Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 6 ARC vs. 6 BR REM which to pick?

What does the 6 ARC do that the 6 BR REM hasn't been doing for over 50 years?

It fits in an AR mag. There are probably better choices in a bolt gun

The 6 BR Rem has been around for a while but not fifty years, yet. Closer to 43, I think. GD

Wiki says that it was wildcatted in 1962/63, but domesticated by Remington in 1978. I was counting back to its origin as a wildcat, rather than to when it was domesticated.

According to some of the PRS crowd it lets you spot shots through your scope.

Easier on barrels too.

Mike

It doesn't need a .308 sized action to work.

They are easy to come by though.

Was thinking on a bolt action.... a 308 length action... one could seat the longer bullets out of the case further ( ala Creedmoor fashion)...
and get more velocity and flatter shooting at longer distances...a mini creedmoor so to speak...

Something to play with....

but if I had a good access to 6.5 BR brass... I'd probably do the build on the BR case....

I would have to question Wiki in this particular instance. The 6BR was developed by necking up the 22BR which came first. I think it was 1978 that Jim Stekl shot a 22BR and a 6BR at the Super Shoot. Now, it is entirely possible that someone necked down the 308x1.5" at some time prior but I never heard of it and it certainly was not called the 6BR if so. The BR cartridges were Remington's effort to produce an American factory alternative to the PPC cartridges which came first. The original BR cartridge was 1.510" long and was lengthened to 1.560 some time later on. I'll confess to not remembering exactly when.
It was either Nobby Uno or I who had the first BR reamers in Canada and we were both building rifles in 6BR for short range BR in 1979. I still have the reamers for the original cartridges.
If Remington had produced factory formed brass to start with, the BR landscape might have looked a little different. The PPC was just too much easier. GD

OK, you win.

Not a contest. Just striving for accuracy. This is, after all, a rifle forum and accuracy matters! GD

I think the point of the arc is that it works in an ar 15. Like the grendel though you probably don't want to run high pressures on an ar bolt though.

In a bolt gun you might as well go BR or dasher because its easier to find bolts with that size.

Bb

I have a Remington 700 specs barrel in 6.5 BR REM and a couple hundred rounds of 100 grain factory ammo in tote box.

Performance wise these two cartridges seem like two peas in a pod, what one will do the other will do equally well, they just accomplish that with slightly different physical case specs.

What I was looking for is a reason to go one way or the other. I'm not very interested in ARs and would probably go with a 6.5 Grendel if I was just because it is the easier path to take.

260RemGuy: I began a five year long search (bribery fest!) for a Remington 40XB Rifle in 6m/m Remington Bench Rest back in 1985 or so.
I bribed people (gunshop owners, wholesalers etc) from Bellingham, Washington to Ronkonkoma, New York trying to get one!
With NO luck.
The 6mm Remington Bench Rest cartridge was MUCH sought after back then. Over those and subsequent years I have found WONDERFULLY accurate heavy barrel Varmint Rifles in 6m/m PPC (Sako), 22 Remington Bench Rest (I have 2 of these in 40XB-BRKS Remingtons) and an amazingly accurate Remington 40XB-BRKS in 6x47 Remington.
Alas I had to resort to having a custom heavy barrel single shot Rifle made for myself by custom Riflesmith and optical genius Wally Siebert.
My custom 6m/m BR Remington was made on a Remington XP-100 single shot action that the riflesmith suggested.
He relayed how he could use the natural "lip" on the bottom of the XP-100 action as THE recoil lug thus eliminating the "variable" of a recoil lug between the barrel and the action!
Mr. Siebert reamed the heavy Hart barrel especially for 68 - 70 grain bullets.
I put a Leupold 8.5x25 variable scope on it as I intended the Rifle to be used for long range Prairie Dog and Rock Chuck Hunting.
This 6m/m BR Rifle weighs 13 pounds 10 ounces and with the Jewell trigger it is just about certain death on Colony Varmints to WAY out there!
Brass life is apparently infinite and recoil is nil.
I did VERY little load development with my 6m/m Remington Bench Rest Rifle as it shot 3 different bullets (all that I tested!) extremely well! Those bullets are the 68 grain Eubers, 70 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips and the 55 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips!
I intentionally save this Rifle for field use and again have shot my 6m/m BR very little at the range - to date its best 5 shot group at 100 yards measured .208"!
The last sight in verification group (5 shots at 100 yards) measured .298".
This 6m/m BR just shoots extremely well for me even with Varmint type bullets.
If your intent is to use it Varminting I can relay how extremely happy I am with the 6m/m Remington Bench Rest!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Jeff, did you mean to type - 6.5BR? 100 Factory ammo?

Re: 6BR.......I had a Stiller action, 24" Varmint contour 8 twist Bartlein, it shot 66, 68, and 105s all very well......I was getting 3-shot groups, 1/4" at 200 yds, time and again.....Lapua/Varget.....

The 6BR is a tough one to beat in standard form, IME. I shot a .4 group with 3 shots, at 330 yds from the same contour barrel, also 8 twist by Pac-Nor in 3-groove...........105 Amax, Varget..........on a Ruger #1 action of all things with a Kepplinger trigger.....took a deer at 400 yds with it as well.

The beauty of that round is not only accuracy, but much longer bore life than say a 243 or similar capacity 6.

70 TNTs give hell on jugs at 400 yds.....and Coyotes would be in for a hurt. Popped one with an Amax at 60 yds in the chest, another at around 200 in the face, a bit disfigured to say the least. Doe same at 45 yds.......and again the 105 took a nice Bobcat with a small exit after running diagnonally thru it around 200 yds, thankfully easy for the Taxidermist. Killed other deer, around 200 yds, some with 95 BT, 105 Amax, and one with lung shot with TNT's.....but would not recommend it, though did nearly decapitate a doe from a #1 RSI in 243 at 50 yds with one.

The 6BR is VERY Capable on game.......not just varmints.

6 BR REM, not 6.5. It is a 6 BR REM barrel that came off a rifle that I bought for the Remington 600 donor action.

The barrel is a 1-9" ROT Hart that was cut in a Remington 700 Varmint contour. It was originally 28", but has been set back 2x to get a fresh throat. The guy who owned it decided that it no longer shot good enough groups for him to be competitive, so he dumped the barreled action on me. I bought it back in 02/07 and have since used the action for a couple of different builds, a 22-250 and the 260 that it currently is. I got a good deal on 17 boxes of new Remington 100 grain factory ammo, so I have a barrel and I have ammo, I just need to decide what, if anything, to do with it.

I have all of the parts that I'd need to put together a rifle, so I was thinking that after our late doe season ends in mid-January I'd need a project to keep me busy at the shop and away from the inevitable friction that happens when I spend too much time in close quarters with my kids.

The 6 ARC can be built on mini actions such as the CZ 527, Howa Mini, Sako AI. You can get a 6 to 6.5 pound rifle which can shoot high B.C. bullets from the magazine and not be limited to being a single shot.

I had a 6mm Norma BR built on a Remington 700 and I could not get it to feed from the magazine. Plus it weighed more than it should have given the lighter recoil of the cartridge.

If you want a lightweight, low recoil rifle capable of shooting high B.C. bullets from the magazine, I think the 6 ARC should do it well.

Jeff, I would have it fluted well to reduce weight and chop +/- 20" - with 95 BTs, it will be a deer slayer, varmint bullets for said creatures.

Re: feeding, Bryant Customs had a Mag box set up that fed the BR.....now with my M7, I used an old style stamped 700 follower and it fee like glass. Mind you the heavier 7 bullets might have helped keep the nose down, as 6BRs with light bullets wanted to 'tip up' and not feed as well......heavier bullets usually laid level in the mag and seemed to feed fine.

Interesting thread, just a question for you. Does the barrel state it is a 6 BR REM or just a 6 BR ???????
The reason I ask is because if the original owner of the barrel was using it in competition in the last 20 years or so he more than likely had it chambered for the 6 BR usa that Norma standardized so that you could use Norma or Lapua brass...........if so your 17 boxes of Remington ammo wont chamber

There aren't any markings on the barrel, but it was advertised as being a 6 BR REM and the reloads that came with it seemed to chamber fine when the barrel was still attached to the action. I'm pretty sure that the dies were marked 6 BR REM. The Remington 600 action that it came off was set up as a single shot rifle, no magazine assembly, and the Fajen stock was inletted just deep enough for a 1/2" thick aluminum platform to lay the cartridge on.