Opinions on 6Br for 1000 yd max Range with 22" or less Barrel?

[Millron]

In 2019 I'm going to be having a new rifle built. This is strictly for recreational shooting and maybe a bit of varmint hunting thrown in the mix. Rifle will be built on a Bighorn Origin Action w/ Medium Palma Profile. I want to keep the barrel at 22" as it will be shot suppressed 100% of the time. More than 30" of barrel just gets awful unwieldy to me so my functional limit with suppressor attached is about 30" total. I've been waffling a bit between 6BR and 6.5 Creedmoor. I was all settled on the creedmoor route, but lately have circled back to the 6Br for the sole reason of its inherent accuracy. If I'm being honest with myself, 75% of my shooting is 100-300 yard because thats the range I have at my house. Right now I do have access to our private 600 yd range as well; but hope to be extending that to 1000 yds in early summer once the ground dries up and we can do some dirt work. I have other long range rifles in 300 Win Mag & 7mm-08AI, so if I ever desire to go any farther I have that somewhat covered. At the current moment the 6BR and the creedmoor are the only two cartridges I'm considering. The main benefit to creedmoor that I see for my uses is the availability of reasonably priced factory ammo. I reload but I find myself having less time to do so, so availability of factory ammo is high on the list. The 6BR has fewer options, but what is out there is excellent, but at 2x the cost of the Creedmoor. I have everything for the rifle in my possesion except for the barrel.



My requirements are as follows:
1. Factory ammo available.
2. Lapua Brass Available
3. Must be able to Feed from AICS magazines (6Br will need mag kit from either TS Customs)
4. Decent Barrel life (at least 2,000 Rds)

I don't have much experience with either cartridge. Will the 6BR be too compromised at 1000 yd with only the 22" Barrel? Here are the Pro/Cons for each. Please let me know if I'm missing something. This is likely the last rifle I'm going to buy/build for awhile so I want to get it right.

6BR Pros
1. Possibly More "inherently" accurate. Some consider it to be the best 600 yd cartridge out there
2. Varget is a great powder for it (of which I have quite a significant supply)
3. High Quality Factory Ammo
4. Great Barrel Life & Lower Recoil

Cons
1. Not many options for factory ammo, and what is available is expensive.
2. Ability past 600 yds out of shorter barrels
3. More difficult in getting it to function as a repeater because of the case design

6.5 Creedmoor Pros
1. Great Factory Ammo Options
2. Better Ballistically at longer ranges

Cons
1. While not a heavy recoilng cartridge in the least, it has more than a 6Br
2. Possibly shorter Barrel Life
3. Theoretically less accurate than a 6BR

 

[kthomas]

A 22" 6BR will get to 1,000 yards. If you are just recreationally shooting for fun, then it should fulfill your needs nicely. Fun little cartridge.

 

[Sheldon N]

With your described purposes I like the 6BR. With a 22" barrel you're looking at 2750-2800 fps with a 105 bullet, which will get you to 1000 yards no problem. You'll have more wind drift than a 6.5 Creed (something like 0.4 mil more at 10mph) and only about 60% of the energy, but if you use a thinner piece of steel at 1k (1/4") and hang it in a fashion that is reactive then you'd have no problem shooting/spotting your hits and misses. Inside of 600 yards it's going to be more fun to shoot and likely more accurate too. Great for varmints too, just loads some 75 or 87 V-max and go to town.

 

[hlee]

I guy in my squad at the last match I shot was shooting a 6br. His comment was that a spotter really has to be on their game to spot hits at distance. He said it doesn't really move the target much, way out there...

 

[Supersubes]

The 6.5 doesn’t have anywhere near the varmint bullet offerings the 6 does. Inside 600 yards, the BR is an easy choice. The 87 vmax’s are cheap, and do really well even at long range.

 

[earthquake]

My 6BR built on a Bighorn TL3 is 24" and a joy to shoot. I run it suppressed from time to time. Finding an accurate load is stupid easy. About 30-gr Varget under a 105 and start pulling the lever on that rockchucker....easy button. Since switching to BR cased cartridges, I don't spend much time reloading....it seems every load works very well, especially if you just plan on plinking. Good luck!

 

[Millron]

Thanks for the responses, giving me something to think about. I've done a little more googling and it looks like Lapua ammo is available for about $1.80 per round. While not "cheap" it is coming loaded with Lapua case which is a definate plus. One of the big draws for me, is pretty much it seems like a forgone conclusion in that you can pick a 95-105 grain bullet, load it up with a known charge weight of Varget, and its going to shoot well.

Any suggestions on 6BR reamer specs to be used w/o neck turning? .271-.272 seems to be the consensus from what I've read so far.

 

[earthquake]

Thanks for the responses, giving me something to think about. I've done a little more googling and it looks like Lapua ammo is available for about $1.80 per round. While not "cheap" it is coming loaded with Lapua case which is a definate plus. One of the big draws for me, is pretty much it seems like a forgone conclusion in that you can pick a 95-105 grain bullet, load it up with a known charge weight of Varget, and its going to shoot well.

Any suggestions on 6BR reamer specs to be used w/o neck turning? .271-.272 seems to be the consensus from what I've read so far.

PVA chambered mine...not sure what specs were though. It's a hammer whatever it is.

 

[bschneiderheinze]

I just built one on a origin action with a 28" barrel and it is crazy accurate out to 1000 I did no load testing just load 30.5 of varget in lapua brass with barnes 105's and after sighting it in at 100 type in some data in AE and hit the sighter plate at 1000 first shot. I haven't come across I easier to load for more accurate cartridge. The 6 creedmoor would be good and would give you better availability of factory ammo cheaper but its somewhat of a barrel burner.

 

[Millron]

I need to run some ballistics, with a 22" barrel and Using Varget and a 105gr bullet, Would 2700-2750 be a reasonable expectation without pushing the brass too hard? Most of the published data I'm finding is with 26-28" barrels, 2800 fps seems to be about the average for the longer barrels.

 

[Sheldon N]

2750 is pretty reasonable estimation. Figure about 19 fps per inch of barrel, so you'd be about 80 fps slower than the standard 2850 from a 26".

 

[6brshooter]

I've had 26" and 18.5" 6br, I got 2925fps with hybrids in the long barrel and 2740 in the shorty using h4895 in both. I came up with a spacer system, ar mag follower, and spring about 7 yrs ago to make aics mags run 6br. Orkan came out with a very nice copy of mine, commercially, about a year after I posted my how-to on here and 6mmbr.com. I'm glad he took the initiative to do it, it's made the popularity of 6br increase.

 

[TexasUplander]

Hard to beat the br from an accuracy standpoint. We're you planning to mag feed or single shot?

 

[Millron]

Hard to beat the br from an accuracy standpoint. We're you planning to mag feed or single shot?

Mag feed

 

[Tunnuh]

I've had 26" and 18.5" 6br, I got 2925fps with hybrids in the long barrel and 2740 in the shorty using h4895 in both. I came up with a spacer system, ar mag follower, and spring about 7 yrs ago to make aics mags run 6br. Orkan came out with a very nice copy of mine, commercially, about a year after I posted my how-to on here and 6mmbr.com. I'm glad he took the initiative to do it, it's made the popularity of 6br increase.

What is the average barrel life?

 

[bribri]

I just found the accuracy node in my 24" barrel at 31.0 grains of Varget with 105 hybrids and it gave me an average velocity of 2825 fps. 31.8 grains gave me just over 2900 fps. So I would say a 22" BR would be more than acceptable at 1k yards.

 

[Gilly]

I’m running 24” br suppressed with ultra 9 at 2840 seems to be a mild load with a 105. 30.5 +\- of varget seems to be the ticket. Shot it to 1000 today with good success. 8.1 mil. It’s sure not my 6x47 with 108 at 3040 forgiving on wind!!! But this thing shoots holes inside of holes! I think inside 750 it’s a very hard cartridge to beat!!!

 

[Millron]

Thanks for the all the info. I ran some numbers, and at the velocities thats been posted, the 6BR on paper does better at 1000 than I would have thought. I will think about this a bit longer, but at this point I'll probably go with the 6BR.

 

[steve123]

The common mistake, which I'm guilty of sometimes and maybe at the moment, is trying to make a cartridge do what it won't do.

I did it with 300BO, with 308, and a few others throughout the years.

OP, the nice thing is that you have bigger guns. If the wind is congenial at 1000Y the 6BR is pretty fun, if not I'm breaking out the 6.5 Saum! Looking at it the other way around, I feel it's a waist shooting the 6.5 Saum inside of 500Y so I'm glad I've got an alternative that's about perfect for medium distances.

I like using only 30ish grains of powder that's for sure and the extra barrel life will be nice.

Plus I lucked out and found 10 pounds of IMR4895 for 13 a pound so positional practice just got a lot cheaper and I want to do that more.

 

[bschneiderheinze]

I look at it this way I shot around 15 PRS matches last year and I would say the average target was 500-600 yards on the high end with only 5-6 being in the 800-1000 range. The 6br is a hammer 600 and inside even if I drop those few long range points I am going to make them up on the shorter distances with the low recoiling insanely accurate br.

 

[chavezz556]

Why not go with a 224 Valkyrie?

Way more factory loads and based on Frank and Brian's data... 1k and in shouldn't be a problem

And you won't burn up the barrel as fast.. Frank said JP has one with 6k on it and it still holds 1/2 minute

 

[BoilerUP]

I have a 20" 1:8 Hawk Hill 6 Dasher.

32.4gr Varget gets me 2800fps with a 107 SMK.

 

[Colt1776]

Thanks for the responses, giving me something to think about. I've done a little more googling and it looks like Lapua ammo is available for about $1.80 per round. While not "cheap" it is coming loaded with Lapua case which is a definate plus. One of the big draws for me, is pretty much it seems like a forgone conclusion in that you can pick a 95-105 grain bullet, load it up with a known charge weight of Varget, and its going to shoot well.

Any suggestions on 6BR reamer specs to be used w/o neck turning? .271-.272 seems to be the consensus from what I've read so far.

@Shanerbanner10 with Paradigm Gunworx’s chambered mine and it’s a hammer. It’s 26” Long and I’ve just been running 30.0 gr of varget with a 107 SMK at 0.020” off the lands and been getting around 2800 FPS just breaking th barrel in it shoots basically the same hole without having to do any load development with it. Definitely a sweet round 1000 yards and in you dont have a lot of energy when you get passed that compared to the 6.5 Creedmoor so if you are doing most of your shooting around the 600 yard mark I’d go with the 6BR no questions asked especially if I was going to be reloading for it.

 

[Shifty6BR]

What is the average barrel life?

My last 8tw 28" Barty tube gave me 3100 accurate rds of life. My charge weight was at 30.3 gr @ 2870fps with jaw dropping accuracy and very easy to shoot. I guess though it would depend on your strings of fire, I never shot my br in any comps or anything, just out in the fields. I no longer have that particular barreled action, but my shooting buddies and I still reminisce about how so accurate that little 6br was.

 

[Tunnuh]

My last 8tw 28" Barty tube gave me 3100 accurate rds of life. My charge weight was at 30.3 gr @ 2870fps with jaw dropping accuracy and very easy to shoot. I guess though it would depend on your strings of fire, I never shot my br in any comps or anything, just out in the fields. I no longer have that particular barreled action, but my shooting buddies and I still reminisce about how so accurate that little 6br was.

That's really good barrel life for a 6mm. I think I'm going to build one.

 

[6brshooter]

Barrel life on a 6br will be between 6.5creed and 308. Go to 6mmbr.com and look at their cartridge page for 6br. They have been working with that cartridge for 25+yrs, not just recently like here.

 

[Jowens]

Anyone ever done a 16.5" or 18" in a 6BR or variant of the 6BR?

I see the 18.5" above. Anyone else

 

[Millron]

Barrel life on a 6br will be between 6.5creed and 308. Go to 6mmbr.com and look at their cartridge page for 6br. They have been working with that cartridge for 25+yrs, not just recently like here.

Agree, ive been looking over that site. Lots of good info there.