Has anyone here played with a 6 Whisper or 6x221 Fireball? There is probably a ton of "shot out" benchrest barrels that only give a .3-.4" group that would be candidates for this caliber, depending on the end user demand for light or heavy bullets. Thanks in advance

I considered it in a contender once upon a time. SSK should be able to supply data. It would be an interesting piece.

Keep us informed if you go this route. Very interesting.

Rich, something else to consider is bullet selection (or, the lack of !) When I was trying to work up my 6 TCU for silhouette, I had a hard time finding a suitable bullet that it liked. Although I had a fast-twist barrel, it did not seem to like heavy bullets, and the "pickings" in mid-weight bullets was pretty slim ! Is this going to be a Half-Scale gun ? If so, I would consider a fast-twist 221 FB !!

REmember, for subsonic rounds to be effective the bullet needs to be long & heavy and a fast twist barrel. There's only a few 6mm rounds that will do this, mainly Sierra match bullets. That's what JD developed the Whisper rounds for (Sierra Match).
I never heard JD mention a 6mm Whisper. He came to my house many years and let me use his Whispers on crop damage deer- 6.5mm, .338, .375, .500 and my .300. Bullet selection for the above (except the .330 and AMax .500s) was not very good. Most deer ran a ways. Some were lost. The bullets just didn't tumble well (the way subsonics kill). The .30 240 gr. Sierra Match did a decent job. Surprisingly the 220 gr. Sierra RN did a fantastic job, not only on deer, but groundhogs and turkeys.
The game changer on the other Whispers was JD's affiliation with Lehigh Defense. They made some longer, all brass bullets for all the Whispers. They skived the nose of the bullet so the pedals would break off and the base still tumbled. All the Whispers worked much better, but I never noticed if they made any 6mm bullets like these.
Based on my experience with taking over several hundred game with the .300 and around 75 with the other Whispers, the .300 is still the way to go, except the .500 will out do it, but it's much more costly to set up.
As far as .22 "Whispers", JD made me a .223 barrel that I use heavy , long bullets in. It's more of a play gun, doing fair on groundhogs, but not very well on deer.
Good luck on you 6mm experiment. Be interesting to see how it turns out.

6 WHISPER

Parent Case 221 Fireball
Velocities from 10” Barrel

POWDER​ GRAIN​ BULLET WEIGHT​ VELOCITY

SUB-SONIC
H-110​ 7.4​ 105 Speer​ 1036 fps
H-110​ 7.8​ 107 Sierra​ 1056 fps
H-110​ 7.8​ 115 Berger​ 1054 fps

SONIC
AA-1680​ 16.5​ 115 Berger​ 2086 fps
AA-1680​ 14.4​ 115 Berger​ 1800 fps
AA-5744​ 17.7​ 60 Bal. Tip​ 2493
AA-1680​ 17.5​ 70 Speer​ 2193
AA-5744​ 17.5​ 70 Speer​ 2375
H-110​ 14.7​ 80 Speer​ 2100
AA-1680​ 18.3​ 80 Speer​ 2195
AA-5744​ 16.8​ 80 Speer​ 2185
AA-5744​ 16​ 90 Speer​ 2115
RE#7​ 19​ 90 Speer​ 2150
H-110​ 19.3​ 55 BT​ 2175
AA-1680​ 20.5​ 55 BT​ 2795
AA-1680​ 21.8​ 55 BT​ 2850
AA-1680​ 22.5​ 55 BT​ 2920
AA-1680​ 23.1​ 55 BT​ 3028
H-110​ 19.3​ 55 BT​ 2978
WW-296​ 18.5​ 55 BT​ 3041 (HOT)
WW-296​ 17.4​ 55 BT​ 2837
WW-296​ 17.8​ 55BT​ 2850
WW-296​ 16.5​ 65 Shilen​ 2541
WW-296​ 17.3 55 BT​ 2800
AA-1680​ 21.1​ 65 Shilen​ 2700
AA-1680​ 21.1​ 70 BT​ 2700
HH-110​ 17.1​ 70 BT​ 2500
AA-1680​ 14.4​ 115 B​ 1800
RE-7​ 19.8​ 80 Sierra​ 2415


Here is a ReFerence. The chart would not cooy/paste correctly so i spaced it manually.....and im not sure youins were worth the trouble

Dang, Kyle, what an effort!

quote:

Originally posted by BT:
Dang, Kyle, what an effort!

He goes by kyode but he’s more like a cheetah. He sleeps the biggest part of the day and works in short quick spurts. He woke up and typed this post now he’s sleeping again..... I know he’s asleep cause he’s at work

quote:

Originally posted by aggshooter:
Has anyone here played with a 6 Whisper or 6x221 Fireball? There is probably a ton of "shot out" benchrest barrels that only give a .3-.4" group that would be candidates for this caliber, depending on the end user demand for light or heavy bullets. Thanks in advance

The intended purpose will obviously make a difference in case selection, that said, the new 6 ARC (6x6.5 Grendel) might be a better round? Brass, dies and etc will be really available in the near future(possibly) .

Thank you all for the responses. Especially Kyode!! Your info is priceless.

I have a xp repeater in .223 that I bought used and never shot. It would be the donor gun. I have a 6PPC barrel taken off a bench rest rifle, I think 15 twist. Not a good choice if I want to go heavier than 70 grain bullets.

End purpose is mostly silhouette shooting, on the 1/2 scale targets. As I age, I find myself in the quandry of being both dollar conscious and yet enjoying the fruits of my labor while I still have good health. I don't intend to hunt with it.

I have a GREAT 6br bolt pistol. Built by the late Jack Dever, Shilen stainless barrel on a Shilen DGA Pistol receiver in the sub 100 serial number range. I have enjoyed many good scores at championship level.

That said, I would like something a tad smaller and a little less recoil. The Rampro fast twist 222 I have fills the bill nicely but I just can't get comfortable with the mid-grip gun. Great brake, no recoil, but both guns run pretty fast.

A local shooter tried 22 Hornet on 1/2 scale with limited success. Not sure if it was shooter error, TC frame/barrel, load development,...etc. So I was thinking just a tad faster than a Hornet but slower than a 6BR. I saw Redding offered dies on 6x222. I have a 6x47 (on a 222 mag) in a rifle and it is wonderful but I fear still really fast on handgun targets.

On the other hand, I have a 223 Hart barrel from a 700 in 1:7 that I bought from a guy and never fitted to a gun, so maybe I should just chop the barrel and fit it up. I could cut the barrel in half and have a 14" 223 in one gun and a fast twist 221 from the other half.

Help!! What would you do....?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: aggshooter,

So I'm gonna have to think on this for a couple weeks. As described, I have a 1:7 twist Hart in 223, about 29 inches long. I'm thinking I can make 2 barrels from it. One in the already chambered 223, the other in 221 fireball with fast twist. Since we are talking the difference between a 80 grain .224 bullet in a Fireball vs. a 85 grain bullet in a 6x221...not much difference in my opinion. the backup plan is the already owned EABCO 15" TC barrel in .270 Maximum. I haven't shot a lot of groups with light bullets, but what I have shot have been pretty good. I can just put a base and scope on the 270 and see what it does before or during the time I spin up the 221 on the xp100.

Thanks to everyone for their input!!