Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 6mm whitetail loads

A close friend of mine uses a Rem auto in 6mm for deer in upstate NY. His shots range from 50-150yds. Lately he's been questioning his load selection. Is there anyone out there with any opinions on a good whitetail load? Thanks

If he reloads I would go the 85 grain Barnes route!!!!

A mutual friend reloads for both of us so he probably would go that route. He's got a couple boxes of hand loads that an old timer made up for him. Unfortunately he's lost the data sheet for them so he's kinda in the dark on which way to go.

I load the 85 grainer with 49. grains of RL 19. That is the max load.
45 is the minimum.

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated. I'll pass it on

6mm loads are not always continuously available everyplace in every variety. Most of the non-varmint loads are IMHO fine at that range for whitetail. Of commercial loads I'd expect the Federal with a 100 grain Partition to always do anything the 6mm is up to and maybe leave less of a mess at 50 yards or maybe not.

Given that the rifle is an autoloader I'd worry more about port pressure and keeping the chamber clean and free of corrosion. My own experience has been generally to the effect that my favorite bolt gun loads have been beyond the midrange that works better for me in the 742 and later versions. I'd want to work closely with the rifle loading something like a 95 grain Ballistic Tip and a fair amount of 4350 so unless the friend is into experimenting I'd back off and go with gas gun loading techniques. Certainly the Barnes mentioned would do as well as anything.

95 grain Partitions have been excellent in my .243 on shots from 30 yards out to just under 400 yards on whitetails.

disassemble one, and check the powder weight... might give you and idea....

I'd be leary of "old loads" that you don't know what they are...

sometimes there is a reason they are old, not used and given away for free...

The 95gr. Ballistic Tip and RL22 make a good whitetail load. The 95gr. BT is a pretty tough bullet and shoots very accurately.

Absolutely! That's long been a favorite combo. Any of the 100 grain bullets I've tried have been good.

The 95 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip is the single most accurate and best performing 6mm bullet I've ever used on game.

Have been shooting the rifle since 1974, and it's taken a lot of deer, coyotes, rockchucks and the like. On deer, I'll take the 95 gr Ballistic Tip, moved by RL-22 any time. My son and I use the rifle. It's an instant one-shot killer.

FINALLY recovered a 95 gr B-Tip from his latest whitetail. He hit the neck/chest junction from about 70 yards with the deer facing him. Hit the spine. Instant drop & death. This is the only 6mm Ballistic Tip bullet we've ever recovered from deer, the rest have penetrated right on through, including through leg bones, shoulder blades, ribs...





Hmmm. Probably seem a bit like a cheerleader for this particular bullet. I've got good reason to be. It's an excellent hunting bullet.

Regards, Guy

Found an outstanding load for my friend's 6mm Rem and 24" barrel. Used 100 gr partition with 45 gr of RL-17. This load was shot several more times including his 14 yr old daughter and all groups were this tight at 100 yds. Both pictures are 5 shots groups.

If you try this combo please start a few grains below and work up.