Favorite 6mm?

What is your favorite 6mm?

  • Total voters
    81
  • Poll closed .
I've got to give the 6mm Lee Navy the nod for being way ahead of its time. It had a large case, operated at high pressure, and used a small bore.

For hunting, I would favor the 244 H&H Magnum. When Weatherby designed his 240, he broke from his practice of using the .400/375 Nitro Express by way of the 375 H&H Magnum as a parent case and used a proprietary case of a smaller diameter, perhaps because the 244 H&H had already arrived and his only improvement might have been the radiused shoulder.
 
2560px-.220_Swift_with_.223_Rem_and_.308_Win.JPG


Here's the 5.56x45mm NATO, the 6mm Lee Navy (necked down to 220 Swift), and the 7.62x51mm NATO.

Add the 277 Fury, and you split the difference between the Lee and the 308. The Lee splits the difference between the 223 and the 277 Fury. Now of course it's going to need to be loaded to modern pressures and with modern bullet designs, but those things have evolved and the fact that the 220 Swift is not irrelevant is proof.

If the 277 were to take hold, there will be significant trade-offs compared to the 5.56. If I were to imagine a cartridge that split the difference, what I'd be imagining is in essence the 6mm Lee Navy, and it was 60 years before the 243 Winchester.
 
Varminterror said:
It’s nice when your bullets hold onto the energy you invested by buying powder to put behind them, and nice when they don’t fly like wiffle balls.
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My experience is from shooting short range BR (200yds). We shot mostly 6PPCs and bullets that weighed less than 70gr. The occasional 22PPC and various wildcats.

I didn’t care about energy - I was killing paper. Seemed to be accurate enough.
Different strokes for different folks.
 
6mm Rem in a 700 ADL was my first centerfire rifle, and I was spoiled right out of the gate. Of course I sold it 20 years later after many deer, antelope and prairie dogs, and wish I had not. Recently, I picked up a Ruger American predator in 6mm creed, because it was available at the time and the Remington version was rare. I am very pleased with this rifle also. 6mms generally are great choices in my experience.
 
.243 for the girls because they like an identical. 223 better and the .243 is just ok. The .243 gets the job done and they don't even notice. When they whisper fire in the hole you cover your ears because they mean it. I have a ARC barrel for a pro hunter and it's just ok.
 
6 ARC simply because that is the only 6mm caliber I have right now. And I have been very pleased with it's performance out of my AR.
 
1948CJ2A said:
My intentions is to keep this going by moving onto 6mm projectiles. What is your favorite .243 caliber rifle cartridge? I'm focusing on bolt and lever rifles mostly used in hunting and target shooting applications. The list of choices in this poll is derived from the Hornady 11th edition reloading manual, which is the latest manual I have currently. Any wildcats or others not listed here can be categorized as "Other 6mm".

We've already had polls and discussions for 8mm, 7mm, .308 Cal, and .25 Cal. I think we'll do a few more of these and then post the results in a single future thread.

Below is a picture of the 3 6mms I own and operate.
6mms.jpg

6mms.jpg

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I picked the time-tested 243. My first deer fell to one in 1959; I was shooting my new Savage 99FW with a Weaver K-4. I've seldom been without a 243 of some kind since then.
 
MacAR said:
I picked the .243 Winchester, and it has become one of my favorite rifles for varmints and deer. But, I picked up a 6mm Remington recently and am in the process of working up a load for it. It's my hope to put the 243 on a strictly-varmint diet and use the 6mm for whitetails.

Mac
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If it's an older slow pitch Remington the 6mm is better for varmints, and the 243 will be better for deers n bears. ;)

The original 6mm Rem was notorious for key-holing bullets heavier than 90 grains.
 
luv2safari said:
If it's an older slow pitch Remington the 6mm is better for varmints, and the 243 will be better for deers n bears. ;)

The original 6mm Rem was notorious for key-holing bullets heavier than 90 grains.
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It's a 1974 model, so I'm thinking it's later enough to be a 1-9 twist but not certain. However, I've also thought about loading it light (60 gr Sierra HP) just to watch what it'd do to woodchucks at 300 yards!

Mac
 
I believe Remington changed the name from 244 Rem to 6mm Rem to indicate that a faster twist was used, and therefore heavier bullets could be stabilized. If the gun is marked 6mm Rem, as my 1968 vintage 700 ADL was, it would stabilize 100 or 105 as well as the lighter 75-90s. Whoever advised Remington to use the slow twist gave the game away to 243 Win, who promoted the varmint/deer capability of their necked down 308.
 
6 to 7 years ago, I built a 22 BR bolt rifle for prairie dog shooting. I wish I would have built it as 6mm BR. It has not been on a prairie dog field yet. It is built on a Savage action so I could easily change out the barrel.

My other choice is a 6x45 AR-15. It is a dog.

I have a 243 Win Encore. The Encore has its issues but the 243 shoots pretty well. If I go on another prairie dog hunt, it aill probably go along.

I guess I have do not have a favorite 6mm yet.
 
The .243 gets my vote.
Mine just happens to be the single most accurate firearm I've ever owed... and that with a factory loading.
Shooting it makes me smile.
(unless I'm thinking about the cost of the ammo I'm burning through)
 
During my brief time in benchrest competition, I shot a 6 PPC, and it was by far the most accurate rifle I have used. So of course I still have warm feelings about it. Were I in the market for an accuracy/varmint rifle, the cartridge would be my first choice - though I assume getting it to feed from a magazine might be a bit of a trick.
 
rust collector said:
I believe Remington changed the name from 244 Rem to 6mm Rem to indicate that a faster twist was used, and therefore heavier bullets could be stabilized. If the gun is marked 6mm Rem, as my 1968 vintage 700 ADL was, it would stabilize 100 or 105 as well as the lighter 75-90s. Whoever advised Remington to use the slow twist gave the game away to 243 Win, who promoted the varmint/deer capability of their necked down 308.
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I agree completely. It was a real FUBAR by Big Green. Building off the 7Mauser/257Roberts case was what they did right. Limiting it to primarily a varmint rifle was the rock they tripped over and fell flat on their face.

The re-introduction as the 6mm Rem pumped new life into a really great round.

BTW, the Germans had the round over 120 years ago, the 6X57.
 
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.38 Special said:
During my brief time in benchrest competition, I shot a 6 PPC, and it was by far the most accurate rifle I have used. So of course I still have warm feelings about it. Were I in the market for an accuracy/varmint rifle, the cartridge would be my first choice - though I assume getting it to feed from a magazine might be a bit of a trick.
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Same here. Although I really fell in love with the 22 PPC. The “new” 22/6mm ARC may be as close as we get to a full blown production PPC. I am keeping my eye on the ARC.
 
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1948CJ2A said:
This one is interesting to me. From a case capacity standpoint, both the 243 Win (52.8gr H2O) and 6mm Rem (54.6gr H2O) have more than the 6mm Creedmoor (51gr H2O). Additionally, the 6mm Remington has a max pressure of 65,000 PSI while the 6mm Creedmoor has a max pressure of 62,000. That said, the 11th edition Hornady reloading manual lists the 6mm Creedmore after the 6mm Rem with a published max velocity of the same 100gr bullet in each with a 200 fps difference favoring the Creedmoor. That's a head scratcher to me.

I'm aware the 6mm Creedmore rifles have a more aggressive twist rate in most applications to favor the heavier bullets but case capacity and max pressure are usually the 2 indicators for max velocity.

Also, according to what I'm reading here: https://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2022/05/how-muzzle-velocity-changes-with-different-barrel-twist-rates/#:~:text=Does muzzle velocity change with,loss is NOT that significant.
having a faster twist rate in your barrel will actually slow the bullet down, but in an almost negligible result. Their test results were a loss of 5 FPS from a 1-12 to a 1-8. where all other variables were the same.
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Its the Hornady manual pushing hornady product. Also, a small issue with 6mm Remington in a 700 is that the mag well is too short to allow seating to the lands in some situations. Mag length determines OAL with that one. There are longer actions where that is not an issue. 243 Win does not have this issue. One of the gun writers suggested that for hunting rifles a 22" barrel is optimal for a 243 while a 24" barrel is optimal for a 6mm Remington. Also I believe that 6mm Rem is better with heavier bullets in terms of uniform pressures and speed. I l had a supposedly 1:10 twst 6mm Rem that would not stabilize the 90 fr. Scirocco 2 so I like 1:9.5 or 9.25 twist
 
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The 6 MM Remington had the slower twist for lighter bullets for varmint hunting, while the .243 Winchester had a faster twist which could stabilize heavier (not heavy), bullets, so when folks used both calibers for hunting the .243 reigned supreme. It became very popular, while the 6 MM Rem had a small following.

That was a ling time ago now.
 
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