Time to do a little testing on the 6WOA

bsa1917hunter · Jul 24, 2019

I've been wanting a different cartridge to play around with in the AR15 platform and this 6WOA came up for sale. I had to jump on it. The seller was only selling the upper, but that's all I really needed, along with the reloading dies and brass, I was pretty much set. I did a little transferring over to my Noveske though. Had to make it how I wanted it. I'll start load development this weekend, if I can find a damn #19 RCBS shell holder. Maybe I'll check Sportsman's this friday. Places here locally just don't stock that odd ball...Well, on with the rifle. This is the completed rifle, after switching the barrel out. I am using the BCG that came with the 6WOA upper, but that's about all I'm using from that set-up. Here she is in all her glory:

I may have a stellar 20" stainless varmint Noveske barrel (556 chamber) and put together upper from the 6WOA parts (upper receiver and handguard) for sale here shortly. It all depends on how well the 6WOA shoots...:

Here's that complete upper:

Now, back to the 6WOA:
Oh yeah, to complete the 6WOA, I had to buy some 6.8 SPC magazines made by ASC and a low profile gas block. This Noveske was already set up pretty well. The lower is all Noveske, with the exception of all the ambi controls and LPK by Armaspec and the BADD lever and Geiselle SSA-E trigger... She should be a shooting machine. If anyone has any info they care to share about the 6WOA, I'm all ears... This would be a good thread to post some of your wildcat AR's too.

flashpan · Jul 25, 2019

BSA ...I have a shell holder and a couple 6.8 mags I should have offered to you. And your welcome to the partial can of 8208 I have.
Will be in the gorge later today.

bsa1917hunter · Jul 25, 2019

flashpan said:
BSA ...I have a shell holder and a couple 6.8 mags I should have offered to you. And your welcome to the partial can of 8208 I have.
Will be in the gorge later today.

Oh man, that would be cool. Im working in Portland today though. How long will you be in HR? Maybe we could meet there?

flashpan · Jul 25, 2019

Not leaving for HR till prob 11 or noon...stop by if you can.

No_Regerts · Jul 25, 2019

Cruisin' down the street with my 6 WOA....

bsa1917hunter · Jul 26, 2019

flashpan is a great guy. I met him in the Gorge, close to where I live and picked up some goodies from him. I got home and realized the shell holder would not work in my press

. Ha ha.. Ah, but I made it work!!! He must have known I'm a welder

.. I really want to shoot this rifle!!!!

. Tumbling brass and going to load something up here shortly. Printing off some targets as we speak...

flashpan · Jul 26, 2019

What press is that?
Buy a co-ax no shell holders

bsa1917hunter · Jul 26, 2019

I use an RCBS single stage. Has worked great for 25 years now..

bsa1917hunter · Aug 21, 2019

A little follow up to this thread. I went out the other day and did some ladder testing with one of my favorite powders (AR Comp). I was getting pretty high pressures with IMR8208. Case necks were splitting and one primer blew completely out of the old brass on a previous range session. That old SSA brass got thrown in the scrap bucket!!!!! Anyway, i ordered some starline brass and things are looking better. I also had to change recoil spring/buffer systems because it wasnt running 100%. Also went with a slicker nickle boron carrier and 6.8 SPC bolt. The recoil spring/buffer unit i chose was the Armaspec stealth recoil spring system. They are very similar to the JP enterprises silent capture spring system, but at half the price. They are supposed to reduce recoil and help with accuracy. Plus they run smoother than the traditional spring and buffer. Anyway, the other day i shot a little with these new improvements and i think it helped. Function was much better and the new brass managed to do its job, without losing a primer or splitting a neck. I walked down to the target after every shot, to mark where the shot landed. In total, i walked downrange 26 times, so after 3 miles of walking i ended up with a marked up target:

https://imgur.com/kyAD9zP

Not that it matters, but i measured the group of the first 11 shots and ended up with a 1.234 moa shot string. This is with the 85 grain Sierra game king bullet. That would work like a champ on deer or yotes. However, my intention was to shoot a ladder, not a group. From the looks of it, i decided the #8 shot was a good contender. That shot ran 2,877 fps over the chrono, with no signs of pressure. Powder charge weight was 26.7 grains. The next node looked like it would work as well, but with a grain more of powder (27.7) and 100 fps more velocity (2982 fps). Brass still looked good, the rifle was throwing the brass in a nice pile in the 4-5 o'clock position. I started seeing some pressure signs on the brass after shot #19. I stopped at shot #23 (28.2 grains/3,037 fps), when it threw a wild flyer, similar to what it was doing with the 8208 XBR. I knew it was past its limit, so i stopped the ladder testing there:

https://imgur.com/fAbWffh

https://imgur.com/zIy9g0J

When i get more time, ill take this wildcat out again and run that #8 and #18 load again.

bsa1917hunter · Sep 14, 2019

Update on the 6WOA. Well, I should have left it as Dan Carey built it. When it was on the Noveske upper, I was getting some unexplained flyers and failure to feed at times. Just enough that it made me want to sell it. However, I didn't want to give up on this thing. I know flashpan said it was accurate and I believed him. Great guy to deal with by the way. Anyway, I haven't been shooting for about a month now, since my dad was in the hospital, he was my top priority! Anyway, when I got back home I made it a mission to get this dang 6WOA up and running. Today I shot it in my clubs AR competition and it earned itself a new lower. After the shoot, I headed over to Curts and bought a Spikes tactical lower for this upper. I installed a few goodies on the lower to make it match my other rifles, with the exception of the CMC single stage. I actually like that trigger and figured if I use this rifle for a little hunting, I'l rather it had a good singe stage trigger like the CMC. I also swapped out all the good stuff I put in the Noveske lower to help it run better. Those were a nickle boron BCG, Radian raptor charging handle, and a silent captured spring system made by Armaspec (called the stealth recoil spring system). Its really similar to the JP enterprises silent captured spring, but it's about half the cost and it works great. The rifle is quieter and smoother to shoot now. I only have 1 thing to buy for it now, an Armaspec 45/90 ambi safety and it will be finished. Boy am I glad this thing runs like a well oiled machine now and it shoots consistent moa now. I'll work on some more loads with AR comp powder and the new brass and maybe even some different bullets, but as for now, the gameking will work well on just about anything, from targets, coyotes and deer.... Take a gander, I just finished putting this lower together:

I'm liking this 6WOA and am really relieved that it's working perfectly now...

flashpan · Sep 15, 2019

BSA
Glad to hear it's running well.
OK...let's see some little groups now.

P7M13 · Sep 15, 2019

Agreed, @flashpan is a great guy.
Beautiful rifle.

If I can offer some advice on your 6WOA, especially regarding the C-Products mags:

Never fill them with the full 25 rounds.
Where the feed lip is, take a die grinder and scallop the feed so it does not interfere with the feed ramp. I found that the lip of the case mouth will get caught on it or delay the feed enough that you get a FTF. This was the most common problem I experienced (with 6.8 SPC). On the ones I modified, I never had a feed problem again.
Buy PRI mags if you don't have any already.

I'm testing out some Barrett magazines today for feed, will let you know how they work.

bsa1917hunter · Sep 15, 2019

flashpan said:
BSA
Glad to hear it's running well.
OK...let's see some little groups now.

Ha ha... Like I said, it's only moa for me right now. I know it will do better. I think part of the reason for the weird flyers was my screws that hold my NSR on were in digging into the barrel. I'm still new to AR's, but with a bolt action rifle, you have to watch that front base screw and make sure it isn't too long, or you'll have accuracy issues. I'm sure with 6 screws making uneven contact on the barrel, it has the same affect. I'm still not sure why the Noveske N4 (gen 1) upper receiver was not functioning well. It works awesome as a .223/556. I've never had a single failure of any kind with it when running it that way. Just weird I tell ya... I'm glad its up and running well now though.

bsa1917hunter · Sep 15, 2019

P7id10T said:
Agreed, @flashpan is a great guy.
Beautiful rifle.

If I can offer some advice on your 6WOA, especially regarding the C-Products mags:

Never fill them with the full 25 rounds.

Where the feed lip is, take a die grinder and scallop the feed so it does not interfere with the feed ramp. I found that the lip of the case mouth will get caught on it or delay the feed enough that you get a FTF. This was the most common problem I experienced (with 6.8 SPC). On the ones I modified, I never had a feed problem again.

Buy PRI mags if you don't have any already.

I'm testing out some Barrett magazines today for feed, will let you know how they work.

Thanks buddy. That is good info. As for now, it's running beautifully with ASC steel mags and the mags (PRI and another brand I can't remember at the moment) I got from flashpan. I checked all of them and ran 250 rounds through the rifle with absolutely no problems. Shot my clubs ar match yesterday and kept them all in the 10 ring, but dropped a couple out of the x ring every time. The rifle seems like its fixed now. I'll be shooting it more in the future. I really like this little 6mm cartridge in the AR15 platform..

P7M13 · Sep 16, 2019

Well, didn't bring the Barrett along with me on this trip. However, had two seemingly identical mags, one C-Products, and one ASC Defense (C-Products).
The ASC would FTF every 2nd or 3rd round. Wouldn't strip off a round.
Will examine them with a set of calipers when I get home.

bsa1917hunter · Sep 16, 2019

P7id10T said:
Well, didn't bring the Barrett along with me on this trip. However, had two seemingly identical mags, one C-Products, and one ASC Defense (C-Products).
The ASC would FTF every 2nd or 3rd round. Wouldn't strip off a round.
Will examine them with a set of calipers when I get home.

Let us know what you find.
The problem i was having with mine was weird, like the bolt wasnt going back far enough, when it was on the Noveske upper, so i was getting occasional ftf. It runs slick as snot now...

bsa1917hunter · Oct 8, 2019

Alright, this new lower is working great on this 6WOA. Took it out the other day to make sure everything was going to work (went with a new LPK with red parts, just to be different), even though I knew it would. The load I worked up with the ladder test appears to be a good one:

Using this 85gr sierra gameking bullet, I wouldn't hesitate for one second to take it deer hunting. Running around 3,000 fps, it wold work perfectly. If I miss, it would be totally my fault, as the rifle is shooting pretty well now... :s0133: