Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Sako Vixen 6mm PPC USA

I found this rifle used like new. What's it good for? Anybody have one? Do you kill deer with it? What do they sell for approximately?

Thanks in advance.

Heavy or pencil barrel?

It has a lightweight sporter barrel. It is a very sweet little rifle.

Big Redhead, my buddy and his Dad had a 6PPC barrel put on a small Sako action some years back. His Dad passed away and my buddy inherited the gun. Shortly after that he sold all his guns including the 6PPC. I shot it a bit and it was a pleasure to shoot. I believe it was barreled by Brown Precision. Gun was blue and walnut.

Can't say I know much about them other than handling and shooting this one. I do know that people will hunt deer with the 6PPC round and I wouldn't hesitate to do it if I was using something like a 85 gr partition or even a Sierra 85 gr HPBT Gameking.

Wish I could help out more.

I picked one up last fall, fun gun to shoot. I payed around $900 for mine. BerettaUsa has brass. Haven't shot anything with it but should be OK for deer and varmints. Is it on a AI action?

If you ever want to get rid of it let me know, my smith has been drooling over mine and really wants it. Here is a pic of mine

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and it in it's new Mcswirly

[img:left][/img]

Yes, I believe it is the AI action IIRC. It has Stoeger import markings. I believe the barrel and chambering to be original.

Looking at the ballistics of the 6mm PPC I just can't really see what the caliber is good for. I found loads 85 grain bullets at 2600+ fps. It sounds like it will kill deer out to a hundred yards or a bit more, but if I wanted a 6mm deer rifle I would get a 243. I'm sure it will kill varmints and punch paper but a 223 would do that as well and with a much flatter trajectory.

What attracts me to the rifle is its beauty and lightweight action. The action is smaller than a Kimber 84M, and the stock is pretty walnut. I just wondered if it had high resale value to a collector or something like that. If it were mine I would rebarrel it.

No other rifle round is as accurate.Period.

dave

you can do a lot better than those velocities with deer bullets, too

from Chuck Hawk's site:

"The following information for heavier bullets is taken from the Speer Reloading Manual #13. The Speer test rifle had a 1-12 inch twist barrel. The 85 grain Speer BT spitzer bullet can be driven to a MV of 2703 fps with 25.5 grains of H335, or 3156 fps with 29.5 grains of the same powder. The 90 grain Speer Hot-Cor spitzer bullet can be driven to a MV of 2601 fps with 25.0 grains or 3031 fps with 29.0 grains of H335. The Speer 90 grain Hot-Cor spitzer bullet has a trajectory like this at a MV of 2900 fps: +1.9 inches at 100 yards, 0 at 200 yards, -7.7 inches at 300 yards."


I have looked at this round, but decided if I want something like that I'll do one of the versions on the .223 case rather than the PPC, which is based on a Russian round. Because it is so short, some have reported feeding problems....it was really designed for single shot benchrest rifles. But if I stumbled on one of those beautiful little Vixens, I might not be able to resist.

Red,

Couple of thoughts here. Reasons to buy it are:
Vixens are about the very best rifles ever made, in any caliber.
But, the one in 6 PPC is the one hardest to locate today
Their resale value is climbing, not decreasing.
I had two dedicated benchrest 6 PPC's rifles in the early 1970's, right after the chambering became popular. Accuracy was the same as in Dave's pix. I made my own bullets back then, 68 grainers with Detsch dies.
If you want THE very best 6 PPC in a sporting rifle, you should buy the one you have found. It would make a Coyote rifle unequalled in class.
I'm sure with the right bullet that it would down a Deer. But, there are better Deer rifle options in your arsenal today.
I would buy it, and use it for Coyote hunting, and also have a great collector's rifle at the same time.
My .02 cents, FWIW.

Don

Steve NO,

The ballistics you post are much more promising. Thanks.

Thanks to all for replies.

Big_Redhead: I actually burst out laughing when I read your posting!
Your quote that I found so laughable: "I just can't really see what the caliber is good for".
End of YOUR quote.
My gawd man YOU need to get out more often!
The 6mm PPC is an absolutely splendid cartridge!
Its exquisitely accurate and the recoil is such that with my Varmint weight Sako 6mm PPC I can most often spot my own hits on long range Rock Chucks and Prairie Dogs!
The 6mm PPC is VERY easy on barrels, barrel life wise and it heats a barrel in Colony Varmint situations slower than most all other 24 caliber cartridges do!
You apparently are "talking down" at those folks who DO "kill Varmints" and "punch paper"!
Both of those endeavors are legal, fun, fulfilling and interesting to the max!
The 6mm PPC does a splendid job "punching paper" (maybe better than any other cartridge ever invented?) and "killing Varmints" - I KNOW it does a sensational job of this latter sport as I have been using mine for 8 years now to do so.
Yeah, YOU need to get out more!
I know for a FACT that any/every Deer here in Beaverhead County, Montana standing 300 yards distant from me DOES NOT WANT ME SHOOTING MY SAKO 6mm PPC at them!
Yeah, there are better cartridges for Deer Hunting but I have never run across anyone selling a 6mm PPC and using the cartridges abilities in killing Deer as its main selling point!
I just referrred to my loading log book under 6mm PPC and the last two range visits I made with my Sako heavy barrel 6mm PPC in different years produced groups (5 shots at 100 yards) measuring .212" and .226" respectively!
That my fine feathered friend is about as absolutely well as these 62 year old eyes can hold the fine crosshairs of a Leupold 24 power target scope anymore!
These groups were fired in different years and were both pre-Varmint Safari sight in verification groups!
In other words - this all factory stock Rifle in 6mm PPC is capable of virtual one hole accuracy or as I refer to it "absolute accuracy"!
By the way that .212" group (5 shots at 100 yards) was fired with off the shelf Nosler 70 grain Ballistic Tip bullets!!!
Yeah YOU need to get out more!
You are the first adult person (I assume you are an adult?) I have ever seen or heard besmirching the fine - not NOT just FINE - the WONDERFUL 6mm PPC cartridge!
I guess theres a first time for everything?
Sheesh!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Aaaand once again, a totally unwarranted flaming by VG.

BR,

I'd grab it man. That be a nice rifle.


Travis

They are very nice guns and shoot extremely well, best I can tell.

Back in the early 90's I convinced Pops to use my FFL and get a nice Sako like the one you are looking at, but the bull barrel and wide forarm version. I tried to convince him 6PPC was the way to go, but he had me order the 243. He is not a benchrest reloader, doesn't adjust for runout, neck thickness or sort brass, actually probably uses range mix....

It shoots 5 into 1/2" on an average day, my son and dad shot it about a year ago and my kid shot a .57" ctc 5 shot group and couldn't believe it. If I am lucky I will inherit it before my son does...lol

I think back then they were $800+ NIB.

Allen

VarmintGuy,

I'm not talking down to anybody. I'm just not a varmint hunter. The comments I made that you pointed out were when the only data I had seen to date was 2600 fps with an 85 grainer. That's not too exciting for a varmint gun OR a deer gun. When Steve NO pointed out the more desireable 3000 fps loads, I saw the light.

I can certainly see how it would make a neat coyote rifle. Maybe my father-in-law would be interested in the rifle as he is a coyote hunter. I'll have to tell him about it.

When the need arises for me to become a temporary varmint hunter, I grab my AR-15. Any stray "coyote" caught in the open within about 300 yards is in serious caca at that point.

I'm not a real varmint hunter either, but for me that rifle has such a "cool factor" that I would be sorely tempted by it.

Just buy the rifle and let IT do the talking,if you dont like what its saying it seems that plenty of others will take it from you so what have you got to lose!!

BRH: A point that nobody seems to have mentioned in this thread is that most of the Sako AI rifles in 6PPC (maybe all of them?) have a rifling twist of 1 turn in 14 inches. I have heard rumours that some had a 1 in 12 twist, but all the first-hand reports I have seen say 1 in 14. Mine (a heavy-barrelled, single shot model) certainly has 1 in 14, and so do those belonging to a few people I have shot alongside.

The 1 in 14 twist is perfect for 65 to 70 grain bullets, but with anything heavier, it is decidedly �iffy�. I once tried some long-snouted 75gr hollow pointed bullets in mine, and got lousy groups, with some of the bullet holes in the paper being a definite oval shape � a clear indication of instability. Blunter, shorter 75gr bullets MAY have stabilised, but I don�t know for certain as I have never tried them. An acquaintance of mine tried some 85gr spitzer bullets in his, and reckoned they went through the target sideways-on. Those that hit the paper, anyway � some of them didn�t even do that!

So � if you buy this rifle (I�d buy it in a flash if I had the chance!) check the twist rate before you start loading ammo for it, or you may get an unpleasant surprise.

Big Redhead:

I have a Sako AI Hunter with the light barrel in 6mm PPC. I like the rifle and the cartridge. My average 3 shot group size for over 30 groups averages .41 inches ctc, including fouling shots. Topped with a 12X Leupold scope I use it in a walking varminter role. Loaded with 65 gr. VMAX bullets and a moderate load of Benchmark powder it anchors groundhogs much more authoritatively than a .223, and I have used it effectively out to 300 yards. These rifles do have 1/14 inch twist rates and will probably do best with streamlined bullets of 70 gr or less. I like this rifle so much that I am on the lookout for another one just like it, same model same caliber. Hard to justify, but I do like them that much.

The downsides: You will have to handload, brass is not normally stocked in local gunstores, and feeding with more than two rounds in the magazine is a bit rough, probably because of the short stubby sharp shouldered little cartridge.


George

The 6mmPPC holds every record for accuracy.5 shot group.25 and 50 shot aggerates.
At 300 yards.


dave