Hey guys,
I have a 6X50 R Bellm that I carry a lot in the off season, hoping for a shot at varmints (crows, foxes, coyotes, etc) or possibly hogs. Although I've killed one deer w/ it, I don't see myself using it much for that purpose, but certainly would given the wrong circumstances. I talso performed very well on a prairie dog hunt, albeit w/ 75 gr V-Max's. Anyway, I understand the Sierra SSP is now history. In light of this, what would be your recommendation for the person who wants to have a single load for such a gun? I would think likely suspects would include the 80 gr Blitz, 80 gr Speer Hot Core, 85 gr Sierra HP, and the 80 gr NBT. Bobby Tomek, I hope you'll jump in (as I've always found your real-life bullet experiences very interesting), but I'd like to hear the experiences of others, as well. Gary T.

If the 6 mm Hornady is like the 7 mm and the .308 SSP bullet I think the V-Max and SSP are the same bullet. They just quit marketing it as the SSP. At least I remember reading that somewhere a while back.

Dennis

Gary,
This is not about your orginal question, but I am curious what your Barrel length is and what MV's you are getting with some difference bullet weights.

I really like the 58 gr. Vmax out of my 6mm for prairie dogs. It sights in about the same as a 55 gr. from my 22-250.
For anything larger I like the 80 gr. Sierra BTSP....my barrel is a 1-10 twist.

Mainly I have used the 80gr. Speer Hot Core Spitzer out of the .243 / 6mm Handguns I have had. This buller has worked quite well for me.

A couple years ago I tried some 80gr. Remington Power Lokt Hollow Points in a 6mm T/CU. I was shooting them at 2650 FPS (fireform load) and took a nice medium sized doe in the chest at 185 yards. I ended up shooting her twice (both bullets through the chest without hitting bone) and neither bullet expanded at all. I also shot a few varmints with this bullet and gave the rest away to a buddy with a .243 Rifle. They were way to tough for Handgun Velocities.

I also loaded some 80gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips but never did get to shoot a Whitetail with them.

Bobby has much, much more experience than I do with 6mm Handguns though. Hopefully he will chime in here, otherwise a few weeks ago this topic came up and Bobby posted his results there.

Larry

SD, Thanks for the suggestion. I've never tried the 80 gr Speer you mentioned, but looks like I might should buy a box.

I reviewed the earlier thread you mentioned and also found it very interesting. Guess I thougt it'd be good to address all the potential successors to the SSP at one time. In addition, I was also interested to see if Bobby had any further experience w/ the 80 gr BT since last year's post. I was also interested in any one's comments re: the 85 gr Sierra BTHP; I don't recall seeing it mentioned here much, if any, but on a different forum I saw comments that suggested it might be a possible contender to replace the Sierra SSP. I guess the Horndady SSP could also be considered, but I recall Bobby has previously said he didn't like it as well as the Sierra SSP.

Gary T.

My pistolas are .45-70, .338, 7mm, 6.5 & .223. Yet, in both the 7 & 6.5 I still think the Nosler BT are made for the pistol. Despite great accuracy, rifle shooter don't like them much because at high velocities there are just to fragile. Yet, at pisol velocities they are excellent. I have 3 deer & 1 antelope w/ these out to 270 yds.

Gary T, I just finished working up a load and loading 120 of the 80gr. Speer Hot Core Spitzers for a buddies 15" .243 Encore. I was getting acceptable groups (5 shots at 100 yards you could cover with a quarter every time) at a muzzle velocity of 2920 FPS average. He is going to try this load / bullet combination on both Coyotes and Whitetails this fall. In fact he is leaving in about 2 weeks for an Elk Hunt in Colorado and taking the .243 Encore along to hopefully shoot some Coyotes with.

The 80gr. Speer Hot Core Spitzer has the best BC of any of the 80gr. Bullets I am aware of. To me this means this bullet is going to retain it's velocity much better down range, thus has the potential of better bullet performance. If I remember correctly given the 2920 FPS Muzzle Velocity this bullet out of my buddies Encore will still be traveling 2000 FPS at 375 yards, so it should expand at any range his is going to be using it at.

Larry

Xphunter,
My barrel is 14" long. It is a VVCG barrel, chambered by Mike Bellm. I've been using Hirtenberg brass. I have some RWS brass, but haven't yet worked up any loads. Here are typical velocities (max) from my barrel w/ different wt bullets:
55 gr Blitz King=3140 fps
70gr Blitz King=2840 fps
75 gr. V-Max=2920 fps
80 gr Rem SP=2640 fps
80 gr. Sierra SSP=2650 fps
80 gr Hornady SSP=2670 fps
80 gr NBT=2725 fps
Gary T.

Gary,
Thanks for the info. I am seriously looking into a LR Contender barrel and am not sure to go with 6mm or 22 with the 5.6x50R Bellm improvement. I would use RWS brass.
8T for the 6mm and 6.5T for the 22 cal.

Hey guys,
Well I went ahead and ordered a box of 80 gr Speer Hot Core bullets. Will let you know how it works out. Unfotunately, I probably won't get a chance to do any load development work until after deer season. Gary T.