Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Best deer bullet for 6x45 (6mm/.223)?

Built a 6x45 for my young boys and I'm hoping some folks can share some experience with their bullet experiences on deer. I've killed a pile of deer with .243's but all with Barnes tsx's and Nosler partitions. I'd like to load lighter bullets than those in the 6x45 and there really aren't any premium .243 diameter hunting bullets lighter than 80 grain ttsx's.

I couldn't get 80 grain ttsx's to shoot well at all - groups were between 1.5 and 2 inches, but I got 65 grain V-max's to shoot .415 at 3050 fps and 70 gr Nosler Ballistic Tips to shoot .750 at 2900 fps. I've killed a pile of coyotes with V-max's but never tried them on deer. I'm leaning toward the BT's. I'll be limiting them to 200 yard shots. Would appreciate any other suggestions/experiences. Thanks!

I used a 70 gr BT to kill everything from coyotes to antelope, with the velocities you're talking, only from a .243. I would think it would be a fine bullet to use. sierra SP in 85 gr IIRC aren't a bad way to go either at modest velocities like you're talking. of course expect a few guys to come along and say only a fool would use a BT.

since your question is which one is the BEST, thats open to interpretation. nosler also makes an 85 gr partition that I think would do just fine

Only one deer to date with the 6x45, shooting 70gr Ballistic Tip. Went in just behind onside shoulder to took out part of shoulder going out. Deer ran maybe 20 yards.

I also plan to run some 80gr Winchester PP's in the near future.

The 85 Partition prints well in my M7, though the kids haven't kilt anything with it.......yet.


Pete

The 80 grain Winchester was accurate and pretty fast for me.

The 80 grain Remington bullets looked like they were made from a plato mold FWIW...

Remington Core-Lokts.....

If the 85 gr NP shoot they would be my first choice. If not try the other 80-85 gr cup and core bullets. You don't really need premium at the speeds you are shooting.

Give the 85 grain boat tail Speer a look.

Ha! Worst bullet ever. Wouldn't shoot them if they were free. I personally have seen them fail twice on elk and have heard of many more failures.

Will try the partitions even though they are pretty heavy for the 6x45 and will likely stick with the 70BTs. Thanks for the input.

Not my favoritest bullet out there, but I gotta say that comment says a lot about the user- and defames a lot of other very similar bullets as well: Hot-Cors, Interlocks, Power-Points, etc.

What exactly does that say about the user?

2 bull elk. 180 grain coreloks, 3000 fps at the muzzle out of .300 Win mag. Hit squarely in shoulder at 135 and 200 yards. Broke shoulder, blew apart on impact. 1 elk killed 1 month later - wound had healed, still had broken leg. Other elk seen following season with limp, but living fine.

It's not defamation if it's the truth. Just sharing my personal opinion of core-loks based on personal observation.

That doesn't prove that they're "the worst bullet ever" by any means. It might easily say something about how they were applied however. That is not different than how any number of other cup and cores work when applied in that way at those speeds. Should an educated user simply take the manufacturers word on what a product's ideal applications are? Or is it incumbent upon the user to know how the product works? (I think we already know that answer since many folks on a place like this are more than willing to share their accuracy results. Obviously there is more than just accuracy involved in hunting bullet performance.)

In the case of the 6X45 for deer, many cup and cores will probably be very well suited including Interlocks, Core-lokts, Power-points, and others. I would not even overlook trying (on targets and media) a bullet like the 80 HP Power-lokt. I know that is typically a varmint bullet at 243 Win speeds, but it may work more like a decent hunting bullet at more sedate speeds.

"Worst bullet ever" is of course a slight exaggeration. Worst bullet I've ever used on game? Absolutely. And I killed a few spike elk with them before I had the failure and watched the second. After losing a very nice bull at a reasonable range, hit exactly where I aimed, it was obvious to me they were poorly suited for elk. These were factory remington 180 grain Coreloks that shot sub .5 moa in my Ruger .300 Win. Was reading another post today on this board and saw a failure of a corelok out of a .300 Savage - much slower speed and blew up on a deer shoulder. I've heard more bullet failures with coreloks than any other bullet - probably by 20 fold.

The way I see it, we invest so much time in building rifles, bedding, handloading, shooting, scouting, planning, and traveling to our hunt. My hunting time is very limited due to a hectic work schedule. I'll pay an extra dime or two a bullet for something that works every time.

Agreed. I also think it is important to include bullet testing in the pre-hunt hand loading and shooting process. I believe many people are mislead by the fact that a bullet or load shoots so well that they fail to consider what that bullet will do when it hits flesh and bone. A person ought to have a clue before they decide to drive a fast 'soft' bullet into big bones or a slow 'hard' bullet into fluffy lungs.

I'm sure there's a cup and core that will work very well for deer in the 6x45. Which one is the best choice? I don't know, but I'd shoot several types to find out, and I wouldn't fine-tune a load for accuracy until I was satisfied that the bullet would expand properly without being an exploder. If I didn't have time to mess around with bullet testing, I think I'd probably just take a 243 or bigger, grab a couple boxes of Federal Partition loads, do enough shooting to satisfy my needs there, and carry on.

Exactly WHICH Remington Core Lokt bullet would be appropriate for deer with a 6x45??

I would not use 65gr. bullet on deer.If it hits a hard bone the bullet my not penetrate or fragment into pieces.Fast small bullets tend to explode!I would stay with the Barnes 80gr or even bigger.Some deer seem like there bullet proof with a strong will to live.I'll take a bigger bullet over speed anyday.Just my two cents.Good luck hunting?

You do appreciate the small size of the cartridge being discussed, right?

Yea it's a great screamer,I just would take a bigger bullet that's all...

OK, you don't see it.

It's not a screamer, it's a little 6mm. The 80 grain Barnes is quite long for it's weight, eating more of the already limited powder capacity. So that will reduce velocity potential, and for best terminal effect the Barnes thrive on velocity.

never would have thought a 6-223 was a screamer??? guess you learn something new every day??? or not......