6mm /.243 hunting success on Big Game

[Floridave]

Alright y'all. I'm going to sip the Koolaid. After a successful year hunting with my custom 300WSM and Berger 215s, I just ordered a Threaded Tikka 243 1:8 from Cabela's for just over ~$1k, decent deals right now with the sale+Monday discount+Rebate.

Planning to load it up with Hornady 109s because I have a pile of them for my PRS gun. Hoping to push those at 3000fps out of the 22" barrel which will be suppressed. The numbers look very deadly out to at least 750 yards. I'm excited.

Is that velocity too optimistic? Powder recommendations? I'm assuming Lapua brass is the way.

I’m able to load those bullets long in my 243 w 23 inch barrel and easily getting just at 3100 with 108 eldm and 105 bergers. Have pushed them faster than that but settled back to 3050 to 3090. I don’t think you’ll have a problem.


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[Tanner]

6CM 105 HPBT at 330 yards

 

[jamesmc8]

Howa Mini in 6 ARC shooting Berger 105 VLD @ 2660 fps.

Mature 5-6 year old Whitetail at 140 yards. Entered left shoulder breaking the lower part of the scapula penetrating a good amount of bone. Severed the aorta and exited the offside just in front of the right shoulder. Massive blood trail and buck stumbled 30 yards before collapsing.

 

[huntnful]

Howa Mini in 6 ARC shooting Berger 105 VLD @ 2660 fps.

Mature 5-6 year old Whitetail at 140 yards. Entered left shoulder breaking the lower part of the scapula penetrating a good amount of bone. Severed the aorta and exited the offside just in front of the right shoulder. Massive blood trail and buck stumbled 30 yards before collapsing.

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Ray Charles could follow that blood trail!




New 6 PRC. Might kill something with it, might not lol

 

[LeftyWilbury]

reallllly pushing the limits with this tikka 243 and 87gr hammer absolute hunters
70 yard shot to fill the doe tag. 3000 fps impact velocity. negligible blood trail because i hit her high.
took out part of a lung and all the plumbing to the heart. found her 25 yards away.

 

[amassi]

reallllly pushing the limits with this tikka 243 and 87gr hammer absolute hunters
70 yard shot to fill the doe tag. 3000 fps impact velocity. negligible blood trail because i hit her high.
took out part of a lung and all the plumbing to the heart. found her 25 yards away.

lol at departure gate


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[fwafwow]

lol at departure gate


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And at the picture file names

 

[pathnz]

TMK’s are nearly ideal in construction and design. They have a lower consistent upset velocity, and a more oval or football shaped wound. In most cases they create the largest wounds in the respective class while still reaching sufficient penetration depth.

I would encourage readers not to take this in hard black and white and discount the 108/9ELDM, as it also produces tremendously good wounds and penetrates like crazy

 

[The Guide]

I would encourage readers not to take this in hard black and white and discount the 108/9ELDM, as it also produces tremendously good wounds and penetrates like crazy

The 95gr TMK isn't limited to 8 twist and faster barrels either. There are far more 9.25 and 10 twist 6mm barrels in use than there are 8 or faster twist barreled rifles in use. If you have the twist AND horsepower to push the big ELDM bullets, there isn't a reason not to use them.

Jay

 

[General RE LEE]

Howa Mini in 6 ARC shooting Berger 105 VLD @ 2660 fps.

Mature 5-6 year old Whitetail at 140 yards. Entered left shoulder breaking the lower part of the scapula penetrating a good amount of bone. Severed the aorta and exited the offside just in front of the right shoulder. Massive blood trail and buck stumbled 30 yards before collapsing.

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Great buck! I cant wait to take my Howa Mini 6 ARC. How do you like the Stockey's? I went with a Bell and Carlson and would like a more vertical grip.

 

[jamesmc8]

Ray Charles could follow that blood trail!




New 6 PRC. Might kill something with it, might not lol

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Good looking rig! 6 PRC!!! that baby will give you some range!

 

[jamesmc8]

Great buck! I cant wait to take my Howa Mini 6 ARC. How do you like the Stockey's? I went with a Bell and Carlson and would like a more vertical grip.

I like it, I find all their VG style stocks comfortable. The forend on the Howa Mini stocks is pretty thin and I did have to do a little bit of sanding to get a better fit for the barrel channel. For such a small stock it is stiff enough for my purposes.

 

[nphunter]

I’ve killed 4 elk and seen a half dozen others killed with a .243 ruger m77 mountain. Most were killed 40-100 yards with Remington Core-Lokt 100gr bullets. MV probably 2700-2800fps from the 22” barrel at those distances.

All equated to dead elk, most double lung shots with a couple neck shots, one of the neck shots was on a bull at 10feet after pushing a brush line looking for him because he was wounded by a 300 mag the night before.

I’ve also killed several deer with the same ammo as above with good results. The bullets always did very little damage and left very small holes. Luckily most of the elk were killed in the snow and fairly open country where tracking wasn’t an issue.

1 time I shot a cow elk with a .243 and we never found her, tracked very light blood for several miles before it disappeared. That shot was taken at 20 yards and I could just see hair in the scope, (I was a young kid at the time.) After killing a lot of animals and seeing damage from small fragmenting bullets since I am confident a fragmenting bullet would have ended with a recovery that day.

 

[Apex801108]

Well, I joined the cult this year with a Howa Mini in 6 ARC sporting a 20" barrel. That's the closest setup I could get to a .223 since I'm in Alberta and the minimum big game caliber here is .23. Shot this White-tail Buck at around 2600 FPS with a 108 ELD-M, resulting in quite the blood trail and massive damage to his neck, which is as expected out of this combo at this point.

 

[The Guide]

I like it, I find all their VG style stocks comfortable. The forend on the Howa Mini stocks is pretty thin and I did have to do a little bit of sanding to get a better fit for the barrel channel. For such a small stock it is stiff enough for my purposes.

I've got my Mini ARC in a VG stock too. My Harris bipod wouldn't tighten up due to the narrow forend and stud hight. I used a penny as a shim under the bipod thumb screw where it seats and that has worked great to get it to pull tight on the stud. The Harris adapter was $12 and mine was just a penny...

Jay