6mm ppc, 6mm Grendel, 243 lbc, 6mmAR and bears oh my

C

cj5wit4wd

Guest
Good afternoon everyone. This is my first post so bare with me a bit. I'm looking for something to chamber a 7.62x39 bolt face cz 527 action in. I really like the 6mm ppc but brass seems to be a bit of an issue, there are two different variations (Sako and USA) and everyone seems to have a different idea on what the best way of forming it from 22 Russian is. While I was looking for less complicated solutions I came across the 243 lbc, 6mm AR, and 6mm Grendel. I can't seem to find any real case dimension data on any of them but it seems like all of them are formed from 6.5 Grendel brass and my understanding is that the AR and LBC are formed using 6mm ppc dies. I was looking at the few pictures of 6mm AR as compared to 6mm ppc that I could find and it looks like the neck on the AR is a bit shorter than the PPC, the same way it is on the Grendel. I would really like to use Grendel brass instead of 220 Russian just based on availability, to my knowledge Lapua is the only one in the 220 Russian game and Norma is the only one making factory 6mm ppc brass (and I've heard its pretty soft).

What I would like ideally is to take a 6.5 Grendel, neck it down to a 6mm, and bump the shoulder back just a bit so that it has the longer neck found on the 6mm ppc but retains the sharp shoulder of the Grendel. Has anyone done this? Is it possible to just form 6mm PPC from 6.5 Grendel brass? By my best estimate the best way of trying to accomplish a 6mm Grendel with a PPC length neck would be with a set of Redding bushing dies for 6.5 grendel and to just steadily work the neck down to about .275, drop the bullet in, and seat it with a .270 die or something like that. Now that is assuming that the Grendel brass is around .014 neck thickness and that it doesn't really thicken up in the process. This is all just speculation however.

Anyone who can provide some case dimensions on 6mm Grendel, 6mmAR, or 243 LBC I would greatly appreciate it! Im not trying to rip anyone's idea off, but I have a few things I would like out of the cartridge and my gunsmith makes all his own reamers from scratch anyway so making one from a formed case wouldn't be any more difficult than making one off specs listed in a book.

Thanks!
Josh
 
You are making this way too hard. The latest Norma 6PPC brass is unlikely to cause you problems from being too soft, they have specifically addressed this issue by going to double struck case heads. With a little research you should be able to come up with the correct neck diameter for a no turn chamber, and suitable throat length for the bullets you plan on shooting. Have owned and shot a full house, 10.5# competition 6PPC for around 20 years, and have some of the late Norma brass that I have experimented with with various loads, including some that make some pressure. I recommend that you fire 2-3 a few time with stout loads neck sized and send them off to Harrell Precision with an order for a FL die. A Wilson seater and Redding shell holder should set you up for reloading. Competition shooters rarely use trimmers that use pilots, preferring the Wilson or various ones that index off of case shoulders. Good luck with your project.
 
Thanks Boyd

Thank you for the info Boyd, I wasn't aware that the Norma brass had been improved; that makes me feel a little better. My main reason for looking at the Grendel was the brass availability though. Lapua, Hornady, Norma, and Nosler are all available on Midway and that's a rather attractive prospect. I've also kicked around the idea of reducing the Grendel to a quarter bore and leaving everything else the same. My biggest quandary is what the differences between all the 6mm neck downs of the Grendel are? Its nice to know I have the 6mm PPC Norma brass I can easily fall back on though.
 
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