Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles which 6mm caliber for the ar

So I shot 3 pigs with it, 1 sow about 170 pounds at 40 yards or so, and two shoats. I am running the bullet over 23.5 grains of TAC by no means am I pushing on it and it produces good MOA or better accuracy. For some reason I cannot get it to shoot well from the carbine with a max load. The sow dropped at the shot into her right shoulder and did not move again, I asked the butcher to look for the bullet but they could not find it, and I did not see an exit wound. I was impressed to say the least regards the immediate lethality. I like the TSX bullets, I just don't like the exit holes that they make.

I got this effect with the 80 gr. TTSX in my .240 Wby, pushing it around 3,600 fps. Shot this doe at 80 yds. in a food plot, she ran 100 yds into wood and it took a while to find her.

Seems most of the damage was between the shoulder and rib cage. I pulled double hands full of clot from the big gaping hole you see. There was some damage to the heart and lungs and a 1 1/2" exit hole.

I'm looking at other bullets, hopefully to get more damage INSIDE the chest.

DF

Shot placement, shot placement.............

Right behind the shoulder, right in the boiler room...

I could have made a high shoulder shot, clipping her spine. She's have dropped, but with that bullet at 3,600 fps, I'd probably have trashed both shoulders.

DF

And sometimes they just run. Even with good shot placement. When you hunt thick woods, being able to trail a hit deer means everything. There is no magic bullet......

You right about that.

Just looking for a bit more magic than this...

DF

The TSX bullets do fine, my last deer I shot with a 62 grain TSX caught one shoulder but it ran 25 yards, the blood trail was sparse, exit hole about nickle size, busted the heart up, trashed right shoulder but came out behind the left shoulder and low as I shot it from a tripod stand at 50 yards or so. I like them for use but I think you should hit bone if possible.

I guess hard bullets need their own strategy, like high shoulder shots, hopefully clipping the spine. Frag type bullets should probably go thru the boiler room, blowing up the heart and lungs, staying away from bones.

DF

dirtfarmer

For what you want, you need to get away from Barnes.

Some folks just desire the results you are after and IMHO even bone shots with Barnes will not do what a bullet coming apart inside an animal will do.

I"ve never had an issue trailing and I"ve mentioned and been dinged before, that I actually enjoy following the trail after the shot. Its part of the experience to me.

But when I do desire no trailing the CNS is the ONLY way to do it consistently and I do that with an easy head shot. I won't try any of the others due to target size and complexity.

IMHO you might want to be looking towards a partition or BT type of bullet for the results you want.

And IMHO, you don't get the bang flops even with them, without speed helping it.

Used to ( before we knew better) shoot 243 with 80 grain soft points. I had more deer flop from ribs only lung shots than I can remember. That was fragmentation and speed combo.

Then learned the bullets were not that great at penetration, and went to 105 speers and had almost all deer run, but not that far.

So back to the shot placment, yes yours was good, but it might need to be different and with different bullet.

Jeff

BTW I bought a 50 beowulf years ago, since we had a deflection in a swamp, hit a vine I never saw and broke a deers leg. I seriously doubt the deer ever died, but wife and I followed him for almost 6 hours before we gave up, got glimpses and no shots.

I've shot probably 10 deer and some pigs with that big round, and big barnes. I call em flying ashtrays because the HP is so big.

Start with a 50 cal in, and end up with an inch or so out, cuts a big swath. Have yet to see anything fall over with the gun. OTHO I have yet to see anything make it more than about 50 yards and generally a hair less.
You would think with the big bullet, that it would help some, but it really doesn't seem to IMHO. Of course I do have exit holes that are big enough to bleed, but always got that with 223. But have entry holes big enough to bleed is a rare thing with 223. With 50 not so.

BTW I did shoot a buck with my 6.8 necked to 6mm and 85 tsx years ago. Around 80-90 yards I guess, looking at me and shot him in the chest through the heart. Bullet exited. But basically had to skin the deer to find the exit through the ham. THe amazing thing, I didn't waste much meat at all, a bit of bloodshot in the ham.

Had I shot that deer same way with the 7x300 wtby and 180 bergers... the ham would have been a waste.

rost,

Your 50 Beowulf sounds a like my .45-70 "primitive" BPCR, pushing 250 gr. TSX's at 2,550 fps. That bullet looks like an ashtray turned the wrong way. It does hit with a wallop.

I shot a young pig thru the chest. It blew lung and heart tissue thru the opposite chest wall. When I dressed the pig, the inside of the far rib cage had an inch and a half exit hole and the ribs from the inside looked fractured, with break lines extending out from the exit hole in multiple directions. Never saw anything like that before.

DF

I had a AR15 in 6x45, 20" bbl accurate as heck and no issue dropping antelope. I sold it and built a Savage SA, 6x45 24" bbl & it hammers antelope at 400 yds w/no problem. 7 antelope date w/it and none walked more then 30 yards w/sierras 85g GKHP & 95g Nosler HBT bullet.
It hammers coyote to 600 yds w/ease.
not the 6mm you want though I see.
In your case Id take a hard look at the 6mm DTI, 6mmAR, 243 WSSM for more speed w/the same bullets.
I don't like the Barnes bullets either for thin skinned game.