Reviews The 6mm ARC Precision Competiton Rifle [BUILD] David Lane March 20, 2026 Join the Conversation At RECOIL, we review every product fairly and without bias. Making a purchase through one of our links may earn us a small commission, and helps support independent gun reviews. Read our affiliate policy. Find out more about how we test products. Featured Image by Camdyn Powers, Pictures by Patrick McCarthy / Match Grade Media, and David Lane Precision marksmanship is one of the classic American sports. From the Creedmoor Cup to the Palma Trophy to the President’s Match, Americans shooting things from really far away has been a pastime since colonial America. The most popular sport in long range shooting right now is by far the Precision Rifle Series. Often used as a catch-all name for a specific style of long range matches, PRS is to long range shooting like the NFL is to football. A governing body with established rules for a specific sport. Think USPSA is for action shooting, or 3-Gun Nation is for 3-gun. PRS matches are normally between about 300 yards out to over 1,000 yards. Target sizes are generally around 2 MOA or smaller. Sometimes a lot smaller. The best rifles for PRS combine an extremely ballistically efficient bullet with a heavy, precise rifle to turn math into hits at hundreds of yards. As with most shooting sports, you can shoot what you bring within some very broad limitations, but a gamer rifle is going to be a specially built tool for a specific type of shooting. USPSA will let you shoot a Hi-Point, but you’re probably not going to have a good time or be very competitive with it. For years, my PRS rifle has been some form of 6.5 Creedmoor rifle that wasn’t bad for PRS, but wasn’t optimized either. This is the build that finally changed that. 6mm ARC isn’t the normal choice for PRS, but it’s a cartridge I love and one that can do the job just fine. Combine that with some premium components, an outstanding Zeiss scope, and we’re cooking. THE BUILD: Aero Precision Solus Short Action: $925 Aero Lahar-L Suppressor: $800 RecoilX Brake: $185 Proof Research 6mm ARC Heavy Competition Profile Barrel, 26”: $750 TriggerTech Diamond: $335 MDT ACC Elite chassis + Baker wings: $1,600 + $200 MDT 6mm ARC Magazine: $90 Zeiss LRP S3: $2,500 Hawkins Precision Heavy Tactical 1.50″ mount: $383 Hornady 108gr ELD Match: $1.25 per round Total MSRP: $7,858 6MM ADVANCED RIFLE CARTRIDGE FOR PRS Designed by Hornady and introduced in 2020, the 6mm ARC was first intended for the AR-15 platform. As such, the parent case is 6.5 Grendel and fits in standard AR-sized magazines. Hornady built this for the DOD, and 6mm ARC rifles made by Gissele have been spotted in the hands of SEALs and other members of USSOCOM for the last several years. Reportedly, 6mm ARC has been popular with the operators who have used it. In the civilian world, 6mm ARC in AR-15s has taken off for every application that an AR-15 excels at, but would benefit from a little more ballistic punch. While standard 5.56 tops out at about 85gr, 6mm ARC starts at 90gr and goes up to 110gr. Standard 108gr ELDM Hornady factory ammo from a 16” AR-15 barrel gets about 2,500 FPS. For years, the go-to meta for PRS rifles has been a 105-110 grain 6mm bullet moving at between 2,700 and 3,000 FPS. 6 Dasher, 6 BRA, 6 GT, 6 Creedmoor all fall in this zone. The most common being 6 Dasher with a 105-110gr bullet at 2,830 FPS. Left to right .300BLK, 6mm ARC, 7.62×39, 6.8 SPC II, and 5.56mm With that in mind, why not 6mm ARC for PRS? 6 ARC is the right bullet weight and size, able to use the most popular high BC bullets favored in PRS. But it runs a little on the slow end of the spectrum, using standard factory ammo because standard ammo is only rated for AR-15 chamber pressure of about 52,000 PSI. Bolt rifles chambered for 6 ARC can increase this pressure to 62,000 PSI. The plan was to handload ammo in the ~2800fps area using a 26” barrel, something that should be totally doable. Instead, my reloading room got packed up and put in boxes for 7 months while we’re waiting to move out of state. At first, I expected to put this entire build on hold for that time, but as it turns out, factory Hornady 108gr ELDM through a Proof 26” barrel delivers 2,750+ FPS. Good enough! Since it was released, I’ve loved the idea of 6 ARC. Having built multiple ARs using the cartridge, I still love it. Having a dedicated PRS rifle in a gamer cartridge has been the dream for years, but stocking and loading a whole new cartridge isn’t super high on my list of things to do. 6 ARC solves that for me. BIG BARREL, BIG SPEED The heart of this build is the Aero Precision Solus with a PPC bolt face. I honestly don’t know if this bolt is a one-off or might be released by Aero Precision soon. When I got it, it was marked as a blem. And not long after this landed at my door, MidwayUSA got a very small batch of non-blems. But as of SHOT 2026, Aero has said they don’t plan on making more PPC bolts for the Solus. While the Aero Solus action has treated me very well and punches way above its price, you might have to look at different actions if you want to follow in the 6 ARC path. More important than your action is your barrel, and for this project, Proof Research was the barrel of choice. Proof has always done well by my rifles. My first precision rifle build was a Zermatt RimX .22 LR built with a Proof Competition barrel. Using a Heavy Competition barrel for this dedicated PRS rifle felt perfect. 26”, almost 9lbs, stainless steel, and easy to install at home. Proof is an easy button choice that delivers a ton of performance. At the end of this chonker of a barrel is my Aero Lahar-L suppressor with a RecoilX brake. The Lahar-L is overkill for this build, but it’s my go-to precision suppressor, mostly because it’s heavy. The RecoilX brake is a great addition to the end of the suppressor to give it some recoil mitigation that it doesn’t have naturally. For 6 ARC and a 20lb rifle, it doesn’t make a night-and-day difference, but it is still a noticeable and quantifiable improvement. The Larhar/RecoilX combo has also been run on a 6.5 CM AR-10, and the RecoilX makes a major difference on there. Overall, if your suppressor doesn't offer a brake endcap natively, the RecoilX is a must-have for precision shooting. GERMAN OPTICS Zeiss LRP S3 is not a scope you see a lot, but it should be. For the $2,500 MSRP this is without doubt the best scope on the market for the price. Alpha-tier glass that is insanely clear and bright, plus all the standard features you’d expect from a high-end competition scope. While the reticle and controls take a little getting used to if you’re accustomed to American-style optics, the scope is fantastic. It was designed with PRS Production class in mind, but it holds up just fine in Open as well. Finding targets, reading wind, and tracking shots get a lot easier with a great scope, and the LRP S3 is one of my favorites. A great scope needs a great mount, for this I went to Hawkins Precision for the Heavy Tactical 1-Piece. Built like a tank and with added features like a built-in level and optional diving board, this mount was easy to install and stayed rock-solid. Even with dropping the rifle twice and a lot of shooting off props, zero was maintained, and nothing shifted. Extremely happy with the quality and durability. A PLAN COMES TOGETHER Holding this all together is an MDT ACC Elite chassis. This has been my go-to chassis for PRS for a long time, and since this is going to be my gamer rifle, it gets the gamer chassis. Big, heavy, lots of features, the ACC Elite has a lot to love. Complete, this rifle clocks in at 20lb 5oz. Perfect for PRS. The goal of this rifle is to be as competition-ready as possible in a shooting sport that requires precision and a steady rifle to make spotting your shots as easy as possible. Heavy gun, small cartridge, and great optics do just that. The shakedown match for this rifle was a regional PRS match in Phoenix, Arizona. 8 stages, targets to 650 yards, and a lot of very small pieces of steel littered across the course of fire. From the first stage to the last, this rifle has shot perfectly. Zero issues, zero stoppages, zero misfeeds. 108gr ELDM Hornady Match factory ammo from the 26” Proof Research barrel is running 2,800 FPS at 2,500 ft-elv and ~70f. Handloads would squeeze a little more speed and a slightly better BC bullet, but since my reloading room is packed in moving boxes right now, factory ammo will do just fine. The real test for this rifle came at the Berger Precision Challenge 2-day match in Kingman, Arizona. 4,500ft-elv and colder at 40-60f, the same factory ammo was only getting 2,750fps. Not ideal, but totally fine. 18-stages later, this rifle has won a special place in my heart. Flawless from start to finish, this rifle has been everything I’ve hoped for and more. Half-MOA precision at 400 yards, able to make predictable hits at 1,000 yards, and repeatable enough to go 8 for 10 on a 4” duck at 400 yards while on the clock and off a prop. The list for planned changes to this rifle is as follows: Nothing. From the trigger to the optic, this rifle is performing perfectly. The only thing that needs improvement is me as a shooter and getting used to what 6 ARC does in the wind. Even with my inexperience with the cartridge in windy shooting at long range, this is a 6mph gun and makes things a lot more forgiving than expected. LOOSE ROUNDS This might not be the build for everyone. If a friend asked for a build list to get serious in PRS, 6 ARC, and the Aero Solus wouldn’t be on the list handed to them. But for me, being able to use this little cartridge in my AR and in my PRS rifles has been a lot of fun, and I absolutely do not feel held back at all by the choice. Zeiss LRP S3 is a massively overlooked precision scope that demands more attention. For the price and the glass, this is extremely hard to beat. For a complete review, take a look. Something worth exploring will be different suppressors with different brakes. While not required, the Lahar-L is a lot of can for not a lot of gain other than the extra weight. This is a gamer rifle; it doesn’t need to be quiet. And with 6 ARC being not a large cartridge and the Lahar-L being a huge can for the job, there isn’t enough gas left over to let the Recoil-X brake do its job to the fullest. Overall, 10/10, no notes. This might be the most perfect rifle I’ve ever assembled. I love this build. Why you can trust RECOIL Since our founding in 2012, RECOIL remains the premier firearms lifestyle publication for the modern shooting enthusiast. We deliver cutting-edge coverage of guns, gear, accessories and technology. We go beyond basic reviews, providing no B.S. buyer’s guides, hands-on testing and expert analysis on everything from firearms and survival equipment to watches and vehicles. Our reviewers are the backbone of our operation and come from diverse shooting backgrounds: Former law enforcement, military veterans, competitive shooters, seasoned hunters and plain old firearms enthusiasts. Furthermore, we’re not just gun experts, but dedicated journalists who adhere to the strictest standards of our profession. At RECOIL, editorial independence is the foundation of everything we publish and the cornerstone of reader trust. Our editors, writers and content creators make all editorial decisions independently, free from outside influence. That boils down to: advertisers don’t dictate our coverage, the outcomes of our reviews or what we recommend in our buyer’s guides. First and always, our commitment is to our audience—ensuring every review and article is accurate, unbiased, and driven by real-world experience. Whether you’re selecting your next firearm, upgrading your gear, or exploring the latest innovations in the shooting world, RECOIL provides the trusted insights you need to make informed decisions. Learn more about our Editorial Standards and how we review products. NEXT STEP: Download Your Free Target Pack from RECOILFor years, RECOIL magazine has treated its readers to a full-size (sometimes full color!) shooting target tucked into each big issue. Now we've compiled over 50 of our most popular targets into this one digital PDF download. From handgun drills to AR-15 practice, these 50+ targets have you covered. Print off as many as you like (ammo not included). Get your pack of 50 Print-at-Home targets when you subscribe to the RECOIL email newsletter. We'll send you weekly updates on guns, gear, industry news, and special offers from leading manufacturers - your guide to the firearms lifestyle.You want this. Trust Us.
