6MM Rem Brass?

[JerryM]

I was checking the availability of 6MM Rem new brass today. I could not find any. I am not going to pay $1.50 per case, but I did not find any availability at any price.

That makes a .243 more desirable as it can be formed from .308
Win brass if needed.

Jerry

[schmellba99]

It's not nearly as prevalent as .243, which is unfortunate because it is such a good round.

You have to keep your eye open for brass for it as it is usually seasonal runs or you have to find somebody like brassman.com or the like that may have a lot of it available.

[jwrowland77]

I run into the same thing trying to find .308 win brass with Winchester headstamp. Hard to find. I check sites nearly daily, normally a couple of times throughout the day. I was able to finally find some like that and ordered some. Later that night, I went back to order more, and it was no longer in stock.

Just keep checking and it'll eventually pop-up in stock.

[Wallyl]

I have/shoot the .243 Winchester... Bought one in 1977. I was very interested in the 6mm Remington, but soon learned that the .243 Win was far more popular and was so close ballistically to the 6mm that it just made more sense to get one. Using military .308 Brass range pickups I found that I could make .243 Win brass by merely resizing the .308 Win cases in a .243 Win sizer die... I did buy a neck reamer tool, but found that I didn't just need it. I don't even use the formed cases as .243 Win brass is so easy to come by and it is one of those calibers that last many loadings, for some odd reason.

I wish you luck obtaining 6mm Rem brass...I see mant othesr are desperate for .444 Marlin brass as well.

[44 AMP]

A quick check of Midway shows them to be out of 6mm brass, both Rem and Win, with no backorder.

The makers produce quite a few calibers as limited production runs, and when they are gone, they are gone, until the next production run of that caliber.

this doesn't mean there is no 6mm brass to be had, only that the big internet dealers are out, for now. Check you local stores, and gun shows.

I got a 6mm last fall, and had no trouble picking up several hundred pieces of new brass (rem) at the average price (somewhere around $40/100 IIRC) from brass dealers at gunshows in my area.

NO, I wouldn't pay $1.50 each, that is simply gouging.

FYI, the 6mm Rem is based on the 7mm Mauser case, and can be formed from them, (or any other case long enough with the standard head size, 7x57, 8x57, .270win, .30-06, etc.) Sure, its a pain, and may require neck reaming in addition to sizing (may not, depends on the brass being used), but it is a way to get usable brass when commercial outlets are out.

Properly loaded, the 6mm is the .243 plus 100-150fps or so.

[Wallyl]

44AMP

I never shot a 6mm Rem, but have a .243 Win... Years ago when maximum velocity was a big concern of mine, I managaged to get 3,000 FPS with a Hornady 100 SP bullet and 3,200 FPS with the Hornady 87 SP bullet in mine. Just out of curioslty what can the 6mm Rem do?

[JerryM]

I have had trouble getting over 3,000 fps with a 100 gr bullet out of my Rem 660 with 20 in barrel.

On the other hand my pre 64 M70 fwt .243 with a 22 inch barrel easily gets over 3100 with a 100 gr bullet. My normal load with it is a hefty load of IMR 4350 (it used to be standard, but now is several grains over handbook) without excessive pressure runs 3150 with either Hornady or Sierra 100 grain bullets. Admittedly my M70 has a fast barrel. But the 100 - 150 fps advantage of the 6mm has not proven to be true in my own experience. I realize that the 22 inch vs 20 inch barrel gives the .243 some advantage, but not 150 fps.
Too often the 6mm is on a short action which prevents loading 100 gr bullets as long as it needs to get the best velocity.

Jerry

[Idaho Spud]

I turned around 200 6mm into 243's some years ago to produce a longer neck in order to reach the rifling with light bullets. Made a gauge to determine the right length. I was young and thought it really mattered. It was interesting, though. Google Varmint Al, he might still have the info.

Also turned some (6mm's) into 257 Roberts for my kids rifle. That was a bit easier.

[Wallyl]

Jerrym

Thanks for the info... I chose the .243 Win because it was more popular (in 1977) and I got a good deal on a new 700 Rem in that caliber. I have some old records as to what velocities I achieved with it....will try to find them.

A few years later I wanted a .30 Caliber Magnum...this time I didn't go the sensible route and bought me a new Rem 700 8mm Rem Magnum. I goofed....!

[steveNChunter]

As others have said, be on the lookout for .257 roberts or 7x57 mauser brass as well. It can be resized and work just fine. Or on the off chance that you find .22-6mm or .224 Texas trophy hunter brass, those can also be resized to work.

Or you could just have a .243 win like everybody else

I have about 500 pieces of 6mm brass to feed my three rifles chambered for it.
Should last me a few years. Sure am glad I got it before this shortage

[steveNChunter]

Just out of curioslty what can the 6mm Rem do?

In most cases there is less than 100 fps difference in factory ammo between .243 win and 6mm rem. Handloading can widen the margin a little, maybe to 150 fps over the .243, maybe. Most 6mm rem factory ammo tends to be a little on the wimpy side. Makes me wonder if they just load it with the same powder charge as .243 to simplify it? Who knows.

[44 AMP]

Wallyl, out of equal guns the 6mm at top end gives about 100fps +/- more with the same bullet than the .243.

In some guns the difference is half that, others could be 150fps faster for the 6mm.

From an old Lyman manual, with both rounds fired from 26" barrel universal receivers, the 6mm ran average 100fps faster with most loads listed. A bit less with some loads, a bit more with others.

Most folks won't get any advantage from the slightly greater speed, but some will, and some will find the longer case neck of the 6mm case to be a useful thing, too. Most won't, so the 6mm = .243 for most of us, and being the .243 is more common, it often gets the nod, and so stays more common...

If you are into getting everything you can from a case, the 6mm gives you a bit more to work with. Not a tremendous amount, but enough you can tell a difference about, even if nothing you hit can tell which one it was.

[dahermit]

I was checking the availability of 6MM Rem new brass today. I could not find any. I am not going to pay $1.50 per case, but I did not find any availability at any price.

That makes a .243 more desirable as it can be formed from .308
Win brass if needed.

Or, you could look into making 6MM Remington cases out of 7x57, or 8MM Mauser cases.

[steveNChunter]

Or, you could look into making 6MM Remington cases out of...8MM Mauser cases.

It can be done but will require ALOT of trimming and will most likely have to be ran through a 7x57 sizing die before a 6mm sizing die will be able to handle it.
I've never actually made 6mm brass out of 8x57 so take my advice for what it's worth, but the reason I've never done it was I figured it to be too much work to be worth it and I don't own 7x57 dies. But I guess if you're desperate enough for 6mm brass it is a viable option.

[jepp2]

There is an auction on GB currently for 100 new Remington brass. Current bid is up to $77.

[JerryM]

Thanks. I am on the waiting list with Natchez and Midway. I am in no hurry, as the friend whose daughter I offered the rifle to is not going to hunt this year. His 13 year old daughter has to take some training, and it is a little late to get it done this year and draw for the permit.
There may be other reasons, but in any event it will be the 2014 season before she needs it.

The gun, Rem 660 is the one I bought for my son when he was 11. He took several deer with it before I gave him a .270. The 6MM was effective.

I have 60 new unfired cases and the same number of others that have been reloaded one or more times. I have always hunted with ammo that has never been reloaded more than once, and usually new cases. We have not used the 6MM for over 30 years, but I thought it might be a good choice for a teen girl, Her dad only has a .308. It has a Weaver 2.5X scope and that has done everything we needed it to to for him.
I like to have a lot of unfired brass on hand for my rifles, but did not foresee the need for it until now.

He can also buy a couple boxes of factory before next year and we can use the fired brass.

I bought the rifle when I was going to an Army school at Ft Leavenworth, KS in 1972. A shooting friend on the staff there had a relationship with Simmons so that he could buy anything with 10% off wholesale cost. I think the rifle cost me about $90. We were allowed to go to the warehouse and pick the one we wanted. I wish I had bought a 6.5 Rem Mag, and a .350 Rem Mag, but I didn't. OH WELL!.

Thanks for the help guys.

Jerry

[steveNChunter]

One of my 6mm's is a Remington 660. It's a handy little rifle. The 20" barrel makes it a good treestand/truck gun. I'm fond of the funky reverse angle bolt on them as well. I guess I just like that it's different. Mine wears an older 4x Tasco from the days when they were made in Japan. Mine likes 85 gr partitions loaded out to 2.860" OAL over w760 and fed 210 primers.

If you picked your's out at the warehouse in 1972 you probably got one of the last ones since the production run for the 660 was 1968-71 IIRC

[44 AMP]

I love the Rem 600 series guns. I have one in .222 (600), .243 (Mohawk 600), 6mm (600), .308 (600) and .350 (660). Also have a stock XP-100 in .221 Fireball.

A 6.5 is on my bucket list.

[dahermit]

I had a Browning B-78 (High Wall single shot) in 6MM Remington at one time. Killed a lot of deer with it using an 87 grain Hornady varmint bullet. I started using the varmint bullet to test my theory that, if a deer was struck in the ribs just behind the shoulder where his body is very thin, with a varmint bullet, the bullet would "blow-up" and shower the heart, lungs with bullet fragments producing a very fast, if not instant kill. My theory proved wrong however. Upon necropsy, I found that the bullet did not "blow-up", but merely shed its jacket (which was usually found in the chest cavity), while the core exited the off-side as any good hunting bullet should do. Nevertheless, while not doing what I thought it would do, it killed so well that I kept using the 87 grain Hornady as my standard bullet for deer with that rifle. I lost count on how many deer I took with that rifle, but it had to be between 10-12 or so before I moved on to a Ruger M77 in .257 Roberts for deer, while keeping the 6MM for varmints.
It was the most accurate rifle I had ever shot or owned. As all the Browning falling-blocks, it was drop-dead gorgeous. Still agonize over having to sell it to finance graduate school.

[Wallyl]

44AMP

Thanks for the info....as many articles that I have read comparing the two---little seems to be gained by choosing the 6mm over the .243 Win. The longer case neck and greater case capacity for the 6mm is nice, but the drawback is that 6mm Ammunition is not easy to find. In my area .243 Win factory ammo is easy to find and often on sale. However I've had my 700 Rem since 1977 and never have yet fired a factory round through it.


20 years ago I started using cast bullets in the.243 Win... the RCBS 95 SP-GC and 11.0 of Unique...very enjoyable to shoot and I can load 'em for under ten cents a round...cheaper that a .17 HMR.... Cases in this caliber have an inordinately long life span...I have cases that are 35 years old and have been used quite often.

[Magnum Wheel Man]

I parted with a 6mm Remington, Remington 600 rifle this last year... ( I decided to keep my 1st rifle, a Ruger 77 in 243 )... I sell at one gun show a year, & think I put my 6mm stuff ( once fired cases, dies, & maybe some ammo ) in my gun show ( to sell ) box, if you'd be at all interested, I'll pull it out, & see what I had... might only be 40 cases, but I don't remember for sure, but I'd certainly part with them before the gun show, if you wanted...

[Scott5]

Hey JerryM,
PM sent.

Scott5

[JerryM]

Many thanks, Scott.
Jerry