[doubs43]

Who here has one and what load have you found to be best? I recently bought a 700 VLS in 6mm and the heaviest bullets I've tried are 80 grain. With a 1:9 twist, I'm thinking I should move up to 90 - 105 grain bullets.

I'd appreciate hearing about personal experiences any of you may have had with the cartridge, especially at 200 yards and farther.

 

[Davers]

Your 1-in-9" twist should handle bullet weights up to 105 grains, with the proper powder & charges.

 

[broom_jm]

A buddy of mine swore by H380 in his Model 700, 6mm Remington. I do not recall exactly, so don't quote me on this, but I think his "pet" load was 45 grains, with a Sierra 85gr HPBT.

 

[PAShooter]

Rem788 6mm rem H4350 43gr. 90 gr Hornady. Use as one load for chucks to whitetail.

 

[MikeG]

What are you going to use it for?

 

[doubs43]

What are you going to use it for?

Mostly long range paper punching with an occasional varmint shoot. I'm interested in the best accuracy over 200 yards.

 

[Shawn Crea]

Not the 6mm Rem, but close to it, the 243 Win. I use the 58 gr V-max with H-380 for rockchucking, as does one of my friends. He does a lot better than me with it, making some hits out near the 500 yd mark. I haven't used it for heavier bullets, but my friend has, with H-414.

 

[2Bits]

I had a model 700 BDL Remington for over 35 years, it shot .350-MOA groups with an 85grn. BT bullet by Sierra. I wish I would have never traded the rifle but that is hindsight for us all I suppose. I never had any complaints about the rifle, other than it was a little heavy for carrying from one set up to another but I was much younger then and I really never bothered me any.

Shooting targets or coyotes afar was sometimes just plan boring! This rifle had the heavy barrel free-floated and that was all I ever did to the gun. I put a top of the line rifle scope on the rifle in the 6 x 18 power, which made for great viewing far down range. The scope was a Unertile and they just didn't come any better back in those days.

 

[mattsbox99]

Nosler just released their 105 grain Custom Competitions, they are quite a bit cheaper than the Sierras or Bergers and in my .30-06 they perform just as well.

I like the 6mm, someday I'll find one.

 

[Davers]

Didn't Barnes make a 115 grain S.P. round nosed bullet in 6 m/m years ago?

 

[TMan]

I sold my 70's vintage 6mm/M700 to a friend, who still has it.

It shot anything from 60-105gr, and didn't seem to have a powder preference. It worked on dozens of coyotes, a couple bobcats, foxes, groundhogs, mule deer, whitetails, and antelope. And it's still a tack driver.

 

[MikeG]

Mostly long range paper punching with an occasional varmint shoot. I'm interested in the best accuracy over 200 yards.

I generally start with Ballistic Tips for accuracy, and for things I don't want to eat.... admittedly, I have not yet had time to work with them in the 6mm. I do have a box of 55gr. BTs in 6mm, somewhere. Should be pretty wicked on crows!

There are a lot of choices when you consider the custom bench rest bullet makers in 6mm. Could probably wear out 2 or 3 barrels before all the testing was said and done....

 

[Cheezywan]

70 grains from Sierra and IMR-4831 to the tune of around 3300-3400fps has worked well for me for me over the years. I "zero" at 240 yards and learned from there.

Works good for targets and varmits.

Cheezywan

 

[kenjs1]

I also use the 85 grain HPBT from Sierra with IMR 4350 in my ADL deluxe. Groups any combination of those two pretty well. Right now am sticking with 40 grain as best I am getting but was 42.5 for a long time. That bullet is a long time tried and true sweetheart for the 6mm and is one of the best, if not the best, deer bullet I have ever used.

 

[doubs43]

Lots of good information and I thank each of you who have replied to my question. I'll be trying some 100 and 105 grain bullets next but I've put 85 grain bullets on my list.

 

[George Foster]

I have three 6mms, a Rem 788 with a 24" Shaw barrel, a Ruger 77 MKII with 22" barrel and a Rem CDL with a 24" Douglas barrel.

My favorite loads are with the Sierra 75HP and RL19 in the Ruger and CDL, IMR4831 with the same bullet in the Rem 788. The 788 and CDL likes the 85HPBT Sierra with IMR4831 almost as well as they like the 75HP's.

The Ruger has an excellent load with the Sierra 100gr Spizer and IMR4831.

 

[2Bits]

Doubs-43, ......YOU never stated just what it was you were trying to accomplish! Is this load for coyotes, target practice down range or?

I never had a coyote take 5 steps that was hit with one of my 6mm ( 70 to 85 ) bullets! Never lost a groundhog that was hit out to 350 yards. I managed to sh oot 1inch groups at 200 yards with my model 700 Remmy back then.

I also used Speer 105 grain round nose bullets back in the 70's shoting a whitetail or two. I killed several groundhogs with them under 100 yards while in the cover of the woods set up in a blind we made the month prior. They reall did better on the coyotes under 150 yards when you busted them in the shoulder! I still have a few boxes of Sierra and Speer bullets downstairs on the self. The price in those days will marvel anything today you might run across on sale at your favorite gunstore. I paid $ 4.90 a box of 100 bullets!

 

[doubs43]

Doubs-43, ......YOU never stated just what it was you were trying to accomplish! Is this load for coyotes, target practice down range or?

I never had a coyote take 5 steps that was hit with one of my 6mm ( 70 to 85 ) bullets! Never lost a groundhog that was hit out to 350 yards. I managed to sh oot 1inch groups at 200 yards with my model 700 Remmy back then.

I also used Speer 105 grain round nose bullets back in the 70's shoting a whitetail or two. I killed several groundhogs with them under 100 yards while in the cover of the woods set up in a blind we made the month prior. They reall did better on the coyotes under 150 yards when you busted them in the shoulder! I still have a few boxes of Sierra and Speer bullets downstairs on the self. The price in those days will marvel anything today you might run across on sale at your favorite gunstore. I paid $ 4.90 a box of 100 bullets!

Tracer, it sounds like you had/have a very good shooting 6mm and I hope mine works out to be as good. While I did state my purpose(s) in post number 6, I'll say again: I'm shooting targets (out to 225 yards) and hope to have the occasional varmint hunt. The most common varmint in middle GA is the coyote. Our local gun club shoots IBS 200 yard benchrest targets at the 225 yard distance and it takes a pretty accurate rifle to be competitive.

Yesterday I got a box of 107 grain Sierra match bullets that I hope will give the accuracy I expect.

 

[2Bits]

Daub-43,.......Sorry I missed or skipped over your intentions! I didn't have good luck with my 700 Remmy out of the box. It was the most unacurate rifle I have ever purchased new out of the box. I tried factory ammo and came up between 2 and 3 inches at the 100 yd range. I then resorted to the reloading bench and went through 4 or 5 different powders and at least 3 brands of bullets. My best group by then was down in the 1.6 to 2 inch group size for 5 shots at the bench.

I called Joyce Hornady up and tried some of their 87 grain spire points and 70 grainers too. I was not a happy camper to say the least. Mr. Hornday told me to try some of that "ball-powder" but that also did nothing for fixing the accuracy problem my rifle had. I late one night went down to the reloading bench and caught myself stairing at a can of IMR-4320 powder I had purchased early that afternoon coming home from work.

Well I started off very slow and low in the powder amount and loaded some 30 rounds of various powder amounts and then I decided to try some of those Sierra BT bullets as well. My first sesson at the range proved to be lacking in favor upon my rifle. However, once I got going into the 3100fps range, things seemed to improve slow but sure. The temperatures were climbing into the mid 90's that day and I took a break and went back the next day on Sunday afternoon.

I started where I left off and cleaned the rifle well before I arrived. It did not take long for me to come up with a load that was very accurate and more to my liking. The Sierra 85 grain BT were going a little over 3200fps and gave me a small group that day of under .500-MOA. The 75 grain Hornady bullets also proved to be an ok group shooting 42 grains of IMR-4320 powder at 3260fps. The groups size was .645-MOA. This rifle did shoot once, a group of .315 but not be me. It has shot .350 to .450 on any day of the weel rain or shine. I am positive the new 6 x 18 scope by Unertile helped out a lot too!
This by the way is the same powder I use in my .470-Capstick African rifle, shooting a 500 grain bullet at 2360fps!

 

[doubs43]

Tracer, I'm also working with a couple of other rifles that I want to work up accurate loads for; a 1993 700 Classic in .222 and a 700 SPS Varmint in .223. The .222 may be my biggest challenge as it has a 1:14 twist according to what I'm able to find. Logically, it should do best with light bullets but when I shot it the other day with 50 grain Speer softpoints, it didn't please me at all. Of 15 3-shot groups fired at 104 yards, only one was in the .5" range and most exceeded 1".... some by quite a bit. My scope is a Weaver Grand Slam and i was shooting from a benchrest at 20X. Five different powders were used. I'll work my way up through 52/53, 55 and 60 grain bullets to see which perform best.

Yesterday I shot 8 3-shot groups using four different powders in the .223 700 SPS Varmint rifle. I used only 60 grain Hornady softpoints and only one group exceeded 1" by a small amount. My best three groups were .383", .318" and .310". The best was shot using 24.5 grains of IMR-4320 powder. My scope is a Tasco 10~40X50 World Class Plus set at 32X. The reticle is a FCH with a 1/8 dot. I want to try more groups when I can get a box of better 60 or 62 grain bullets.

The 6mm Remington 700 VLS will get worked in too but I want to gather as much information as possible before I build any more loads. I'm encouraged that your best groups came with IMR-4320. While I haven't used it in the 6mm yet, I will. My best results to date have been with IMR-4350 and IMR-4831,... both slower than the 4320.