I'm getting ready to rebarrel a 22-250 and had been considering the 6 br. I saw that you mentioned a 6mm-250 and it has intrigued me. I've pretty much decided against the 6br in favor of a 250 based 6mm, but I can't make up my mind between a 6-250 and a 6-250 AI. What are your thoughts on any benefits of one over the other.
My thinking is that a 70 BT out of one at about 3500 would be an awesome long range chuck shooter.
Hi Bluedot,
I've used the 6-250 quite a bit and have always found it to be a wonderful, accurate cartridge. The 6-250, in various forms, has been around forever. Folks, for some reason, keep reinventing it.
The version I used, it seems to me, makes the most sense. It will take a bit of explaining, so please read carefully.
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Most folks believe that the .22-250 is simply a necked-down .250 Savage. This is not true. The .250's shoulder angle is 26 degrees, 30 minutes and the .22-250 has a shoulder angle of 28 degrees. Also, most sources agree that the dimension between the case head and the shoulder is roughly .003" more forward on the .22-250 (a result of the sharper shoulder, no doubt).
In building my rifle, I wanted to use the best brass, so it just made sense to base my 6-250 case on the .22-250
necked-up to .243", rather than the .250 Savage case
necked down. The popularity of the .250 Savage has been dwindling for years and basically the quality of available brass sucks. (With sincere apologies to .250 savage fans, the brass is horrible). The situation is dramatically different with the .22-250 brass; the cartridge is very, very popular and the brass is excellent.
As an aside: My wife, Karen kills big furry critters with a .250 Ackley. After my last supply of decent Winchester .250 Savage cases died, its replacements were totally unacceptable. For the last several years, I've been forced to totally rely on necked up and fireformed .22-250 brass to keep Karen's .250 Ackley shooting. It is an easy process and the quality of cases is superb.
OK, so my 6-250 is actually a 6X22-250. And, in reading the above, you now know why.
By the way, Redding calls it 6X22-250 and, yes, Redding makes dies.
The finest load in my barrel produces slightly over 3,400 fps with the Nosler Ballistic Tip.
Frankly, I did not Improve the cartridge because I'd be simply duplicating the .243 Winchester, which is itself a "semi-Improved" round.
When I built the 6-250, what I wanted was a throttled-down round that gave 6BR performance (plus a bit) and that would function through a magazine (which the 6BR will not). Coyotes always hunt in pairs and I cannot tell you how many times I've killed one....been patient....and killed the mate.
I used a 6BR for coyotes, but eventually found that the single-shot is a poor predator concept. Better to nail the first dog, cycle the bolt and be ready for the second dog.
When I wrote my article for VH on the 6-250, it was amazing how few readers understood my reasoning. I wanted a modest cartridge, not one that goes balls-to-the-wall. It was either my poor communication with words, or the reader's total obsession with GO FAST, that prevented the concept from being clear to the average reader. A few caught it, and those who did were excited about the 6-250.
Frankly, if you want 3,500 fps out of the 70-grain bullets, I'd fully recommend going to the standard .243 Winchester. The cases are generally excellent, there is lots of load data and the dies would be both less expensive and more numerous. The .243 Winchester is your best choice.
Hope this helps,
Steve