6x47 Over The Years! - 12/28/09
Back in 1990 I had the "HOTS" for another Remington 40X Rifle.
I had several 40X's but I wanted one in 6mm Remington Bench Rest caliber!
I searched and searched and begged and called in favors and I even tried LYING to find or buy one!
For three years all my efforts went fruitless.
Then I got a call from one of my sources "back east".
They had the exact Rifle I wanted EXCEPT it was in caliber 6x47!
I mulled it over for a couple of days and checked out the speeds and ballistics I could most likely muster up with a 6x47.
I wanted the 40X in 6mm Remington Benchrest to Hunt Prairie Dogs with though.
And there really was not much difference velocity wise between the 6x47 and the 6mm Remington Benchrest at least with the 60, 68 and 70 grain bullets that I wanted to shoot!
So I said heck I'll take a chance on the 6x47!
Boy am I glad I did.
The brand new Rifle was in my hands in a couple of days - it was a Remington 40XB-BR KS model - it had a 24" extra heavy stainless barrel and came in the then new "GREEN" (Remington Green"!) fiberglass BR style stock.
I quickly mounted a 36 power Leupold silver scope on it and waited for my Redding dies to hit town.
Finally the dies came and I got to handloading for the cool new Rifle.
The trigger needed absolutely NO adjustment of any kind.
Finally range day comes and (this was just before "barrel break-in" became popular) I tried out some different loads.
Out of the three loads I fired that day ALL performed well but the highlight of the day was a group (5 shots at 100 yards) that measured .245" using the Sierra 60 grain bullets!
Remember this was with new brass and a brand new Rifle.
Ever since that day I have just LOVED shooting this Rifle.
Both at the range and in the Prairie Dog Towns and now and then in Rock Chuck Colonies!
It takes me a while sometimes to "find" the Varmints in the narrow field of view of that 36 power Leupold but once the Varmint is found and the trigger is touched on that 12 pound 8 ounce Rifle said Varmint most always dies!
Over the years I have killed both Prairie Dogs and Rock Chucks out to 550 yards or maybe just a shosh more!
I always take unusual care NOT to over-heat this barrel and it is cleaned with the utmost of care.
I want this Rifle to last me the rest of my life.
About the only time it gets to the Rifle range anymore is for the obligatory short shot string pre-Safari sight-in!
Thats kind of a shame as I have shot some hellacious small groups with this rig - often with Varmint quality bullets.
I have never just taken this Rifle to the range just for a days shooting.
Well today I had some shooting to do and I noticed it was not only unusually calm - I mean like DEAD CALM, but the sun was out and as bright as can be. So I took my little 17 Mach2 out to my local range where calm air is about as rare as hens teeth.
I had such a great time shooting my new little 17 Mach2 in the brilliant sun (at the shooters back!) and the DEAD CALM air that my mind began to assess doing some "quality" range work.
I get back home and apraise the ammo stores of my more accurate Rifles. My Sako 6mm PPC is empty - all brass is waiting for winter reloading, my Remington 40XB-BR KS in 22 Remington Bench Rest is also out of ammo all waitng for loading - dittoes with several more REAL accurate heavy Varminters. Then I notice an old and dusty MTM box with 20 6x47 handloads in it!
They were loaded using the wonderful Euber 68 grain hollow-point match bullets.
I think, what a perfect day to shoot these, known to be accurate, handloads.
I leave home and head back to my range hoping against hope that the wind here in SW Montana will still be calm.
Its only 15 minutes back to the range and glory be - the air is still DEAD CALM!
I hurry to set out a quad of "official bench rest type targets" and get set up.
I am thinking, I have 20 bullets and 4 targets to shoot at - 5 shots apiece. I decide to shoot the top left BR target first with the "oiler" - sacrifice that target so to speak, as I know I left that barrel clean but heavily coated with Break-Free oil.
Oh well, oiler be damned, the conditions are so perfect with that sun so low at my back and the length of yarn that is tied to the aerial of the VarmintMobile has not moved one iota since I got there. Dittoes for my wind streamer at the 100 yard target stantion.
First shot goes into the target and I notice it is dead center with the vertical center of my BR target.
Quickly and almost haphazardly I start taking up the ounces on the 40X's trigger, fully expecting this next shot to be "away" from the "oiler"!
Not so though, it barely enlarged the first hole.
I think well thats odd and I'd better get to the next target as my fingers are starting to tingle in the 16 degree "heat"!
Third shot enlarges said hole a little - I think!
Now "mirage" (believe it or not!) is discernable in the 36 power scope - the "heat" from the first 3 shots is quivering the sight picture a tad. I dig out my battery powered fan and aim it down the Remington's barrel and get after shot number four.
The tiny fan has removed all heat waves and the trigger breaks at the right time/spot. This shot is also in the same hole!
Whats this about I wonder?
Now the "5th shot jitters" are beginning to take hold.
I say to myself - self, this is not your 338 Federal, this is not your 7mm Magnum this is a pipsqueak Rifle with NO recoil, now squeeze that trigger.
Fifth shot surprises me and goes through "the hole" somewhere?
I throw off my headset, grab my 1/100th inch steel rule and race down range - ooohhhhh.... I say to myself once at the target.
This is a good one!
My crude measuring implement shows about .42" for the overall diameter of the "hole"!
My fingers get good and numb trying to measure and remeasure the "one holer"!
I decide then, with the numb fingers and the sun getting lower and the temperature dropping, that I am going to call it a day and save the other 15 rounds and the "barrel" of that superb Rifle for another day!
I can't wait to get home and put the dial calipers to the group. Once back at home the "hole" turns out to be .416" and I have no single shot hole to measure and figure out that days deduction for bullet diameter!
I decide to deduct .240" for the 6mm bullet and thus todays group measured .176"!
I could NOT be happier.
Not so much with myself - I know the parameters of my bench shooting but with my 16 year old Rifle that has "been around some" but has been carefully cared for and has always performed consistently for me.
According to my loading log back in 1995 this Rifle shot a .151" group (5 shots at 100 yards) and it has shot a couple of other groups in the high 1's as well.
Strange how such simple things make me feel just grand.
Some years after I bought the 6x47 Rifle I still could NOT get the 6mm Remington Bench Rest cartridge out of my mind so I had a BR type Riflesmith build me a heavy Varminting Rifle in that caliber - at considerable expense mind you.
They BOTH shoot extremely well and I would be hard pressed to ascertain with certainty WHICH Rifle is more accurate - the 6x47 or the 6mm BR.
The 6x47 cartridge is an often overlooked cartridge among Varmint Hunters, and MAYBE with some reason, but I have had just splendid success with this rig in the Varmint fields that I feel I should give it a public "atta-boy"!
Sometimes I have used the 70 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips in it and other times I have shot the 60 grain Sierra hollow points.
But, I do know a remote and high country Rock Chuck Colony that is going to get 15 rounds of 6x47 ammo fired into it come next spring!
Long live the 6x47!
Think about trying one - it'll make you happy.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
I had several 40X's but I wanted one in 6mm Remington Bench Rest caliber!
I searched and searched and begged and called in favors and I even tried LYING to find or buy one!
For three years all my efforts went fruitless.
Then I got a call from one of my sources "back east".
They had the exact Rifle I wanted EXCEPT it was in caliber 6x47!
I mulled it over for a couple of days and checked out the speeds and ballistics I could most likely muster up with a 6x47.
I wanted the 40X in 6mm Remington Benchrest to Hunt Prairie Dogs with though.
And there really was not much difference velocity wise between the 6x47 and the 6mm Remington Benchrest at least with the 60, 68 and 70 grain bullets that I wanted to shoot!
So I said heck I'll take a chance on the 6x47!
Boy am I glad I did.
The brand new Rifle was in my hands in a couple of days - it was a Remington 40XB-BR KS model - it had a 24" extra heavy stainless barrel and came in the then new "GREEN" (Remington Green"!) fiberglass BR style stock.
I quickly mounted a 36 power Leupold silver scope on it and waited for my Redding dies to hit town.
Finally the dies came and I got to handloading for the cool new Rifle.
The trigger needed absolutely NO adjustment of any kind.
Finally range day comes and (this was just before "barrel break-in" became popular) I tried out some different loads.
Out of the three loads I fired that day ALL performed well but the highlight of the day was a group (5 shots at 100 yards) that measured .245" using the Sierra 60 grain bullets!
Remember this was with new brass and a brand new Rifle.
Ever since that day I have just LOVED shooting this Rifle.
Both at the range and in the Prairie Dog Towns and now and then in Rock Chuck Colonies!
It takes me a while sometimes to "find" the Varmints in the narrow field of view of that 36 power Leupold but once the Varmint is found and the trigger is touched on that 12 pound 8 ounce Rifle said Varmint most always dies!
Over the years I have killed both Prairie Dogs and Rock Chucks out to 550 yards or maybe just a shosh more!
I always take unusual care NOT to over-heat this barrel and it is cleaned with the utmost of care.
I want this Rifle to last me the rest of my life.
About the only time it gets to the Rifle range anymore is for the obligatory short shot string pre-Safari sight-in!
Thats kind of a shame as I have shot some hellacious small groups with this rig - often with Varmint quality bullets.
I have never just taken this Rifle to the range just for a days shooting.
Well today I had some shooting to do and I noticed it was not only unusually calm - I mean like DEAD CALM, but the sun was out and as bright as can be. So I took my little 17 Mach2 out to my local range where calm air is about as rare as hens teeth.
I had such a great time shooting my new little 17 Mach2 in the brilliant sun (at the shooters back!) and the DEAD CALM air that my mind began to assess doing some "quality" range work.
I get back home and apraise the ammo stores of my more accurate Rifles. My Sako 6mm PPC is empty - all brass is waiting for winter reloading, my Remington 40XB-BR KS in 22 Remington Bench Rest is also out of ammo all waitng for loading - dittoes with several more REAL accurate heavy Varminters. Then I notice an old and dusty MTM box with 20 6x47 handloads in it!
They were loaded using the wonderful Euber 68 grain hollow-point match bullets.
I think, what a perfect day to shoot these, known to be accurate, handloads.
I leave home and head back to my range hoping against hope that the wind here in SW Montana will still be calm.
Its only 15 minutes back to the range and glory be - the air is still DEAD CALM!
I hurry to set out a quad of "official bench rest type targets" and get set up.
I am thinking, I have 20 bullets and 4 targets to shoot at - 5 shots apiece. I decide to shoot the top left BR target first with the "oiler" - sacrifice that target so to speak, as I know I left that barrel clean but heavily coated with Break-Free oil.
Oh well, oiler be damned, the conditions are so perfect with that sun so low at my back and the length of yarn that is tied to the aerial of the VarmintMobile has not moved one iota since I got there. Dittoes for my wind streamer at the 100 yard target stantion.
First shot goes into the target and I notice it is dead center with the vertical center of my BR target.
Quickly and almost haphazardly I start taking up the ounces on the 40X's trigger, fully expecting this next shot to be "away" from the "oiler"!
Not so though, it barely enlarged the first hole.
I think well thats odd and I'd better get to the next target as my fingers are starting to tingle in the 16 degree "heat"!
Third shot enlarges said hole a little - I think!
Now "mirage" (believe it or not!) is discernable in the 36 power scope - the "heat" from the first 3 shots is quivering the sight picture a tad. I dig out my battery powered fan and aim it down the Remington's barrel and get after shot number four.
The tiny fan has removed all heat waves and the trigger breaks at the right time/spot. This shot is also in the same hole!
Whats this about I wonder?
Now the "5th shot jitters" are beginning to take hold.
I say to myself - self, this is not your 338 Federal, this is not your 7mm Magnum this is a pipsqueak Rifle with NO recoil, now squeeze that trigger.
Fifth shot surprises me and goes through "the hole" somewhere?
I throw off my headset, grab my 1/100th inch steel rule and race down range - ooohhhhh.... I say to myself once at the target.
This is a good one!
My crude measuring implement shows about .42" for the overall diameter of the "hole"!
My fingers get good and numb trying to measure and remeasure the "one holer"!
I decide then, with the numb fingers and the sun getting lower and the temperature dropping, that I am going to call it a day and save the other 15 rounds and the "barrel" of that superb Rifle for another day!
I can't wait to get home and put the dial calipers to the group. Once back at home the "hole" turns out to be .416" and I have no single shot hole to measure and figure out that days deduction for bullet diameter!
I decide to deduct .240" for the 6mm bullet and thus todays group measured .176"!
I could NOT be happier.
Not so much with myself - I know the parameters of my bench shooting but with my 16 year old Rifle that has "been around some" but has been carefully cared for and has always performed consistently for me.
According to my loading log back in 1995 this Rifle shot a .151" group (5 shots at 100 yards) and it has shot a couple of other groups in the high 1's as well.
Strange how such simple things make me feel just grand.
Some years after I bought the 6x47 Rifle I still could NOT get the 6mm Remington Bench Rest cartridge out of my mind so I had a BR type Riflesmith build me a heavy Varminting Rifle in that caliber - at considerable expense mind you.
They BOTH shoot extremely well and I would be hard pressed to ascertain with certainty WHICH Rifle is more accurate - the 6x47 or the 6mm BR.
The 6x47 cartridge is an often overlooked cartridge among Varmint Hunters, and MAYBE with some reason, but I have had just splendid success with this rig in the Varmint fields that I feel I should give it a public "atta-boy"!
Sometimes I have used the 70 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips in it and other times I have shot the 60 grain Sierra hollow points.
But, I do know a remote and high country Rock Chuck Colony that is going to get 15 rounds of 6x47 ammo fired into it come next spring!
Long live the 6x47!
Think about trying one - it'll make you happy.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy