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Holy smokes! A NEW, NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE rifle cartridge! Stop the presses! Your guns are all obsolete! You’ll never make another shot again if you don’t shoot this round!

If you’ve ever bought into this marketing ploy before — you know it’s a bunch of bull.

New rifle cartridges are almost always created to fill a niche or excel at a particular thing. Sure, some are made to be do-all cartridges (within reason) like the .30-06 and the .308, but the vast majority are really good at one or two things.

Most are made with expertise that’s an inch wide and a mile deep. For instance, the diminutive .17 HMR, is NOT a great choice for whitetail, nor is the elephant-smoking .470 Nitro Express. Similarly, the Russian favorite 7.62x39, ain’t no benchrest round. The vodka-soaked conditions under which it was born combined with give-or-take powder measurements and tolerances sloppier than Bourbon Street make it great for filling the air with lead (but without supreme accuracy).

But the beauty of a specialist — a round superb at what it was designed to do — is that it becomes the go-to for experts and novices alike. In fact, the race for all-out freakishly small groupings from high-dollar benchrest rifles has produced yet another amazing cartridge: the 6mm GT (or 6GT).

Developed specifically for shooting competitions, this laser beam of the benchrest has spread into other shooting niches as well.

So, what’s 6mm GT all about? Let’s take a look at the origins, specs, pros, and cons of this modern-age rifle round to see if it’s really worth the hype.

(Source: https://coldboremiracle.com/2021/08/02/the-6mm-gt/)

What’s the Point of the 6mm GT?

Yep, this is the question leveled at every new cartridge.

The 6mm GT bridges the gap between the smaller benchrest cartridges and the more hunter-skewing 6mm Creedmoor. But rather than being a compromise that’s no good at either, the 6GT delivers excellent performance in both settings.

It’s great on the firing line and in the field because its long-for-caliber, high-BC (ballistic coefficient) bullets cut through the wind better than other 6mm cartridges. That’s great whether you’re trying to drill a bullseye or a whitetail. Plus cartridges of this size are magazine-friendly, meaning you don’t have to feed them one at a time.

(Source: https://coldboremiracle.com/tag/6mm-gt/)

What Is the 6mm GT Good For?

A tagline on this honey of a cartridge might read something like: Benchrest Hero and Big Buck Blaster! Hyperbole aside, these are precisely where the 6mm GT excels, favoring the benchrest competition.

For both pursuits, the 6GT is awesome due to its minimal recoil. The smaller the recoil of a gun, the easier it is to see your shots and make adjustments for subsequent shots. Plus, it’s better for new or young shooters or those who are just recoil shy.

Lastly, the 6mm GT outkicks its coverage in the long-range arena. A bullet that barely cracks the 100-grain mark shouldn’t fly like these do, but again, these high-BD, low-drag slugs just keep on trucking through the wind.

Peak Benchrest Accuracy

The 6mm GT is the brainchild of George Gardner of GA Precision, maker and purveyor of hyper-accurate competition and hunting rifles. Gardner was joined by Tom Jacobs, who makes high-end ultra-precision bullets.

Seeing a pattern here? Two accuracy freaks get together and do what they do — make freaky accurate stuff. Bullets, rifles, brass, even the primers are chosen with the utmost accuracy in mind.

The 6mm GT uses today’s uber-popular long- and heavy-for-caliber bullets that fly somewhat slower than comparable cartridges. However, their heft and length permit them to buck wind better, delivering demonstrably increased downrange accuracy.

Precision Shooting Setup

An awesome benchrest rig will have either a fixed scope, like a 25x, or variable power somewhere in the 6-56x range — or some other big-magnification glass. Most often, hyper-precision rifles are in custom chassis systems that look like something the Terminator would wield.

Hunting

There’s another perk to slinging a 6mm, 105- to 115-grain slug almost 3,000 fps: whacking critters.

Yes, you can shoot a critter with any old bullet, but should you? The ethics of hunting come into play when firing a non-expanding target round at a live animal. Ethical hunters (read: what all hunters should be) want to put the animal down as quickly as possible. Doing so usually requires soft point, hollow point, or tipped ammo. These offer expansion and in turn bigger holes in stuff that bleed out faster.

Choices of factory ammo loads for the 6GT are somewhat slim, but you don’t need a ton of options when they already all deliver the desired end result (amazing accuracy) in spades. All that said, shot placement is king in shooting disciplines, including hunting. So even tipped match bullets can ethically drop game. In the end, it's your decision to make.

The 6mm GT is a great choice for whitetail deer, antelope on the plains out West, or coyote hunters roaming wide-open prairies. It’s even small enough to qualify as a “magnum” varmint round, perfect for vaporizing prairie dogs and groundhogs.

6mm GT Hunting Setup

A good 6mm GT hunting rig has an adjustable-power scope, say, 4-12x, with a lighter stock for hoofing it through the woods or across open terrain. The old adage is true: A rifle is only as good as its glass. Don’t get a POS Tasco and plop it on a 6mm GT rig.

6mm GT Specs

Grain Average Speed (FPS) Average Energy (ft.-lbs.)
105 grain ~3,100+ ~2,240
115 grain ~2,900 ~2,300

Grain

Most 6GT bullets weigh between 105 and 115 grains. There’s a wide swath of bullets available for reloading because of the wealth of other 6mm cartridges, many that work well. You’ll find hunting and target flavors of different weights, so developing a load will be a fruitful exercise. Or, there are always factory loads if you just want to get out and start blasting.

Size

Case length of the 6mm GT is 1.56” with a maximum overall length (OAL) of 2.44”. This puts it square in the middle of the modern 6mm benchrest and hunting cartridges, with the 6mm BRA (BenchRest Accuracy) on the small end and the hunter-preferred 6mm Creedmoor on the other. The GT is the perfect stopgap with advantages of both rounds. Plus, it’s the perfect length for chassis guns that are .308-length. In other words, the GT is the most popular and standard size around.

Shoulder Angle

A big improvement to the GT over the purely benchrest cartridges is its shoulder angle, or the steepness of the bottleneck. A steeper bottleneck is great for extracting the most complete and efficient burn from a charge of powder, but it’s not great for feeding from a magazine (even in a bolt-action rifle). The 35-degree angle of the GT makes it slide easily in and out of a chamber for quick feeding and extracting.

Pros of the 6mm GT

As you can see, there’s a lot to love about this round. Here are the plain upsides of the 6mm GT:

  • Good barrel life - Despite its long-range capability, the 6GT doesn’t rely on a hefty powder charge or scorching velocity. Its long and heavy-for-caliber bullets rely more on efficient design than brute strength. They work smarter, not harder.
  • Large selection of bullets - With so many 6mm cartridges available, there’s already a preexisting battery of projectiles for your handloads. If you don’t handload, no sweat, just pick up some factory loadings for both hunting and target shooting.
  • Forgiving when reloaded - Because so much of the 6GT is focused on delivering supreme accuracy, you can be a tenth of a grain off on a load and still enjoy superior results.
  • Many proven loads exist - With reloading, what works wonders in one gun is not guaranteed to do the same in the next. There are already tons of proven loads developed, so just start with one and tweak it for your rig.

Cons of 6mm GT

  • Lacks downrange energy of bigger hunting rounds - There’s no way around this one because physics can’t be denied. The 6mm GT flies marvelously, but at the end of the day it comes up short delivering big lockdown power at extended distances. That said, the 6GT will work fine for 80% of whitetail hunters, given that most shots are taken within 100 yards.
  • Not as many projectile options - The 6mm diameter is still up-and-coming and isn’t as popular as the 6.5mm or .30 rounds, so there are fewer bullet options. But with the 6GT and other 6mm performers making waves on the firing line, that’s sure to change.
  • Not a ton of factory ammo - We’re all for options and selection, but how many do you really need if you’ve found a handful that shoot great in your gun? The 6mm GT has several factory hunting and target rounds in production, but not as many as other calibers.
  • 6mm guns can be pricey - If you’re looking to get into the 6GT from scratch, prepare to open your wallet. Many shooters will rebarrel an existing action, but if you don’t have one, you’ll need to get one. There are tons of options from a basic Remington 700 action to high-dollar custom setups. But if you’re just starting out, go for an entry level rig and build it to your liking as you learn more.

(Source: https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/6mm-gt-rifle-complete-with-components.7172516/)

Final Thoughts

If you like to take the road less traveled and want a cutting-edge precision monster, the 6mm GT is the perfect choice. With its freaky accuracy and eye-popping ballistics, it’s the perfect do-all for the benchrest shooter and hunter.

But there’s only so much a blog post can tell you about this round. If you really want to see what the 6GT is capable of, hang around some shooting competitions.

Looking for precision rifle ammo at a price you can’t beat? At Pro Armory, we offer all the classics as well as a few niche rounds. As a veteran-operated company, we know the importance of getting a round that meets your needs — without breaking the bank. Check out our selection of rifle ammo in small boxes and bulk cases, or pick up a slick new optic for your 6mm GT rifle today!

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    Table Of Contents

      6mm GT: The New Precision Rifle Round You Need To Know About
      6mm GT: The New Precision Rifle Round You Need To Know About

      6mm GT: The New Precision Rifle Round You Need To Know About

      May 14, 2024

      Holy smokes! A NEW, NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE rifle cartridge! Stop the presses! Your guns are all obsolete! You’ll never make another shot again if you don’t shoot this round!

      If you’ve ever bought into this marketing ploy before — you know it’s a bunch of bull.

      New rifle cartridges are almost always created to fill a niche or excel at a particular thing. Sure, some are made to be do-all cartridges (within reason) like the .30-06 and the .308, but the vast majority are really good at one or two things.

      Most are made with expertise that’s an inch wide and a mile deep. For instance, the diminutive .17 HMR, is NOT a great choice for whitetail, nor is the elephant-smoking .470 Nitro Express. Similarly, the Russian favorite 7.62x39, ain’t no benchrest round. The vodka-soaked conditions under which it was born combined with give-or-take powder measurements and tolerances sloppier than Bourbon Street make it great for filling the air with lead (but without supreme accuracy).

      But the beauty of a specialist — a round superb at what it was designed to do — is that it becomes the go-to for experts and novices alike. In fact, the race for all-out freakishly small groupings from high-dollar benchrest rifles has produced yet another amazing cartridge: the 6mm GT (or 6GT).

      Developed specifically for shooting competitions, this laser beam of the benchrest has spread into other shooting niches as well.

      So, what’s 6mm GT all about? Let’s take a look at the origins, specs, pros, and cons of this modern-age rifle round to see if it’s really worth the hype.

      (Source: https://coldboremiracle.com/2021/08/02/the-6mm-gt/)

      What’s the Point of the 6mm GT?

      Yep, this is the question leveled at every new cartridge.

      The 6mm GT bridges the gap between the smaller benchrest cartridges and the more hunter-skewing 6mm Creedmoor. But rather than being a compromise that’s no good at either, the 6GT delivers excellent performance in both settings.

      It’s great on the firing line and in the field because its long-for-caliber, high-BC (ballistic coefficient) bullets cut through the wind better than other 6mm cartridges. That’s great whether you’re trying to drill a bullseye or a whitetail. Plus cartridges of this size are magazine-friendly, meaning you don’t have to feed them one at a time.

      (Source: https://coldboremiracle.com/tag/6mm-gt/)

      What Is the 6mm GT Good For?

      A tagline on this honey of a cartridge might read something like: Benchrest Hero and Big Buck Blaster! Hyperbole aside, these are precisely where the 6mm GT excels, favoring the benchrest competition.

      For both pursuits, the 6GT is awesome due to its minimal recoil. The smaller the recoil of a gun, the easier it is to see your shots and make adjustments for subsequent shots. Plus, it’s better for new or young shooters or those who are just recoil shy.

      Lastly, the 6mm GT outkicks its coverage in the long-range arena. A bullet that barely cracks the 100-grain mark shouldn’t fly like these do, but again, these high-BD, low-drag slugs just keep on trucking through the wind.

      Peak Benchrest Accuracy

      The 6mm GT is the brainchild of George Gardner of GA Precision, maker and purveyor of hyper-accurate competition and hunting rifles. Gardner was joined by Tom Jacobs, who makes high-end ultra-precision bullets.

      Seeing a pattern here? Two accuracy freaks get together and do what they do — make freaky accurate stuff. Bullets, rifles, brass, even the primers are chosen with the utmost accuracy in mind.

      The 6mm GT uses today’s uber-popular long- and heavy-for-caliber bullets that fly somewhat slower than comparable cartridges. However, their heft and length permit them to buck wind better, delivering demonstrably increased downrange accuracy.

      Precision Shooting Setup

      An awesome benchrest rig will have either a fixed scope, like a 25x, or variable power somewhere in the 6-56x range — or some other big-magnification glass. Most often, hyper-precision rifles are in custom chassis systems that look like something the Terminator would wield.

      Hunting

      There’s another perk to slinging a 6mm, 105- to 115-grain slug almost 3,000 fps: whacking critters.

      Yes, you can shoot a critter with any old bullet, but should you? The ethics of hunting come into play when firing a non-expanding target round at a live animal. Ethical hunters (read: what all hunters should be) want to put the animal down as quickly as possible. Doing so usually requires soft point, hollow point, or tipped ammo. These offer expansion and in turn bigger holes in stuff that bleed out faster.

      Choices of factory ammo loads for the 6GT are somewhat slim, but you don’t need a ton of options when they already all deliver the desired end result (amazing accuracy) in spades. All that said, shot placement is king in shooting disciplines, including hunting. So even tipped match bullets can ethically drop game. In the end, it's your decision to make.

      The 6mm GT is a great choice for whitetail deer, antelope on the plains out West, or coyote hunters roaming wide-open prairies. It’s even small enough to qualify as a “magnum” varmint round, perfect for vaporizing prairie dogs and groundhogs.

      6mm GT Hunting Setup

      A good 6mm GT hunting rig has an adjustable-power scope, say, 4-12x, with a lighter stock for hoofing it through the woods or across open terrain. The old adage is true: A rifle is only as good as its glass. Don’t get a POS Tasco and plop it on a 6mm GT rig.

      6mm GT Specs

      Grain Average Speed (FPS) Average Energy (ft.-lbs.)
      105 grain ~3,100+ ~2,240
      115 grain ~2,900 ~2,300

      Grain

      Most 6GT bullets weigh between 105 and 115 grains. There’s a wide swath of bullets available for reloading because of the wealth of other 6mm cartridges, many that work well. You’ll find hunting and target flavors of different weights, so developing a load will be a fruitful exercise. Or, there are always factory loads if you just want to get out and start blasting.

      Size

      Case length of the 6mm GT is 1.56” with a maximum overall length (OAL) of 2.44”. This puts it square in the middle of the modern 6mm benchrest and hunting cartridges, with the 6mm BRA (BenchRest Accuracy) on the small end and the hunter-preferred 6mm Creedmoor on the other. The GT is the perfect stopgap with advantages of both rounds. Plus, it’s the perfect length for chassis guns that are .308-length. In other words, the GT is the most popular and standard size around.

      Shoulder Angle

      A big improvement to the GT over the purely benchrest cartridges is its shoulder angle, or the steepness of the bottleneck. A steeper bottleneck is great for extracting the most complete and efficient burn from a charge of powder, but it’s not great for feeding from a magazine (even in a bolt-action rifle). The 35-degree angle of the GT makes it slide easily in and out of a chamber for quick feeding and extracting.

      Pros of the 6mm GT

      As you can see, there’s a lot to love about this round. Here are the plain upsides of the 6mm GT:

      • Good barrel life - Despite its long-range capability, the 6GT doesn’t rely on a hefty powder charge or scorching velocity. Its long and heavy-for-caliber bullets rely more on efficient design than brute strength. They work smarter, not harder.
      • Large selection of bullets - With so many 6mm cartridges available, there’s already a preexisting battery of projectiles for your handloads. If you don’t handload, no sweat, just pick up some factory loadings for both hunting and target shooting.
      • Forgiving when reloaded - Because so much of the 6GT is focused on delivering supreme accuracy, you can be a tenth of a grain off on a load and still enjoy superior results.
      • Many proven loads exist - With reloading, what works wonders in one gun is not guaranteed to do the same in the next. There are already tons of proven loads developed, so just start with one and tweak it for your rig.

      Cons of 6mm GT

      • Lacks downrange energy of bigger hunting rounds - There’s no way around this one because physics can’t be denied. The 6mm GT flies marvelously, but at the end of the day it comes up short delivering big lockdown power at extended distances. That said, the 6GT will work fine for 80% of whitetail hunters, given that most shots are taken within 100 yards.
      • Not as many projectile options - The 6mm diameter is still up-and-coming and isn’t as popular as the 6.5mm or .30 rounds, so there are fewer bullet options. But with the 6GT and other 6mm performers making waves on the firing line, that’s sure to change.
      • Not a ton of factory ammo - We’re all for options and selection, but how many do you really need if you’ve found a handful that shoot great in your gun? The 6mm GT has several factory hunting and target rounds in production, but not as many as other calibers.
      • 6mm guns can be pricey - If you’re looking to get into the 6GT from scratch, prepare to open your wallet. Many shooters will rebarrel an existing action, but if you don’t have one, you’ll need to get one. There are tons of options from a basic Remington 700 action to high-dollar custom setups. But if you’re just starting out, go for an entry level rig and build it to your liking as you learn more.

      (Source: https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/6mm-gt-rifle-complete-with-components.7172516/)

      Final Thoughts

      If you like to take the road less traveled and want a cutting-edge precision monster, the 6mm GT is the perfect choice. With its freaky accuracy and eye-popping ballistics, it’s the perfect do-all for the benchrest shooter and hunter.

      But there’s only so much a blog post can tell you about this round. If you really want to see what the 6GT is capable of, hang around some shooting competitions.

      Looking for precision rifle ammo at a price you can’t beat? At Pro Armory, we offer all the classics as well as a few niche rounds. As a veteran-operated company, we know the importance of getting a round that meets your needs — without breaking the bank. Check out our selection of rifle ammo in small boxes and bulk cases, or pick up a slick new optic for your 6mm GT rifle today!