Post by GLSHOOTER on Aug 17, 2018 14:46:21 GMT -8
Well guys Ritch has been running the calculator and burning up the cell towers to get his new project up and running. About a month ago he and I were talking about doing something new with something in existence that would us cram as much down range activity in a small caliber out of an AR. It seems everything has been done out there on a 6.8 case head size but there was one case out there that is not common but we think is gaining some momentum.
There is currently a great deal of interest in the 22’s since the new Nosler and Valkyrie have hit the scene. Those are pretty nice for some applications but barring the 90 grain plus of the Valkyrie the 22X6.8 will out do them in every category thanks to either increased pressure levels or increased case capacity or in the case of the Valkyrie both.
What to do? The only available case we could find that is in current was the Hagar. I’ve alluded to this case in other posts but unless we had a rifle in our hands it was only a concept vaporware idea. Ritch wanted something that was doable with many dies that we already have on the shelf thanks to the boys at Nosler and all the rest of the die people.
The brass is being done by one manufacturer on what appears to be a yearly run basis and a big batch is supposed to hit this month. For capacity the case out does the 22X6.8 by at least2.75 grains and is exceeding the Nosler with the uber-thin case walls by more than a grain of H2O. The Valkyrie is not even close to the capacity of a Hagar thanks to its short shoulder height and overall length. Not only is the capacity up the ability to load up in the 57,5500 to 58,000 area with the god brass will add nothing but speed over the N. and the V.
To get you a visual here is what Ritch has come up with. L-R is the 223, the 22X6.8, the 22 Nosler and the new 22-NXS
Over the past few weeks Rich spent a great deal of time with the owner of PT&G discussing reamer dimensions and got with Tactical Ordnance to do a proof in concept barrel for this one. The reamer print is about finalized and Ritch took delivery of the prototype barrel last Thursday. The barrel he had done is a 20” 1:8 five poly rifled tube. The throat will shoot anything you can put in it currently applicable to the bullet weight. His rifle sans scope came in at 6.25 pounds so it is doable for a calling rifle without any issues there.
Taking the few Hagar cases he had on had Ritch necked them to 22 and loaded some rounds up and headed out to the Arizona Strip on Sunday. The first 18 rounds shot were with a quick ladder of CFE 223 and a 55 Sierra GK HP. Cases were once fired 6MM Hagar. Getting the rifle settled in left Ritch with nine rounds to put on record. These were three shot groups as he only had eighteen total cases to work with. His chronograph ate one so he only got speed data on three loadings.
Here’s the target that Ritch sent ne from the desert to get me riled up. It worked!! This is the last target shot. He describes the primers as nice and round. Dimpled nicely with no case head markings of swiping or rim damage. Case fill was below the neck and he has some more to go. Look closely at this load data and the speeds from this 20” barrel. This is exactly 30 FPS below the 22-250 55 grain loads he shot the same day. With an equivalent 24” tube this one will run right over most published 22-250 data. This one went 0.420 and Ritch does no how to measure a target!!
Ritch asked me to share this with the board because, unlike him, I don’t have a day job. I can say that my test barrel will be ordered later today and that RPG will have me a new upper done by next week if everything meshes. Mine will be a 24” tube and will be 1:8 also. The little 55 grain Sierras handles the jump well and I will be shooting a windowed magazine to see what the heavies will do but p to 80’s are a duck shot and can be shot from a long ASC magazine. I really have no true interest in the 90’s that they are pushing with the Valkyrie but I may well get a 1:7 down the road also and stick it in a Savage to shoot in some F-class matches against my 243 LBC.
One further future development step on the table is short throated light bullet only chamber is being discussed so a guy can really get up close and wring every bit of accuracy out of this one. The standard longer chamber will do it for 95% of us but options are nice. Of course a 1:7 would be handy for the really big pills if a fellow so desired. I don’t think anything slower than a 1:9 is available yet but who knows down the road.
As things get up and running on this I’ll keep you posted. One little factoid that I learned yesterday BTW is that there may well be another Hagar brass source coming on line that would be more amenable to our needs. Negotiations will be started on later this week.
Greg
There is currently a great deal of interest in the 22’s since the new Nosler and Valkyrie have hit the scene. Those are pretty nice for some applications but barring the 90 grain plus of the Valkyrie the 22X6.8 will out do them in every category thanks to either increased pressure levels or increased case capacity or in the case of the Valkyrie both.
What to do? The only available case we could find that is in current was the Hagar. I’ve alluded to this case in other posts but unless we had a rifle in our hands it was only a concept vaporware idea. Ritch wanted something that was doable with many dies that we already have on the shelf thanks to the boys at Nosler and all the rest of the die people.
The brass is being done by one manufacturer on what appears to be a yearly run basis and a big batch is supposed to hit this month. For capacity the case out does the 22X6.8 by at least2.75 grains and is exceeding the Nosler with the uber-thin case walls by more than a grain of H2O. The Valkyrie is not even close to the capacity of a Hagar thanks to its short shoulder height and overall length. Not only is the capacity up the ability to load up in the 57,5500 to 58,000 area with the god brass will add nothing but speed over the N. and the V.
To get you a visual here is what Ritch has come up with. L-R is the 223, the 22X6.8, the 22 Nosler and the new 22-NXS
Over the past few weeks Rich spent a great deal of time with the owner of PT&G discussing reamer dimensions and got with Tactical Ordnance to do a proof in concept barrel for this one. The reamer print is about finalized and Ritch took delivery of the prototype barrel last Thursday. The barrel he had done is a 20” 1:8 five poly rifled tube. The throat will shoot anything you can put in it currently applicable to the bullet weight. His rifle sans scope came in at 6.25 pounds so it is doable for a calling rifle without any issues there.
Taking the few Hagar cases he had on had Ritch necked them to 22 and loaded some rounds up and headed out to the Arizona Strip on Sunday. The first 18 rounds shot were with a quick ladder of CFE 223 and a 55 Sierra GK HP. Cases were once fired 6MM Hagar. Getting the rifle settled in left Ritch with nine rounds to put on record. These were three shot groups as he only had eighteen total cases to work with. His chronograph ate one so he only got speed data on three loadings.
Here’s the target that Ritch sent ne from the desert to get me riled up. It worked!! This is the last target shot. He describes the primers as nice and round. Dimpled nicely with no case head markings of swiping or rim damage. Case fill was below the neck and he has some more to go. Look closely at this load data and the speeds from this 20” barrel. This is exactly 30 FPS below the 22-250 55 grain loads he shot the same day. With an equivalent 24” tube this one will run right over most published 22-250 data. This one went 0.420 and Ritch does no how to measure a target!!
Ritch asked me to share this with the board because, unlike him, I don’t have a day job. I can say that my test barrel will be ordered later today and that RPG will have me a new upper done by next week if everything meshes. Mine will be a 24” tube and will be 1:8 also. The little 55 grain Sierras handles the jump well and I will be shooting a windowed magazine to see what the heavies will do but p to 80’s are a duck shot and can be shot from a long ASC magazine. I really have no true interest in the 90’s that they are pushing with the Valkyrie but I may well get a 1:7 down the road also and stick it in a Savage to shoot in some F-class matches against my 243 LBC.
One further future development step on the table is short throated light bullet only chamber is being discussed so a guy can really get up close and wring every bit of accuracy out of this one. The standard longer chamber will do it for 95% of us but options are nice. Of course a 1:7 would be handy for the really big pills if a fellow so desired. I don’t think anything slower than a 1:9 is available yet but who knows down the road.
As things get up and running on this I’ll keep you posted. One little factoid that I learned yesterday BTW is that there may well be another Hagar brass source coming on line that would be more amenable to our needs. Negotiations will be started on later this week.
Greg
