Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What good is 6mm?

This is not a troll. I'm not trying to stir things. I'm honestly trying to decide if something in 6mm would be reasonable for the likes of me.

1) I'm primarily a deer hunter and primarily hunt with a .30-something.
2) I'm well covered from 35 Whelen down to 25-06 for big game.
3) I have several 223 REM rifles in various configurations.
4) I have a maximum range of 450 yards to shoot at home.

If you look at what I currently have to play with, I'm nearly covered from a 40 grain bullet (223 REM) up to 250 grains (35 Whelen). Where my current battery is a bit soft is in the 75-100 grain realm, but I'll be deuced if I can think of a situation where I'd really need it.

I realize that, to be a true loony, these questions just don't enter into your head. Sadly, they do enter into mine.

The flip side of you situation is that a good 243 with a 4x12 and federal 100 grain blue box would take you from crows, through groundhogs, skunks and coyotes then kill any whitetail lurking in your AO. I myself have always enjoyed experimenting with cartridges and bullets too much to run the one rifle deal.

All that to say the 6mm is very useful for the application you submit.

Oh, and I'm not a gun writer.

I just gave away the only 6mm in my current arsenal to one of my grandsons, being that he was a grandson I guess I'm still ranked as a loony. Anyway, it was a Remington 700 .243 with a 3.5-10x40 Leupold VX3i scope and one of my favorite rifles. I don't do much varminting but it was a beautiful little deer gun that I would have no problem taking any deer on the planet with. All I can say is you may have all your bases covered but it's a shame you don't have a .243/6mm in your arsenal. They just add a lot to any collection. BTW, I plan on replacing mine with a new build, a 6mm Remington built on a Yugo 24/47 Mauser action. The Yugo action is a medium length action which lets me seat bullets out further than most short actions like a Remington 700 SA so I can get all the potential out of it powder capacity wise.

I turned a VZ-24 Mauser into a 6 mm Rem several years back. It has been used as a deer rifle for the last two years by a 10 and now 11 Year old hunter. Every deer he shot it at has dropped in it's tracks.....and as a bonus, it can throw a 55 grain BT at 4,000 FPS for varminting. From prairie dogs to deer it's a very spectacular round and as a pronghorn cartridge, it just might be the very best you can own.

BTW, I consider myself as loony as they come and these questions stay in my head and make me even loonier, if that's possible.

And also, I'm better covered than you, without a 6mm/.243, I think because I have a .250 Savage which many believe covers a .243, but I still believe there's enough gap between them to be worth having both. Now THAT"S Loony.

So, what you’re really asking is “what good is it to you?” You have your bases covered pretty well, so I suspect you’re struggling with our old friends Need and Want. Good luck!

All my young life I hankered after a .243 or a 6mm. Honestly can’t recall seeing one in a gun store, except a Model 88 I saw in Cumberland, MD when I was 14, which was just not a possibility. Eventually, well-stricken in years, I found a decent, but not pristine, Bofors Sako .243 on GB. I was off to the races. Gave that to my son after killing a deer with it. It was followed by a Hawkeye AW, a fast-twist No.1V .243, a Fieldcraft 6CM, a Howa Alpine .243, and the latest- a Howa 6CM I stuffed into a Weatherby stock. The last three are still here. Should never have sold the Hawkeye.

Still have a couple of .270s, my latest .308, two .223s, and a 6.5 Grendel, but the 6s get a lot of attention. Only the Grendel gets out more, because this one has just been so easy, and I don’t fuss over barrel life with it like with the .24s. If you want something else to fret over, think about getting one of those.

That is pretty much it. I'm to the point now where I'm finding I really need something before I start making room in the rack.

I've got the loads all ready to take a deer with the 223 REM
I've taken groundhog with the 25-06

I've pretty much filled the gap, but I feel like there should be some more there there.

As "primarily a deer hunter" who already has a .223 and a.25-06. No, you don't "need" a .243. Having .223, .22-250, .243 and 6.5 Creedmoor myself, I don't need a .243 either but I like it and I'm keeping it.

I'm kind of like you shaman, I've pretty much always had a .222/.223 and a bunch of 30 calibers but nothing in between until I traded for a 243 about 5 years ago. The past couple years I've been playing around with my Tikka T3 SS Superlight and I have come to really like it a lot. I dinked around for a while but I think I have come to a configuration that I really like. I put a picatinny rail on it and mounted a Burris E1 3-9x40 with a German #4 illuminated dot. I also painted the stock to make the surface more grippy. From what I've read, 95 NBT's and 100 Hornady SP's will be great on deer (haven't shot one with it yet). Also very pleasant to shoot with much milder recoil than my 30-06 or 308's. It will be seeing a lot more time in the woods this fall now that I have it set up the way I like. GLWYS

Same for me and the way I justify it is to say it's not about the cartridge and more about the rifle.

I suspect that given a practiced eye you will see some conspicuous holes in your collection. Single shots? Lever guns? Mannlicher stocks, combo guns? The gun world is your oyster with the right perspective.

FWIW I've killed far more deer with my .243 than other calibers. With it and my .300 H&H I could hunt anything I desire to yet the safe is "full".

Maybe consider the fast twist 22-250 instead? Or the .22 CM which I have yet to play with.

Nothing at all wrong with the 6mm cartridges...

The only cartridge I have used that put down deer faster than a 243 (100gr CoreLokts) is the 25-05. This is my experience. YMMV

Can you target shoot out at your 450? Or just hunt out there? A 6 would be nice in that regard. Course I set up my Whelen for target shooting and steel plate. Can't say that I'm a loony. Lol.

Yes. We put a 12" steel plate up in the pasture. The deer and turkey eat around it. However, the plate is less than 50 yards from one of our top-producing deer blinds. In the off season, we ring the gong with everything we can think of.

Shaman, You could replace about 1/2 of you safe with a couple of 6mm, .243s

The 6mm or .243, for me works as an all around every day rifle, for me it takes the place of the .222---.223---22-250---250-3000-- to name a few, depends on what loads i am shooting 55 gr. at 3800 fps up to 115gr at 2850 fps,The 6mm, 243, is a very good long range and target rnd, very accurate, Kills way above it's pay grade hunting, it may not be the worlds best all around but it's damn close. Rio7

shaman, it sounds like you could get by just fine with any one of the rifles you currently own, but you've got several calibers, so what's one more or less?

I've got it pretty well covered also, smallest CF (depending on how you look at it) .222 or .25-20. Largest, depending on how you look at it, probably would be .45-70. So I have .224's, .257's, .264's, .277, .284's, .308's, and .458. That's not even getting into handguns. However, I don't have, and never have had, a 6mm or any kind. I have loaded for a couple of .243's, but have never had an interest in the cartridge myself. If I were to get a 6mm, it would probably be a 6mm Remington. If the right rifle in .243 or 6mm Remington were waved in front of me, at the right price, I'd probably grab it, but I don't have enough interest in either cartridge to seek one out.

I have a couple and a 25/06. The 25/06 is very light recoiling, and easy to shoot, the .243's are not as versatile imo.
A looney, in Canada is our 1 dollar coin so it is a confusing term here.

.243, 107 smk, Rio7

If you have a 25-06 and are satisfied with its accuracy, I can't see how you would "need" a 0.243" bore rifle.

The only advantage that the 243 WIN has over the 25-06 where I live is that if you shoot factory ammo, it is more common and less expensive on dealer shelves during normal times. Factory ammo inventories for the other production 0.243" and 0.257" bore cartridges runs from uncommon to never seen.

While I have a lot of rifles, I recognize that I could easily get by with the trio of 223, 6.5 CM, and 338 FED for anything that I'd want to shoot in the contiguous 48 States.

I’m no expert, but I’ve got a 350 Rem mag, 35 Whelen, 264 win mag. And my go to rifle is a 6mm Rem, with 85 grain Barnes, and Reloader 19.