We take a quick look at 6mm Remington, aka .244 Remington, a true middle-weight heavy hitter of a cartridge.
The 6mm Remington has exactly the same case dimensions as the .244 Remington. They differ only in the fact that the 6mm Remington is loaded with bullets of up to 100 grains, whereas the .244 Remington was never loaded with bullets of more than 90 grains. Ammunition marked .244 Remington can be fired in 6mm Remington chambers and vice versa. However, rifles marked .244 Remington will not always stabilize the 100-grain bullet. The difference between the two is that .244 rifles (if manufactured by Remington) have a 1:12 rifling twist, and rifles marked 6mm have a 1:9 twist.
When Remington introduced the .244, in 1955, it selected the 1:12 twist as best suited to long-range accuracy with bullets of 75 to 90 grains. That was correct, except that most shooters wanted to use bullets of 100 to 105 grains to cover the range of game from varmints through deer with the same rifle. To correct this misjudgment, Remington renamed the cartridge 6mm Remington and changed to a 1:9 twist.
To have retained the .244 designation and simply changed the twist would have brought on complaints from purchasers of the original .244s with the slower twist, when they tried to use the new 100-grain load. The change in cartridge nomenclature to 6mm and the faster twist occurred in 1963. The Remington 700 series and 788 bolt-action rifles, as well as the firm’s autoloaders and the slide-actions, have been available in 6mm.
The original 6mm Remington was loaded only with the 100-grain bullet. However, it’s now available with 80-, 90- and 100-grain bullets, which greatly extends its flexibility. Although the older .244 lost out to the .243 Winchester, the 6mm Remington with faster twist barrels is gradually picking up a following. It is an excellent choice for the varmint hunter who also wants to use his rifle for deer and antelope.
Although the 6mm has a slightly larger powder capacity than the .243, the difference in performance is negligible as far as killing power is concerned. Nevertheless, this small advance in ballistics appeals to some people and so does the longer neck of the 6mm case, which many handloaders consider desirable. This caliber is commercially loaded by Federal and Winchester, as well as Remington.
6mm Remington Loading Data and Factory Ballistics
| Bullet (grains/type) |
Powder | Grains | Velocity | Energy | Source |
| 55 Nos BT | H4895 | 45.5 | 4,115 | 2,065 | Hodgdon |
| 60 HP | H-335 | 42 | 3,700 | 1,824 | Sierra |
| 70 SP | IMR 4350 | 47 | 3,400 | 1,797 | Sierra, Hornady |
| 75 HP | IMR 4064 | 41 | 3,500 | 2,041 | Speer, Nosler |
| 75 HP | IMR 4350 | 47 | 3,450 | 1,983 | Nosler, Speer, Sierra |
| 80 SP | IMR 4350 | 45 | 3,200 | 1,820 | Hornady |
| 80 SP | IMR 4831 | 47 | 3,200 | 1,820 | Hornady, Speer |
| 90 HP | IMR 4350 | 45 | 3,200 | 2,047 | Speer, Sierra |
| 90 HP | IMR 4831 | 45 | 3,100 | 1,921 | Speer, Sierra |
| 100 SP | IMR 4350 | 42 | 2,900 | 1,868 | Hornady, Speer, Sierra, Nosler |
| 100 SP | IMR 4831 | 44 | 2,900 | 1,868 | Speer, Sierra, Hornady |
| 100 | H1000 | 51 | 3,111 | 2,145 | Hodgdon |
| 105 SP | IMR 4350 | 42 | 2,950 | 2,030 | Speer |
| 105 SP | IMR 4064 | 37 | 2,900 | 1,961 | Speer |
| 80 SP | FL | – | 3,470 | 2,139 | Factory load |
| 90 SP | FL | – | 3,190 | 2,133 | Factory load |
| 100 SP | FL | – | 3,100 | 2,133 | Factory load |
Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt of Gun Digest’s Cartridge’s Of The World.
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