Suggest a New Caliber for Target Shooting

[skeeljc]

I have a Remington 700 action with a 26" Krieger .223 Heavy Varmint barrel (1 in 12). It is bedded in a Bell & Carson stock and glass is a Vortex 5-25x 50mm FFP. It is a consistent sub 1/2 MOA performer with 52 grain match bullets. I built it for PD shooting.

Looking for caliber suggestions for another build to punch paper at 100, 200, 300 yards. Not particularly interested in fire forming cases.

 

[jpx2rk]

6x45 or 20 Practical, both based on the 223 case. Both work good for PD shooting as well.

 

[JohnKielly]

6BR. Never used a load with them that doesn't shoot.

 

[joshb]

6br or 6.5x47. Easily two of my all time favorites!

 

[littlebuddybr]

6br

 

[6ShotsOr5?]

Since you are only shooting out to 300 you don’t need too much case capacity. If you are competing you may want 30 cal to cut wider holes so maybe a 30BR, but if you like low recoil and reduced powder requirements then maybe 6BR, 6BRA, 6Dasher, or 6XC would suit you. Peterson sells 6BR, 6Dasher, and 6XC brass. I’m not sure who sells 30BR, maybe fireforming for those.

 

[std7mag]

Why not another 223?

 

[Terry]

Remember you can get formed and turned brass from DJ's Brass Service. No need to do it the hard way.

 

[Evan]

20 Vartarg has same bolt face as 223. Brass formed from Lake City is available affordably from several places. Hornady offers off the shelf dies for it. 17gns of powder per shot makes a pound of powder go a very long ways. It also doesn't heat the barrel up much at all so you can keep shooting and shooting. My 20 Vartarg consistently shoots 1" at 300 yards and frequently smaller with the 55gn Berger. 40gn VMax does it too, but you have to work a bit harder to shoot through the wind.

 

[Bill K]

20 VarTarg or a 22 PPC, would give you great fun and accuracy.

 

[skeeljc]

I like the 6x45 idea. I have a lot of .223 brass and I have never owned a wildcat.

Who makes a good moderate priced 6mm SS barrel. Probably go with a Remington Varmint (Senbero) contour. 1 in 8 twist?

 

[ND shooter]

Bet Stan Taylor does

 

[jpx2rk]

I like the 6x45 idea. I have a lot of .223 brass and I have never owned a wildcat.

Who makes a good moderate priced 6mm SS barrel. Probably go with a Remington Varmint (Senbero) contour. 1 in 8 twist?

I ordered a 6x45 from Preferred Barrels for a RAR action, good results so far. First 5 shots were in one ragged hole, but was only at 50 yds. Everything else (different powder/bullet combos) at 100 yds has been sub moa so far, but not the one ragged hole. Nut behind the bolt issues.

6x45 brass is easier to make IMO than 20P as it only takes one pass thru the die to neck up to 6mm vs the 2 passes to neck down to 20 cal, but both are extremely fun to shoot with low recoil for extended shooting sessions (aka PD's). Put a silencer/can on either one and it's similar to a 22lr for the most part. LOL A range buddy calls the 20P with can on it a "mouse fart" when he shot some fouling shots for me. LOL

 

[22vartarg]

+1 for the 20 VarTarg..... it is by far my favorite caliber to shoot. You won’t know what you are missing out on Until you have tried it.

 

[rjtfroggy]

My vote would be for the 6x45. Easy to form, accurate, low recoil free brass on almost every range. I have a x-caliber 1:8 twist shooting 90 & 95 gr. Sierra's 1/4 to 1/2" groups at 100 yards using right around 23 gr. IMR 4895.

 

[Bc'z]

My vote would be for the 6x45. Easy to form, accurate, low recoil free brass on almost every range. I have a x-caliber 1:8 twist shooting 90 & 95 gr. Sierra's 1/4 to 1/2" groups at 100 yards using right around 23 gr. IMR 4895.

What is your overall length with a 95gr Sierra and twist rate?
I was gifted a box and have been considering trying them.

6x45 is my biased opinion

 

[rjtfroggy]

Base to ogive 1.925 barrel 1:8 on Savage action.
If you want the load check your PM.

 

[rkittine]

This will be modification of your current rifle or a whole new build?

 

[skeeljc]

This will be modification of your current rifle or a whole new build?

Thinking of having new barrel fitted to my current Rem 700. That way I can change the barrels myself.

 

[AckleymanII]

skee, you have a small bolt face. Want to kick it up a notch? Go 223 AI or a 22/204! The target shooting will get very, very interesting to say the least! The AI and the 22/204 give you another 150-200 fps over the std 223, make the barrel as long as you can stand, add a muzzle break. You will know that shooting groups in the 2's is just ho humm.

Match the freebore length with the bullet and twist rate...deal done. Shooting H335 will give you an unbelievable amount of barrel life.

It sure makes a guy feel good to sit down and shoot tiny groups, change powder with more tiny groups, change bullets with more tiny groups.