More hunters are asking their chosen cartridge to handle multiple roles, and quite often it’s a varmint/target combination. And, as competitive shooting becomes increasingly popular and target distances get longer, the cartridge has to have the goods to get the job done. The .243 Winchester and the 6mm Remington have filled that role in the past, with modern designs like the 224 Valkyrie, 6mm Creedmoor, and 6mm Dasher rising to the surface recently. George Gardner and his partner at GA Precision, Tom Jacobs, took the best attributes of that which had come before and put them together in the 6mm GT.
The cartridge was optimized for the smoothest feeding from the detachable AICS magazines so common to the precision rifles. Using a case-head diameter of .473 inches (common to the 7x57 and 30-06 Springfield) and a case length of 1.725 inches, the 6mm GT is a rimless cartridge with a 35-degree shoulder for headspacing. The overall maximum cartridge length comes in at 2.64 inches, helping to maintain that delicate balance of high-B.C. bullet, short, stout powder column and utterly reliable feeding/extraction. The cartridge has shown the potential for extremely low-velocity variation, as well as fantastic accuracy.
While in wildcat form it has become a favorite among precision shooters and hunters alike, Hornady has now included the cartridge in their Match ammunition line. Featuring the 109-grain ELD Match bullet, with its now-famous Heat Shield Tip, at a muzzle velocity of 2,870 fps, fans of the 6mm GT now have a viable—and highly consistent—factory load to use. With low recoil and highly effective performance on the windiest plain, the 6mm GT is equally at home ringing steel as it is sending distant coyotes to meet their maker.
That 109-grain bullet has a G1 B.C. of .557, and while the use of match bullets on larger game animals is generally frowned upon, they are more than applicable for use on predators and varmints. And though a bullet that heavy isn’t generally regarded as the optimum choice for foxes and coyotes, it will give stellar performance in the wind. With a good, flat trajectory and minimal recoil, the target cartridge can easily become the varmint cartridge.
The Hornady Match line is packaged in 20-count boxes. For more information, visit hornady.com.
