6x47or 6.5x47?

[Hunter2678]

Let me just say that I dont normally do one of these threads because 99% of the time I do alot of background & research work off the grid before I decide on something like this. But in this case Id like to hear from those of you who actually own and shoot one of these cartridges for varmints.

So onto the quick and dirty. Got me a rem 700 SA that I'm going to make into a short to midrange varminter (500 and in). Dont want a hot rod cartridge and am thinking of going the 6x47 or 6.5x47 route. Dies should be easy to come by along with top end brass. I dont want a .243 due to the short neck/tapered shoulder,powder usage, dont want a 243ai either. 6SLR is nice but not sure about dies,reamer etc. Id like to keep it under 40gns of powder and I toyed with doing another 22-250 but it was too finicky in the wind for me. I really like 6mms and want something that will still feed great but have more punch, less wind drift, more inherent accuracy while keeping minimal recoil. I did a preliminary search on here but didn't really find much extensive info to help me on finding a good 6.5mm bullet selection compared to the 6mms. Another 6br is my backup plan but Id really like to run this gun as a true repeater (not a single shot) from the factory mag without modding it. Does it sound like Ive already made up my mind? This is a tuffy.

 

[dooley]

try asking "shoot dots" I believe he has both of these calibers.. dooley

 

[ShootDots]

try asking "shoot dots" I believe he has both of these calibers.. dooley

You are correct Dooley, I do have both of these cartridges. However, the OP is looking for a varmint load. That means lighter bullets, non-target bullets and don't go over 40grs of powder. I only have experience with fast -twist / heavy for caliber "target" bullets... I know there are several people on here who have exactly the kind of experience the OP is looking for. I have seen their postings in the "Varmint" section and in the other loading categories..

 

[Hunter2678]

mods feel free to move the thread to varmint land if its a better fit.

 

[Drop Port]

What kind of varmints? It sounds like you are way under estimating the 6 or 6.5x47.(if you are talking about the 47L) At 500 yards and in either will knock the poop out of most varmints. Without knowing what kind of varmints you are hunting the first cartridge to come to mind is the 6br. I built mine for similar purpose but found myself extending it way beyond 500. Don't write off match bullets so quickly the old Bergers were called match bullets before they just changed the packaging and renamed the same old bullet a hunting VLD, funny how people now accept them.

Are you talking about the old 47 or 47L

 

[Erik Cortina]

Do the 6.5x47. I shot 123 gr bullets out of mine and it's great. No need to neck brass down and it will feed flawlessly from a factory mag.

 

[Hunter2678]

Whistle pigs, yotes and crows are what I'm after using 75 to 95 gn bullets.

6x47 lap is what I'm referring to. I've read a few places where it can be a finicky round compared to the other cartridges like the6br, 243, 6.5x47etc...any truth to that?

 

[Erik Cortina]

Whistle pigs, yotes and crows are what I'm after using 75 to 95 gn bullets.

6x47 lap is what I'm referring to. I've read a few places where it can be a finicky round compared to the other cartridges like the6br, 243, 6.5x47etc...any truth to that?

My daughter shoots a 6x47 Lapua and it was extremely easy to tune. All the ones I have seen are shooters. I built her a 6x47 because it feeds and extracts better than the 6BR family from a stock Remington 700.

 

[Preacher]

IMO, the 6x47 Lapua is no more of a problem to get to shooting than either my 22x47L, or my 25x47L, or my 6.5x47L AI....
My 6x47L even likes the 55 grain Kangaroo bullets from Nosler when I'm not using the 105 A-max in it...

 

[Hunter2678]

Good good...what freebore are you guys using on them..again im lookin to focus on the midweight bullets but if I can shoot em all whats the freebore people are having success with?

Whistle pigs, yotes and crows are what I'm after using 75 to 95 gn bullets.

6x47 lap is what I'm referring to. I've read a few places where it can be a finicky round compared to the other cartridges like the6br, 243, 6.5x47etc...any truth to that?

My daughter shoots a 6x47 Lapua and it was extremely easy to tune. All the ones I have seen are shooters. I built her a 6x47 because it feeds and extracts better than the 6BR family from a stock Remington 700.

 

[Hawk Hill]

Good good...what freebore are you guys using on them..again im lookin to focus on the midweight bullets but if I can shoot em all whats the freebore people are having success with?

Whistle pigs, yotes and crows are what I'm after using 75 to 95 gn bullets.

6x47 lap is what I'm referring to. I've read a few places where it can be a finicky round compared to the other cartridges like the6br, 243, 6.5x47etc...any truth to that?

My daughter shoots a 6x47 Lapua and it was extremely easy to tune. All the ones I have seen are shooters. I built her a 6x47 because it feeds and extracts better than the 6BR family from a stock Remington 700.

[/quote
Hunter- I built a 6.5x47 for my sniper comp rifle and have taken many varmints as well. My load is 39grns of varget set .010 off the lands, got 2950fps out of the 130vld target bergers
wind drift is excellent and 7.7 mils of drop @1000yds from a 100yd 0. Shot a couple groups at a grand you could cover with a snuff can with several witnesses. Very accurate round.

 

[flatlander]

For varmint use, I'd jump on the 6x47. I've had several of them, and still have a couple. Easy ctdg to tune; never had a bbl for it that was picky, while I can't say the same for the 6.5x47. My reamer was ground with the use of DTAC 115s in mind, but the bbls I've chambered have always shot lighter stuff (at least down to 85-87gr bullets) very well too. Still have a Krieger 1-7.5tw 6x47 bbl on a SA 700 in a Shehane MBR 1000 stock that was used in BR VS matches for several years with the 87s, but the combination of .236" bore/7.5tw started blowing up Berger 105VLDs & 108 BRHPs when the bbl got hot, so I switched to S107MKs & DTAC 115s, and haven't blown-up anything since.

Would never advise anyone to go with anything faster than a 7.8tw in this chambering. My 1st 6x47 was on a Bartlein .237"bore/8tw, and it shot DTAC 115s as well as either of the 7.5tw Kriegers I started out with, plus it never blew-up any bullet that I put through it.