I intend to have the nicest Savage hunting rifle ever built!

[handirifle]

His sounds like it will be a nice rifle. I doubt that McMillan will look much worse than most after 5 years or so. prob, a bit better.

Mine on the other hand, is an old Savage LH '06, with blind mag (currently), and filled in forend to stiffen it up, and a kick-eze recoil pad, and a 3/8" thick kick-eze cheek rest. It aint purty, but it hits what I aim at and does it with authority, and that is all that matters to me. That 168gr TTSX will hit with enough ooomph to cleanly take elk to 500yds, if I ever got the gumption to shoot one that far off.

nasquam
I am curious as to why you picked that particular caliber? Care to enlighten me?

[rusty815]

My guess is that its a light recoiling yet powerful cartridge, which would go great for a lightweight build. It's a bit of a barrel burner, but if all you are going to do is hunt with it, that shouldn't be a problem. I went with its parent case, the 284, because I don't just plan on hunting with it, so I want a little better barrel life, and I like shooting heavier rounds.

[nsaqam]

His sounds like it will be a nice rifle. I doubt that McMillan will look much worse than most after 5 years or so. prob, a bit better.

Mine on the other hand, is an old Savage LH '06, with blind mag (currently), and filled in forend to stiffen it up, and a kick-eze recoil pad, and a 3/8" thick kick-eze cheek rest. It aint purty, but it hits what I aim at and does it with authority, and that is all that matters to me. That 168gr TTSX will hit with enough ooomph to cleanly take elk to 500yds, if I ever got the gumption to shoot one that far off.

nasquam
I am curious as to why you picked that particular caliber? Care to enlighten me?

I really like the 6mm bore size for whitetail and my most recent experience with a .300 WSM drove home the fact that I just don't enjoy dealing with all that recoil.
I always prefer oddball type cartridges and was actually considering the 6mm-06, 6mm-06AI, and the .240 Gibbs for this build. A look at die prices and a few runs through QuickLOAD convinced me that the 6mm-284 would perform exactly like these LA cartridges for less money.
I also think that the 6mm-284 looks wickedly sexy with the 115 VLD seated way the heck out there!

[handirifle]

Well your reasons sure sound well thought out. I have owned 243's but never shot anything bigger than coyote with it, no real reasons other than I just never had the rifle/oppportunity at the same time. I have zero experience with VLD bullets, but have read of their use a bit on the long range hunter, magazine forums.
answering this from my phone, so I can't look back, but I assume that bullet requires a 1-8 twist, is that what you ordered?

[nsaqam]

I already have the barrel. An 8 twist 5R rifled Rock #2.
They actually recommend a 7.5 twist for the 115's but that is for the smaller capacity 6mm's.
With the extra speed from my 6mm-284 I should be able to stabilize in an 8 twist.

[handirifle]

That IS going to be a barrel burner, for sure.

[nsaqam]

Burning barrels is the LEAST of my concerns!

After 20 years I'll be ready for a new barrel.

[nsaqam]

For a hunting rifle, who cares. His grand kids will still be shooting it long after he is gone. (most likely)

Exactly!

Let's hope that I can shoot enough game with it in my lifetime to burn out the barrel!