4350 or RL19 for 6mm Remington?

wileybelch

New member
Is there a consensus on the better powder between IMR4350 and RL19 using the Sierra 85gr bullets in the 6mm Remington? Any loads stand out as never failing? Thanks for your thoughts. My barrel is an old 14" twist Douglas circa 1960 so I don't seem to be able to stabilize the heavier bullets for best accuracy (group wise).
 
Then you seem to have a .244, not a 6mm Remington.

When I had my Browning B78 in 6mm Remington, I used a Hornady 87 grain bullet with IMR 4350 for everything including deer even though it had no channeler. It was the most accurate rifle and load I ever used. It never failed, allways shot them behind the shoulder. I never used RL19, so I have no input about that.
 
"...a .244, not a 6mm Remington..." The two are exactly the same thing. Difference is just the name. http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd6remington.jpg
Your 1 in 14" twist will prefer lighter bullets. Fortunately, there are lighter 'deer' bullets available these days. Assuming you want to hunt deer. That Sierra bullet should do nicely, but you have to work up the load for your rifle. Most current 6mm's have much faster twists.
Between IMR4350 and RL19, the IMR gives slightly higher velocities with 85 grain bullets while using slightly less powder. Not by much though. Max loads are different by 3.5 grains of powder and a whole 66 FPS.
 
"...a .244, not a 6mm Remington..." The two are exactly the same thing. Difference is just the name.
The .244 Remington was the original .243 caliber rifle introduced by Remington. However, the twist rate was intended for varmint weight bullets and when the .243 Winchester came out, sales of the .244 Remington plummeted. Remington then re-introduced the .244 Remington, renamed as the 6mm Remington, identical to the .244 Remington except for a rifling twist that would stabilize longer (heavier), bullets making it a better choice for deer and a better competitor to the Winchester .243. Nevertheless, the .243 Winchester became popular whereas the 6mm Remington only garnered a modest following despite a velocity advantage of 100-200 or so feet per second. In short, along with the difference in the name, the rifling twists were different.
 
Yep. Difference based solely on standard rifling pitch associated with the cartridge name. I was trying to think of other examples of that being done, but nothing is popping into the feeble little gray cells.

With the 85 grain Bullet, pushed all the way to maximum pressure, QuickLOAD is suggesting that RL 17 is nearly king of the velocity heap (except for a couple of European powders we don't get here), getting that little bullet to over 3500 fps in a tight 24" test barrel. If you're willing to lose 110 fps, good old IMR 4895 is right up there at 3390 fps. It is outperforming IMR 4350 by about 60 fps in the simulation, and outperforming RL 19 by 150 fps, though Accurate 4350, which is faster than the IMR product, is 20 fps faster than IMR 4895.

The reason powders that are faster burning than you were considering are doing so well in the simulation is the light bullet is pushed forward so easily and quickly that it expands the space the powder is burning in faster than the slower powders can make enough gas to fully keep up with it. On the plus side, it means smaller charge weights producing more economical shooting.
 
My 243 has a tighter twist and even though I stay at 95-100 grain bullets it's a deer killer with a 80 grain Barnes TTSX. Mine does best with IMR 4350 all the way. I have some IMR 4166 but haven't used it a lot but I do gain an extra 100 - 150 fps using less powder with it. I need to ladder up some and see how the accuracy is with it. It does keep my barrel a lot cleaner.
 
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With my 257 Bob I'm getting good results with RL17, and H100V.

Same,same case, different diameter bullet.

Wendy,
If you go to 100 + grain bullets, try RL26. You'll love it.. Works well for your Rem Mag too...;)
 
I use Reloder 17 in my 6mm Rem that result in 0.8MOA groups, but I am using 90 grainers and up to 100gr. I am going to try IMR 4064 next, based upon Hornady Handbook recommendation.
 
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