6mm cal opinions

[Rman]

since we're on the gun subject, with the optics in another post. I'm dreaming up this gun I want... i'm still debating on caliber. I have a 22-250 that I love, hyper accurate but as we all know distances are not it's best area. So I'm thinking of building a 6mm caliber. I've been looking at the . 240 Weatherby... anyone shoot this cartridge?



I know it's not cheap, i've checked brass prices and yeah it's difficult to swallow, but I don't shoot because it's cheap. I've looked over the new . 243 wssm and it's looking like a candidate... unfortunately if I do that i have to buy all new reloading data cause it's so darn new!



Perhaps I'd up to a . 257 roberts, but really nothing bigger. I'm looking for a bit longer distances without having to kill my self shooting a . 30 cal mag cartridge. I shoot a lot and frankly those big cartidges are no fun, i use them to hunt and that's it. This is a bench/field rifle and maybe if i can get good enough I'll enter comps with it.



Let's hear what you shooters think.

 

[MGordon]

Just curious, what are you going to shoot with it? Targets? Varmits? Deer?

 

[Rman]

Good question. I do not want a bull barrel, so that eliminates prairie dogs... but I think I want a lightweight rifle, fluted barrel, synthetic stock. This would be my primary coyote rifle, because of the long hikes.



I do a lot of paper shooting, some bench, and if this rifle performs for me, I may enter competitions.



So I guess to answer the question, primarily I'll hunt coyotes and other furry varmints with it. Although I will be paper shooting with it quite a bit to get the feel of it and test my loads. I imagine it'll take me some time for find a load, I've never shot 6mm cal before.

 

[MGordon]

OK. Don't overlook the 243 Winchester. Cheaper to shoot than the Weatherby and since you handload, the performance difference is negligible.



Another option, and the way I went many years ago when making a similar decision, is the 25-'06. I choose it because the 87 and 100 grain bullets are excellent for long range varmint work, plus you can load a 120 grain for use on deer and antelope. It's an easy rifle to shoot.

 

[Rman]

My friend has a 25-06 and he says it's terrible. I think he may have gotten a defective barrel, his groups are awful and this guy is a good shooter... better than me. I've heard the 25-06 eats barrels is this true?



You may be right, the advantages of the . 240 probably go away with handloading, I can achieve the accuracy I need with the . 243. What about the 6mm remington?

 

[Rman]

Oh and I hunt deer but I just use my remington 700 7mm rem mag. I love that rifle, never fails me and I can shoot anything with it an any reasonable range.

 

[MGordon]

There really isn't much difference between a 6MM Remington and a 243 Winchester. Either one would work equally well. The 243 is a more popular cartridge which can sometimes result in some cost saving when buying brass.



I use my 25-'06 almost exclusively for hunting antelope and have had good success with it.



I also have a 7mm that I love. I think that is probably the best all round cartridge for hunting in the "lower 48".

 

[SRadke]

25-06 is a great cartridge and no they don't "eat barels". As with any high powered cartridge you must periodically clean the barrell with a good copper solvent to prevent copper fowling, do this and it'll last a long time. The . 243 and 6mm rem mag are also great cartridges. For target shooting look into the 6mm PPC. I believe it was rated most accurate rifle cartrige a couple years ago.



-Scott

 

[The patriot]

Remington model 7 in 260 cal.

It will weigh well under 7 lbs w/o glass.

The 260 will not beat you up and should be good for yotes (and all but the largest game)out to as far as you can see them. Your marksmanship will be the limiting factor in distance.

The model 7 can be had in blued or stainless with wood or synthetic stocks. Unfortunatly fluted bbls aint an option, but theyre plenty light anyway.

This is what I'd like to get sometime.

Eric

 

[JPope]

When the 6MM Rem was known as the . 244 Rem the biggest issue was that the factory barrel twist used then by Rem would not stabilize the 100 gr bullets well (. 244 Rem & 6MM Rem the same except for barrel twist), therefore the . 243 Win, which would stabilize the 100 gr bullets was more popular for dual purpose, varmints and deer. Have read articles which state the 6MM Rem is a better cartridge because of longer neck length, and has slightly more velocity (something like 250 fps in factory 100 gr. loadings.

Me, I have had several . 243 Win. (all accurate, and have done the job very well on deer, coyotes, javelina, though w/ deer I like the 95 gr Nosler better than the 100 gr. Nosler, for varmints the 87 gr. Hornady has been good). Like my original Ruger 77 w/ dogleg handle in . 243 Win, but wish it was left handed!!!

For accuracy the 6MM BR was/is used by a lot of competition shooters to get better wind resistance with low recoil (believe it is based upon . 223 case, but could be wrong). Check it out for a competition gun.

 

[Rman]

Thanks guys, I've got some more reading to do now! From what i've perused the 6PPC is one awesome round. The 6 BR rem is it's rival. I guess the PPC holds all the records though.

 

[daveshoe]

You sat you are BUILDING a rifle?

As a reader of'' the varmint hunter ''magazine, this one really caught my eye. When you say, build, I assume that you mean custom rifle. The process starts out with picking all the components. . You can get a CNC machined action for two grand , but if you want a hunting arm with ''benchrest accuracy'' a Remington 700 is hard to beat. it is preferred by more gunsmiths than most actions. The proceedure is to carefully square the barrel to the receiver. It also has a gunsmith freindly trigger.

As far as the caliber goes , the six BR may be the better choice. The six ppc is based on the 7. 62 x 39 case[AK-47] and they are hard to make. The BR rounds started out as bench rest stuff and the cases seem to be the most consistent manufactured stuff around. This is determined by weighing cases and comparing them and also checking for out of round, neck thickness variation and such things. The gunsmith that builds your rifle can really do some magic as well. He can hold the chamber dimensions and the neck dimension down tighter and this enables you to lathe turn the case necks for a more concentric round of ammo. Another principle of accurate loads is a ''short and fat'' cartridge case that allows for more consistent powder burn. this produces better accuracy and less recoil for a given bullet velocity. The BR and PPC ammo are of this principle.

As far as barrel weight goes. I would be a little careful here . If you are giong to have flutes cut into a target grade barrel. realize that any machining operation could affect accuracy. I would try to save weight with a synthetic stock and maybe a slightly shortened barrel.

Now I do not want to insult you ,but what do you consider as ''super accurate?'' . A good rule of thumb is a varmint rifle for prairie dogs should be capable of a five shot group of one inch at two hundred yards. I am fortunate to have two rifles that can do this -- both off the shelf stuff and both Remington. The bench guns can shoot a tenth or less of an inch at one hundred yards.

Subscribe to the above magazine , and you will soon realize how much there is to learn. They also have back issues available ,if you find something on the six. A little quiz-- define fire forming . What do you do to make a . 223 Improved round? If you do not know the answers, you need these guys. PM me if you have any questions. Hope this helps.

 

[KBennett]

I agree with daveshoe on several points. Varmint Hunter magazine is an awesome source of info, building a gun on a Remington action is a good choice, and going with a shorter barrel with more weight is another good decision.



I really like my Rem 700 VLS in 6mm. My best group at 100 yards is . 7" out of the box. I am still trying to get the best load worked up and it seems to like heavier bullets (85+ grain) The only thing about 6mm Rem brass is that it's rarer than . 243 Win brass but it's still a factory loaded caliber and the brass is not real expensive. It is a longer case with a longer neck than a . 243.



Good luck!

 

[gonehuntingagain]

You could go really wild and build a 6mm Ackley Improved or the 243 Ackley Improved - have read that they are very flat shooting and extremely accurate. Do a search at http://www.longrangehunting.com/

 

[Rman]

Thanks Dave, I'll look into the magazine. I've been thinking of dropping one of my subscriptions maybe I'll replace it with that one. I know what fire forming is and I know what it can do for accuracy. Are the 6mm PPC's fire formed only? I imagine brass is rediculous so forming them yourself is the best answer.



I am talking custom rifles here too. Factory guns are just so limited. I have a remington 700, synthetic stainless barrel, fluted and floated, chambered in 22-250. This rifle has killed many prairie dogs, however, I feel like I am limited by the rifle. I feel I can shoot better than I do, and I'm limited by the accuracy of the rifle.



I realize this is really a bottomless pit of money and that accuracy is mostly about how much you want to spend. I'm really just looking for a quality custom rifle and scope for under 4k.



I really just want 6mm for the larger bullets to hold longer distances, any larger and it gets into the no fun category. I shoot my 7mm every time I go out, but am limited to about 20 rounds. I can shoot my 22-250 all day. I've considered changing barrels to a 22-250 AI, but I still need to get more rounds out of my current barrel, it's only a year old now.



Thanks for the info fellas, I'm still pretty new to shooting... I don't have the years in like a lot of you do.



My buddy fire forms his 375 weatherby rounds from 375 H&H thats my only "hand on" experience with fire forming. The rest I've just read about.

 

[The patriot]

I believe you can rechamber your 22-250 to 22-250AI with only a chamber reamer.

Of course you will need a set of dies.

 

[Rocket]

How about 5. 56? Get an AR15. You can do so much with them... CQB or Longrange.

 

[Rman]

I had an AR10 for a while. Useless in my mind... fun gun but not what I'm looking for. I don't really need an automatic. If I were to have one it would be a FN-FAL . 308 The M16 design is flawed, improved upon from creation but flawed.