Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints What varmint cartridge on a Model 70 standard length action?

I was thinking of the same thing... looking at a 6mm on a 284 case....

I had a push feed LA Model 70 7x57 rebarreled to 6mm Remington. As best I recall it was 1-10 twist. IMR 3031 worked well with the lighter bullets.

Just leave it as a .270win.,there is no rule saying the critters can't be extra dead.

Even Elmer Keith agrees the .270 is a good coyote gun.

I built it on the Long action so i could seat the bullet out where they belong on the 6mm Rem. I built my 243 on the Left Hand Short Action Montana 99. I haven't been without a 6mm Rem since 1971

Well... if you are looking to rebarrel into something else..

Any short action cartridge can work in a standard action.

As far as some interesting and unique options...

I would be inclined to look at the following.

6mm rem ackley

257 ackley

6.5-284

6.5-06

or just a plain ol 25-06 or 257 roberts

I have a 30/06 length Mauser sporter en route in 6mm/244 AI. I will let you know what my results are but in looking at data I am liking the idea of the fairly high BC 87gr bullets at 3500-3600fps or 105 Low Drag bullets at 3200. Still think if I was building from the ground up I would build a 224TTH aka 22/6mm.

Took the words right outta my mouth.

Might do the Swift AI and a 9 twist to use heavier bullets if you want something different.

Another name for the Improved Swift is the 220 Weatherby Rocket. Other than a radiused shoulder they are about the same cartridge. I always wanted to play with one of these, party because I have an affinity for oldie moldie wildcats like my 30 Belted Newton and 348AI.

Mis Spent WAY too much time memorizing the PO Ackley books in my youth!

Will the 240 weatherby work with an '06 bolt face?

Perfectly, but is merely a 6mm/06 with a belt added. You get the same exact cartridge without having to pay through the nose for brass and ammo by just reaming to 6/06 instead. And I do mean EXACTLY the same cartridge, not just close. And then, there is that 6mm case necked down to 224, aka the 224TTH but I think that one has been mentioned before in this thread.......

I will be the odd man out here & say the standard ol' .243 with a 1 in 12" twist. You could shoot from 55 to 85 gr bullets. This would cover everything from prairie dogs to deer. An 85 gr Speer BTSP through the lungs of a deer & it is lights out. It is my favorite in the .243.

My .243 is built on a standard length action and having a little extra magazine length is zero problems.

Ya makes sense to shoot those 110gr, HP in that 270. You then have a nice set up wouldn't mess up my day... As for us 220 swift guys, I'll give us a helpin hand. The shot out barrel deal was from years ago when guys shot 40gr. bullets around 4000fps. Todays swift with much better bullets shootin 50-55gr. and SS barrels, new and improved powders, keeps the swift as the #1 .224 dia. cartridge. If a guy wanted he could take a shorter twisted barrel get into the heavier .224 bullets and have a beautiful little deer rifle. All those .223 guys who's chin dropped, SORRY...later

25-06 without a doubt.


Travis

The more likely you are going to do rodents, or a high rate of fire, the smaller the case.
The fewer shots, the bigger.
Along that progression, I'd go 6 Rem, 6 Imp, 257 Roberts, 257 Imp, and finally 25.06.
The last would be a 26er, as the 25-06 can use it fine.
I loved my 25.06 to death, it's becoming a 257 AI in its next life.

If you are going to go 25 anything, no reason to go anything lesser than a 257WBY. You have gone waaaaayy past watching your own hits and low barrel heating at this point so you may as well do it all the way, and right. In a 30/06 length action, that ROY round is THE 25cal to have and consider. But, any and all 25's kick more than is needed for a pure varmint rifle. Varmint guns start at the 17's but all of those are too short to make full use of your actions lenght capbilities and varmint class rounds are best represented by the 224's by a large margin for known and sound reasons and really top out at the 6mm's.

with anything in the 25-28 cal range you have built yourself an all purpose hunting rifle that you CAN use some for varminting, just like when I shoot ground squireels with my 416 Rigby, but anything over 6mm/243 a serious compromise for such and not what your stated intent was when you started this thread.

The 25-06 is a great varmint rifle using 75g bullets for p-dogs as long as you can afford 56g of powder in each round. The 87g bullets at 3600 fps for coyotes is hard to beat. It has much better range than the .22s. I just returned from a p-dog hunt where I was able to plink dogs starting at the range where the 22-250s, .220 Swifts and 58g 6mms ended (the 6mm does have some range though with bigger bullets).

Even my Weatherby Ultralight is in 25-06 rather than the .257 Wby because I get nearly the same velocity with much less cost, (mainly because of the long freebore). I shot a 25-06 improved for many years and it was great but I got a little tired of fire forming cases for performance improvement I really didn't need. I also suggest the 26 inch barrel for speed though although it will work in 24 inch. I don't mind the 10 twist either so I can shoot very long range Berger 115s too. These will do p-dogs at 1000 yards if you have a shooter and optics. I shoot 75g at 3750 and can get 100g going 3550 if desired although my most accurate 100g goes 3350. The only problem with the 25-06 is that you are likely to leave your .270 in the closet come coyote, antelope and deer season (just like I did). Used it a couple of weeks ago to take a running antelope at 100 yards and a standing one at 500 yards. It is a downright deadly coyote and antelope rifle. The speed really reduces the lead on running game nearly like the 22-250.

If you are going to ditch the 270 barrel, why not play with it while you are deciding what to rebarrel it to..

I was playing with a 270 of mine the other guy, with some 90 gr HP Sierras and some 90 grain Speer TNTs...

the chronograph had them in excess of 3600 fps with Sierra and Speer load data...

no prairie dogs to test them out on, but some manzanita trees volunteered unknowingly, and the impact of the 90 grainers and some left over 100 grain HP Hornadys blew the living crap out of the wood upon impact...

next time I am in Montana with my buddy outside of Billings shooting prairie dogs, I'll have to bring one and say 50 to 100 bullets just to see what it can do, both close and at long range....

with those 90 grain bullets, it negates the need for a 25/06 for varminting...

Lets just keep this whole idea rolliking merily along...No need for smaller bores for varmints at all! Just load lighter bullets for your big bore and be happy. Makes one wonder why all those old timers even THOUGHT of stuff like the 22 Hornet, the 218 Bee, the 219 Zipper etc. All they needed to do was load 110 grain bullets in thier '03-A3's and rock on. Heck, I can move the 300 grain bullets out of my 416 Rigby at 222 velocites, why do I need a specialized varmint rifle? I should just keep that one and sell everything else. BC's and SD's be damned, just need a short, fast, wide bullet and don't worry about recoil, barrel life, noise, and the other little details the other pioneers of varmint shooting have been worrying over for the past hundred or so years. We all should have thought of it sooner.

Dat's what I'd do!

Uhh, if ya noticed the first line of my post, I suggested that he play with the 270 barrel since he planned on getting rid of it anyway, and was waiting for its replacement...