Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats 6mm AI?

Who has a 6mmAI on a long action they use for deer hunting at ranges out to 350-400 yards max. I am thinking of a fast twist barrel to shoot 100+ grain bullets as a lower recoil deer rifle that will still shoot pretty flat. I already have dies and a couple hundred fire formed brass due to a slow twist varmint rifle that is long gone! Is the 6mm enough at those ranges if I don’t make a perfect shot or should I stick with the 270WSM that gives me a headache at the range after a few shots?

I’d go light and fast for those ranges. Any particular reason you’re wanting to shoot heavy?

The 6 A.I. will do the job, I like the 105 gr. Scenar or 108 gr. eld-m at around 3000 fps, you can go lighter and faster, but you can't go more accurate at 500 yrds. YMMV Rio7

My thought was if I hit a shoulder at 350 yards the heavy bullet might still penetrate enough to quickly put the deer down. Maybe I’m thinking backwards and would be better off with a lighter bullet and more speed? The BC of the heavy bullets doesn’t really help much at 350-400.

Either should do the job fine, but at those ranges, I prefer something lighter with more speed. I plan to run 80 TTSXs in mine.

I was going to build a 6mm AI a few years back but my gunsmith talked me into a .243 AI instead as the performance is almost the same and brass is very easy to come by for the .243 Win. I am grateful that I listened to him as it's a real shooter. Reduced loads for our local ground squirrels, full power for rock chucks and "outchonder" prairie dogs.

For sure a good way to go, but he asked about a 6mm AI in a long action. No way I'd do a .243 in a LA, and since he specifically asked about a 6mm AI, I didn't bother mentioning 6mm-06.

Holston, do you run 80’s in a short action? The only 6AI I have owned was a short action with a 14 twist and I shot 70 grain NBT out of it but didn’t have much room to spare. I would prefer a short action but I don’t want to sacrifice case capacity to make bullets fit into a short action mag

I’m going to soon. Waiting on barrel at the moment. Ill be using AICS mags, so will have a tad more room. .080 freebore reamer

I don’t plan on shooting anything long, but I might have to jump a little. Never been an issue though.

I’ve been shooting 95 grain Berger vld’s at 3200 out of a 243 for the last 13 years or so. I’ve been very happy with the results on deer, antelope, and coyotes. Anywhere from point blank out to six hundred yards. Shot 105 vld’s out of another 243 I built at the same time and had good luck with these also, at similar ranges. Bought eight twist brux barrels for those 243’s back then and can’t begin to say enough good things about both those barrels.

I have had a couple 6mmAI's, to me it is the best of the big six's if you are not stuck on a short action.
I have always got at least a 100fps better than my 243AI's with better accuracy, I give up more than 100fps to my 6mm-284 but have double the barrel life.
My favorite bullets are the 107gr SMK and the 105gr BergerVLD, the Berger 95grVLD can also be awesome if your barrel likes them.................shot an antelope several years ago at 1000yds with the 95grVLD and it worked very well.

One word of advice, make sure you get a 5 or 6 groove barrel the 3 and 4 groove barrels in this round can be rough on bullets

I will check out the Brux barrel, I’ve always used Hart or Krieger but I think they all probably make a quality barrel. Great tip on the grooves and I think a 105 grain Berger at 3200 is exactly what I have in mind.

My 6mm AI does well with 95 Noslers both the BT and Partition. I have loaded up some of the 103 ELD-X and various 105 grain bullets but have not used them on game yet. Mine is on a short action, I have the components to open the action to 3.2" but have not felt the need as the chamber is short throated too.

If I were to do it over again I think I would go faster than the 1-8" twist so I could use the longest 6mm bullets. My rifle will shoot the 115s but the loss in BC puts them behind the 105-110s.

Brass has been no problem with PPU brass and for the best Norma 7x57 brass necked down. The 6mm is adequate at 500 yards but that would be the limit for me. On a long action the 6mm-06 would be tempting but you don't gain that much velocity and you lose half the barrel life over the the 6AI.

AA2700 in the 6 AI will increase barrel life, burning rate just slightly faster than the H4350.

8T-105g Berger vld hunting at 3300 on a 26" barrel.

I have a 6 AI on a 98 action with a 10" twist barrel. It is NOT glamorous, but the 100 gr RN from Rem and Hornady kills stuff dead before you can recover from recoil. I have shamefully used Hot Core Speers of the 87 gr variety on mule deer with bad results. 5 well placed shots in the boiler room and I still had to sneak up on him and shoot him in the back of the neck from 6 feet. For anything bigger than coyote I wouldn't use anything lighter than a 95 Bal Tip (Barnes X bullets being the 85 or 90 gr exception). For a 400 yard max shot - there is nothing wrong with the RN bullet.

We killed a LOT of big deer in Kansas and Nebraska with 95g partitions and 100g Hornady btsp in 243,6 Rem at some yardage also. The 95g partition will give 1/2" groups, great penetration from all angles.

Which is the reason for the newer case designs that have came out. Since you mentioned preferring a short action you may look into a shorter case. 6x47, 6 creedmoor, 6xc, 243, just to name some of the more common ones. Like mentioned above on a long action the 6-06 would be pretty cool too.

I have a 244AI (6mmAI) on a Savage Palma action that I am planning to use for steel matches from 200 to 1K
This rifle is crazy fast , averaging 3,355 FPS with an extreme spread of 9FPS on 5 rounds .
Accuracy is off the charts with the irons and sling!
Barrel is a 25" Shilen.
Cat

If you are going to a long action, just get a 25-06. There isn't a deer alive that can't be dropped at 4-500 yards with a 257 100-120gr bullet, or use a Barnes 80gr TTSX,

I’ve used 90 and 95 grain ballistic tips in my 240 weatherby on deer/antelope. They perform well if put in the lungs.