5.6x50 Magnum

[Tony Z]

Been collecting bits and pieces for a while now. Howa action, TSE barrel, Choate stock and RWS 5.6x50 R cases and RCBS dies all acquired through horse trading over the last 12 months or so.
Rifle is together and cases have had the rim removed and groove machined in.
As always with cast actions the surfaces had to be machined flat, square and parallel so there was no bending or twisting when screwed into the alloy blocked stock. The Howa actions are notorious for this where if left as from factory the action pulls the barrel downward when the screws are torqued. The Choate stock was a surprise as to how well the alloy rail is machined and how true it was. An underated stock i feel.
Not a common cartridge but one i have had previously so i have pictured it with a 222 and 223 for comparison for those unfamiliar. Basically a 222 that is 7mm longer running around the 29 to 30 grain powder capacity.

I will get to fire the rifle in the next few days and will post up how it fares with the load i have put together for it. 29 grains of BM2 and 40 BTs to form cases and run the barrel in with.

[MISSED]

Interesting Cartridge choice love the machine work.

[Tony Z]

Just a few pics of all the scrap bits bolted together. Ugly as fuck but should be functional.

[Ol 55]

Nice,
Is that a bit of barrel with a reamer ran in that the case is in, obviously it drives ok.
How much tension is on the centre?
Cheers
Gary

[Camel]

One very interesting cartridge, thought long and hard about either getting a factory rifle, or having a barrel done for me over the years. I will be following this .

[Tony Z]

Before i played with the T1x today i ran in and sighted the 5.6x50 and fired two and a half groups.
The incomplete group at 200 yards with the 52 grain pills was halted due to pierced primers. No pressure signs on the cases anywhere but the CCI 400s blanked. No pressure issues at all with the 40 BT loads. It looks like i will have to bush the firing pin back to 60 thou.
Anyway the load is there to see. No development just plucked from known data out of Harvey's manual. A vertical slot at a 100 turns into a vertical ladder at 200. I hope to get a speed and a group at 300 yards over the next day or so.

[trevort]

Most of us would be rapt at the 100 yard group and not even bother with the 200


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[Tony Z]

Not long after i had finished playing with the 5.6x50 and T1x, a family of oinkers decided to wonder up out of the river and into the mango crop for a feed. I dropped this pair of juvenile boars, big in size, small in sense, both head shot with my favorite mini in 7.62x39.

[Camel]

Good clean looking pigs, do they taste like mango at this time of the year ??

[Tony Z]

Mark this is on a rock melon, honey dew and capsicum farm. These are the fattest, cleanest pests you will ever see. No we don't eat them but i would imagine they would be about as good as pork gets. There was about a dozen around this size with similar numbers of half grown 30 to 40 kg porkers that hung around after the two older siblings were shot. Back out this arvo.

[Tony Z]

I got to 200 yards again today this time shooting over a chronograph.
Average velocity was 3775 fps for the 40 BTs, 29 grains of BM2 , CCI400 in RWS cases. A bit quicker than expected and again with no pressure signs so i would have to think that over 3900 should be attainable. 4k is probably out of reach.

Pic shows a fouler in the left square and a group of five at the dot. Similar pattern to the first group at 200 yards on Sunday where i will look to tune that vertical out in the new year.

[Tony Z]

I got to do some limited load testing over the last couple of days but the wind up here from the high pressure fronts down south have made it difficult to confirm anything.

Anyway i worked up to 30 grains of BM2 with the RWS 4033 primer and the 40 grain Nosler BTs jammed in the throat. As seen on another thread, the rifle is showing a lot of potential with the three shot group at 315 yards measuring just over half an inch. Velocity is dead on 3900 fps from what i can calculate using drop data.
The brass as expected is showing nothing pressure wise. The primers, while better than the CCI 400s, are still showing cratering. The firing pin will have to be bushed.

[Camel]

Thats fucken awesome Tony.

[Branxhunter]

That is very impressive performance of both rifle and shooter.

Marcus

[trevort]

Yes nice shooting Tony. Is this case just an itch you wanted to scratch?


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