing some more powders before long. I am JUST starting to get moved into the new house so I should be a little more help to folks soon!
Oh ya; Whidden shipped the dies today!!

 

[tbeckstead11]

Great job Thane! This has really been a RUSH to get ready for sure. I think when you get a couple of those bugs worked out, it will be an awesome performer and the barrel life should be very good! At 3030', you are just above idle a bit!
I should have my SST very soon and will start testing some more powders before long. I am JUST starting to get moved into the new house so I should be a little more help to folks soon!
Oh ya; Whidden shipped the dies today!!

Woot! I'm stoked for the dies to get here. I think that's the last little thing to make this rifle run. I picked up 2 Alpha SAUM magazines so I have enough magazine capacity. I had to open up the front of the magazines just a tiny bit to get good engagement with the feed ramp. I picked up a Nightforce 2 piece 20moa rail so the cases have plenty of room to eject. I don't think I really need the extra 20 MOA with the SST but old habits die hard.

My next match is on July 29th. I hope to be on the fifth and sixth firings of the brass. So far they are all good. They've all been fired three times and a few have been fired four times. I don't see any signs of wear, so brass life is looking positive.

 

[codyadams]

Woot! I'm stoked for the dies to get here. I think that's the last little thing to make this rifle run. I picked up 2 Alpha SAUM magazines so I have enough magazine capacity. I had to open up the front of the magazines just a tiny bit to get good engagement with the feed ramp. I picked up a Nightforce 2 piece 20moa rail so the cases have plenty of room to eject. I don't think I really need the extra 20 MOA with the SST but old habits die hard.

My next match is on July 29th. I hope to be on the fifth and sixth firings of the brass. So far they are all good. They've all been fired three times and a few have been fired four times. I don't see any signs of wear, so brass life is looking positive.

That brass should go a LONG time with that load in that case, I'm running 3070-3090 with 140 Bergers in my .260 AI (RL-26), and I just started loosing some of my Lapua cases to primer pocket stretch on the 12th fireing, 4 of those fireings with this load, 3 with the 147 eld-m going 3060, and the 4 with the 140 going 2960 with 4831 and the light fireforming load. I lost about 15 out of 100 that I could push out with hand pressure, and those were probably ones that had hot loads during load developements with the different bullets/powders I have experimented with.

With proper annealing I would think 15+ loads on brass.

 

[elkaholic]

Woot! I'm stoked for the dies to get here. I think that's the last little thing to make this rifle run. I picked up 2 Alpha SAUM magazines so I have enough magazine capacity. I had to open up the front of the magazines just a tiny bit to get good engagement with the feed ramp. I picked up a Nightforce 2 piece 20moa rail so the cases have plenty of room to eject. I don't think I really need the extra 20 MOA with the SST but old habits die hard.

My next match is on July 29th. I hope to be on the fifth and sixth firings of the brass. So far they are all good. They've all been fired three times and a few have been fired four times. I don't see any signs of wear, so brass life is looking positive.

4 firings with NO shoulder bump tells me a couple things. As you said, case life should be very good and also that is a pretty low pressure load which should give excellent barrel life as well. You could have a little stiffer load for ELR shoots and still get good barrel life at 3100' or so.............Rich

 

[elkaholic]

My SST arrived yesterday just when I was getting ready to take the grand kids to mtns 4 wheeling so I took the opportunity to quickly convert some brass and load up a box of 20 to fire form and break her in a little. This case is REALLY easy to form as it is pretty much a shortened SAUM with the taper blown out when formed.
I decided to try some 147 ELDM's for the trip and loaded them behind 57 grains of H1000 at a coal of 2.795". That was about to the lands (I was hurrying) That is a LONG bullet so just about anything you would want to shoot will fit in a std. magazine (Remington SA mag is about 2.825")
Rhian must have done a bang up machining job, and very consistent with the last barrel, because the first shot out of the new barrel struck within 2" of where the old was sighted in at (6.5SS) and the next 2 rounds were touching only 1 inch from former zero. This was with no bore sighting or anything. He just reattached the scope
I ran 10 rounds through it cleaning it 3 times and then fired a fouler and took the magneto speed bayo off. The MV with that low pressure load was 2903'. I then fired a 3 shot group with a slight scope adjustment while lying prone in an abandoned logging road. The target was a Home Depot moving box (don't want to talk about that), with a felt marker bullseye. The 3 shots went into about .3 moa which is typical of Rhian built rifle. The cases only shrink about .002" when fire forming this round, so they were still about .003" OVER chamber length. Looks like some serious accuracy potential as well as good velocity. I should be able to shoot at least 60 grains with this combo. I plan to test some new powders and do some load developement after the G-kids leave. Pretty sure i can make 3150' or so with the 147's with RL26.
These pics are all I took and are not the best quality with my flip top, but you get the idea............Rich
Oh ya, the 3 port Little beast brake is new for me on a 6.5 but it is REALLY fun to shoot. Spotting long range shots will be a breeze!

 

[elkaholic]

Here is a comparison pic of the SS vs the SST. Left is the SST with a 140 Berger Hybrid and the SS is loaded with a 143 ELDX. The shoulder/neck junction is .003" forward of the SS on the SST so a person could shoot SST ammo in the SS chamber with proper head space. Body taper is the same and of course the SST has the 30 degree shoulder vs the 40 on the SS. Case length is identical and the SST has a shorter throat. Early results indicate that the velocity difference will likely be around 50-75 feet with equal barrel length and pressure.
The SST can be cut to trim length BEFORE fire forming as it only shrinks about .002". Head spacing is precise when the shoulder is pushed back correctly as it remains at 30 degrees ...........Rich

 

[orangediablo]

Thanks, now I want one.

 

[elkaholic]

I made it back out to do a little more testing this weekend. I tried RL16 with the 140 Hybrids as well as N560. I wanted to try the 16 to see if a faster powder might work. It turns out that the 16 acted a little slower than I expected so I did not come close to max. Accuracy seemed very promising but I was only in the 2900's. The increase per powder charge was far less with this powder. I may try it again with stiffer charges. N560 produced fair velocities and some good groups as well, but I am not yet sold on this powder and its consistency.
I also tried H1000 the next day with the 147 ELDM which I want to do more work with. Conditions were not so good with the wind and mirage was bad, but I was able to see a node potential around 3050'. Max was just under 3100'. You can see a big jump from 57 grains to the next 3 loads and then another jump at the top charge.
I shot some RL26 which will probably AGAIN be the best choice for accuracy and velocity combined, but only did a max charge test. I reached 3156' with less pressure than H1000 was at 3094'. I will be testing RL26 some more and expect to find a good load around 3100 with the 147.
The first pic was N560 and the second was RL16. The highest charge should have read 2944 not 2890 on the RL16. All testing was 400 yards using the same poa regardless of wind at the time. I only had 2 rounds instead of 3 for a couple of the loads.

 

[elkaholic]

I made it out for a test with the 147's and RL26 today with some pretty promising results. I had shot a ladder a couple days ago and decided on 56.7 grains of RL26 behind the 147 ELDM at a coal of 2.770". (This will fit in ANYTHING folks!) I first ran it over the Magspeed for a MV of 3107' *Max is something around 3160'. I adjusted the scope and fired a 3 shot group at 100 yards to confirm zero. They were slightly low but went into .166". Looking good so far! I adjusted the scope up 1/2 moa then backed off to 650 yards to shoot across a clearcut. The wind was variable at about 3-8 mph from 6:30 to 8:30. I used the .351 advertised b.c. and dialed up 9.75 moa and fired 4 shots which went into just over 4 inches. The group was a little high and right so I adjusted the scope and fired another 4 shots. The wind had moved to pretty much 8:30 and was on and off during the 4 shot group which showed up big time on paper. I am super impressed with this cartridge thus far as it is very easy to work with and does not give up a lot to the Big Brother SS!

 

[elkaholic]

I made it out for a test with the 147's and RL26 today with some pretty promising results. I had shot a ladder a couple days ago and decided on 56.7 grains of RL26 behind the 147 ELDM at a coal of 2.770". (This will fit in ANYTHING folks!) I first ran it over the Magspeed for a MV of 3107' *Max is something around 3160'. I adjusted the scope and fired a 3 shot group at 100 yards to confirm zero. They were slightly low but went into .166". Looking good so far! I adjusted the scope up 1/2 moa then backed off to 650 yards to shoot across a clearcut. The wind was variable at about 3-8 mph from 6:30 to 8:30. I used the .351 advertised b.c. and dialed up 9.75 moa and fired 4 shots which went into just over 4 inches. The group was a little high and right so I adjusted the scope and fired another 4 shots. The wind had moved to pretty much 8:30 and was on and off during the 4 shot group which showed up big time on paper. I am super impressed with this cartridge thus far as it is very easy to work with and does not give up a lot to the Big Brother SS!
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I waited until calm conditions this evening and went over to my friends ranch where I could find out what this thing was capable of. I think I like it! I think the bull shot was cold bore because it usually shoots slightly lower. I will claim it anyway.

 

[valleyloader]

Are reamers available for purchase

 

[valleyloader]

I need a 6.5 with a little more than the creedmoor but with better life expectancy than the 6.5-284 this is looking real good to me

 

[elkaholic]

It will do both only a LOT more than a Creedmoor!

 

[Bigstrap3]

View attachment 77734

I waited until calm conditions this evening and went over to my friends ranch where I could find out what this thing was capable of. I think I like it! I think the bull shot was cold bore because it usually shoots slightly lower. I will claim it anyway.

Dang show off RICH......nicely done