[ttkciar]

Hornady has introduced a new 6mm product, the "6mm Advanced Rifle Cartridge" -- https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2020/06/03/hornady-announces-6mm-arc/

They are marketing it for military use, but as far as I've heard nobody's picked it up yet.

At first I thought 6mm ARC just the 6mm AR put into production (Grendel necked down to 6mm), but the cartridge dimensions are all 1% to 2% smaller than the Grendel, with a slight body taper where the Grendel has none.

ARC dimensions from http://ciar.org/h/6mm-ARC-Saami-Specifications.pdf

This cartridge looks mostly good to me, but the bullets they're putting in it are too heavy. It's not fast enough, with the given bullet compositions, to fragment well in tissue, even at short range. They are trading off terminal effect for long-range ballistics.

Perhaps something in 85gr or 90gr will become available someday. 87gr was the optimum calculated weight for 6mm AR, assuming bullet shape with a good BC -- any heavier and it drops below fragmentation threshold sooner because it's slower at the muzzle, and any lighter and it drops below fragmentation threshold sooner because it loses velocity faster.

It's at least interesting, and worth keeping an eye on.

 

[Bobcat In The Woods]

I’m sticking to my 6.8 SPC for now. We’ll see how it pans out for everyone else before I look into it too hard.

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

Another solution in search of a problem. Got it.

It shouldn't be too hard to load your own with 85-95gr bullets.

 

[steve marshall]

Hornady, the company "that changes everything". All you need to know.......minus the hype, compare the 6.5 Creedmoor to the 260 Remington. Need more? Special density loading techniques, ELD, Leverevolution and I'm sure several other "innovations" I'm forgetting, are simply cluster****s designed to part gullible shooters from their hard earned dollars.

 

[curt mini14]

6mm arc vs 6.5 grendel not a whole lot of difference WTH.what a sham.

 

[LuniticFringeInc]

I dont see where the 6mm ARC or 6mm Grendel do much that my 6x45 cant closley duplicate. Both do have a bit of an advantage when using very heavy bullets and for shooting at extreme ranges. The 6x45 is based off the 223 case which are abundent and cheap if once fired and often found at the range on the ground for free! This keeps it very economical. I dont need a different Magazine to keep in stock. Its a very efficient cartridge for the AR platform if you need a little more punch than the 223/5.56 can give you.

 

[Jack Swilling]

I think the case is a better design in the 6mm ARC than other 6mms/6.5 mms
I don't think that is in dispute
But is it THE ANSWER
Possibly

We shall see in the fullness of time
With a 1/7 twist, the 77 grain OTM .223 caliber bullets are not making me jump on any 6mm band-wagon

For now I am in wait and see mode

 

[JLW1974]

I am on the fence about this round. Basically, there isn't much this round can do much better than the 6.5 Grendel Round. Plus you can still find 6.5 Grendel ammo on the market for sometimes cheaper than the 223 for Wolf Military Classic brand ammo. I don't think you will find Wolf making 6mm ARC ammo anytime soon.

My fear is however, that Hornady will start focusing more production on the 6mm ARC than the 6.5 Grendel American Gunner supply, which could drive up BOTH ammo cost if that is what folks currently buy.

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

Hornady, the company "that changes everything". All you need to know.......minus the hype, compare the 6.5 Creedmoor to the 260 Remington. Need more?

You do know the history behind the development of this round, don't you? And from whom the requirements came?

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

With a 1/7 twist, the 77 grain OTM .223 caliber bullets are not making me jump on any 6mm band-wagon

Exactly. I have on occasion shot XTC with 77s. No issues holding sub-MOA at 600.

 

[.455_Hunter]

So it's a 6mm Lee-Navy from 1895 reconfigured to fit in an AR-15?

Both shoot a ~110 gr bullet at 2550 fps from service length barrels.

 

[ColoradoMinuteMan]

Hornady, the company "that changes everything". All you need to know.......minus the hype, compare the 6.5 Creedmoor to the 260 Remington. Need more? Special density loading techniques, ELD, Leverevolution and I'm sure several other "innovations" I'm forgetting, are simply cluster****s designed to part gullible shooters from their hard earned dollars.

I’m not sure how it is “designed to part gullible people from their hard earned money.” Should all product developers be striving to perfect their products? If it’s .5 % better than the “next best thing” then what’s the problem? I build an AR a year just because I can, why does buying a 6 ARC barrel instead of a 5.56 or 7.62x39 or 6.5 Grendel make me gullible? If some hunts today with a .243 bolt gun and wants to move to an AR and 6 ARC fills a niche, why is that person gullible? Why do you dislike innovation? I mean it’s a for profit company that has decided to innovate so they can make more money? I mean, don’t you want them to find creative ways to make money? Don’t we want Hornady making money so they can continue to make the products we like? Should we ask all the AD15 manufactures to go back to making only 5.56, or making just stop innovating all together? I mean really why change? Why can’t everyone just use an A2?


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[ttkciar]

Over on TankNet, JamesR scraped together enough info about 6mm ARC to run it through a ballistic calculator and compared it to 6.5mm Grendel.

The contrast between the two says more to me about the strengths of 6mm than anything else. 6.5mm needs a much larger cartridge before it can outperform 6mm with the same cartridge. I ran the numbers on 6mm-06 vs .25-06 a while back (yes, I know .257 isn't 6.5mm, but it's close) and the 6mm was quite lackluster by comparison, much to my surprise.

JamesR's post is http://www.tank-net.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=44621&p=1484356

 

[steve marshall]

I know, let's compare 6MM ARC vs. 6MM PPC.

 

[TRIGGER6MM]

Based on what I'm reading. "At first I thought 6mm ARC just the 6mm AR put into production (Grendel necked down to 6mm), but the cartridge dimensions are all 1% to 2% smaller than the Grendel, with a slight body taper where the Grendel has none." You would still be able to fire the ARC from the 6mm AR setup. But after it would simply turn it into a fire formed 6mm AR neck down 6.5 Grendel. I shoot the 6mm AR. and this would help If you run out and need something off the shelf.

 

[TRIGGER6MM]

https://www.ballisticmag.com/2020/06/03/hornady-6mm-arc-first-look/

 

[Steve_In_29]

From a quick perusal it seems the 6mmARC is better at punching paper at distance while the 6.5G is better on things you need to kill.

 

[ColoradoMinuteMan]

From a quick perusal it seems the 6mmARC is better at punching paper at distance while the 6.5G is better on things you need to kill.

I’m curious the thoughts process behind the 6.5 being better for killing?


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[billwilla]

Well, I'm gonna let this bandwagon roll on by.

 

[ColoradoMinuteMan]

Well, I'm gonna let this bandwagon roll on by.

I still really like my .277 WLV. It’s not winning any long range competitions or popularity contests but it’s really nice to shoot. It will drop just about anything @ 200 yards and I don’t shoot beyond that due to less than optimal vision in my dominant eye.


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