6mm Coyote Rifle

[Timberbeast7]

I'm going to build a windy day, longer-range than my 22-250's (over 400yds), coyote rifle and have pretty much settled on the 6mm bullet. Now I just have to decide which to build. I have been looking at the 243AI, 6mmAI, 6-284, and 6x47 Lapua. I would like to shoot the 105 gr. amax's or the heavier bergers for maximum wind-bucking ability. Any info on the differences and/or pros and cons of the above calibers would be appreciated as I am having a tough time making one look much better than the others.

Thanks
tb7

 

[purpledragon]

everybody has their own preference when it comes to rifles,myself, and your choices it would be the 6mm/284 ............good luck

 

[angus-5024]

I think that any would be a good choice, but i would go with the 6-284. That being said I dont know much about the 6x47 lapua. jsut my 2cents.

 

[X3MHunter]

+1 on the 6mm-284, awsome cartridge.

-X3M

 

[JPRITT]

I'm also currious about the 243 AI /6mmAI anyone shooting theses?

 

[Fiftydriver]

One very important question needs to be asked before recommeding any of these. First off, are you looking to just kill the yotes or do you hope to have a pelt for resale afterwards?

None of the above are overly pelt friendly chamberings with the thin jacketed bullets you list.

If your just looking to hammer them and care less about pelts, you can not go wrong with the 6-284. It is an amazing chambering and will do things most 6mms simply can not do.

If you do want to keep the pelts, there are two schools of thought. One, lightweight bullet at hyper velocity, the other is a heavy, hard bullet to prevent violent expansion.

Only problem, either option in a larger 6mm will have alot of energy so if you hit bone, especially on exit, bone frags will destroy the pelt.

One other consideration, if you go with the 6-284, that round will generate enough velocity that it will surpass the velocity ceiling of the A-Max and Berger bullets which is around 3250 fps or so in most barrels.

The 107 gr SMK will take anything you can drive it to. I load my personal 6-284 to right around 3500 fps with the 107 gr SMK. The A-Max and Berger shoot extremely fine consistancy.

So back to the beginning, are you worried about the pelts or not and then we can really get into the meat of the matter!!!

 

[dogdinger]

i did this very thing myself last year. i ended up going with the 6x284 and the sierra 107 gr match king, Thanks to advice from kirby allen and jerry teo. i am getting 3250 fps out of a douglas 28" 1in8 barrel, savage/stevens action. i couldnt be happier with the caliber choice. mine shoots great....so far it has killed coyotes out to 650 yds. my friend took an antelope with it @ 660 yds. i had a lot of trouble ranging dogs in the snow with my leica, so i went to a swaro RF....i am going to get serious this winter about reaching my goal of a coyote @ 1000 yds. good luck with your build. if you want to read about mine do a search for "blogging my rifle build"..AJ

 

[Timberbeast7]

Seeing as how several taxidermists told me last winter to not even bring a coyote in...I'm not really concerned with the pelts. What twist are you running with the 107 SMK? I've never shot SMK's, what kind of damage could I expect on a coyote...or antelope? Also, what kind of brass are you using? Norma?

The life expectancy on parts of my 401K is rapidly diminishing!

 

[dogdinger]

i know what you mean about the pelts being worthless, but having said that the smk's are about the best bullet for hides IMHO.....my barrel is the 1 in 8 twist and the 107 SMK shoots fabulous. i did buy a box of the 105 bergers but the smk's shot so well i have never even loaded any. the 107 is the bullet i designed the rifle around. i started with what bullet i wanted to shoot and then decided on the cartridge to do it with. the performance so far on coyotes has been impressive (only 3 so far, but all of them were DRT with minimal pelt damage) the antelope was the same. bullet penetrated both shoulders @ 660 yds....DRT....i bought 6.5X284 lapua brass and necked it down to 6mm. i did have to get a forster neck turner and turn down the outside case necks after 2 shots...my pet load is 45.5grs of H4350 win LR primer. chrono says 3250 ave with min es....love the rifle/caliber/load combo. AJ

 

[Timberbeast7]

I've never turned necks (not that I won't, just never done it), do they get thicker after fired a couple times? Did you build the gun with a tighter neck?

Also, are the 6mm 107 SMK's easier to find than the 338 300gr. SMK's? My bother-in-law has an edge and I'm always on the lookout for bullets for him...and rarely find any. I don't want to build a gun I have a hell of a time finding bb's for.

Those coyotes that hang up at about 550 yds are going to be in for a surprisegun)!!!

 

[Tyler Kemp]

Well, I have a 6mm AI and I love it. There's no Lapua brass for it (unfortunately) but there is RWS 7x57 and Norma 7x57, both of which you can neck down for 6mm Remington brass.

For my current barrel I'm using Winchester brass and 95 grain SMK's. When the barrel and brass were new I got 3400 fps with my standard load, and the drops matched ballistic charts with a .5 BC. My next barrel will be longer, and throated for the 115 DTACS, with which I hope to get 3200+ fps with RWS or Norma brass.

 

[dogdinger]

my necks got thicker after necking them down then i guess the brass"flowed" to the neck area after a couple shots. my chamber just has a regular neck. no big deal to turn them...ordered a forster tool from midway and use a cordless drill to spin them.

brass and bullets were both in stock at cabelas

that is exactly the reason i built this gun....coyotes around here tend to know that the effective range of a varmint rifle is about 500 yds....i am in the prosses of re-educating them AJ

 

[Fiftydriver]

When I started building 6-284s my standard barrel was a Lilja 1-8, 3 groove barrel. This was because that was the commonly accepted twist for the heavy 105-107 gr bullets and the 3 groove was supposed to increase barrel life which it does to some degree.

Over time, it became clear that this barrel was amazing with the 107 gr SMK because of its heavier jacket compared to the A-Max and Berger and I have driven them to 3600 fps with test loads and the SMK shot perfectly well, well under 1/2 moa even out to 1500 yards in ideal conditions.

The A-Max and Berger bullets however were limited to 3250 fps almost to the exact FPS. Anything less then this and accuracy was great, perhaps even a bit better then the SMK but anything over this and accuracy went from very poor to the bullets coming apart in air.

I then started testing some new twist rates and have now made it standard to use a 1-9 twist for all the 6mm-284s I build. This does allow the 105 gr Berger and A-Max to be loaded another 100 fps or so especially if you use a 6 groove barrel but they can still be driven to the point of coming apart in these barrels with a chambering like the 6-284.

As far as terminal performance. I have used the 107 gr SMK on alot of game from gophers to deer and pretty much everything in between. On lighter game, you generally will get pin holes at ranges past 700 yards. Inside that, they will expand some but not dramatically simply because of their heavier jackets.

Its my personal opinion that the 107 gr SMK is actually a better medium to large varmint or light big game bullet then anything else. They work great on yotes and if you get a clean rib shot, generally pelt damage is not all that bad. If you hit shoulder bone on exit, you will have a good exit hole.

It has plenty of power to anchor a dog with a well placed shot out to really any range the bullet remains supersonic in velocity.

For pronghorn and lighter deer, the 107 works very well. I would not intentially square a shoulder knuckle at 100 yards on a heavy deer but at that range there is no reasy you can not shoot around the heavy bones. For pronghorns, it really does not matter as their shoulders are much lighter construction.

The 107 gr SMK will behave much more like a hunting bullet then the A-Max or Berger will if that is what your looking for.

I just finished a personal rifle in 6mm-06 with a 27" barrel and the load I am using right now is 56.0 gr RL-22 with the 107 gr SMK lit by a CCI-200. Seated to 3.260" oal and the averge velocity is 3420 fps. Accuracy out of the 7.5 lb sporter weight rifle is easily 1/2 moa at 100 yards for three shots. I have not tested it yet at long range but have no worries. This will be my yote and light deer or pronghorn rifle as well as my exotic game rifle.

The only reason I went with the 6mm-06 over the 6mm-284 is simply feeding qualities over all else. The 6mm-06 feeds like butter. THe 284 can be made to feed "Alight" but never extremely smooth like the 06 case.

As far as neck turning, I do not recommend it. When I started using the 6-284, there were no cases other then Winchester 284 cases. I necked them down and they worked great and shot well under 1/2 moa.

Now that we have all the new 6.5-284 cases its much easier and the brass is even better. Unless your looking to shoot on the BR curcuit, I would never even consider turning necks. I have done it and will never do it again!!! No need for what your planning to do.

If your trying to get groups consistantly into the 0.1" range, yes, it has benefits, if your trying to hammer a yote at 800 yards or even farther, I say no. Others will have different opinions but to me its just something that takes to much time for the rewards especially with the great new brass we can use for this chambering.

 

[Timberbeast7]

So if I read that correctly, the 1:9 will give me the option to shoot the a-maxs/bergers as well as the 107 gr SMK. As for the feeding issue, is the 6-284 worse than could be expected with any of the Ackley Improved cartridges? Are the cases getting stuck as you try to cycle the action or is it just a little "catchy"...catchy I can live with. I've got a 7WSM and a 270 WSM and I wouldn't really say they feed like butter....

Also, what kind of barrel life can you expect with this rifle? Not that I'm worried about burning out a barrel (last time I checked they still build new ones, and you can't put a price on a good time!) but I am curious.

And what kind of actions do you guys use or recommend?

Kirby, why the 6-284 or 6-06 over the 6mmAI?

BTW, thanks for the info guys...this is alot more and alot better info than i have found so far anywhere else! I just got off the phone with my calling partner and now he's jealous...now he's thinking about getting a twin rifle made!