Bolt Action Rifles in 6mm ARC
BY Herschel Smith
1 year, 11 months ago
Slav Guns has this fun video of unboxing of his new Savage 110 Switchback, which apparently was only built in a limited run and only available through Sportsman’s Warehouse. He obviously intends to remove the action and put it inside a chassis.
One commenter remarks, “I’m waiting for the Ruger Predator.” I didn’t know they were intending to build a 6mm ARC bolt action gun, but he might have meant the Savage 110 Carbon Predator, which is available in 6mm ARC. He said that the Savage 110 Tactical was being built in a 16″ or 18″ barrel, defeating the point of the 6mm ARC. The Savage 100 Carbon Predator is also being built with a 18″ barrel.
Right now not even the Savage web site shows this in 6mm ARC, while Shooting Illustrated says it is.
Field & Stream has an article up on low recoil deer cartridges. Their list is as follows.
- .223 Remington
- .224 Valkyrie
- .243 Winchester
- .257 Roberts
- .25-06 Remington
- .260 Remington
- 6.5×55 Swedish
- 6.5 Creedmoor
- 6.8 Remington SPC
- 7mm-08 Remington
- .30-30 Winchester
- 350 Legend
It’s beyond me how you could write an article on the best low recoil deer cartridges and not mention 6mm ARC, using a bullet twice the weight of the 5.56/.223, essentially the same velocity, with only slightly more recoil.
Perhaps it’s the lack of viable bolt action rifles in this round, but you can still use an AR for the hunt. Grendel Hunter has as many or more 6mm ARC uppers as they do 6.5 Grendel.
I remain disappointed at the slow adoption of this cartridge.
On December 12, 2022 at 9:11 am, Drake said:
It would be the U.S. Army’s new cartridge if they had any sense.
On December 14, 2022 at 2:10 am, Georgiaboy61 said:
@ Herschel Smith
Perhaps the reasons for foot-dragging have to do with the fact that 6mm ARC is still somewhat new and therefore not all that well-known to the public. Sometimes, good ideas take time to catch on, to percolate up into public awareness.
But there is another aspect to this, which is that cartridge and firearms manufacturers have to get on board with any new kid on the block. Hornady has a lot invested in 6mm Creedmoor – maybe their concern is that getting behind 6mm ARC would pull away business from 6mm CM and other similar designs. Although it is a step up in caliber, i.e., .243-cal. versus .224-caliber, the .224 Valkyrie inhabits somewhat the same territory as far as ballistics and bullet weight are concerned.
If it helps any, 6.5 Grendel isn’t on that list, either, and it is another excellent intermediate cartridge. Could it be that both designs are hampered by the perception that they are mostly for use in self-loading & gas-operated rifles, and not in bolt guns?
I have no real world experience with 6mm ARC, so maybe I am the wrong person to ask this, but what would 6mm ARC offer in a bolt gun that those other cartridges listed do not? It isn’t as if .243 Winchester or most of the others on the list are regarded as difficult to handle in terms of recoil.
Whatever the truth of the matter, your patience may well be rewarded in the coming year. Maybe by then, someone will have taken up the idea for their upcoming/future product line. To name three manufacturers, CZ, Ruger and Savage have all chambered hunting rifles in intermediate, soft-shooting cartridges in the past….