New Switchback ARC

[KMW1954]

Well friends here it is all dressed out. Retrofitted the Boyd's At-One Thumbhole and fitted the Athlon Argos GENII 8-34X56 glass on it. Still might replace the 20MOA rail as I feel it is too high. Been meaning to do this 6ARC for 3 years now!

[J.Baker]

Looks great, but why?

Why choose a limited capacity cartridge that was specifically designed around the size restrictions of a specific platform (AR15) and build a bolt gun for it when there are soo many better cartridge options that you can use in a bolt gun? It's akin to building a Fast-Five Shelby Cobra kit car and then putting a 1.0L 3-cylinder Ford Fiesta engine in it.

To each their own, but someone please explain the logic to me? Guys have done it with the Grendel, the Valkyrie, and now the ARC when they could have gone with a 6.5 Creedmoor or 6.5x47 Lapua, a .22-250 or .220 Swift, or a 6mm Creedmoor or 6x47 Lapua or a .243 Win or a .243 Win AI.

JUST TELL ME WHY!!!!!!!!!!! WHY LIMIT YOURSELVES!!!! I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT!!!!


(Over dramatic attempt at humor aside, I'm honestly am curious why and hope you will enlighten me.)

[KMW1954]

Looks great, but why?

To each their own, but someone please explain the logic to me? Guys have done it with the Grendel, the Valkyrie, and now the ARC when they could have gone with a 6.5 Creedmoor or 6.5x47 Lapua, a .22-250 or .220 Swift, or a 6mm Creedmoor or 6x47 Lapua or a .243 Win or a .243 Win AI.

JUST TELL ME WHY!!!!!!!!!!! WHY LIMIT YOURSELVES!!!! I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT!!!!


(Over dramatic attempt at humor aside, I'm honestly am curious why and hope you will enlighten me.)

Don't know why but I will try to explain my reasoning. Again this is just my take on this decision and I guess I am the only one that has to appreciate it because I'm the one shooting it..

I shoot 10 weeks in an informal local bench type league. It is set up really simple. Any center fire rifle with an optical scope is eligible to partake. Just has to be at least a 22 and no larger than a 30cal. Other than a scope mounted the only other requirement is it must be shot from a front bipod and rear bag. Yes there is a good share of 6mm varieties, 6.5, 7mm, 30cal, one 25cal and myself and one other shooting 223.

We rotate shooting from 100 to 200 to 300yds and each week is a different target. This year and in the past I have posted pictures of the different targets we shoot and how the different target are scored. We now have 5 proprietary targets that were designed by us. This is not just shooting at bullseyes.

So during my first season shooting this league and getting to know the members and developing a better understanding of what they are doing I started gaining interest and experience shooting the 223 and realizing the handicap I had given myself with the 223. Yet still I very much enjoy shooting and competing with it. That next summer I started looking for another Savage action with the intention of barreling it with a NSS prefit barrel in 6BR. Reason again being costs and ease of completion. Then while waiting I stumbled upon a New Take-Off Savage model 12 heavy 26" barrel 223 that had never been shot. It was local and I got it for $100.00 so it went on and now two years later I am still shooting it.

So during this time of looking to build this rifle for this league I also started looking at this 6mm ARC. Why? Because everywhere I looked I ran into road blocks to building a 6mm BR. No brass was available two years ago. Tools, dies, gauges also were nowhere to be had. Sure I could get a 6BR barrel from NNS but that was about all. Yet I could find factory loaded ammo for brass, Reloading dies from both Hornady and Lee. Also NSS had the go no-go gauges. So I could find everything needed to put it together.

Then while doing that I started reading everything I could find on the 6 Arc. Articles comparing it to the BR, BRA, DASHER, 6.5 Grendal and one even against the 6.5 CM. Then I started studying the load data available for the bolt rifles and soon realized that the 6mm ARC and the 6mm BR when loaded with the same components, same bullets, primers, powders and all the same weights there is relatively no difference until one get up to max loads then there is an edge to the BR. Then after talking with members that are shooting a BR, BRA, Dasher, not one of them is running anywhere near max velocity.

So why not any one of those Other cartridges you mention at are superior. I then ask superior to what? To do what? To shoot paper targets at distances of 100 to 300yds. Do I really need to burn twice the amount of powder just to punch holes? Powder isn't cheap anymore! Matter of fact I am still debating rebarreling the old one back to a faster twist 223 and staying with it as I can load that for almost half the cost of the 6mm. Also at these distances why not a 6PPC?

[KMW1954]

Well it's been a couple days since my post and I see some have looked but no one to offer another opinion! So I tale that as I must not be so far off on my assessment and reasoning behind my decision. And I take it I answered J. Baker's curiosity.

[J.Baker]

Makes sense I guess for the game you're playing and the availability of components for the BR. I would be interested in hearing how brass life and consistency holds up over time as that's one of the big benefits of the BR cartridges. I know guys shooting short range benchrest who have 40-50 loadings on their Lapua BR brass with no issues. Keep us informed how things progress throughout the match season as it will be interesting to see how the ARC does in that game with the more established cartridges.

[KMW1954]

J. as long as I can tell there is interest I will keep posting updated. Will most likely be in the 110 or reloading sub-forum but yet again this for the time being is where my interest lies.

In our league there is a member that was also an RO that I worked with that is shooting his second season. He started with a 110 switchback and quickly changed the stock and the barrel to a Shilen 26" straight tube. Last year as the weeks progressed so did his scores. Now this year he is steadily holding 5th place.
After nine weeks standings for this;
1st. 1718/1800
2nd. 1683/1800
3rd. 1674/1800
4th. 1657/1800
5th. 1649/1800 the ARC Shooter
Me. 1294/1800

[Dave Hoback]

You mentioned it briefly, but by your own logic, it would seem wise too switch back to the 223. It will always be cheaper.

However, I think it’s just easy to say the heart wants what it wants. Doesn’t need to be any logical reason. It’s a proven concept that people will go to the shiny new thing more often that not. Every year there are a host of new cartridges and a thousand reasons why they are better. But in reality, there’s been nothing new under the sun for almost the last 30 years in target shooting. Probably longer. Quality consistency sure; we’ve become better at the actual doing. But I’m talking about the actual stuff. It’s the same, but in a shiny new package for our eyes to feast on. Ooooo!

Honestly, I’m of the same opinion as Jim on this. But hey, I get it. Kudos to what each of us wants individually. In the end it would be pretty boring if we all wanted & had the same ish! Good luck with & I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy my rig.

[KMW1954]

Dave and Jim, thanks for the comments and insight.
Once again this is basically being applied to a world that is currently dominated by the 6mm cartridge, namely the BR Norma, BRA, Dashers. Which again in my view and observations that when loaded in like kind the 6mm ARC should be able to compete with until it is stretched to the upper limits of the loads. Though like I stated with all the members that are shooting those other 6mm I have yet to find one that is running at Max loads.

So next looking at this and studying the competitive classes with the 223 I see they are again all running very fast twist barrels with 85gr of higher weight bullets to be able to fire those very small groups out to 600yds and beyond.. So why not load down the 6mm ARC with it's smaller capacity than the BRA or Dashers with a 90-95gr bullet like the F-Class 223.

I don't have the answer and I do not shoot F-Class but it will be interesting to see what an average guy can do with this short fat little case. Will it compete with the other short fat 6mm? Hopefully we will soon find out.