Savage Arms Introduces the New Model 110 Carbon Predator

This will likely be my first bolt action hunting rifle. It has everything I’m looking for in a hunting rifle… except that it lacks QD flush cups for a sling, a one piece picatinny scope base, and it’s not a Tikka. But I can fix 2 out of 3 of those issues easily and inexpensively myself.

Honest question, is 6mm ARC being "one of the most common hunting cartridges" just another way of saying "look, Hornady is scratching out back to make rifles in their caliber"?

I have nothing particularly wrong with 6ARC, other than it isn't objectively as good as 6.5 Grendel as a medium game hunting round. But last I checked, it was still quite a bit less common in terms of ammunition availability and platforms made in it. I don't have much of a horse in the race. I am wedded to 6.5 grendel, and I reload. So unless it becomes a completely abandoned cartridge by all and sundry, commercial ammo can just disappear tomorrow and I'll be fine. No feelings hurt (*sob*), but seriously, just seems odd to me. But I guess whatever sells stuff. You need to come up with some new hotness every once in awhile. 6ARC is just fine for deer. Heck, an appropriate construction 223 is fine for deer, though I wouldn't want to hunt Candian bruisers with it. But you still have a smaller bullet, with less wounding capability and roughly the same muzzle energy (less than 6.5G, but almost splitting hairs) and external ballistics as 6.5 grendel within any reasonable hunting distance. And 6.5 grendel has plenty of sectional density already for any sized deer. So you'll get less energy dump on the deer, smaller temporary and permanent wound cavity. Just objectively a less good round for medium sized game.

And on smaller game, I am not sure a 85gr varmint bullet from a grendel is particularly worse than a 58-65gr varmint bullet from a 6mm ARC. None of them are really as good as a 40-45gr laser beam from a .223 (let alone if you want something like a 40gr from a .22-250).

Looking up some 6mm ARC tests of factory and handloads, it seems like Grendel has about a 50-150ft-lbs real world advantage in muzzle energy at similar barrel lengths on factory ammo and handloads. Not really a big deal, but back to "hunting cred", 4-9% more muzzle energy, 17% more frontal area and very similar ballistics over a 300yd range to ethically hunt a medium bodied animal with either and a big edge goes to Grendel. Maybe if you are regularly hunting deer at 300-400yds 6mm ARC makes more sense, but I think at that point you should really be looking at a short action caliber like 308 or 6/6.5 Creedmoor.