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Old April 13, 2006, 03:23 AM   #1
airmanbell
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6mm rem using .223 brass?

I just bought my father a rifle in 6mm, something he's wanted since it came out it the early 60's. Of course it was a used rifle, but whats nearly as hard to find for the rifle, is the ammo! Sure he can order it off of any website, but thats not the point. I'd like to make him some cheap reloads. I've got an ar-15, so that means i've got plenty of .223 brass laying around. Since the 6mm is just a resized .223, what do I have to do to make some 6mm rem? Is it as simple as buying a 6mm die set? (i've got a 550b and all the stuff for .223)

Or maybe I've got it all wrong, and it wont work at all, I don't know! Please help!

Thanks!
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Old April 13, 2006, 03:44 AM   #2
steveno
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it won't work as 6 mm Remington is a totally different size case as compared to a 223
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Old April 13, 2006, 04:00 AM   #3
airmanbell
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Do you know the length of a 6mm rem? Just wondering. Thanks!
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Old April 13, 2006, 06:20 AM   #4
Polydorus
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The 6 mm Remington is quite a bit larger than the .223 Rem. IIRC it was based on a 7 mm Mauser case. Check at Midway for ammo. I purchased some .30 Remington there once which is a LOT more difficult to find than the 6 mm/.244 is.
An old reloading manual I have says the maximum overall case length is 2.233 inches. The maximum length for a .223 WITH bullet is listed as 2.260 inches.
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Old April 13, 2006, 11:11 AM   #5
chris112
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Hard to find ammo for? I havn't had any trouble, just try any decent gun store.
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Old April 13, 2006, 04:54 PM   #6
308SORRELS
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Even Cabelas Carries the 6mm rem. and the reloading data is in the lee reloading manual.
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Old April 13, 2006, 05:19 PM   #7
Leftoverdj
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Easy to form from 7x57 or .257 Roberts.
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Old April 13, 2006, 07:30 PM   #8
Rivers
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Rather than shooting 6mm Remmy through your .223, just load 'er up with .243, which is very close to 6mm Remmy in size and is much more common.
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Old April 13, 2006, 09:30 PM   #9
Rangefinder
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6mm brass really isn't difficult to find, possibly consider buying a couple boxes of factory loads to get started with. OR, Cabella's sells Remington bulk brass in 100 or 500 lots, at $21.99 and $104.99 respectively. The last Sportsman's Warehouse I was in also sold new 6mm brass for around $22 per 100 (I want to say, but could be wrong.) They will have the dies for around $25. Here's a nice middle of the road load I use for mine..

Sierra 90 FMJ/BT (.243 caliber--but it generally says 6mm right on the box.)
Federal Gold Dot Lrg. Rifle Primers.
37 grains H380 powder.
Expect muzzle velocities in the neighborhood of 2980 to 3000 FPS.

Tweek it as need be from there, but mine sure seems to like it.

Just for reference, here is a Rem. 6mm and a .223 side by side.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg 6mm-.223.jpg (42.7 KB, 35 views)
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Old April 18, 2006, 03:07 PM   #10
airmanbell
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Thanks

Heres a new question, will a shell plate for a .45/30.06 work for the 6mm or am I going to have to buy a whole new shell plate?

Thanks for all that info, guess i'll have to buy some more dies and brass.

I'm using a dillion 550, and dont have any problem measuring the powder for it by hand, and not using the powder measure (it'll just mismeasure it anyway, since I like using stick powder for my 30.06 and .223)

And thanks again for all the info especially the picture! Really drove it home. lol. I also looked in my winchester load manual I printed off of their site. Yea, I was mislead, some website I read talked about a 6mm round that used resizied .223 brass, i'm not sure what round it was anymore though.
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Old April 19, 2006, 12:49 AM   #11
Dave Haven
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Quote:
Heres a new question, will a shell plate for a .45/30.06 work for the 6mm or am I going to have to buy a whole new shell plate?
Yes. The 6mm Rem has the same head diameter as the .45ACP and .30-'06.
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Old April 19, 2006, 12:39 PM   #12
Polydorus
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Quote:
Originally Posted by airmanbell
Yea, I was mislead, some website I read talked about a 6mm round that used resizied .223 brass, i'm not sure what round it was anymore though.
I think they may have been talking about the 6 mm Benchrest (6 X 47 mm?). IIRC that was made from the .222 Remington.
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Old April 19, 2006, 10:35 PM   #13
Dave Haven
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The 6X47 is made from the .222 Rem Mag case. The .222 case is 43mm long and the .223 case is 45 mm long.
The 6mm Benchrest is a different cartridge.
IIRC, there is a 6mm cartridge based on the .223, but I don't recall its "official" name.
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