Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats 6mmX222 finally done!

I'm stuck up here on the slope for another week and a half but my wife said the 6mmx222 arrived this morning. She sent a few pics from her phone. MPI did the stock and the cerrakote. Looks pretty good from the pics. Can't wait to get home to try it out. It will wear a Leupold M8 7.5x to start.

Great looking rifle! The bolt's even on the correct side!

They make rifles with the bolts on the other side?

Look fwd to future reports, nice stick, enjoy

Need to teach her how to reload so she can have you some ammo ready when you get home

Great looking rifle!

Mike

Yes...but I have no idea why!

Thanks. I think if I asked her to she would take up reloading and load for me while I'm gone. I really scored on that one. I asked her to marry me 24 years ago when she offered to help me skin coyotes.

I made it to the range today with the 6mmx222. Suffered the excruciating process of breaking in the barrel. Shoot one, Clean. Shoot one, clean. Shoot three, clean. Man that gets old.

I finally got it done and had just enough time to try a few loads. Speer 80 grain spitzer over AA2495. It didn't like 20.5 or 21.5 but it liked 21 and 22 grains. It is showing some promise. Not bad for a whippy, 24 inch barrel and a rifle that only weighs 6 pounds.

Nice group !

What kind of speed are you getting out of the 80 grain ?

Thanks. It doesn't look that small but it's actually right about 5/8"x5/8". Those small grid lines are 1/4" for reference. I think the rifle has some real potential. I was getting pretty tired after a long afternoon of doing the break in. I think if I do my part this little rifle will really shoot. I'm looking forward to trying several other powder and bullet combinations.

BLC-2
2015BR
H335

I've got some test loads with BL-C2. Haven't seen any 2015BR or H335 around in a very long time. Also testing H4895, 3031, Benchmark, and TAC as I have those on hand.

Lookin' pretty uber Mart.




Travis

What's the COAL with the 80 grainers?



Travis

Travis,

I use 2.270 for a COAL because that's as long as the magazine will allow. I haven't checked it yet to see were that COAL is in relation to the lands. I'll have to check that tonight.

Mart

PS. Travis, I checked the distance to the lands. With the Speer 80 grain it touches the lands at 2.378, a quite a bit longer than the magazine will allow.

Why would one not specify the throat length when having it screwed together? That makes no sense.

To be honest, when I had my 1-8 twist 243 built I totally forgot to specify its throat with 105s. I've yet to shoot the 105s because the 95NBT shoot so well and kill oh so good. One day I'll play with the slipperies.

Thanks.



Travis

Mart,

Do you know how fast those 80's are going?



Travis

Travis,

No, I haven't run them over a chronograph yet. Next range session I will.

Steelhead,

As to why I didn't specify the throat length, just like woodson, I completely spaced that aspect when I sent it off. What can I say? I'm a bonehead sometimes, (depending on whom you talk to, more than sometimes).

Mart

I savvy

What is the purpose of the rifle?

Why didn't you select 223 brass over 222?

That was covered pretty well in a couple other threads but for the benefit of those new to this project, I built this rifle as an experiment to see if a mid weight 6mm bullet (75-85grains), driven at moderate velocities, would make a decent fur calling round. I anticipate minor exit wounds with bullets like the Speer 80 grain spitzer and Sierra 85 grain Game King. I am not opposed to sewing a 1.5" hole. Sewing basketball size holes gets a little old. I also wanted enough bullet to hold up to a wolf if and when encountered. Lastly, I've had an interest in the cartridge for many years.

As far as why not the 223 case. The link below explains that pretty well. The short version is the magazine on a mini Mauser is too short to really do a 6x45 effectively but it fits the 6mmx222 case perfectly.

mini mauser choices

Given many of these "mini 6's" will use a top end of 80-85, AND given case capacity when COL ltd, the 222 gives up little. I LIKE the Triple Deuce longer neck. Sam Fadala and family successfully used a Sako in 6/222 w/80 Speer over BLC on Mulie and Goats. Fred Bullberry ran the TCU if not mistaken in a older Sako action the "R" in a 20" Mannlicher. Said the little rounds kill way better than many imagine, and farther.

Enjoy your new rifle, neat setup.

I did stumble across a few hundred of the Hornady 100 round nose. Considering that this is not a long range rifle I thought they might make a good bullet for deer or pigs, not that we have any of either in my area, but I could see getting down to PWS for some blacktails.

I also have some 85 and 95 grain Nosler Partitions to try. I'm betting either would do well in this round.

My first trip to the range with it had me wondering, "where's the recoil." My last two wildcats, the 375 and 400 Whelen, are considerably more enthusiastic in that regard when you touch the bang switch.

I read Sam's write up on the 6mmx222. Seems it was pretty popular with his whole family. I'm liking this one so well I am tempted to build John Wooter's 25/222 Copperhead on my remaining action. Probably not too practical to have two so close together in performance but it would be an interesting comparison.

A definite keeper!!

Between myself and two buddies we have burned through three 8-lb jugs of TAC in .223, thanks Mule Deer for the tip, under 55gr HP's, FMJ's, 52 & 69 gr SMK's.

Flows like silk and makes accurate ammo.

Mike

That should be a fine little deer rifle.

Very nice! If they pass the law to use rifles in Indiana for next season (its already passed the Commision), my oldest would be well served by something like that. Very neat.

I saw that you were planning this Mart and decided to do a similar build for myself. I used a short 700, "village gun", if you've been to an Alaska village you'll know what I'm talking about ( see: rust bucket ). I had a 9 twist stainless .284 blank I'd found on eBay for $70 or so lying around. Bought a bolt body from PT&G, since the original was long gone, and welded a Holland handle on it. I turned the blank to match a SAUM M7 takeoff I had at the shop and cut it off at 20". I spun it up and chambered it for 7TCU and cut the spacer back and retacked it into the box to allow me to seat the bullets out. Put it temporarily in a wood BDL takeoff stock I picked up at the gunshow for $40 and hung a 3-9 VXII on top in Talleys.

I shoot 120 ballistic tips and Sierra prohunters over RL7 at 2575fps. And the dang thing is scary accurate. I put it together thinking it might be the ultimate truck rifle for kicking around the ranch back home. Used to pack a 22-250 but since the hogs moved in and they opened elk season I wanted a little more bullet weight. It still doesn't have enough power or recoil to worry about shooting it at coyotes, bobcats, crows, or the occasional pdogs or armadillo.

Oh and I traded a gentleman a couple boxes of 22 shells, yes 50 rounders, for the bolt less rust bucket! One of my better bargains.

Kid,

Sounds like an awesome set up and well suited for it's intended purpose.

I made it to the range yesterday for some load testing. I anticipated moderate velocity from this little rifle but I was surprised that velocities were dramatically lower than either the Hodgdon manual or Quick Loads estimated. Most loads were running nearly 300 fps slower than expected and in one case a full 500 fps slower. I ran some know loads from another rifle over the chronograph to check it and they ran just what I expected. And my powder scale is accurate, I checked it before loading these just like I do before I load any test loads.

Most of the loads I tested were with Speer's 80 grain spitzer and various powders. Here's a few examples all with the Speer 80 grain;

21.5 gr. H4895 2374 actual, QL estimated 2722, Hodgdon puts a 75 grain at 2660 with 22 grains.

20 grains of H322 2371 actual, QL 2689

23 grains BL-C2 2352 actual, QL 2728, Hodgdon puts a 75 grain at 2915 with 24 grains.

21 gr. 3031 2463 actual, QL 2758.

I tried a few other bullets with AA 2495 since I have a lot of it.

22 gr. 2495/Hndy 80 FMJ 2358 actual, QL 2800
21 gr./Sierra 85 GKHP 2215 actual, QL 2735
21 gr./Hndy 87 SP 2213 actual, QL 2673
21 gr./Nosler 85 PT 2234 actual, QL 2700
23 gr./Sierra 70 MKHP 2456 actual, QL 2988
22 gr./Speer 80 SP 2442 actual, QL 2817

These were all loads that Quick Loads indicated were near max loads and they turned out velocities that I expected from starting loads. The starting loads I tested were correspondingly low in their velocities.

I'm thinking I may have to switch to some of the faster powders as most of these are acting like they are on the slow end for this cartridge. None of these loads indicated any difficulty on extraction and no shiny spots on the bases and the primers are all still tight.

I am not looking for every fps I can squeeze out of this round but did expect a bit more out of it. It will be interesting to see how this shakes out.

You will do well, settle on the bullet you like, and a load that gives good accuracy and speed, and you are set.

That is odd for speeds to be that far short of what's listed. All of the loads if cronoed in my TCU have been way faster than what the books list, probably because the books loads were shot in a 10" contender!

One other thing I think these types of rifles will be great for is turkeys. IME if you hit one anywhere but the head with your typical varmint rifle you'll have a hell of a mess. I want to work up a load using 150-160gr bullets going slow enough to not shred a gobbler but fast enough to have a decent trajectory out to 150-200.

Kid - I'd run the very bullet you are using - do not believe your Thanksgiving dinner will be hurt Popped a crow at 150-200 yds w/my Super 14 - 120 Hornday SP at 2400 - the bird was not shredded. 120 BTs have a tough jacket.

I had a box of Speer 105 grain RN that I would have liked to try in my 6x47 for the same reason as you. Would love to find some Hornady 100 gr. RN.

My rifle will generally shoot multiple bullet types into the same group out to about 60 yards which enables me to hunt with different bullets in close cover wood ranges.




Drilled a large male coyote yesterday with a Speer 80 grain.

DRT, watched it all through the scope. Gotta love the small cartridges.

Chrome,

That's a good looking round.

What kind of fur damage did you get with that coyote and 80 grain Speer? What velocity was it running?

The last several years I've been playing with big wildcats and almost forgot what a joy it was to shoot a small round like this.

I'll check my stash but I might be able to spare a box of Hornady 100 grain RN.

Mart

I'm using the 80 grain Speer Deep Curl, its running 2,820 fps out of a 21" barrel. Very little damage to the pelt, Deep Curls generally dont fragment. Range was about 30 yards.

It's the least accurate out of the three bullets I've tried, Sierra's 85 gr. JHPBT shoots the best groups but I'm all out. Plus I have plenty of the Speer's loaded up.

Mine seems to like just about everything I've tried so far. Most of my loads have been with the Speer 80 spitzer. I have done a little work with the 70 and 85 grain sierra hps and the Hornady 87 grain spitzer.

I went back and reread Sam Fadala's write up on the 6mmx222 and he got some impressive velocities from the little cartridge. I don't know how he got 27 grains of BL-C2 and an 80 grain bullet in that case but the article says he did. It must have been heavily compressed or the Speer cases he used had greater capacity than the Sako, LC 83, Winchester, Remington and Frontier cases I've checked. The Frontier has the most room and 27 grains comes to 1/8" from the case mouth. Remington is the next most spacious case and the other three are all within a 1-2 grains of each other and 27 grains of BL-C2 fills them to the top of the mouth.

I loaded up some more test loads with H322, Benchmark, 3031 and BL-C2 and the Speer 80 grain. I'll hit the range Thursday for one more session before I head to the slope for my work hitch.

The 47 pic looks about like a Rigby or Swede w/heavy.

OP - I ran some 90 FMJ, I believe speer in a Sako w/ good accuracy. Kill well w/o much destruction.

Nice rifle. Which dies did you choose?

I have a set of CH4D dies for it. I've had good luck with dies from them for wildcat chamberings. This is my third set of dies recently from them. I have sets of CH4D 400 Whelen and 375 Whelen dies in addition to the 6mmx222.

Thanks. The data that i've read showed blc-2 as the top of the velocity heap with an 85 gr ball @ 2700+.

So far BL-C2 hasn't produced velocity anywhere near what the data or Quick Loads suggests. I'll be at the range again tomorrow for some more testing so will have more to report then.

Anyone else think those charges seem light above?

Seems your speed is low and has room to grow.

Those charges were suggested by Quick Loads or taken from the Hodgdon manual and were near max. That has me in a bit of a quandary considering the low velocities I recorded. I will be trying some heavier charges of some of the powders I've tried. Based on what I've seen from AA2495 I won't be able to get enough of it in a case to get anywhere near the predicted Quick Load velocities. Same for H4895. I am trying some heavier loads of BL-C2, H322 IMR 3031 and Benchmark, watching carefully for pressure indications.

As I mentioned before I don't know how Fadala got 27 grains of BL-C2 and an 80 grain bullet in the same case. I don't think I'd be comfortable compressing a load that much and don't know if BL-C2 would allow that much compression. It's a pretty dense powder. It fills an LC 83 or Sako case to the top of the case mouth.

I'll know more tomorrow I guess. That's part of the fun, and some times frustration of working with wildcats.

I made to the range Thursday. I tried a couple more loads with BL-C2, as well as 3031, H322 and Benchmark. I can eliminate H322 and Benchmark from contention, at least with the 80 grain Speer. It didn't like either one no matter what the charge weight. The 3031 loads were very consistent in velocity, showing the lowest average and standard deviation, but not as accurate as the BL-C2 loads. I tried 24 and 25 grains of BL-C2 and got 2608 for an average velocity. It was still a little on the low light side when I tried the 24 grain load and the chronograph didn't read. Had to hold off for a half hour or so to let the light come up a little so it would read the rest of the loads.

That is a lot closer to what I expected for velocity from this round, although I expected to see it earlier with slightly lighter charges. The 24 and 25 grain loads both turned in outstanding sub one inch groups. I was anticipating 2600-2700 fps with this bullet so I am pleased with the 25 grain load. I'll give that load a work out on some coyotes in Eastern Washington when I'm down in December and then try it out on some fox and lynx up here in January.

Mart

Animals will never know the speed

If me, I'd load a few test rounds .2-.3 grain up at a time, watching for pressure. I ran H335 and Varget w/70s in my 6BRs.

I'm fine with 2600 with an 80 grain bullet. I was expecting 2600-2700 in the 80-85 grain bullets so 2608 is fine.

Wish I could find some H335. It has been absent up here for a very long time. That or it's been snapped up before I got there. Same with Varget.

I have 200 rounds of brand new Sako 222 brass that I am going to work with after the first of the year starting with taking micrometer readings on the case heads and keeping all the cases labeled so I can keep close track of head expansion. I'm going to try to talk my lovely wife into a Mitutoyo digital blade micrometer for Christmas. Probably just get socks though.