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4 June 2020, 18:54 #1
What are your thoughts on the new 6ARC
Normally I am pretty skeptical of many 'new' untested things in the firearms world. For example right off the bat I was pretty suspicious so to speak of the 224 Valkyrie. In 99% of the cases that caliber works, but it didn't take all that long to expose some of the weakness in that design. With this new 6ARC though I don't really have those same kind of questions. The reason being is that it looks like they took a ton of long time tested components and married them together into something new.
The 6mm bullet selection for example is routinely shot out to well over 1,000++ yards in all sorts of competitions. Unlike that 90grain SMK that was supposed to be paired with the Valkyrie they have no such bugs with twist rates or whatever in the 6mm world. It's all pretty much standard stuff, just married in a different way.
To have a legit 1,000 yard gun in a standard AR size platform, like the Valkyrie, is very interesting. Obviously I haven't shot the 6ARC but my first impressions are basically 'where do I sign up?'. My only real question about the whole thing now is pretty much all around magazines and (for me) brass. What is the price and availability, and selection looking like?
From the page linked below the magazines will be 24 or 17 round, out of what I assume would be the same footprint size as a standard 30 round or 20 round AR mag.
They definitely have my attention for sure.
"U.S. Military Adopts Hornady's New Cartridge: 6mm ARC"
https://www.gunsandammo.com/editoria...6mm-arc/376852
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4 June 2020, 19:27 #2
Meh
It doesn’t do much more than a grendel looking at the stats for me. Which is why I’ll take a guess and say it’s not gonna be a big to do
Ammo- grendel has a lot of options and one of the biggest following by the ammo forts right now. Something like 200+ factory loads now.
If they price the ammo (only heard of one company so far making ammo) more then the grendel. It won’t work. Price it at same price of cheaper , it will get attention.
Grendel has cheap wolf ammo for blasting and decent for steel out at distance. That’s 30 cpr vs a buck or more..unless you reload
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4 June 2020, 19:41 #3
There has been a lot of interest lately, it seems, in 6mm in both AR and large frame platforms and I think they've largely been the realm of wildcatters. This gives a factory option. I think the people most interested in 6ARC are likely to load their own ammo. To me, looks like it could be a fun/attractive long-ish range paper puncher out of the AR platform.
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4 June 2020, 20:06 #4
I found a little snippet comparing 6.5 Grendel to 6 ARC. I will have to do my own research and see what kind of ballistic differences there are. As they say in the video though, with 6.5 bullets your main bullet selection kind of max out around the mid 120 grain range whereas the ARC is designed from the ground up for all 6mm bullets without really encountering magazine length restrictions.
It might be just academic but that's my specialty. LOL
Also if you just want to shoot (and reload) I did a quick search on Ammoseek and 6mm bullets start out about right at 1/2 the cost of a 6.5 bullet. Premium 6mm projectiles are still cheaper per bullet (with better BC etc) than standard 120ish grain 6.5mm bullets.
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4 June 2020, 20:21 #5
I just did some rough math and for me to reload 6.5 Grendel with just plain bulk box bullets and so forth would be well over .30 cents a round if you roll your own.
For cheaper, I could load match grade 105 grain match grade ammo with Hornady bullets in 6mm. For equivalent plinking ammo it would go down in price per round by about half.
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4 June 2020, 21:57 #6
This video goes into more detail. I'm impressed.
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4 June 2020, 22:01 #7
Lol
Just a quick google leads to 6mm “match” bullets for roughly the same as 6.5 stuff..if you know where to look..
Brass..gonna need a bunch , either at factory ammo at a buck a round or brass pieces at .65 cents a pop. Plus primer plus powder..
You aren’t doing a 6mm wildcat any less then a 6.5 ..
If your looking for a new caliber/build then sure I see it.. there will be a fad but how long? Look at the Valkyrie , it was the shizznit..till the next wildcat round came out
You can push a 90gr-107 gr load in a grendel at about the same..so
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4 June 2020, 22:57 #8
IMHO 6.5 Grendel never got mainstream, so this will go the way of .224, .350 and anything else since 300 BO.
If you want to shoot straight and far, just do 6.5 Creedmoor. Laser beams all day long. Everyone these days have multiple AR's just build another large frame!
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4 June 2020, 23:46 #9
That's definitely a valid couple of points for a variety of reasons. Realistically who has access to an 1100 yard range? That said the .224 in my view was in large part a failure because it couldn't deliver what was advertised. You had one projectile that the fluff was based on to call it "a 1,000 yard rifle". While I am sure lots of people took theirs to 1000 yards, enough were not able to get there. Basically it didn't live up to the hype. Same story but different with the 22 Nosler or others. It really didn't solve anything.
With the 6mm bullet selection though it's proven for like 60 years or more of testing. My googlefu says 1955 until now it's been in continuous use. Any given weekend people are shooting 6mm out past a grand in some kind of competition or another. They don't really have to figure out what twist rate is needed to stabilize a 90 grain 224 bullet...so the marriage of components for this cartridge in my eyes makes a lot more sense. I am a lot more confident that it will live up to the hype at least performance wise. 1000 yard gun? YUP. I am way more confident in this than I was initially in the 224 because I am fairly confident that this will out do everything the .224 was originally billed as and more. Basically by using proven components they will be able to deliver the goods to those who are after it where others did not.
If you look at the competition precision rifle shooting market 6mm rules. According to this article 7 out of 8 pro shooters use 6mm.
https://precisionrifleblog.com/2018/...rifle-caliber/
For me, I would consider this cartridge as an intermediate caliber. That said I can shoot it and get into it for relatively cheap compared to buying an all new custom rifle or whatever. Don't get me wrong... I am nowhere near at saturation point for gun ownership. If I make a few million anytime soon I can promise I will scratch several itches. Overall though for the ability to bang out to 1,000 yards in a standard AR frame is a great idea that has been pursued (unsuccessfully) by several companies. I personally could load up 100 rounds in a rifle like this and have a ball all afternoon.
Don't get me wrong (again)... a good 6.5 CM that I can take to a mile is on my very short list. I could buy or build one now but I am not willing to over extend myself (for now) for what is ultimately a hobby. Hell if I could afford $10 bucks a round and I had access to somewhere to shoot several thousand meters out I would be all over a 375 Enablr. Chasing insane distances is never ending.
The appeal to me for this is what initially had me looking at the .224...(that I never bought into). This is something I could shoot relatively cheap and scratch that itch without having to sell a kidney.
And that's not saying the Grendel is bad... but to me this has way more appeal for how I would use it.
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4 June 2020, 23:56 #10
Also I might add, look at Lantac's post here... those ballistics charts they posted show performance equal to or better than a 308 out of a much smaller package.
http://www.weaponevolution.com/forum...BCG-and-Rifles
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5 June 2020, 00:04 #11
I think your second sentence really sums it up. All these 1000 yard cartridges... but who shoots at 1000 yards consistently or even has access to a range like that? That's a small subset of a small group. I think that's what really holds up these long range platforms.
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5 June 2020, 00:19 #12
Yup. But among those who do...it's just a barrel of monkey's worth of fun to do. To have something like this will (in that kind of circle) make a big splash I think.
Among average shooters in the consumer world who don't normally shoot that far, they don't really get how impractical shooting something at 1000 yards really is. It's a thing unto itself. Until you actually stare down a 1000 plus yard lane it doesn't make sense about how that's not applicable at all to self defense or home protection or whatever.
The people that get it though, this has a lot of potential (lots more than 224 valkyrie) to please the masses in that crowd. Niche gun, maybe... or probably... but I still think this is finally one that can deliver the goods to those looking for a particular set of skills/needs.
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5 June 2020, 00:23 #13
Ballistic charts stolen from Lantac's thread. Cross posted for easy access. This performance out of a standard AR ain't half bad.
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5 June 2020, 00:28 #14
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5 June 2020, 08:12 #15
That's what the headline said, but that's not what the article said. This seems to be the trend in gun rags to get clicks/eyeballs. What the article said is "...a DoD entitiy..." That doesn't mean "the military" or even a "branch of the military." That means someone contracted the purchase of this round/weapon system at some lot size. It could be a small lot size compared to DoD as a whole, and thus not help with public availability.
The fact that the entity isn't named seems to indicate that it's some much smaller unit than something purchased for a major military entity (like Crane or the Army's main procurement source).