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

I have been shooting .22ppcs for a good 20 yrs and 6ppcs for a good 10. I shot a Borden 6ppc today with my friend who I gave a Remington 40X 6ppc. I have set him up with reloading equipment and such and he's shooting better than I am already. I have shot thousands and thousands of rounds, and he's already shooting better. Go figure. Well I have a Sako Finbear Classic in my safe in .30-06 and it was my first rifle. It looks a lot like the Vixen. I would certainly buy up the one in the pic if someone brought it by. Up in Maine, Sako rifles have achieved cult status and are very highly regarded by Northwoods hunters here.

The Sako rifles shoot 6ppc USA. I fire form my 6ppc cartridges from Lapua .220 Russian brass. Because I have bench guns I have to neck turn also. If you have the rifle in your hands, Sako makes brass for it and it will say 6ppc USA. This will not fit in my guns. I have to form .220 Russian. You can shoot factory loads, factory brass, or any combination. I have shot bullets from 65 grains to 80 grains. Most PPC's will not stabilize heavier bullets. They are very accurate. My guns both shoot in the ones. That means between 1/10th of an inch and 2/10ths of an inch. That just makes me smile because I've shot so many targets in my life and it's about as good as it gets.

There is a website called 6mmbr and they cover competitive rifle shooting. I will post a link for you to their 6ppc page. You can read all about it.

http://www.6mmbr.com/6PPC.html

I had one in 22PPC about 15 years ago. It was, and remains, the most accurate factory rifle I have ever seen, Period.

To put that in perspective, at that time I owned a VSSF 220Swift with a 6.5-20 Leupold on top. It would average under a half-inch for 5 shots. And that little Vixen with a Balvar 2-8 compact would outshoot it every time.

Great rifles!

Did it just make a mess on my Davenport???

Yep, real treasure YOU found (grins). I'm glad you scored it. One silly LW tackdriver that is.

I'm thinking GS Customs may have a good 6PPC pig puncher; we need to check it out. A 62 grainer at over 3,300 should or 69 maybe should suffice for most deer sized stuff.
May ask Gerard....

P.S. Wife said I didn't need to sell anything (grins).

I have a first year Sako 6PPC single shot benchrest model. Was still built on the 461 action with the milled recoil lug. A1's came out a year or two later. Bought it new and I believe the vintage is around 86 or 87. Has a 1-14 twist and doesn't like anything heavier than 70-75 grainers. With a 1-10 or even a 1-12 and loaded to around 2850 with 85 partitions, it would make a great low recoiling hunting rifle. Doubt a deer could tell the difference between this modern contraption and an old 250-3000.
dan

Amen.

I have probably the oldest 6mm PPC available. It was given to a writer friend of mine for testing by none other than Louis Palmisano, one of the P's in the PPC name. I got it when he was needing money for another project. The serial number is 20.

The provenance alone is enough to keep this gun, but when you shoot it, you really know what this caliber is all about. It is about accuracy and nothing more. It isn't made for deer hunting, varminting or anything else, just one hole groups. It will do that.

If you want to shoot deer with it, there are bullets that will work, but trying to make a hunting rifle out of a bench gun seems silly.

I have been shooting Hornady 75 grain hollow points with exceptional accuracy. I don't care what the velocity is, (although with 322 powder I believe it is about 2900 fps) all I know is that it is going to hit where I have the 1/4 minute dot pointed. It does work as a great varmint round as well.

If you want a one hole gun, buy it, if you want a deer and varmint rifle get a .243.

shrapnel,

Well I remember the article that was written up on your rifle. I have run across two of them in the last few years. A sgl shot hvy bbl. and the last one was I THINK a repeater, sporter weight.

The former I intended to buy, but it disappeared before I could accumulate the scratch. The latter I passed over to buy a Carl Gustaf 8000 actioned .25-06. (Sometimes a man just has to make a choice... )

Besides, I have a plethora of varmint rifles already, and I'm not a dedicated varmint hunter, anyway...

Edw

I have not shot the 6PPC but I have had the cutest Custom Sako L-461 in a 6x45 with a Douglas barrel and thats balistically very close, It has a 0 tolerance chamber; Mod 70 3 pos. safety made from a piece of .308 bull barrel; A custom English style stock with Biesen butt plate, egg cheek piece, and the whole package weighs 5.5 lbs. and shoots in the .200 to .300 everytime...I'd post pics but don't have a clue how.

I have shot close to 800 Springbok, Impala and Kudu with it on culling operations, lost count along the line. I used the now discontinued 75 gr. Barnes X bullet at about 2900 FPS or faster with excellent results and today I use the 75 gr. GS Customs bullet and its even better. I have used other bullets but they are too fragile for the most part for big game. I have also shot about a dozen Whitetail, maybe 6 or 7 Mule deer and a few Pronghorn Antelope with the rifle over the last 20 years.

You will find the 6PPC quit simulair and a good killer if you keep shot in the heart/lung area. It doesn't always leave a good blood trail so its best to use in in the more open country so you can watch them run after a hit if they don't go down right there. Sometimes they will go 100 or so yards, most times they don't make many tracks if any.. I only use it in the Sage brush and open country.

BIG REDHEAD- this is a foreign rifle . parts are hard to find for it . it shootsA squatty little round . not good for deer . but it will do fine on targets. the trigger is too light. the brass is expensive. private message me a price shipped to arizona. I can help relieve you of this spruce goose. roninflag

If VG were a little smarter he'd have taken this tack...

I have a 26" TC Custom shop barrel in 6PPC for my Encore. It handled SD mule deer last year with a 85 gr. Sierra BTHP at 2850 fps. It shoots 10 shot groups into .3" at 100 yds, 1.3" groups at 300 yds. 55gr. Nosler BTs shoots just as well, but at 3500 fps 10' from the muzzle.

AKA, buy it!!!!!!!

BIG Redhead- that gun is not made for the fowl weather they have in michigan. in az we have coyotes running right in phx. i will root for michigan and michigan state whenever they play ohio state. pm me a price shipped to az. thanks. roninflag

Sorry Ron, but I do not own the rifle to sell it to you.

A note on the twist. My sako 6ppc sporter had 1:12 twist. I thought that most Sako barrels had the twist rate stamped on them as well...so could be easy to check. I really liked that gun. Currently have one in 222...which is destined to be a 6x45 one of these days. I really like those little Sakos.

Mine's a 1-10" twist, I should have mentioned that. The 85 gr. Sierra BTHP is the longest bullet it will stabilize, I tried the 85 gr. Nosler Partition and it won't shoot a 6" group, the 85 gr. Sierra's are in .3" groups at 100 yds.

I built a custom on this Sako action in a 22 PPC repeater, it never had a feeding issue.

If you have never owned a 22 or 6 PPC, it is hard for a guy to imagine just how accurate the round is with such a large variety of bullet weights and types of powders.

Gents - I'd like to bump this to the top. Any concern with this cartridge in a sporter weight 22" barrel?
Thanks!

Nope, just feed it appropriate bullets for the twist (its been covered well here).

Pardon if I have missed this, but with respect to the lighter or heavier bullets (with the appropriate twist), is one inherently more accurate than another? I.E. should I be looking for a 1:10, 1:12 or 1:14 twist rate to maximize accuracy or is it mute as long as you follow the right weight range for twist rate previously described?