Since the key is only meant to indicate the column that should be sorted, it doesn't matter how you indicate that key:
.parent.Range("B1")
.parent.Range("B6")
.parent.Range("B1:B100")
.parent.Range("B:B")
.parent.columns(2)
The clumsy original code you retrieved from the help file in the VBEditor.Sub M_snb() With ActiveSheet.Sort .SortFields.Clear .SortFields.Add .Parent.Columns(2) .SortFields.Add .Parent.Columns(3), Order:=xlDescending .SetRange Range("A6:C19") .Apply End With End Sub