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6mm Tac Match cartridge comparisons

Just switched from 260 -> 6x47. Have just under 300 rounds on it since the beginning of this month with one match shooting it (Vegas match). 22" barrel and varget getting 2950 with 105's.

When sizing brass, I just hit it with spray lube (not heavy amounts - outside only) and sized with forester full length ZERO problem. I DID crush 5 cases when I was just dipping the necks in sizing powder only, and stopped that immediately. Think the full length sizer better than bushings when doing large jumps in neck diameter.

LOVE the 6's for low recoil, but wen my 6x47 (35gr) is using 10-15 less grains of powder than 260 (49gr), this adds up to approx. 65 (yes sixty five) more firings PER POUND of powder. again this price is negligible like barrel life costs, but still something to consider. I was loading my 260 hot and got just over 2k rounds out of it last year. the 6x47 is not at a hot load, so going to be interesting to see barrel life.

another interesting note is you comment on price of 6x47 brass (which is available everywhere) and not on xc brass, which is priced similarly and very tuff to find (of course I havnt looked very hard either). My initial searches came back negative so I went with 6x47 over the xc.

do believe any of the above is ok though and any variances (accuracy, speeds, etc) will more likely be accredited to the shooter/reloading than to the cartridge itself...

Regards,
DT
 
RBros said:
We have necked down few thousand of 6x47 and never had these problems. Lube them and run them through the fl die, one pass and done
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Same experience. Lube with Hornady One Shot, run through Forster FL sizer, no problems.
 
Would like your opinion on the 6CM vs. 6XC for a future p-dog hunt. Already a big fan of the 6.5 CM and have all the smaller cals like 22-250 and such. Just looking around for another project.
 
The 6Creedmoor would do well in the prairie dog fields, its a little slower than the 243 but seems like a better mousetrap to me. I have shot 243AI for the last several years, the brass is very stable but Im not getting a tremendous amount more velocity than the CM can deliver. Fireformeing is one more thing you have to do with Ackleys, Im big on load and shoot
 
With the powder charges and speeds you're getting from the Hybrids I have to wonder if they're a slow bullet, if that's possible(6CM). I mean 44grs H4350 with a 105? My main load with 105Hornadys is 41.6grs. pushing about 3136, give or take in a 28" barrel, 100fps less with same load and BN coated 115s. After 5 firings my primer pockets are all good.
 
Love my 6 Creedmoor, accurate as can shoot! Would do better with a really good shooter. With 42 grains of H-4350 I was at 3168 fps with Berger 105 Hybrids in a 26'' barrel. Super accurate load. I backed down to 40.2 grains @ 3045 fps because my primer pockets were also getting loose after a few firings. Still shoots lights out!
 

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That group wasn't shot by me.

But no, there isn't a rifle or cartridge capable of producing groups like this all the time. I bet there was a lot of work put into that load, the rifle obviously shoots as good as a rifle will and the stars aligned just right for that guy. Too be honest I've never shot a 5 shot group that tight at 100Y.
 
Bugholes... Thanks for putting in the work for this info. I'm extremely interested in putting a 6mm rifle together and this info was very useful.
 
Awesome test! Thanks.

P.S. +1 vote for 6SLR test.
I re-chambered my 243 in 6SLR - velocities went up, bolt thrust went down - most importantly mid-range (600yard) accuracy was significantly improved.
 
steve123 said:
That group wasn't shot by me.

But no, there isn't a rifle or cartridge capable of producing groups like this all the time. I bet there was a lot of work put into that load, the rifle obviously shoots as good as a rifle will and the stars aligned just right for that guy. Too be honest I've never shot a 5 shot group that tight at 100Y.
Click to expand...

Me neither!
 
Great work in showing the differences between the awesome choices in 6mm.

I chose 6x47L for several reasons, the main one being accuracy. With only 50 rounds so far I am very impressed with how easy it is to load for. My gunsmith, who holds state records in benchrest, recommended this for best all around cartridge and I am not disappointed.

For new brass, I use a Forster full length die and a little bit of a homemade lube recipe and have yet to ruin a piece of brass. After the first firing I run it through a Newlon 6.5x47 die with a .269 bushing. No neck turning so far.

Many of the guys that I have talked to that shoot 6x47L are claiming 20 firings out of the Lapua brass with 3100+ FPS loads. Some of the brass I am using came from my 6.5x47 and it has 10 firings. Primer pockets are just starting to break-in. One of the benchrest shooters down in Texas that I spoke with does a bunch of brass prep including neck turning. Not something I want to get into at this point but on a good day his gun will shoot inside 2" at 1000.

If I were shooting pure tactical then I would probably go with 243. Brass is fairly inexpensive and easy to come by.
 
The 6 CM looks very good, but what is the general consensus on brass life as far as primer pockets loosening up?
I to would be interested in seeing testing done with the 6 SLR, and seeing if there is any advantage to that case with the longer neck.
 
I dropped my powder charge of 42 grns / H-4350 in my 6 Creed by almost 2 grains and my loose primer pockets went away and my rifle still shoots 3045fps. I am happy with that, plus it may add a little life to my barrel!
 
I'm getting 3144avg with 28" Bart, 41.6grs H4350 with 105 Hornadys, start getting sticky bolts with 42 and over. My reamer print says 183FB. Perfect for DTACs.
 
I like the 6x47 personally, with a little bit more freebore I know guys running 3075-3125fps very accurately.

as for the price difference here is what I gather:

you said the 6cm brass was $.65 per round but primer pockets were loose after 3 firings. Ill be generous and say you will replace it after 4 firings since you also mentioned how quick you are to discard a barrel (not that I blame you on that at all, for matches I agree!)

6cm = $.65 per case. replace every 4 firings means 5 purchases for 20 firings. 5 x $.65 = $3.25 for 20 firings.

6x47 Lapua brass = $1.05 per case. guys claim 20 firings and no issues yet so. 1 x $1.05 = $1.05 for 20 firings.

in the long run the cheaper Hornady brass is 3x as expensive as the Lapua brass. I have also seen Hornady brass come apart at a match, blown primers, primers just falling out, and case cracks. no thanks!

just my opinion, i know there are plenty who agree and plenty who don't.
 
This is one of the best threads going, IMHO. I thought the testing was great, and though the sample size was small, you could tell that the author was really just trying to see how these cartridges compared to each other. I've only shot two of these rounds in LR rigs: the 6XC and the 6 Creed. My findings were exactly the same as the author's. The 6XC's accuracy nodes were large and very forgiving. The 6 Creed was a little more finicky, but just as accurate if you did the work to find the honey load.

Bottom line is that if I'm not shooting over 1200 yards, I'm taking a 6mm with me. Between ease of loading, the light recoil, the great bullets, and the accuracy, I haven't found a better combination. When my daughter's old enough to bang steel, her first rifle will probably be a 6XC.

Great write-up!
 
I agree. Thank You [MENTION=16989]Bugholes[/MENTION] and another special thanks [MENTION=9746]Frank Green[/MENTION] this is one of the best.

On a side note I’ve had my mind made up for me and went with a 6mmXC... I kind of fell into a deal on a chambered barrel that was too good to pass up... I got some Norma brass coming but will also be forming from winchester... Anyone that has tips please feel free to shoot me a pm.
 
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doctordoctor said:
Don't blast me for my lack of understanding... Where would the 6.5 saum stand in all this?
Click to expand...

More powder, more blast, more recoil, more energy downrange, much harder (expensive) to get brass, considerably better trajectory out past 1000 yards.

Inside 1000 yards, very little difference in trajectory.
 
doctordoctor said:
Don't blast me for my lack of understanding... Where would the 6.5 saum stand in all this?
Click to expand...

6.5 Saum will drive the same BC bullet faster or a higher BC bullet approx the same speed as a 6mm. Like a 130 Berger VLD at 3250 fps or a 140 hybrid (.64BC for my dope to work) at 3125 fps. This is dependent on barrel length, pressure, etc. Those same bullets can be pushed 100 fps faster than that in my 29" barreled 6.5 Saum with a longer OACL but at the cost of barrel life.

Basically you have .2 mil less wind drift at 1000Y and gain a significant amount of energy at distance. It takes approx 20 more grains of powder to do so, the bullets cost more and the brass is very expensive. But yeah, 6.5 Saum is pretty awesome.
 
doctordoctor said:
Don't blast me for my lack of understanding... Where would the 6.5 saum stand in all this?
Click to expand...

That would be "6.5mm Tac Match cartridge comparisons" thread, lol.

Seriously though, it would be even better but you'd have fewer rounds in your mag, more recoil and while I have zero experience with that cartridge, I'd suspect feeding would not be as smooth...
 
what would the best FB on the 6x47 cartridge? I think someone told me they had .115 on theirs but would a longer one yield more benefits like it does in your 6 Creed?

A10XRIFLE said:
Good info Greg, you need a 170 FB on the 6 Creed Min. Most of us run a .195 that would change your results quite a bit.
Click to expand...
 
we talked about all the 6mm when they came to Texas, DPreston has the 6x47, Bill P has the 6SLR I think, but after comparing them I decided on the 6x47, so did Mark. So looks like the whole team will be shooting the 6mm with at least 3 of us having the 6x47. are you running the SLR?

to stay on topic with the thread and not get accused of highjacking, we chose the 6x47 for the Lapua brass's ability to outlast the others and retain the primers. I don't mind losing 10% as stated above because then I know when I mix new brass in with the rest I do not need to worry about separating them by # firings to keep track of when my primer will fall out.

HodgdonExtreme said:
Mark couldn't or didn't pitch you on a 6SLR?
Click to expand...
 
Dallas4rceMarine said:
we talked about all the 6mm when they came to Texas, DPreston has the 6x47, Bill P has the 6SLR I think, but after comparing them I decided on the 6x47, so did Mark. So looks like the whole team will be shooting the 6mm with at least 3 of us having the 6x47. are you running the SLR?

to stay on topic with the thread and not get accused of highjacking, we chose the 6x47 for the Lapua brass's ability to outlast the others and retain the primers. I don't mind losing 10% as stated above because then I know when I mix new brass in with the rest I do not need to worry about separating them by # firings to keep track of when my primer will fall out.
Click to expand...

Pete and I are rocking 6SLR, not sure on Aaron.

we'll see soon enough, I suppose, which is better (6x47 or SLR) for the barrel! Both are extremely accurate and capable of the needed velocity.

One thing the x47 has going for it is excellent out-of-the-box brass that requires almost nothing. Not that SLR needs fireforming the same way an Ackley does, but the brass definitely isn't as "finished" as the x47 until its been shot. In this game, fewer variables can certainly be an advantage.
 
Dallas4rceMarine said:
what would the best FB on the 6x47 cartridge? I think someone told me they had .115 on theirs but would a longer one yield more benefits like it does in your 6 Creed?
Click to expand...


.095-.105 would be good for the Hybrids. FB on my Beanland built 6x47's is .104.
 
Great thread-I'm probably going to stick with 6XC, although the -X47 is very interesting.
Are there drawbacks to getting a .236/.243 bore vs the .237/.243 most have?
I just traded into a nice Kreiger, but didn't check if it was a tight bore prior...
 
The last 2 6X47's I've done have been with Krieger .236/.243 barrels... I haven't noticed any problem with pressure
 
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