Load Data for 95 Grain Norma 6mm Remington

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Background:

I have a vintage Remington .244 Model 722A with the early 12:1 twist in a long 26" barrel. It will not stabilize factory load 100 grain ammo but I used to be able to buy factory load 75 grain ammo easily enough in the stores and that was OK for target/varmint at the time. Well now that's long gone too. So out of necessity learned how to hand load and that's opened up a whole new world of possibilities. Having built up a nice 90 grain load for deer am looking at branching out to try something else...

My calculations suggest a short (think round nose flat base) 100 grain bullet might also gyroscopically stabilize given the bullet's shorter length. To prove that out I picked up a box of Norma 100 grain Oryx in 6mm with it's 'stubby' tip and almost flat base.

Hodgden's site shows for 100 gr SPR BT bullet using my IMR-4064 powder a starting grain of 34 with Max 38. Seem reasonable for the Norma Oryx?

I'm planning to load up 3 rounds of Norma Oryx w 34 gr IMR-4064 and see if they stabilize ok. If so start working up to 38 or so.


Thanks,
 
Highly unlikely to stabilize a 90 well either. Pretty much the issue that killed the .244 Rem originally. There are some lighter than 85 grain deer bullets around now though. Some of the solid copper Barnes bullets are supposed to be good for deer.
You do not need bullet specific data though. Any 100 grain data will do, but with the 1 in 12 it's just not likely to stabilize.
"...that's long gone too..." So's brass, mostly. Midway shows Hornady as available and on sale. Remington isn't made. Winchester is on No Backorder.
"...load up 3 rounds of..." Three won't tell you much. Especially with a start load.
 
I think you can use 257 Roberts cases. But I have seen 6mm Remington ammo at Sportsmans Warehouse. You can't be sure they won't stabilize until you try them. Remember also that the higher the velocity, the faster they will spin. So, theoretically, a maximum load for a marginally stabilized bullet would have a better chance to work than a starting load. If you have access to a chronograph you can more easily experiment with the hotter loads without overdoing it. You shouldn't have any great difficulty in stabilizing the 100 grain round-nose bullets. There's really not much difference in trajectory between round-nose and spitzer bullets out to 200 yards. Standard lead-core-jacketed bullets are shorter than solid copper bullets of the same weight and profile, so stick with regular bullets. Nosler makes their Partition bullet in both 95 grain and 100 grain versions; I'm guessing that the only reason for the 95 grain version is that it just might work in the 244 Remington with its slower twist. Could be worth a try.....
 
Cases can be formed from any longer case with the same headsize. In this case, both the .257 Roberts and the 6mm Remington were formed from the 7x57mm Mauser case.

Forming 6mm brass from either of those two is the least amount of work. You could make 6mm cases from .30-06 brass, but it will take more work, trimming, and probably neck turning or reaming.

When dealing with bullets with borderline stability due to rifling twist, the only way to tell if they will stabilze acceptably is to shoot them.

Its not impossible that while you might not get varmint level accuracy, with the deer bullet, you might get acceptable "minute of deer". The only way to know is to test them. And, if finances permit, test them with different powders.

I have a older model 70 .22-250, while I get 3/4" groups with 53gr match, and right on an inch with 55grSP, the "deer bullet" Sierra 63gr semi spitzer shoots 2" or so, no matter what. Not that I consider the .22-250 a good choice for deer, a 2" group is satisfactory enough to put venison in the freezer if you do your part. Double that, and you can still get deer, you just need to keep the range shorter.
 
I used to load the old Hornady 87 grain for the slower twist 6mm rifles. It's a good enough deer bullet.
The older 87 grain Hornady had what they called "coke bottle" core which was pretty well locked into the jacket and held together very well.
 
To follow-up on this old thread I thought I would report my findings thus far...

Back in the 1950s Remington developed a 90 grain factory ammo option for the 722A in .244. It had no accuracy issues from what I can tell. Contemporary publications reported it as both accurate for shooting and adequate for deer hunting.

About 12 or 15 years ago I stumbled across a lone box of reloaded 6mm ammo with 90 grain Noslers in a white generic box at a gun show. I tried them and they were accurate accurate enough as I recall. But I only have a few rounds left and no way to replenish.

So. along w/ gaining access to a hunting ranch, I eventually got into handloading and thus my post above... I've been loading Speer Hot Cor #1217 in 90 grain for it since then. After experimenting with different powder loads at both 100 and 200 yards I've settled on 38 grains of IMR-4064 where I'm getting about a one inch spread at 100 yards from the bench. Chuck Hawk's site seemed to like IMR-4064 for Remington 6mm so I figured I'd start there (and will probably stay there based on my results). I use CCI#200 primers and either Hornady or Remington brass.

In looking at the original Remington bullets - I found the current Speer #1217 6mm 90 grain Spitzer Hot Cor bullets to be nearly identical visually. Both are pointed, soft point, flat based bullets. Nothing fancy - just old school functional hunting bullets well suited for deer and antelope.

{Images removed for violating the board policy on posting copyrighted materials and hotlinking in violation of that same policy}

Since being extremely satisfied with highly accurate holes in paper at 100 and 200 yards...

In the field I've taken two shots and dropped two 8 point bucks, one each over the last 2 hunting season, both at 90 yards. Both bullets penetrated exactly where I aimed and in neither case did they exit.

90 grains is pretty self evident given that was what Remington developed for it back in the day. But from all this I gleaned a few clues that suggest a 100 grain bullet can indeed be effectively used in an early Remington 722A with the slower 12 inch twist. More on those clues later...

Just thought I'd follow up on this thread. - thanks

Accurate recipe for deer hunting load in my 1955 Remington 722A .244 with 12:1 twist:
  • Bullet: Speer Hot Cor #1217 90 grain 6mm
  • Powder: IMR-4064 38 grains
  • Primer: CCI#200
  • Brass: Hornady or Remington '6mm Rem'
 
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So's brass, mostly. Midway shows Hornady as available and on sale. Remington isn't made. Winchester is on No Backorder.
Click to expand...

Remington brass is made, they're just using it all for loaded ammo. Remington, Federal and Winchester ammo is all available right now. As far as new brass is concerned, the Hornady brass mentioned is available, but so is Privy.

BTW good ole Starline started making 308 brass, then they started offering other cases in the 308 family like 358 Winchester. I appreciate them so much, I always check there site first for my brass needs. My hope is some day they'll add the 7 x 57 family to their lineup.
 
While the hind-sight of history shows that the 243 Winchester was the winner of the 6mm calibers, I always felt that the 6mm Remington was the better cartridge. And for the fellow that reloads his ammo, it's no handicap, even if the rifle is a 244 Remington rather than the later 6mm version.
 
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