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

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?