The 6mm Creedmoor is a precision rifle cartridge created by necking down the 6.5 Creedmoor to accept a .243 diameter bullet. It is highly favored in PRS competitions and long-range hunting for its incredibly flat trajectory, low recoil, and ability to push high-BC 6mm bullets at blistering velocities.
It’s the .243 Win for the next 100 years.
Whether you are building a custom PRS racegun or looking for the ultimate modern replacement for the .243 Winchester, below is the comprehensive technical data, load data, and specs for the 6mm Creedmoor.
6mm Creedmoor Load Data
The 6mm Creedmoor is incredibly easy to load for and responds exceptionally well to medium-slow burning powders. For the heavy match bullets (105gr+), H4350 is the undisputed king. For lighter varmint and hunting bullets, Varget and Hodgdon Superformance provide excellent velocities.
Note: The data below provides a baseline for the most popular 6mm Creedmoor components. To build a custom load ladder for your exact barrel length, seating depth, and environmental conditions, run your profile in LoadForge. Always start at the minimum charge and work up safely.
Heavy Match Bullets (PRS & Long Range Target)
| Bullet | Powder | Start Charge (gr) | Max Charge (gr) | Est. Velocity (fps) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hornady 108gr ELD Match | H4350 | 35.4 | 41.7 | 3,000 | Gold standard PRS load. Requires 1:8 twist minimum. |
| Berger 109gr LRHT | H4350 | 37.2 | 41.4 | 2,980 | Exceptional BC consistency. 1:7.5 twist recommended. |
| Berger 105gr Hybrid Target | VV N555 | 39.4 | 42.7 | 3,030 | Easy to tune. Very popular among competitive shooters. |
Varmint & Hunting Bullets
| Bullet | Powder | Start Charge (gr) | Max Charge (gr) | Est. Velocity (fps) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hornady 87gr V-Max | H4350 | 39.1 | 45 | 3,300 | High velocity varmint/target hybrid. Devastating terminal performance. |
| Barnes 95gr LRX | H4350 | 34.8 | 37.9 | 3,130 | Solid copper hunting bullet. Excellent weight retention on medium game. |
6mm Creedmoor Ballistics & Trajectory Chart
Because the 6mm Creedmoor pushes very high-BC bullets at over 3,000 fps, it shoots incredibly flat and bucks the wind exceptionally well.
Note: This trajectory chart is based on a standard PRS load: a Hornady 108gr ELD Match at 3,000 fps (100-yard zero, standard atmospherics, 10mph crosswind). To calculate exact drop and wind drift for your specific rifle and environment, use Trajek Calculator.
| Distance (Yards) | Velocity (fps) | Drop (MIL) | Drop (MOA) | Wind Drift 10mph (MIL) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | 2,680 | U 0.4 | U 1.3 | L/R 0.2 |
| 400 | 2,385 | U 1.6 | U 5.5 | L/R 0.5 |
| 600 | 2,105 | U 3.3 | U 11.4 | L/R 0.8 |
| 800 | 1,845 | U 5.6 | U 19.3 | L/R 1.2 |
| 1,000 | 1,610 | U 8.6 | U 29.6 | L/R 1.6 |
Optimal Twist Rates for 6mm Creedmoor
When building or buying a 6mm Creedmoor, barrel twist rate is critical.
- 1:7 or 1:7.5 Twist: Best for 105gr – 115gr heavy match bullets. If you are shooting the 109gr LRHT or 110gr A-Tip, you need this fast twist.
- 1:8 Twist: The standard factory twist. It is great for 95gr – 108gr bullets, including the standard 108gr ELD-M.
- 1:10 Twist: Best for lightweight varmint bullets (70gr – 80gr).
6mm Creedmoor vs. 6.5 Creedmoor for Competition
If we look at the debate of the 6mm Creedmoor vs 6.5 Creedmoor for PRS shooting and competitions, both have their own merits.
The 6mm Creedmoor is faster, has less recoil, and is flatter shooting. The 6.5 Creedmoor has larger and better BC bullets, allowing for better spotting of bullet trace and hits/misses on target. However, in modern PRS competitions where spotting your own impacts and minimizing recoil is paramount, the 6mm Creedmoor (and other 6mm variants like the Dasher or GT) have largely taken over.
6mm Creedmoor for Hunting
The general rule of thumb for caliber to animal size is 6mm, 243 Win, 270 Win and up for any smaller CXP2 type antelope, and 30-06 Springfield or larger for CXP3 medium to large game.
The 6mm Creedmoor can be seen as the modern replacement for the .243 Winchester. All the animals that were generally considered fine to be hunted with a .243, the 6mm Creedmoor can be used to hunt just as well.
What the 6mm Creedmoor absolutely excels at, though, is those same small to medium CXP2 type animals, but at long range, with consistently expanding high-BC match bullets like the Hornady 108gr ELD-M or the Berger 105gr Hybrid Target. For these shots, a high shoulder placement is recommended to anchor the animal immediately.
What is a 6mm Creedmoor
First off, the 6mm? The 6mm, refers to the bore diameter of the barrel, more specifically a .243″ or 6mm bullet diameter. The bullet diameter is .243″, the same as any other .243 or 6mm centerfire cartridge like the 243 Win, 6mm Remington, 6XC, 6GT, 6mm BR and 6mm Dasher.
The Creedmoor in 6mm Creedmoor is named for the fact that it comes from a 6.5mm Creedmoor which has been necked down to accept a .243 bullet, the Creedmoor in 6.5mm Creedmoor originally comes from Creedmoor Sports, for whom the 6.5mm Creedmoor cartridge was developed by Hornady and Creedmoor Sports jointly.
The Creation & History
The 6mm Creedmoor or 6Creed as some call it, was a natural evolution as with almost any other 6.5mm Creedmoor that was eventually necked down to 6mm for faster muzzle velocities and lower recoil for PRS style racegun competitions.
The oldest actual mention of the idea for a 6mm Creedmoor that is laid down in historical record is a post on Snipershide by user skeetlee, known in real life as Greggory Lee Gardner of Lee Gardner Precision. He mentioned that he wanted to invent a new cartridge by necking down a 6.5mm Creedmoor to a 6mm and that it would make a mean varmint cartridge. The first person to mention that such a reamer had been made before by PT&G was in 2010 on that thread.
Ultimately, it is the shooters that decide which new wildcats or cartridges become popular and are there to stay and which aren’t. They decide that with their own hard-earned money. Looking at the immense popularity of the 6mm Creedmoor in recent years, especially in the PRS racegun and other fieldshoot type competitions, the availability of factory ammo and factory chambered rifles in it, it would appear to be here to stay, with many claiming it is displacing the legendary .243 Winchester.
People quickly make jokes about the 6.5 Creedmoor cartridge when they hear a shooter has it, but you never hear anybody joke about the 6mm Creedmoor, as there is no denying the seriousness of a 108gr ELD-M bullet charging down range at 3100+ fps.
Create Your Own Custom Build
There are many large-scale manufacturers making a 6mm Creedmoor Factory Rifle, including Ruger, Tikka, and Howa to name just a few.
Creating a 6mm Creedmoor custom rifle from one of your current rifles is also fairly simple. You simply use the action of a rifle with a compatible bolt face and action length (as can be seen on our bolt face database), and then have a gunsmith chamber and fit a .243 barrel to it.
My personal 6 Creed is a Remington 700 Stainless Action from a rifle originally chambered in 308 Win. The action was trued, fitted with a Lothar Walther .243 barrel in 1-7 twist, and the chamber cut for a 6mm Creedmoor. It has served me well in both the NRL and PRS leagues, and I have taken more than 30 different animals with it successfully.
To me, the 6mm Creedmoor is the ideal medium to long range animal harvesting rifle for taking down many animals in open grasslands and barren landscapes like Namibia when one has to take down 30+ Springbuck in a day.
6mm Creedmoor Dies
All the die manufacturers including Hornady, Lyman, Redding, RCBS and other make 6mm Creedmoor Dies, but out of all of them that I have used, I still prefer the Redding as the best 6mm Creedmoor Dies for sale, because of the quality of the product, and then the design of the expander which works very well for me.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Because the 6mm Creedmoor pushes a relatively small bullet with a large powder charge, it burns through barrels faster than a 6.5 Creedmoor. You can expect a barrel life of typically 1,200 to 1,800 rounds before match-grade accuracy degrades, depending on your firing schedule.
For heavy match bullets (105gr and up), Hodgdon H4350 is the gold standard. For lighter varmint bullets, Varget is an excellent choice. For temperature stability and large nodes, Vihtavuori N555 is ideal.
Yes. The 6mm Creedmoor is an excellent cartridge for CXP2 game like whitetail deer and antelope. When paired with a quality hunting bullet like the Barnes 95gr LRX or a high-BC expanding match bullet, it offers devastating terminal performance with very low recoil.
AJ Deysel is a competitive rifle shooter in the PRS and NRL Hunter series, a lifelong hunter, and a recognized ballistics specialist whose load development expertise has been featured by industry leaders like Hornady. He is the founder and lead editor of LoadDevelopment.com. Read more about AJ or view our Editorial & Testing Guidelines.
The 243 for the next 100 years indeed. My favorite caliber by FAR.