6mm and boolits

[portlybowlofpigfat]

i was at the local porn shop and the price of .243 dia jacketed bullets nearly gave me a heart attack at nearly $35 per 100 .
as i live on a fixed income i just can not afford to buy bullets , scratch that . i wont buy bullets at that price my inner cheapskate screams at the thought of paying that much for bullets.

because of my fixed income i tend to plan and think things out well in advance and would welcome any input you may have .

my goal is pretty simple i would like to get a 90-100 grain bullet to shoot out to about 400 yards with acceptable velocity and acuracy for varmit hunting with my trusty old 6mm 788 remington.

would i be expecting to much to get a 100 grain bullet to shoot minute of groundhog out that far at maybe 2300-2400 fps .. or should i change my thinking

[Nickle]

The cartridge will do it, the bullets can.

The rifle is iffy, and that's about any factory rifle short of a varmint rifle. I know my Remington 600 would be hard pressed to shoot well enough, my Remington 700 in 6.5 Rem Mag falls short of it, and I don't think the 264 Win Mag would cut it either. All would be good enough on deer at 400, as I would think that Rem 788 is. But, woodchucks are just that much smaller.

200-300 out of a factory sporter rifle on woodchucks is a realistic limit. Factory varmint rifles could do 400, as would a custom heavy barrel.

[milkman]

Unless you are absolutely made of luck, or have some bucks to spend, the 23- 2400 fps is going to be the problem. Combining that velocity with accuracy has been unobtainable for me, but then I am on a fixed income also and insist on using pretty much what I have available without purchasing multiple molds, sizers, etc. for each project. 1800 is much easier to achieve.

[GabbyM]

If you have one of the older 1:12" twist barrel 6mm Remington's you should be able to get over 2,100 fps. But you may not be able to stabilize the 95 grain RCBS. Saeco has an 87 grain bullet and NOE has an excellent hunter at 75 grains with a flat nose.
I get around 1,900 and less out of my 243 Win loads with 1:10" twist barrels. Tack drivers at 100 yards. Pretty good at 200 but then wind will blow them around. However I've never played with them over 200 yards much. For 400 yard shooting I'd use a jacketed store bought bullet. I love shooting cast in my two 243 AI's because it runs fine at 100 and 200 yards and I can shoot all day without wearing down my barrel. Getting within 200 yards of a ground hog shouldn't be to hard in most places.

[popper]

By the time you buy the equipment to cast, checks, lead, experiment, etc., you will have spent much more than the $5-6 increase in those .243 pills.

[Nickle]

A slow twist 6mm Remington barrel will be marked 244 Remington, usually (that's the difference between the 2, the twist). And, you will almost certainly max out at 95 grain bullets.

That said, I happen to like the 95 grain Nosler ballistic tip bullet for heavier jacketed bullets in the 6mm class. That's usually a 243 here, we have a couple. We go lighter for accuracy and varmint use, though. 65 to 80 grains is good, and I tend to like the 75 grain Sierra.

[grouch]

You could discuss it with Veral Smith at L.B.T. - he's really into high velocity with cast bullets, and designs his molds to do it. My guess is that it's a bit of a stretch.
Grouch

[quilbilly]

I have a Rem 600 - 6mm and it loves cb's or at least the ones dropped from an old Lyman Loverin style mold (88 gr) I picked up for $10 at a gun show. Those boolits seem to like 4198 powder at an Mv of about 1900. The rifle with those boolits shoots well out to 300 which is more than adequate. Early on the hardest part was finding that size gas check but one of our members was nice enough to sell me an extra box. The long neck of the 6mm makes that case very CB friendly compared to the 243 my wife has.

[JeffinNZ]

Unless you are absolutely made of luck, or have some bucks to spend, the 23- 2400 fps is going to be the problem. Combining that velocity with accuracy has been unobtainable for me, but then I am on a fixed income also and insist on using pretty much what I have available without purchasing multiple molds, sizers, etc. for each project. 1800 is much easier to achieve.

I have to disagree. I can get good accuracy at 2300fps out of my .223 Rem so a .243 should be no different given things are don't correctly and to the liking of the rifle.

[madsenshooter]

I was getting coyote head accuracy with the Eagan MX2-243 at 200yds out of a 1/8 twist 6x45 with the bullet going 2300fps. But the wind had a big effect on the little 77gr bullet at 200, what you're proposing could probably be done, but it wouldn't be easy. I'd think that might be good territory for the 50BMG powders. I was using it boosted in the 6x45 to get to 2300 with accuracy. With the larger capacity of your case, a booster wouldn't be needed. I'm working on something that'll have similar capacity, the 303 necked down to 6mm and blown out to Ackley configuration.

[MT Gianni]

For me varmit hunting is ground squirrels @2"x5" generously. I really doubt you can get repeatable cast accuracy at varying ranges over 400 yards with that type of target. Factor in varying winds and you are sunk. You might be able to put them all on to a target with that group at a known distance but I don't think the field results will fly. Just my 2 cents.

[portlybowlofpigfat]

a lot of good responses here , and all the info does help keep it coming .
this is a bit of uncharted territory for me , i admit to having been a lazy cast boolit shooter for the last 25 years . early on i found a easy way of shooting cast that works for me in every rifle i shoot .
with the 8mm , 30-06,.303 brit and all the other like sized cases life has been easy, find a properly sized bullet and use 16-18 grains of 2400 .. it is almost like magic works every time.
my easy success hasn't exactly fostered the need or desire to experiment , unfortunatly this has also placed me at a bit of a disavantage in not having a real good idea of what i can and can not do .

[Newtire]

A cast boolit out of a .243 giving any kind of accuracy at 400 yards? I seriously doubt it. For God's sake, don''t try to wound a deer with a cast boolit that small. That's why God made .35 caliber. I had pretty good accuracy with an RCBS 95 grain cast out to 100 yards with 12.5 grains of 2400. Any more and accuracy went South. You find a load that will give you varmint accuracy at 400 yards with a cast boolit, let us know what it is. Some of us .243 shooters would like to see that.

[John Allen]

Why not drop down to a 75 grain bullet at 2000 or so feet a second. I have a 6mm remington and it likes the 75 grainers but is not great with the 100's as others have stated it is the twist rate.

[mpmarty]

If all you do is listen to the nay sayers you'll never do it. Go ahead and set up some cast boolits in your 788 which happens to be one of the most inherently accurate rifles ever made by Remington. I had one in 22/250 and shot chucks and gophers out beyond 300 yards regularly in the late sixties.

[Newtire]

If all you do is listen to the nay sayers you'll never do it. Go ahead and set up some cast boolits in your 788 which happens to be one of the most inherently accurate rifles ever made by Remington. I had one in 22/250 and shot chucks and gophers out beyond 300 yards regularly in the late sixties.

Hey Marty,
No doubt that the 6mm or the .243 will sling a jacketted bullet out there to 400 yards, I'm just saying that if the guy's looking to do any serious long range shooting with cast bullets, a larger bore will do a better job. I have seen what a cast bullet will do in the hands of some real experienced shooters at the Winnemucca shoot and have tried like crazy to equal that accuracy with several different calibers and lots of rifles. I would like to see someone shoot a little bitty whistle-pig out at 400 yards with a 6mm cast bullet and hit 9 out of ten or even 1 out of 10 or maybe 20. If this guy is talking jacketted bullets, they are in a whole different league. I guess just try it and see if he can do it but really not even a mediocre deer rifle at those ranges with a cast "boolit". A jacketted bullet is going to be alright in those smaller bores if they are of the proper construction to knock a deer or an antelope flat at the longer ranges. So will a .30-06. Good bet is to get out there and practice with those cast boolits and then sight in with the "J-words" for hunting and go for it. But like you say, you will never know until you try it.