Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints More experience with the 6mm. Stories and chuck pics (GRAPHIC).

I just recently started getting into the centerfire game a little more seriously and after purchasing a custom Rem 700 in 6mm I've finally got out a few times and got some chucks. My current goal is to get one past 500 yards, but I haven't quite reached that yet. My rangefinder (Nikon 400) is only good out to about 375 in a field with no reflective targets and anything past that is guess work for the most part. The first 3 that I got were all less than 200 yards away.

On my 4th trip out my buddy Matt spotted a couple of young chucks along with a mother just over 250 yards away. I got my bag and rifle set up on the hood of my truck and by the time I finally got situated I had lost the mother. I'm guessing I spooked her but the two younger ones stayed out. I ranged the first one and it was 256 yards. The other was only a couple of yards away, both within feet of their mound. I dialed in my elevation and got settled in. There was a light 3/4 value wind coming from the right so I placed the crosshairs on the edge of the right side of its face and squeezed the trigger.

The shot felt good and I got the mound back in my view as quickly as possible, but not in time to see the shot. I looked for a ball of fur and saw nothing. I looked over at Matt and asked him if it was a hit. He said he had no idea. The 2nd one was still out and walking around the hole. I got situated again and waited for a broadside shot this time since I was unsure whether or not the first shot was a hit. I held a couple of inches behind its left shoulder and squeezed off another shot. Again I couldn't tell if I hit or not and with a quick gaze I didn't see a ball of fur. I looked at Matt and said "anything?" He wasn't sure.. He said he thought I shot a couple inches high.

I was feeling like a pretty lousy shot at this point because at 256 yards there was no reason for a miss and I that any errors were mine. I grabbed the spotting scope and cranked it up a tad from 16X. I immediately spotted what appeared to be the ball of fur that I had anxiously been looking for. We walked down to check it out and at first glance the chuck looked like it had died from a heart attack with no visable damage. I flipped it over to reveal the majority of its insides hanging out the bottom of its stomach. The bullet struck just behind its shoulder slightly left of where I was aiming. Right about where I expected it to with the wind.


Entry


Exit

After seeing that my shot had hit pretty much exactly where I intended it to, I started looking around for another body. My first shot had felt too good to be a miss if the 2nd one wasn't. Matt walked over to the mound and pointed to a couple of small specks of blood and then said "thats bone fragment." It was a small shiny white speck only a millimeter or two in size with a light red film over it sitting on top of a rock at the top of one of the holes. I got on my knees and peered into the hole. Just barely in sight was what appeared to be a red blob with some white things that looked like either teeth or broken ribs. I looked at Matt and said "guess this is why we couldn't see him." I had to see the damage and got down on my side and slid my hand down the hole clear up to my shoulder. Not even joking! I slowly grabbed the blob and had absolutely no idea which part I was grabbing. I pulled it out and Matt made a gruesome noise and laughed. The chucks head was a disaster with teeth, tongue, and eyes in every direction.





A couple of days later I went out again, this time alone. I was limited on time and could only shoot out into 2 of the fields due to some farmers being out in the others. I sit on top of one of the fields and can shoot into 4 other ones. The right ones, where I had got the 2 previous chucks were off limits this day. I scanned around for a while and about crapped myself when I saw a baby pop it's head up out of a hole less than 10 yards from my truck door. I stared at it for a few minutes until it went back down in. A while later another one appeared just 40 yards away. This one was a fairly large mother. I watched her for a moment and even got a pic with my phone looking through the rangfinder just for kicks. As soon as she went back down I slowly got out of the truck and got my rifle set up and waited. About 3 minutes later she popped back up and I had the crosshairs on her and trigger pulled within seconds. Her head looked just as bad as the younger ones had.


Before


After

[img]http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z422/sharpshooter3935/0601111058a.jpg[/img]
Just a second view.

Matts first shot:
This one happend just the other morning. I texted Matt to see if he was awake (we both work 3rd shift and have crazy sleeping patterns) and asked if he was up to go shooting. He said heck yeah and came over. We went to Zacs farm and I hadn't even put the truck in park before he spotted one on the same mound that I had got the two young chucks on. It was the mother. I looked at him and said "your shot" as I put the truck in park. He got out and set the bags up on the hood. I was excited to watch through the spotting scope because I hadn't got the chance to see one get hit with my new toy yet. It took him a bit to get settle on it and calm down enough to where he could pull the trigger. The shot went off and I saw a cloud of dust form as the chuck collapsed. I didn't see any red mist or anything as I had hoped. We waited a few minutes and scanned hoping to see another but Matt was anxious to see his kill and I couldn't blame him. We walked down and it turned out to be a neck shot. He said he was having trouble holding steady. He had only dry fired the gun before then to get a feel for the trigger and was pretty excited. He said it surprised the hell out of him when it went off.

[img]http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z422/sharpshooter3935/0607111743.jpg[/img]
Matts

My current personal best:
After Matts shot we drove up on top of the hill to our usual spot and waited. It wasn't long before I spotted the one I had been looking for. Not one in particular, but just one that was way out there and would be my first test at a long shot. I got the range finder out and couldn't get a reading. I kept holding it on scan and slowly moving it around until I finally got a reading. It said 495 about 20 yards in front of the chuck. I tried getting a second reading, but it couldn't pick one up. I dialed for just over 500 and took a minute to calculate the wind. It was pretty steady and I guessed it to be between 8-10mph. I held one mil to the left and steadied my breathing and fired. As I got my eye back on target I saw him running down the hill towards us. I missed. I had forgot to bring a second set of ear plugs so Matt didn't have a set and was holding his ears rather than spotting for me through the spotting scope. I asked him if he could tell where the shot went and he had no idea. I got ready for shot number two and this time aimed further to the right and fired again. Miss. The chuck froze for a couple of seconds and then ran down a little. I tried to range him again and this time managed to get one reading of 411, but again couldn't get a second reading. I redialed my elevation and took another shot. Another miss. Man is it frustrating not knowing where your shots are going!!! It wasn't until later that I realized that 500 yards is the range where every 1mph of wind equals .2 mils instead of .1. If my wind estimation was right then I should have held 2 mils off instead of just one. Damn.

The chuck continued to run down the hill straight towards us. After he stopped I re-ranged him and got 365 yards and this time got a second reading to match. I dialed in and again held one mil to the left. He was broadside so I placed the mil on his head putting the crosshairs right on his ass. I figured if my wind reading was correct I'd get either a head or shoulder shot and that if I was wrong I'd mess up his back half. I had a the bags set up good and was holding steady. I squeezed the trigger and got back onto target. After the first few shots I had gotten accustomed to watching him run around like a confused baby. This time there was nothing. After a moment I saw what I was looking for. We made the 350 plus yard walk and Matt gave me a fist bump as we approaced the chuck. I flipped the chuck over with my foot expecting to see an exit hole but saw nothing. I got down and examined it and it took me a minute to figure out where exactly the shot had went. There was blood coming out of both ears and the mouth. The shot entered about an inch under its left ear and exited out the right cheek just beside the front teeth.

[img]http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z422/sharpshooter3935/0607111848.jpg[/img]
Entry about an inch under the ear.

[img]http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z422/sharpshooter3935/Ghog76mm360yds060711.jpg[/img]
Exit out the cheek.

Ok, those aren't all the stories of this past week, but I'm up to 7 chucks with this rifle plus Matts and I've only been out about 5 times so far. I'm working on getting a better rangfinder and upgrading the scope here over the next few months. Until then I'll just have to do things the hard way and hopefully with some better spotting help maybe I'll get my 500 yard kill here soon.

That's all for this one. Thanks for reading, or at least looking at the pics lol.

Here are a few pics of some of the other chucks minus the stories leading up to their demise.


1st chuck with this rifle. Story covered in an older post.

Some randoms

6 Rem is an really great cartridge.

If you use Winchester brass you will be in another league when it comes to handling pressures.

R#19, Win primer, 80g Sierra blitz will be chomping over 3500 fps with blistering accuracy...that is not a slouch load and will get you to 500 easy.

Seat the bullet out to just barely touch the lands, accuracy will be at the point where you see the slightest amount of pressure...you should be able to shoot their nose off at 200 yards.

Thanks for a great writeup and some good gory pics.....some of us don't get to shoot chucks much....

Sharpshooter: I built a 6mm-06 on a Remington 700, with a 28" barrel, to shoot chucks at long range. I am shooting an 87 Hornady HPBT @ 3700fps, and I have the rifle zeroed @ 400yds. I enjoyed your pics, because here in Arizona, we don't have chucks like you. We do have prairie dogs, and I have had that chance, but still I built the rifle for chucks. I hope next year I can get up to Montana, to shoot some. I put a Bushnell Elite 4200 6X24 Mildot, and at 420yds, with a 15 MPH crosswind, all I had to do to plunk the dogs one after the other, was hold one mil dot windage. Nice picsandshooting.

Jerry

Is it wrong for me to laugh?

Nice shooting.

I like the damage of the 6mm.

I really wish we had some chucks in oklahoma. Very jealous and that 6 Rem really puts the smack on them.

Right now im just shooting up some rounds the previous owner loaded up for me. He gave me a couple hundred un primed remington cases and couple boxes of 105 Amaxes with some powder to load for myself. Gonna load up some here soon, but haven't got around to it yet. It shoots the 105s great. 1/8" twist. Whats the lightest bullets that would be worth trying for some more explosivness and speed out of that twist? I'm not necessarily interested in using anything other than the 105s seeing how well and far they can shoot, but I might try some others for fun.

What would you rate the Rem brass compared to the Win for handling pressure?

I also hunt groundhogs in Ohio, and I would endorse the lightest grain bullet that shoots accurately (55-85) in the 6mm just because of the population density of a lot of areas...of course, there are some big fields to hunt here, also.

But, because of possible richochet, I always shoot the lighter bullets due to safety; the 105 can GO A LONG WAYS.

P.S. Oh, I see you have a 1X8 twist...it likely won't shoot the lighter bullets well; there you go, one reason to NOT have a fast twist 6mm.

Safe hunting.

I have several areas that present shots out to and past 1000 yards. I don't have near the experience or practice for those shots yet, but I'm working on getting it. I have a .22-250 for the areas that aren't safe for the 6mm.

My 22/250 is also my favorite rifle here in NW Ohio; you will do fine with that at long range as well. I use the Sierra 40 gr.HP and Speer 52 HP as both are great groundhog killers.

And, both of those bullets work great in my .223! Also, the Hornady SX and Sierra Blitz in 50 gr. work well in my .222 and .223.

The Hornady Vmax is well liked by many, but they are a bit too frangible sometimes on large groundhogs or less than ideal shots e.g. through some grass/weeds partially obscuring the target. They seem to spash on neck shots, especially with the 22/250.

Due to areas I hunt, I don't shoot my 25/06 much for groundhogs anymore (used to when I first got it).

Give the 55 Nosler Ballistic Tip a go. You won't need to dial much!

Nice thing about chucks is they're a big target and they make a big gutpile. For some real good 6mm chuck carnage go to rmvh-dot-com and order varmint safari II. In one part Dave's shooting them at about 300 with a 6mmAI / 75VMax. You wouldn't believe how far those things launch and the complete disassembly. They just explode and parts fly a long way. Shot with my .240Gibbs and 70BT's @ 4100, at 650yds one chuck stretched out on it's belly did a complete forward flip with a foot of air underneath.

I truly enjoy shooting my varmint model 243 and have found 75 gr. Hornady HP's work. Talk about rocket launchers, even though I am only running them at 3350. Killed my first 400+ yard chuck a week ago.Anytime I get past 300 yards, I use that gun.

DakotaDeer:

I don't shoot the 55 grains much (I have my reasons) and I don't work the scope dials at all.

I just sight em' in (scopes) where I want them and leave them there forever....

Michael,

Great pics and stories. Almost like getting to go hunt with you. Nice job.

Rem vs. Win brass - let me start by saying that I have never personally used Rem b/c everybody that I hunt or shoot with has always said the same thing - Rem is way too soft and the primer pockets will open up prematurely. I'm guessing that they are pushing the pressures a bit in most cases, but when you hear the same thing from a bunch of different knowledgeable shooters (long-time long range hunters and record holders), I listened and figured I had better not waste my limited time or $. In the defense of Rem brass, I have mic'd some that a buddy had in 7mmRSAUM and it was fairly impressive how tight the dimensions were from case to case for his particular lot. I have a couple of friends who use the full length Rem Ultramag brass in .30 cal and have all been fairly happy with it. Very accurate and seemed to have acceptable case life too. These are the exceptions that I have heard about.

I'm pretty picky when it comes to brass, so my personal pref is to use Lapua or RWS (hard to get nowadays) due to strength and dimensional tolerances if it's available in the cartridge you are using. If you can't get it in one of these, I'd happily go with Winchester for the durability factor and do full prep on the brass to get it uniformed. I have found it to be very strong and durable. I've been wishing for years now that Lapua would make some brass in 6mmRem. If they had, I would probably be shooting some different calibers than I am now. I personally think the 6mmRem is superior to the .243Win in terms of case design, and there are a lot of other folks that agree.

Bullet-wise: Myself and a family member hunted chucks for 2 days one year with a pair of .240 Wby's that he owned. They were identical twins with match-grade custom bbls both with 1:9 twists. One was loaded 87gr Hornady V-Max's and the other with 105 A-Max's. Both were fantastic killers, but I liked the 105 A-Max's better because they seemed to hit so much harder, even though the 87's were moving a lot faster. It would be interesting to do a comparison with a bullet that is a lot lighter like maybe down in the 55-65gr range to get some crazy speed and see the difference then. I've heard of guys being able to shoot the lighter bullets well out of a faster tw like your 1:8, but you start to creep up towards the limit of what that particular bullet can handle in terms of the stress the bullet can handle when launched at the speeds possible with a 6mmRem case. You might be able to easily approach 4,000 fps, but the bullet may not make it to the target once the barrel starts to heat up or get dirty. There's few things more frustrating than that, let tell you. Also seems like the more wear a bbl has on it, the more likely it is to chew up bullets, which makes only makes sense. Best thing you can do is test and see for yourself. I will say that I think the Nosler Ballistic tips are less prone to mid-air explosions due to their construction - the base is fairly thick copper and seems to be able to withstand more torture. This is from personal experience with some BIG capacity, fast twist .22 calibers, but I'm willing to bet that it would hold true in 6mm also.

Have fun with the g-hogs this summer and keep up the great posts.
Thanks,
Ian

I doubt I try anything lighter than 75 grains if that because I don't want to run this gun too hot. If my ranges/chuck hunting areas were limited to 600 and less I would probably try running something like an 85 grain vmax but I bought this rifle to get into the long range game. The majority of my shots are less than 600, but I have a few places where I can easily get 1000. Just haven't had the practice or range time to become familiar with shooting that far out. After my new SS 5-20 comes in and I get my own rounds loaded I'm going to go to Thunder Valley (http://thundervalleyprecision.com) and start getting some practice in.

After seeing what the 105s can do out to 900 it's hard to think about going to a lighter round. Only downfall I can see with them is the higher ricochet possibilities and the extra weight doesn't really benefit you until you get way out there unless there's a lot of wind.

I'll look into getting some of the Win brass and try to compare it to my Rem sometime. Will take quite a while though because I don't go through many rounds at a time.