70grain Sierra Blitzking

[Duhhh]

Does anyone use the 70 grain Sierra Blitzking in a 6 creedmoor? I know they’re hard to find but I’m buying a 20 inch 6CM and would like to hot rod it a bit.

From what I understand, they can handle the higher RPM’s a 6mm can push them. Looking for any input on these or anything in the similar realm.

 

[Dultimatpredator]

I have some 70 grain hollow points in .243 I traded for. They’re unmarked, but I know there is Sierra. Think I have a box of marked 70 grain Sierra HPs as well. I never tried them, but can tell you the ballistic tips by Nosler are the bomb. Literally…on coyotes. They shoot one hole groups loaded HOT in my 243. I would assume the plastic tip blitz kings aren’t different than the vmax. Ballistc tips have a solid base so they are a littler tougher bullet with deeper penetration.

 

[Duhhh]

Gotcha, I’ll take a look at the noslers too.

 

[Kino M]

I have a bunch and have killed lots of coyotes with them and IMO they shoot excellent but they do come apart easy, they completely wreck them from a 243 or 6x6.8. The Nosler shoots the same but is a heavier jacketed bullet that most guys prefer.

The long throat and fast twist of the 6CM might not shoot them well though so you may end up running the 87s or similar weights to shoot well.

 

[borkon]

Have been shooting coyotes with them for 15 years. They shoot great but as for performance, I'd rate the bout the same as vmaxs.
.243.

 

[Duhhh]

Ok thanks for the replies. Think I’ll try to pick some up to try out when I get my new rifle.

 

[Dultimatpredator]

I wouldn’t sweat the twist rate that much until you try some ladder testing. I was hung up on buying my first AR10 243 upper because it had a twist rate of one in eight and I wanted to shoot 55 and 60 grain bullets at 4,000 fps and over. Both my BCA uppers in a 1/8 twist shoot sub MOA with 55 grain Nosler ballistic tips loaded over max book loads with no pressure signs and 60 grain Seirra Hollow points close to 4,000 fps. Both guns will shoot groups all touching at 100 yards. From all the forum reading and opinions I got I figured they wouldn’t have been minute of barn. I was told they would only shoot heavy for caliber 100 grain and above projectiles accurate. lol. All you can do is try for yourself. Keep us posted. I have to say my 1/10 twist 243’s shoot same hole with 70 grain ballistic tips loaded .2 of grain over Nosler max book load with IMR4831. They will shoot .2” to .3” at 200 pretty consistently as well. Just some food for thought with another caliber with a slower twist shooting the exact same bullet. Brass is easier to find and the twist is slower than The CM so you can shoot light and heavy bullets with excellent accuracy. Nice part is if you can’t find 243 brass, you can always neck down a 308. Brass is easy to come by.

Here’s a good read for you. Basically what you’re wanting to do is load, shorter, lighter bullets in a Creedmoor, which is meant for long heavy for caliber bullets that stick way out of the case. A lot of those “long for caliber“ target bullets are meant for paper punching and don’t reliably expand on game. It’s my guess is you’re better off with a 243 or 6 mm for what you want to do with it.

An Official Journal Of The NRA | Head to Head: .243 Winchester vs. 6mm Creedmoor

How does the 6mm Creedmoor stack up against the renowned .243 Winchester? Contributor Philip Massaro examines the pros and cons of each.

www.americanhunter.org

Hornady just came out with an 80 grain ELD-VT .243 bullet thats meant for CM cases. I watched varmint masters shoot a coyote with one on YouTube and it blew a giant hole in it. probably a bullet you wanna try if you already bought the gun but don’t plan on saving any pelts. lol

6mm .243 80 gr ELD-VT™ - Hornady Manufacturing, Inc

...

www.hornady.com

here is the video with the same bullet in a 22 ARK at 185 yards. It was on bone so we all know what happens …big holes.



I have shot quite a few coyotes and a bobcat with 90 grain Nosler ballistic tips. Super accurate and they do an excellent job but you’re losing the flat trajectory because you can’t pump up the speeds past about 3250 fps…and that’s with a 26 1/2 inch barrel. Closer the 3,000 fps in a shorter 20” barel or even less. Me, I want to get something shooting at least 3650 or faster so it will shoot flat out to at least 300 to 350 Yards or more. The lighter 55 and 60 grains will shoot flat almost to 400 Yards when getting them going around 4150fps or so. Imo that’s is where a .243 chambered rifle shines for predator hunting. The 85 grain bullets and above are designed for deer and paper punching at stupid long ranges to buck the wind.

 

[B23]

Gotcha, I’ll take a look at the noslers too.

I shoot 70gr Nosler BT's in my 9tw 20in 6Creedmoor using RL16 and that rifle shoots about as good as anything I've ever owned. The Nosler BT's have always been a pretty tough bullet and I think they're one of the easiest bullets to dial in that I've ever used.

The only real trouble you'll run into with those 70gr Nosler BT's is finding some because nobody seems to have any and I can't remember the lest time I saw any for sale.

 

[Kino M]

I shoot 70gr Nosler BT's in my 9tw 20in 6Creedmoor using RL16 and that rifle shoots about as good as anything I've ever owned. The Nosler BT's have always been a pretty tough bullet and I think they're one of the easiest bullets to dial in that I've ever used.

The only real trouble you'll run into with those 70gr Nosler BT's is finding some because nobody seems to have any and I can't remember the lest time I saw any for sale.

Nosler actually just did a BIG run of them, I ended up with around 5k of them! Look around, they have been available as well as the 55s.

 

[Dultimatpredator]

Yeah, I saw them for sale just recently. I’m stocked up pretty good on 55, 70, and 90’s. I have about a dozen 80’s laying around don’t remember where they came from. Maybe I pulled them?

 

[Duhhh]

I wouldn’t sweat the twist rate that much until you try some ladder testing. I was hung up on buying my first AR10 243 upper because it had a twist rate of one in eight and I wanted to shoot 55 and 60 grain bullets at 4,000 fps and over. Both my BCA uppers in a 1/8 twist shoot sub MOA with 55 grain Nosler ballistic tips loaded over max book loads with no pressure signs and 60 grain Seirra Hollow points close to 4,000 fps. Both guns will shoot groups all touching at 100 yards. From all the forum reading and opinions I got I figured they wouldn’t have been minute of barn. I was told they would only shoot heavy for caliber 100 grain and above projectiles accurate. lol. All you can do is try for yourself. Keep us posted. I have to say my 1/10 twist 243’s shoot same hole with 70 grain ballistic tips loaded .2 of grain over Nosler max book load with IMR4831. They will shoot .2” to .3” at 200 pretty consistently as well. Just some food for thought with another caliber with a slower twist shooting the exact same bullet. Brass is easier to find and the twist is slower than The CM so you can shoot light and heavy bullets with excellent accuracy. Nice part is if you can’t find 243 brass, you can always neck down a 308. Brass is easy to come by.

Here’s a good read for you. Basically what you’re wanting to do is load, shorter, lighter bullets in a Creedmoor, which is meant for long heavy for caliber bullets that stick way out of the case. A lot of those “long for caliber“ target bullets are meant for paper punching and don’t reliably expand on game. It’s my guess is you’re better off with a 243 or 6 mm for what you want to do with it.

An Official Journal Of The NRA | Head to Head: .243 Winchester vs. 6mm Creedmoor

How does the 6mm Creedmoor stack up against the renowned .243 Winchester? Contributor Philip Massaro examines the pros and cons of each.

www.americanhunter.org

Hornady just came out with an 80 grain ELD-VT .243 bullet thats meant for CM cases. I watched varmint masters shoot a coyote with one on YouTube and it blew a giant hole in it. probably a bullet you wanna try if you already bought the gun but don’t plan on saving any pelts. lol

6mm .243 80 gr ELD-VT™ - Hornady Manufacturing, Inc

...

www.hornady.com

here is the video with the same bullet in a 22 ARK at 185 yards. It was on bone so we all know what happens …big holes.



I have shot quite a few coyotes and a bobcat with 90 grain Nosler ballistic tips. Super accurate and they do an excellent job but you’re losing the flat trajectory because you can’t pump up the speeds past about 3250 fps…and that’s with a 26 1/2 inch barrel. Closer the 3,000 fps in a shorter 20” barel or even less. Me, I want to get something shooting at least 3650 or faster so it will shoot flat out to at least 300 to 350 Yards or more. The lighter 55 and 60 grains will shoot flat almost to 400 Yards when getting them going around 4150fps or so. Imo that’s is where a .243 chambered rifle shines for predator hunting. The 85 grain bullets and above are designed for deer and paper punching at stupid long ranges to buck the wind.

Thanks for that info. I’ll admit the 6mm’s have never really had my attention before but I’ve been wanting to get something my wife and kids would shoot for just about everything. The plan would be to develop a deer load with the 103s it’s coming with and also develops a lighter load that I can run faster. The appeal of getting some lighter bullets above 3800fps is what got me on board with getting the gun.

However, it does seem like I’d be better off going the 243 route. Maybe I’ll just get a 243 for my next dedicated coyote gun and keep the 6CM as a deer gun.

 

[Dultimatpredator]

I shot a deer a couple years back with a 90 grain ballistic tip and posted it here. Shot it out of my little 1976 Remington 600 with an 18 1/2 inch barrel. The load is about a half a grain over Noslers Max book loading. The shot was pretty close to maybe 18 yards if I remember so it had the chance to fail at high-speed. It was an extreme angle quartering away. My bullet broke through about five ribs Went through the opposite shoulder plate and rested between the shoulder and hide. The Lead core separated from the jacket, but it was still sitting inside of it. About 46 grains. The deer dropped so fast that I didn’t know I hit it. Talk about Thors hammer. I was pretty impressed. Needless to say because the deer never even flinched after the shot. I shot a deer with a 300 RUM and 180 grain round nose the day before and it ran 110 yards with a heart and lung shot. Lol. I did a lot of reading, and from what I came up with the 95 Nosler ballistic tip is supposed to be the best bullet to drop deer in its tracks out of a 243. I called Nosler because all I had were 90’s already loaded up for another gun and they shot Cloverleaf in my little 600 so I put them to the test. The Nosler customer service rep uses them and said they’ll have the same ”on deer” performance as the 95’s. Only difference being the 95s were longer to stabilize better in the faster twist guns.

Found the post with pictures of what the 90 grain did…

Anyone use 90g nosler ballistic tips on deer?

Shoot the 80 TTSX or 80 GMX and you will be amazed at how far those little bullets will dig. Penetration on angled shots are not a problem.

www.predatormasters.com

 

[Duhhh]

That’s some impressive performance and exactly what I’m looking to get when I convert my wife and kids over to the 6 CM. Thanks for the info.

 

[B23]

Nosler actually just did a BIG run of them, I ended up with around 5k of them! Look around, they have been available as well as the 55s.

Thank you, didn't know they were back in stock. I have quite a few so I personally haven't needed any but I know some that were looking for them not to long ago and there were none to be found.

 

[Duhhh]

So the gun I’m planning on buying is a Howa 1500 with a 20 inch barrel. If my reading is correct, they have a longer free bore (.183 I believe). Will that have a negative impact on me loading the 70 grain bullets? Please forgive my ignorance on this, but it’s just something I’ve never really considered before.

 

[Kino M]

Absolutely freebore has a role in accuracy and affects are different on bullet weights, same as twist rates. Tangent and Secant Ogives also react to freebore or "jump" differently.

That said your gun may shoot them great, you won't know until you try some, just learn from this that a long freebore with a fast twist is NOT optimal for lightweight bullets. It is optimal for long, heavy bullets. That's why old-school calibers rule the roost when it comes to varmint hunting like the 243win and 22-250. They have much slower twist and shorter throats. These new cartridges like 6.5cm, 6cm, 6arc, 224v are all designed to be optimized to shoot the long and heavy bullets.

The 70s are a middle weight bullet that may shoot very well so think things through about what you want out of your rifle. If its mostly varmint and deer than hands down 243, if you want varmint and long range steel than the creedmore is a better choice for factory offerings.

 

[Duhhh]

Absolutely freebore has a role in accuracy and affects are different on bullet weights, same as twist rates. Tangent and Secant Ogives also react to freebore or "jump" differently.

That said your gun may shoot them great, you won't know until you try some, just learn from this that a long freebore with a fast twist is NOT optimal for lightweight bullets. It is optimal for long, heavy bullets. That's why old-school calibers rule the roost when it comes to varmint hunting like the 243win and 22-250. They have much slower twist and shorter throats. These new cartridges like 6.5cm, 6cm, 6arc, 224v are all designed to be optimized to shoot the long and heavy bullets.

The 70s are a middle weight bullet that may shoot very well so think things through about what you want out of your rifle. If its mostly varmint and deer than hands down 243, if you want varmint and long range steel than the creedmore is a better choice for factory offerings.

Ok thanks. I’m going to buy the gun and test it out for sure. If it doesn’t like them then I’ll be in the market for a .243 as well. Was hoping to kinda kill two bird with one stone here but not a big deal if I gotta buy two guns. Maybe my wife will think otherwise haha.

 

[Dultimatpredator]

I wouldn’t waste your money because you’re gonna end up trading it in and throwing away $100’s do so. Your already 2nd guessing the idea anyways. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink. lol. Do youself a favor and do some more research before you open that wallet. You’re gonna find out all these new fandango shorter casings are designed for heavy for caliber Paper punching for competition target shooting. Of course you can hunt with them but that’s not what they were designed . The CM and similar style shortened fatter cases are designed for super long, higher BC, projectiles with more of a bearing surface that are to be loaded super far out of the case. When you pick a 70 grain “what ever brand and style” projectile it’s about an 1/3 or more shorter than what it’s designed to shoot. Loaded out as long as possible it’s to be way to far from the lands for any type of half way decent accuracy imo. Exactly the opposite of what you’re trying to accomplish. Why are you sold on the creedmore? Are you going to use it mainly for competition shooting? It was designed to load with LONG heavy for caliber bullets in 100 plus grain high BC pointy bullets to buck the wind at 1000 yard shots with “massive“ hold over. Imo a hunting rig in 6mm “what ever” I want to shoot a 55 to 70 grain bullet loaded as fast as I can so there is no hold over on coyotes out to 350/400 yards. Howa makes some pretty light little rifles in 243. A couple under 5 pounds. I have to many 243’s but would sure like to see one chambered in 22-250. For some reason the new hype is shortening the case, widening it, and sticking the projectile out as far as possible. I admit it ”looks” cool but to me it serves zero purpose for a hunting caliber. 99.9% of the projectiles designed for these paper punchers in 6mm are designed for paper punching only and won’t reliably open on game. That's why hornady just introduced the ELD-VT in 80 grains...because its going to be imo about your only option for reliable expanon..and imo it’s to explosive for saving fur. IMO you’re gonna be a lot happier with a 243. Sorry, not trying to beat a dead horse which I basically am but you’re trying to buy a caliber and doing the exact opposite of what it was designed for and in the end I don’t think you’re going to be very happy with it. I think somebody told you to buy the Creedmoor and it’s just stuck in your head for some reason.

 

[Kino M]

I wouldn’t waste your money because you’re gonna end up trading it in and throwing away $100’s do so. Your a,ready 2nd guessing the idea anyways. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink. lol. Do youself a favor and do some more research before you open that wallet. You’re gonna find out all these new fandango shorter casings are designed for heavy for caliber Paper punching for competition target shooting. Of course you can hunt with them but that’s not what they were designed . The CM and similar style shortened fatter cases are designed for super long, higher BC, projectiles with more of a bearing surface that are to be loaded super far out of the case. When you pick a 70 grain “what ever brand and style” projectile it’s about an 1/3 or more shorter than what it’s designed to shoot. Loaded out as long as possible it’s to be way to far from the lands for any type of half way decent accuracy imo. Exactly the opposite of what you’re trying to accomplish. Why are you sold on the creedmore? Are you going to use it mainly for competition shooting? It was designed to load with LONG heavy for caliber bullets in 100 plus grain high BC pointy bullets to buck the wind at 1000 yard shots with “massive“ hold over. Imo a hunting rig in 6mm “what ever” I want to shoot a 55 to 70 grain bullet loaded as fast as I can so there is no hold over on coyotes out to 350/400 yards. Howa makes some pretty light little rifles in 243. A couple under 5 pounds. I have to many 243’s but would sure like to see one chambered in 22-250. For some reason the new hype is shortening the case, widening it, and sticking the projectile out as far as possible. I admit it ”looks” cool but to me it serves zero purpose for a hunting caliber. 99.9% of the projectiles designed for these paper punchers in 6mm are designed for paper punching only and won’t reliably open on game. That's why hornady just introduced the ELD-VT in 80 grains...because its going to be imo about your only option for reliable expanon..and imo it’s to explosive for saving fur. IMO you’re gonna be a lot happier with a 243. Sorry, not trying to beat a dead horse which I basically am but you’re trying to buy a caliber and doing the exact opposite of what it was designed for and in the end I don’t think you’re going to be very happy with it. I think somebody told you to buy the Creedmoor and it’s just stuck in your head for some reason.

Very very well said, we think a lot alike, I agree 100%!!!!

 

[borkon]

I agree.