The Long Range Rabbit Hole - 6mm Fun SAKO S20

[JG26_Irish]

I have been a marksman, hunter, competitor since I was 10y old. I qualified NRA Expert in smallbore at age 11. Shot rifle team in college, hunted, shot IPSC, national RO, long range varmint hunter, etc. Between the Obama years when there was no ammo thru the Trump years when I was just too old to pick up the brass, I had shifted most of my shooting sports activity to rimfire bench rest (former national champion) to rimfire PRS and really enjoyed all of them. But deep down, I was missing my centerfire stuff and as I learned more about long range precision with the little 22's, I slowly began to get back into center fire shooting more. First, I got another 223 bolt gun and began stretching it out but I was already shooting 22lr out to 400y and out past about 600y I found the 223 lacking due to wind drift, etc. I do have it hitting the 1/2moa plate at 400y most of the time. That is the limit of the range I normally frequent but we also have another that goes out to just past 900y and I have shot there some and enjoyed it. Well, I got the hots to build up a 6mm of some kind. I consulted a gunsmith in my area who I respect more than most. He was a SF sniper/GB and has been building precision rifles for about 20y. His perspective sent me off on a tangent. I was looking at 6ARC or 6CM as my two most likely candidates. He suggested 243 (6mm-08 if you want the cool name). With the 10:1 twist you cannot shoot the really heavy pills but it seems to stabilize everything from 58g up to about 100g. Right now it seems to like 75g the best at 3580fps. They are not too hard on bbls and ammo is available in almost every gun store. I am setting up to reload but still struggle to find good match grade primers and exact powder I want. The rifle is a Sako S20 Hybrid. So far, I am liking it a lot. The big box mag will allow longer than std OAL reloads and the fit and feel of it is good. Accuracy with factory ammo is like most rifles with factory ammo. About an inch or a little less at 100y. At 400y I sat the other day and hit a fullsized IPSC plate and the full KYL rack from 2moa down to 1/2moa without a single miss using a 4-16x optic. I have only shot it three times with only a total of 22 rds so far. I hope to take it to the open practice at our longer range in a few weeks when I have a free weekend to stretch it out past 400y.

The rabbit hole is deep, dark and so far appears to be bottomless, lol.

 

[RPN]

Sounds like a fun spot to be in.

I rechambered a 1-10 twist 6mm International to 6xc, and found joy in 87 grain V Maxes - I'd have loved to shoot the longer A Max projectiles, but was happily surprised at what could be done with the lighter bullets.

 

[JG26_Irish]

I have a box of the 87g vmax pills sitting in my reloading pile to try. So far, I have only tried the 58, 75, 90 and 100g loads and really only shot two or three of each except for the 75's and 90's.

 

[cooper_257]

6mm Creedmoor or 243 are not going to really shine at long range until you get into the 105 to 115gr range. 105 bergers do great with an 8 twist and 115 DTACs need a 7.5 or faster. 87gr vmax going fast do ok but will get kicked around in the wind. 105s and heavier do much better at farther distances. I would go with 6mm Creedmoor personally because there are lots of good brass choices for reloading. there are also lots of good off the shelf ammo options that are suitable for long range.