• This Forum is for adults 18 years of age or over. By continuing to use this Forum you are confirming that you are 18 or older. No content shall be viewed by any person under 18 in California.

6gt, 6xc, or 6 Creed for lighter projectiles?

6.5grendel

I will be putting together a new coyote rifle for night time hunting and wanting something flat shooting in 6mm to run the 58-75gr projectiles. I would also like to be able to run 100-105's in it in the off season for shooting longer range. The barrel will be 18" 1:8 twist and will be running a suppressor all the time. Freebore on the the 3 chambers is 6gt .120, 6xc .160, and 6 Creed .183. Would I gain anything with the shorter freebores for the lighter projectiles or would the loss of velocity of the shorter freebore cartridges not be worth it? This rifle will be for thermal hunting at night and wanting to be able to hold dead on out to 300 using the lighter projectiles. Would one of these clambering benefit me noticeably more than the others?
 
Ford, Chevy, Toyota .. pick your poison. They'll all do the job without a "noticeable" difference. I'm an XC guy personally on the benchrest scene, so my applications are different, but those freebores are long in my world. I shoot a .090 freebore with 107's at 1000, most chose a .115-120 for a 105 class bullet. You aren't exactly jamming bullets though.. You're really going to be jumping the lighter bullets with a .160-.183 freebore. 6 creed, was just a copy of the XC and it's been a proven round for feeding. I'm biased, b/c I've won a lot of matches with that round, but any 6 variant is within a few hundred fps of each other, shooting same pills. Like I said, each will work.. pick one and go with it. Me personally, would have slightly shorter freebore in the 120's range depending on what bullet you want to use (which is part of the equation you didn't mention)

I know it doesn't help, but you'll get 50 different answers on which is "best" based on personal preference. I'd choose XC... but that's my preference. I'm sure many others would argue the creed is better, but why shoot more powder for same performance? Just my .02 that isn't worth much
 
6GT, or 6x47 Lapua.

Freebore around .100 will work for flat based Varmint bullets 70 grains or more, and still let you shoot up to the 109 or maybe even a little larger.

Peterson 6x47 is good but thicker in the neck than Lapua on some lots.

GT brass is good if you use the alpha Reamer, which has plenty of neck clearance…. But it’s a .120 freebore so that’ll limit some of your smaller bullet choices.
 
I have a 50 freebore 6xc reamer for exactly the bullet weights you said. You can also shoot 105s and 108s. If you use the 160 free bore you are going to be jumping. That's not necessarily a bad thing but for the bullets you said 160 is pretty long.

You might just skip all that all together and just get a 22 XC. The 75 ELDM is quite good on varmints and you could shoot all the way up to the 88 ELdM which has nearly the same ballistic coefficient as the 105.
 
urbanrifleman said:
I have a 50 freebore 6xc reamer for exactly the bullet weights you said. You can also shoot 105s and 108s. If you use the 160 free bore you are going to be jumping. That's not necessarily a bad thing but for the bullets you said 160 is pretty long.

You might just skip all that all together and just get a 22 XC. The 75 ELDM is quite good on varmints and you could shoot all the way up to the 88 ELdM which has nearly the same ballistic coefficient as the 105.
Click to expand...
I'm glad you responded because I plan on getting the barrel from you if possible. That's why I am picking from those 3 chamberings. Those options came from the list of chamberings on your site. I saw the 50 freebore 6xc but I figured that was way too short to run the heavier 105's. I was considering the 22 creedmoor but wanted something a little more universal that I could also use for deer hunting. Thats why I narrowed it down to something 6mm. How have the results been with the 50 freebore 6xc with heavier bullets? Do they have to be seated extremely deep to fit in that chambering?
 
600-1000. Was also hoping to be able to use it for deer hunting using 95-103gr projectiles. The main reason for building the gun is super flat shooting with more energy than 223 for coyotes but that is only 2 months of the year and didn't want to build a gun that is useless to me for the rest of the year. Was hoping the kids or wife could use it for deer season and also use it to shoot with me at the range. I realize I am wanting a gun to do 2 completely opposite roles but was hoping I could find a chambering that wouldn't be best at either role but would be a compromise for both uses. I hope that makes sense.
 
I understand completely with what you're wanting to do, as I got into thermals a couple years ago.

I agree that fast & flat is where it's at for night time, however, I've not had much luck getting the accuracy I want shooting smaller bullets in fast twists. Holding on hair to 300 is tougher, and can be costly for closer shots.

My last 5 barrels have all been 12" twists, just for the speed/accuracy factor.

Here's a 223 chart I made the other day on a thread about speed. It's with 22 bullets but still a valid comparison when comparing BC and speeds.

Charts to chew on, drops 1st, wind drifts 2nd......

52 SMK at 3400.
100 + 1.3 - 1.2
200 - O - 5.0
300 - 6.8 - 12.1
400 - 21.1 - 23.4
500 - 46.2 - 40.0


40 Vmax at 3750:
100 + 1.0 - 1.2
200 - O - 5.1
300 - 5.8 - 12.3
400 - 18.4 - 24.0
500 - 41.1 - 41.1


53 Vmax at 3400:
100 + 1.1 - .9
200 - O - 3.8
300 - 5.9 - 8.9
400 - 17.9 - 16.9
500 - 37.7 - 28.0
 
alf said:
I understand completely with what you're wanting to do, as I got into thermals a couple years ago.

I agree that fast & flat is where it's at for night time, however, I've not had much luck getting the accuracy I want shooting smaller bullets in fast twists. Holding on hair to 300 is tougher, and can be costly for closer shots.

My last 5 barrels have all been 12" twists, just for the speed/accuracy factor.

Here's a 223 chart I made the other day on a thread about speed. It's with 22 bullets but still a valid comparison when comparing BC and speeds.

Charts to chew on, drops 1st, wind drifts 2nd......

52 SMK at 3400.
100 + 1.3 - 1.2
200 - O - 5.0
300 - 6.8 - 12.1
400 - 21.1 - 23.4
500 - 46.2 - 40.0


40 Vmax at 3750:
100 + 1.0 - 1.2
200 - O - 5.1
300 - 5.8 - 12.3
400 - 18.4 - 24.0
500 - 41.1 - 41.1


53 Vmax at 3400:
100 + 1.1 - .9
200 - O - 3.8
300 - 5.9 - 8.9
400 - 17.9 - 16.9
500 - 37.7 - 28.0
Click to expand...

53 vmax is what I have been running the last 2 years in the 223 for night hunting but only at 3205fps with the 18" barrel. It has done alright just have had a several spinners and runners with well placed shots that I think should have dropped. So now I'm looking for something flatter and harder hitting. I have also wondered how the lighter projectiles would do accuracy wise with the 8 twist and was wondering if I would have to go with a slower twist to get the accuracy out of them. I've pushed 58 vmax's to 3820fps in my 8 twist 6BR playing around with them and they didn't come apart but didn't do any accuracy testing with them. But that gun is just way to long for what I want in a coyote gun especially with a suppressor.
 
Buy two barrels. One for long range and one for hunting varmints. That’s what I did in the 6XC. One barrel is 28” and the other is 24”. It’s a nutted barrel so you can change barrels out easily. I bought another action so I didn’t have to do this but it is easily doable. Any of the three caliber options you listed will work well. I would go with the one that’s the easiest to get components for. I agree with the other posters answers but Petey the most.
 
6.5grendel said:
I'm glad you responded because I plan on getting the barrel from you if possible. That's why I am picking from those 3 chamberings. Those options came from the list of chamberings on your site. I saw the 50 freebore 6xc but I figured that was way too short to run the heavier 105's. I was considering the 22 creedmoor but wanted something a little more universal that I could also use for deer hunting. Thats why I narrowed it down to something 6mm. How have the results been with the 50 freebore 6xc with heavier bullets? Do they have to be seated extremely deep to fit in that chambering?
Click to expand...

You can use the 105s with a 50 fb (my friend does that) if you have concern then just go to the 100. I wouldn't stress over the freebore that much. Most of these varmint bullets really don't need to be at the lands to shoot small. People get really crazy about needing to be near the lands with a VMAX and that's not true at all. I used to hunt with a guy who shot VMAX ammo and that was at magazine length and it shot half minute or less.

My girlfriend shoots with me every weekend now and she has yet to shoot a load that was made for the barrel. All she has shot has been magazine length stuff that I made up for my AR-15 and my eight twist barrel will shoot those into tiny groups. All different kinds of bullets. Most of the varmint bullets and match bullets are very jump tolerant.

Truthfully I'd probably just get the Tubb 160 and then jump the varmint bullets and move on with my life.
 
Last edited:
Go with the one that offers the best available brass options. I think you can get factory ammo for the 6 Creed if that might help in a pinch, but I personally have never looked into it.

Regards
Rick
 
I plan to find out what a 58 vmax will do to a coyote out of a 6x45 this winter. But i can say not pretty with a 108 eldm in a 6mm creedmoor. Never had a 1 shot drt with that bullet. Just never tried another bullet with it. Instead went back to 22's and 20's
 
Any of them will be solid choices for your stated application. I would reconsider the freebore lengths if you want to shoot lighter bullets optimally.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Upgrades & Donations

This Forum's expenses are primarily paid by member contributions. You can upgrade your Forum membership in seconds. Gold and Silver members get unlimited FREE classifieds for one year. Gold members can upload custom avatars.


Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.

You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.


To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.

Classified Ads

Forum statistics

Threads
165,703
Messages
2,201,115
Members
79,060
Latest member
Trayarcher99

Share This Page

Back
Top