Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles 6x47 Over The Years!

Back in 1990 I had the "HOTS" for another Remington 40X Rifle.
I had several 40X's but I wanted one in 6mm Remington Bench Rest caliber!
I searched and searched and begged and called in favors and I even tried LYING to find or buy one!
For three years all my efforts went fruitless.
Then I got a call from one of my sources "back east".
They had the exact Rifle I wanted EXCEPT it was in caliber 6x47!
I mulled it over for a couple of days and checked out the speeds and ballistics I could most likely muster up with a 6x47.
I wanted the 40X in 6mm Remington Benchrest to Hunt Prairie Dogs with though.
And there really was not much difference velocity wise between the 6x47 and the 6mm Remington Benchrest at least with the 60, 68 and 70 grain bullets that I wanted to shoot!
So I said heck I'll take a chance on the 6x47!
Boy am I glad I did.
The brand new Rifle was in my hands in a couple of days - it was a Remington 40XB-BR KS model - it had a 24" extra heavy stainless barrel and came in the then new "GREEN" (Remington Green"!) fiberglass BR style stock.
I quickly mounted a 36 power Leupold silver scope on it and waited for my Redding dies to hit town.
Finally the dies came and I got to handloading for the cool new Rifle.
The trigger needed absolutely NO adjustment of any kind.
Finally range day comes and (this was just before "barrel break-in" became popular) I tried out some different loads.
Out of the three loads I fired that day ALL performed well but the highlight of the day was a group (5 shots at 100 yards) that measured .245" using the Sierra 60 grain bullets!
Remember this was with new brass and a brand new Rifle.
Ever since that day I have just LOVED shooting this Rifle.
Both at the range and in the Prairie Dog Towns and now and then in Rock Chuck Colonies!
It takes me a while sometimes to "find" the Varmints in the narrow field of view of that 36 power Leupold but once the Varmint is found and the trigger is touched on that 12 pound 8 ounce Rifle said Varmint most always dies!
Over the years I have killed both Prairie Dogs and Rock Chucks out to 550 yards or maybe just a shosh more!
I always take unusual care NOT to over-heat this barrel and it is cleaned with the utmost of care.
I want this Rifle to last me the rest of my life.
About the only time it gets to the Rifle range anymore is for the obligatory short shot string pre-Safari sight-in!
Thats kind of a shame as I have shot some hellacious small groups with this rig - often with Varmint quality bullets.
I have never just taken this Rifle to the range just for a days shooting.
Well today I had some shooting to do and I noticed it was not only unusually calm - I mean like DEAD CALM, but the sun was out and as bright as can be. So I took my little 17 Mach2 out to my local range where calm air is about as rare as hens teeth.
I had such a great time shooting my new little 17 Mach2 in the brilliant sun (at the shooters back!) and the DEAD CALM air that my mind began to assess doing some "quality" range work.
I get back home and apraise the ammo stores of my more accurate Rifles. My Sako 6mm PPC is empty - all brass is waiting for winter reloading, my Remington 40XB-BR KS in 22 Remington Bench Rest is also out of ammo all waitng for loading - dittoes with several more REAL accurate heavy Varminters. Then I notice an old and dusty MTM box with 20 6x47 handloads in it!
They were loaded using the wonderful Euber 68 grain hollow-point match bullets.
I think, what a perfect day to shoot these, known to be accurate, handloads.
I leave home and head back to my range hoping against hope that the wind here in SW Montana will still be calm.
Its only 15 minutes back to the range and glory be - the air is still DEAD CALM!
I hurry to set out a quad of "official bench rest type targets" and get set up.
I am thinking, I have 20 bullets and 4 targets to shoot at - 5 shots apiece. I decide to shoot the top left BR target first with the "oiler" - sacrifice that target so to speak, as I know I left that barrel clean but heavily coated with Break-Free oil.
Oh well, oiler be damned, the conditions are so perfect with that sun so low at my back and the length of yarn that is tied to the aerial of the VarmintMobile has not moved one iota since I got there. Dittoes for my wind streamer at the 100 yard target stantion.
First shot goes into the target and I notice it is dead center with the vertical center of my BR target.
Quickly and almost haphazardly I start taking up the ounces on the 40X's trigger, fully expecting this next shot to be "away" from the "oiler"!
Not so though, it barely enlarged the first hole.
I think well thats odd and I'd better get to the next target as my fingers are starting to tingle in the 16 degree "heat"!
Third shot enlarges said hole a little - I think!
Now "mirage" (believe it or not!) is discernable in the 36 power scope - the "heat" from the first 3 shots is quivering the sight picture a tad. I dig out my battery powered fan and aim it down the Remington's barrel and get after shot number four.
The tiny fan has removed all heat waves and the trigger breaks at the right time/spot. This shot is also in the same hole!
Whats this about I wonder?
Now the "5th shot jitters" are beginning to take hold.
I say to myself - self, this is not your 338 Federal, this is not your 7mm Magnum this is a pipsqueak Rifle with NO recoil, now squeeze that trigger.
Fifth shot surprises me and goes through "the hole" somewhere?
I throw off my headset, grab my 1/100th inch steel rule and race down range - ooohhhhh.... I say to myself once at the target.
This is a good one!
My crude measuring implement shows about .42" for the overall diameter of the "hole"!
My fingers get good and numb trying to measure and remeasure the "one holer"!
I decide then, with the numb fingers and the sun getting lower and the temperature dropping, that I am going to call it a day and save the other 15 rounds and the "barrel" of that superb Rifle for another day!
I can't wait to get home and put the dial calipers to the group. Once back at home the "hole" turns out to be .416" and I have no single shot hole to measure and figure out that days deduction for bullet diameter!
I decide to deduct .240" for the 6mm bullet and thus todays group measured .176"!
I could NOT be happier.
Not so much with myself - I know the parameters of my bench shooting but with my 16 year old Rifle that has "been around some" but has been carefully cared for and has always performed consistently for me.
According to my loading log back in 1995 this Rifle shot a .151" group (5 shots at 100 yards) and it has shot a couple of other groups in the high 1's as well.
Strange how such simple things make me feel just grand.
Some years after I bought the 6x47 Rifle I still could NOT get the 6mm Remington Bench Rest cartridge out of my mind so I had a BR type Riflesmith build me a heavy Varminting Rifle in that caliber - at considerable expense mind you.
They BOTH shoot extremely well and I would be hard pressed to ascertain with certainty WHICH Rifle is more accurate - the 6x47 or the 6mm BR.
The 6x47 cartridge is an often overlooked cartridge among Varmint Hunters, and MAYBE with some reason, but I have had just splendid success with this rig in the Varmint fields that I feel I should give it a public "atta-boy"!
Sometimes I have used the 70 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips in it and other times I have shot the 60 grain Sierra hollow points.
But, I do know a remote and high country Rock Chuck Colony that is going to get 15 rounds of 6x47 ammo fired into it come next spring!
Long live the 6x47!
Think about trying one - it'll make you happy.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Good report Dale..

I have been thinking about one for a walking varminter... just kind of trying to consider 6 x 47 or 6 x 45... and on a Rem ADL action or a Model 70...

decisions decisions decisions...

no question on the bullet tho... the Hornady 75 grain HP accomplishes almost all of my 6mm varminting needs...

the 6 BR is also an interest tho.. thinking of one of those on a Savage action tho.. just change the barrel...

Sounds like a great day - and you ended up with one of those targets that goes on the safe to look at.

I had a 40x in 6mm Rem that I recently sold - I liked it very much, but I am holding out for your siren, a 6mmBR....

I wish it would be dead calm here sometime....

Best of luck to you this coming varmint season...

Summer of 2008 I completed a light sporter in 6mm/204, which is just an improved version of the 6x47mm, It is a great little rig for called coyotes and it shoots 55gr BK's and 62gr VG's very well. One of these days I'll load a few 70gr SMK's see how they work.

That's a realy nice group.

erich

Great post, well worth reading. I usually enjoy your posts and this one is no exception.

The 6X47 was once a well liked cartridge, but is hardly ever heard of today.

I just loaded a 100 rounds for mine yesterday. I use a 6X47 for an entirely different purpose. Mine is chambered in a rear grip XP100 that I shoot in IHMSA pistol competition. It has a high rise mount and a 12 power Leupold on it. I shoot it in what is called Unlimited Standing class. I shoot 100 grain bullets in it and have never failed to knock over any target hit with it. It has a 1 in 10 twist Hart barrel so I can shoot the heavy bullets. Very low recoil, which is a big advantage in this type of shooting.

I am lucky, a friend sold his gun chambered in this caliber and he gave me a bunch of brass for it, so I am set for life.

I had always wanted a 6mm TCU barrel for my contender, thought it would be an excellent handgun round. Never got one

Seafire: I made a bid on a Kimber Rifle (back when they were made in Oregon) at a gunshow in Portland.
The Rifle was in caliber 6x47 and had just beautiful wood on it!
It was a sporter deluxe kind of a Rifle - I wish I had kept after it - it was new and was in the $650.00 range IIRC.
Yeah a walking Varminter in 6x47 OR 6x45 would be a dandy rig!
This Remington 40X is no walking Varminter - I could handle the weight (12 1/2 pounds!) for a while, but the stock has sharp edges on the stubby forearm and those would dig into ones back! And it has no provisions for a sling (no swivel studs).
So packin this toad (which I have done before across some Dog Towns) is difficult and you must carry a bunch of sandbags in your day pack as the Harris Bi-Pods don't work on it either.
I wish I knew more about the 6x45 so I could help out with your decisions but I don't.
A Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year to you and yours out on the "coast" - is my wish!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Tominboise: I had a Remington 40X Rangemaster some years back in 6mm Remington - it was a dandy!
I used it for Rock Chucks and Prairie Dogs and even killed a Montana Antelope Buck with it one year.
My favorite memory of that Rifle though was one summer my friend Louie and I were in a huge Prairie Dog town Hunting and we had decided to move a ways.
We got in my VarmintMobile and were heading down the ranch's main dirt track. Up ahead of us about 500 yards we see a funny dust cloud emanating from the center of the road - there was no wind and the dust was just flying.
We were headed that way and when we got to within 250 yards of the "dust cloud" it appeared to die down a bit - in the midst of settling dust stood a Golden Eagle with its wings outstretched and next to it was an angry large Badger - in an instant the dust again rose as they began "FIGHTING" each other!
This "round" went on for a full minute and I thought why in the world does that Eagle NOT fly away!
So the dust settles again and the two creatures are again staring at each other and posturing from about 2 feet apart.
I decide to shoot said Badger!
I set my sand bags on the hood of the VarmintMobile and take careful aim through the 15 power Unertl Ultra-Varmint scope at the chest of the Badger and I touched one off.
The Badger falls dead but the Golden Eagle does not fly off at the shot!
Instead of walking over to the scene of the "fight" and retrieving the Badger WE decide to drive!
We get so close to the scene that we think the Eagle is injured - he's still standing there with outstretched wings!
Finally as we park about 10 yards distant from the carcass and the live Eagle, the Eagle flies off!
And surprisingly he flew very well and had no missing wing feathers!
The area the two were fighting in was well defined on the ground and we looked for perhaps a "disputed" over small animal but none was found!
I did pose for a picture with the mortified Boar Badger, then we resumed Hunting the nearby Prairie Dogs!
In a moment of weakness I sold that 6mm 40X and I wish I hadn't!
For a long time those 6mm Remington Bench rest caliber 40X's were REALLY hard to get - I am not sure why?
They may still be that way today - I have been out of the loop on them for a while now.
Good luck in finding one!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Erich: I should try the 55 grain Sierra Blitz-Kings in my 6x47.
I bet that would be a great bullet!
One of my Sierra Manuals shows that bullet in the 6x47 doing 3,400 F.P.S.!
Thank you for the kudo's on the group but it was more Rifle/conditions than me.
Its 15 degrees here right now (1:45 P.M.) and the wind is still dead calm but I am waiting for a Culligan Repairman (was to be here this morning!) to come and repair/replace the Culligan watercooler/heater.
Oh well I am reading the new issue of Varmint Hunters magazine as I wait!
I would rather be shooting though.
Good luck with the Sierra 70 grainers - they are quite accurate in several of my Rifles.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

R Flowers: Thank you for the kind words and they are appreciated.
Never thought of it myself - but the 6x47 would most assuredly be a good pistol cartridge for your type competition!
Great news there on your kind friend and his gift of brass to you - now and then I see 222 Remington Magnum brass for sale but it is kind of rare and pricey anymore.
I also have a bunch of it on hand - I would like to have about 2,000 total though for my lifetimes useages.
Tell me just a liitle about the 12 power scope on your pistol - does it have a special lense or adjustment that allows for arm length focusing or is it a model I am not familiar with that came from the factory suited for arms length pistoleroing?
Thanks again.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Varmint Guy, the 12X Leupold on my 6X47 is a standard rifle model with an AO. It does have a target knob installed for quick elevation adjustments.

We shoot the Standing Unlimited class with pistols that have very high (5-6 inch) mounts on them. You hold the pistol in one hand and use the other hand on the scope.

We hold the rifle scopes right up to our face just as you would with a rifle. Sounds weird, but it works. You do have to be carefull of recoil, however, and that is where the 6X47 shines, hardly any recoil at all. People are using all sorts of shortened cases to reduce recoil, such as shortened 7TCU's and very much shortened 7BR's. Most guns are either rear grip XP 100's or Thompson Contenders. Another very popular cartridge is the 300 Whisper.

Fun game, trying to hit steel silhouettes out to 200 meters offhand with a so-called pistol. It can be done rather successfully, though. My buddy shot a range record 58 out of 60 targets OFFHAND a couple years ago at what is called the West Coast Championship held in Oregon.

R_Flowers: Thats all quite interesting.
Thanks for the explanation and information.
Try for 59 next time your out!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Have a KofO Superamerica in 6x47....it shoots as good as it looks....my only lament is that better brass than the Remington stuff was readily available....

We shot the 6x47 with the sierra 60g HP loaded with H335 getting spectacular accuracy at 3450 out of 27" 40X's.

It's hard to wear out a 6x47 barrel with H335, even on red hot dog towns.

Balltownbob: I have some Kimbers of Oregon myself and they do look sensational - SO, if your Kimbers of Oregon shoot as good as they look then the "Remington stuff" is shooting... aahhh... GOOD?
My Remington 40XB-BR KS in 6x47 shoots the Remington 222 Magnum brass and like I relayed I just shot a splendid group using it?
Are you sure your "lament" is justified?
I have never given a thought to having brass of a different brand or of higher quality for my 6x47.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Keith: I shot a .320" group (5 shots at 100 yards) using the 60 grain Sierras and H 322 the last time I tried that bullet!
That level of accuracy is just DANDY with me. Maybe I will get after that bullet and do some more testing.
I am taking note of your recommendation on the H 335.
My 40X in 6x47 has the 24" barrel.
Thanks for the load suggestion.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Wasn't deriding Remington-just wish I had some other brass to try...I think Sako or Norma made .222 magnums at one time?

The Remington .222 magnum brass is better than some of their other offerings, for sure!

VarmintGuy, H335 will get your more velocity, add a thick cup primer. If I remember right, 322 gave us 100 fps less than 335 at the accuracy node. At 6000 rounds down the Stainless 40x barrel(not the best), we were still shooting 5 shot groups in the mid threes to mid 4's, not really trying hard.

Stomp on the 335 loads hard, you'll be impressed and you won't ruin brass either.

There was a fast lot of surplus 335 that we shot heck out of 2230-S that got us 3550-3575 out of the 60's with amazing accuracy...sounded like chineese fire cracker powder it was so loud!

VarmintGuy, H335 will get your more velocity, add a thick cup primer. If I remember right, 322 gave us 100 fps less than 335 at the accuracy node. At 6000 rounds down the Stainless 40x barrel(not the best), we were still shooting 5 shot groups in the mid threes to mid 4's, not really trying hard.

Stomp on the 335 loads hard, you'll be impressed and you won't ruin brass either.

There was a fast lot of surplus 335 that we shot heck out of 2230-S that got us 3550-3575 out of the 60's with amazing accuracy...sounded like chineese fire cracker powder it was so loud!

Keith: Thank you for the additional information.
I am saving it all.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy