6 SAS

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My wife has been hunting with my shorty 6.5 saum ultralight the past few seasons and really hates shooting it. Last year she missed an easy shot at a good buck due to flinching.
I decided to design her a 6mm magnum wildcat for short barreled suppressed hunting with the goal of getting her to shoot more.

I like the concept of the 6 prc but it's a little too much for what I'm wanting, and I really dislike short case necks.
Sooo I shortened that baby down, lengthened the neck, and blew the shoulder out to 40 degrees.

Meet the 6 Short Action Suppressed (6 SAS). My inspiration was the 6 BRA, the long neck allows for throating heavy for caliber bullets (like the 115 vldh) above the neck shoulder junction, while also leaving plenty of neck to run 105 or 108s close to the lands with plenty of neck to capture the short bearing surface.

I've also found that short fat cases tune extremely well and single digit SDs are effortless.
I've only recently received my barrel back from Karl at Kampfeld Customs, and just started fireforming cases last weekend.

I went with an 18" Rock Creek barrel that finishes .730 at the muzzle, it's built on a Tikka action in an XLR element 4.0 SA chassis.
So far fire forming loads with 115 Berger VLDH bullets are clocking 2900 with an SD of 8 using 51 grns H4831SC. I'm shooting clover leaf groups and went 7 for 7 on an 8" gong at 550 the other day.

Fast forward 3 days and I've made my first kill, a solid buck at a whopping 50 yards.. I purposely put the 115 vldh in the shoulder to see how it'd penetrate at close range, I'm impressed!
It blew through both shoulders, shredded the lungs/heart, and lodged in the offside skin.
The recovered bullet weighed 55 grains for anyone that cares, the buck literally dropped dead in his tracks.
I've never seen a deer die that fast, for some reason they almost always run 30 to 100 yards with perfect shot placement in my experience.

Here's a few pics of the case compared to the 6.5 prc, sized down, then fire formed.
Cartridge OAL is 2.810 with the 115 seated where it should be.

20241107_180930.jpg20241108_104226.jpg20241107_203513.jpg



20241112_191751.jpg
 

The Guide

WKR
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I just want to make sure in following correctly. It is a 6.5 PRC shortened, necked down to 6mm, and fire formed to 40⁰ retaining a long neck? Will keep following to see where you end up after loading fire formed cases. A short barreled rifle that will run 3k fps with common temperature stable powder would be right up my alley!

Jay
 
OP
762 ULTRAMAGA
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I just want to make sure in following correctly. It is a 6.5 PRC shortened, necked down to 6mm, and fire formed to 40⁰ retaining a long neck? Will keep following to see where you end up after loading fire formed cases. A short barreled rifle that will run 3k fps with common temperature stable powder would be right up my alley!

Jay
Yes sir you've got it, I actually ran 3000 fps with several powders fireforming so that'll be effortless. I'm about a month or so away from getting my custom Hornady matchgrade bushing dies.
 

The Guide

WKR
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Messages
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Location
Montana
Yes sir you've got it, I actually ran 3000 fps with several powders fireforming so that'll be effortless. I'm about a month or so away from getting my custom Hornady matchgrade bushing dies.
If I could get 24" bbl 6CM speeds from an 18" barrel without using unicorn farts and fairy dust, that would be amazing. I'm tired of chasing powders. If the case design allows the use of 103, 105, 108, 109, 110, 112, and 115 sized bullets so you aren't stuck with one bullet and one powder, that's a big win.

Jay
 
OP
762 ULTRAMAGA
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Absolutely
I'm totally done with high flame temp, sensitive, expensive, and unattainable powders to get performance.
I'm at the point where H1000 or similar
is all I want to run in everything bigger than my prs cartridges.
 
OP
762 ULTRAMAGA
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That’s a super cool wildcat! 22&25 cal versions would be legit too.
Funny you should mention it.. I just got my 25 SAS reamer from Manson the other day. I'm super excited to set it up for NRL matches this coming season.
It'll be a simple swap of the bushing with the 6 SAS dies.
 
OP
762 ULTRAMAGA
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Ok here's a quick run through on the case forming process:
I shortened a 6.5 prc bushing die for initial reamer design, step one is to run the prc case through with a .282 bushing, then swap it out with a .273 bushing.
Here's a pic of that step.
20241113_084132.jpg20241113_084344.jpg

Next I run the sized case through a .243 K&M expander mandrel which pushes the thickened shoulder material to the outside of the neck for turning.
20241113_084625.jpg20241113_084715.jpg

Next I trim approx .020 off the case with a WFT2 trimmer.
Then I turn the neck to a diameter of .016 with a K&M tool using a carbide cutting pilot to remove the remaining donut inside and outside the case.
20241113_084802.jpg20241113_084925.jpg20241113_085146.jpg

A quick chamfer and deburring and she's ready to load.
 

AZ_Hunter

WKR
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May 1, 2024
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Ok here's a quick run through on the case forming process:
I shortened a 6.5 prc bushing die for initial reamer design, step one is to run the prc case through with a .282 bushing, then swap it out with a .273 bushing.
Here's a pic of that step.
View attachment 790440View attachment 790441

Next I run the sized case through a .243 K&M expander mandrel which pushes the thickened shoulder material to the outside of the neck for turning.
View attachment 790442View attachment 790443

Next I trim approx .020 off the case with a WFT2 trimmer.
Then I turn the neck to a diameter of .016 with a K&M tool using a carbide cutting pilot to remove the remaining donut inside and outside the case.
View attachment 790444View attachment 790445View attachment 790446

A quick chamfer and deburring and she's ready to load.
That’s a cool case. Makes a lot of sense.
 

TxLite

WKR
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Sep 6, 2018
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So what made you go this route over something like the 6 SST? It appears to be very similar at first glance
 
OP
762 ULTRAMAGA
Joined
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Messages
1,267
Location
northwest
So what made you go this route over something like the 6 SST? It appears to be very similar at first glance
The 6 sst is based on the saum case which has a capacity of 73 grains, I chose the 6.5 prc as the parent case because it's Slightly skinnier and starts out at 69 grains (approx where the 6 sst comes in I believe).

Also saum brass is limited to ADG, while the prc has Rockstar support with excellent Lapua, ADG , or peterson offerings. My reamer is designed around Lapua.

My 3x fired 6 SAS case measures 63.5 grains h20 capacity, being a 6mm my goal is to get good performance from a short barrel while also obtaining reasonable barrel life.
I'm guessing 1000-1200 rounds should be doable with H1000, h4831 or N165.
 
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