History of 6mm Remington Ammo

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In 1955, the Remington Arms Company introduced the 6mm Remington. Fred Huntington designed the cartridge by necking down the case of a .257 Roberts to accept a 0.243" diameter bullet. He topped this cartridge with a bullet weighing 75 grains and called it the .244 Remington. Nine years later, the cartridge was renamed the 6mm Remington, and the name has stayed the same since.

The 6mm was intended for varmint hunting, and many of its characteristics make it very effective for dispatching varmints of any size – including maintaining spot-on accuracy at ranges as far out as 400 yards, maintaining a velocity better than 1,000 feet per second with the 100 grain bullet (even as it sails past the 400-yard mark), and frequently making shots at 500 yards or more. Deer hunters have come to appreciate the 6mm Remington, as it performs very well on medium-sized game at distances as far out as 300 yards.

With mild recoil and accuracy as good as any other cartridge available for sale today, the 6mm is a great choice for a beginning shooter or for hunters who want a deer and varmint rifle with lighter recoil. The similarity between the 6mm and .243 Winchester is unmistakable, yet the 6mm just edges past the .243 in performance.

The 6mm Remington is chambered in bolt action rifles manufactured by many companies, and is also available in single shot rifles. Performing well as a hunting cartridge, the 6mm saw only limited popularity with competitive shooters, and never really enjoyed the success in that arena that its cousin, the 6mm BR, did.

6mm Remington ammunition is uncommon, but is still available without requiring extreme effort. The most easily found 6mm ammo has a pointed soft point bullet that weighs between 55 grains and 105 grains. Muzzle velocity can exceed 4,000 feet per second, and the heaviest bullets can generate more than 2,000 foot pounds of muzzle energy. For shooters willing to search, specialty bullets including Nosler Partition and Hornady SST help squeeze from this cartridge the last possible drops of performance.

The 6mm Remington answers the “One Gun Only” question. It reaches to long ranges, and is available in a wide variety of ammunition. Due to this versatility, this cartridge is a jack of all trades.

History of 6mm Remington Ammo originally appeared in The Resistance Library at Ammo.com.

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Sadly Remington didn’t learn from this when they introduced the .260 REM in 1994. Ken Waters had it right when he wildcatted the .263 Express and copied the 1:8" twist of the European 6.5mm rifles for the IDENTICAL case in 1953 (.243 WIN necked UP to 6.5mm instead of the .308 WIN necked down - which requires neck turning). Remington listened to Jim Charmichael and used the wrong twist, presented to the wrong audience, with the wrong bullet weights, in the wrong marketing thrust, in the already unpopular Model 7. Like Remington frequenty does/did they dropped the ball on a GREAT wildcat.

Look at the 7mm Express/.280 Rem. That should have changed the US most popular caliber. But instead? M’eh.

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It’s amazing how many factors ammo manufacturers have to take into consideration when introducing a new cartridge to the market. You might get a 30 Thompson Center; you might get a 300 AAC Blackout. I don’t think I’d ever have the guts to invest so much into something that could wind up DOA.

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