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......

Kinda thinkin he ain't thinkin what a 6mm/223 is?....:)

Very very nice lookin buck Scott!

maybe he's thinking 6x57???

Grin.....or 6x45 just sounded fast?

But in all fairness the 6x57 is pretty quick. My lil brother has killed much with his. Lol.......Course he don't know it. He'd tell ya he likes his 6mm though....grin

My 8 year old will be thrilled to know I built him a screamer

Yeah - this is a slower load, with virtually no recoil - probably 3 x less than a .243. I built it with the idea my boys could learn to shoot it accurately and I'd have better choices for deer bullets than I would with a .223. (Plus Scott already proved how cool it was). I've got a pile of .243's that they will graduate to later.

I'm going to try some more BT's - found some 80 grainers on the bench that I didn't even know I had. Will also try some 85 partitions, 85 tsx, 85 interbonds, etc. I think that 70 grain BT will be a good one if they keep it off the shoulder bone.

I very much appreciate the input. The 65 V-max's will be a good one for me to judge how well the kids are shooting off the bench, and will be a good coyote round for them as well.

The 223Ai is a better mousetrap for deer, but I still like the 6x45 much.

I think it's a awesome round for your son! I'll prolly build my nephew a 8 twist 223AI but that's legal in TN. If not the 6x45 would get the nod!

Guess I'm typing slow tonight...grin

FWIW, had a 600 Mohawk, shot an 80 PLHP into a dirt bank point blank - bullet vaporized - ENTIRELY

Then fired an 85 XBT into it...picture perfect mushroom, weighed 84-85gr.

Yes, this was a 243, but in an 18.5" bbl, at around 3080mv IIRC.

Drill a deer thru lungs w/PLHP = dead deer. Hit a shoulder or azz end....may be a painful ordeal for the deer...and possibly non lethal.

Soft bullets can and do work, but work best when used w/in their limits, i.e. head/neck/broadside lung shots...

No doubt I'd rather run a 62 TSX or 75 Swift in a 223 vs a varmint 70gr TNT in a 6mm of any kind.

But there are bullets that do ok in small 6s on deer, the biggest problem is many 6x45s and similar rounds done on 222, 223, and 222 mag case were mfg. long ago w/14" ROT for light bullets - as THEN the guns were built w/paper and varmints in mind.

KT - figuring your rifle is a 14", as my 12" ROT 6TCU in a 21" Carbine did well thru 85 BTHP. If you run a 70 NBT at 2900 and take broadside shots BEHIND the shoulder, all should be well.

Your rifle may/may not do fine w/80 flat base, WW, RP, Speer...if so the Speer makes a HOTCORE IIRC and should hold up better.

Good luck.

Most all rifles are screamers compared to shotguns and handgun rounds.I thought the man was looking for advise.That's all I did??

It's a rough crowd around here.

Just cuttin up...grin

I think calibers like the one you want to use are for "sharpshooters", guys with experience and confidence who can keep a cool head and place shots precisely when the adrenalin is high. I would not jump shoot or brush hunt with it. I personally would not use Corelokts in any caliber, although they are excellent practice bullets due to price and accuracy, at least in my experience. Too many bad stories floating around about exploding on the surface of kritters. I have broken most of the rules on bullet selection out of ignorance or arrogance and have won some and lost some. I have killed deer, very well, shot broadside with a .222 and varmint bullets, but would not recommend it again. I killed a bear with a .257 Weatherby at 40 yards with a 100 grain Nosler Ballistic tip. According to Nosler, that bullet was "supposed to" explode at that high an impact velocity, and Nosler themselves told me not to hunt bear with it. Instead, it was a perfect mushroom and the bear went five steps. The problem is not which bullet as much as which deer and which shot angle and maybe velocity at impact. I have found .224 bullets susceptible to brush and obstacles, less with the .243 caliber I would speculate, not knowing firsthand. I've killed my biggest bucks with a 7mm-08, 375 Winchester, 270 Titus, and all took more than one shot to keep these big dudes down. The biggest bucks are truly tough and deserve a good quality bullet. For the record, my personal choice at this time is the 270 Titus, 130 grain Hornady GMX, at 2800 fps, in a Savage 99. This bullet at this velocity gave me the better performance through bone and penetration was full length on a 5x5 blacktail this year. The small light bullets and calibers are not ideal for jump shooting or brush work, which happens to be where I'm at in my hunting.

That was worth a laugh.

so you're giving advice on a round that you have no personal experiance with?

I AM giving advice on a round I have no personal experience with. Didn't I say that in my first post? Am I stupid? No. Am I inexperienced? No. Do I need your approval to validate what I believe to be obvious? What do you think? If you want to hotdog with a small caliber round and an inexperienced new hunter combination expect to track deer longer than you want to. I'm not suggesting magnums, but I'm not advocating too small a rifle either. On top of all that, I qualified what I said by saying that's where I'M at with MY hunting. I do alot of jump shooting and brush work and that caliber would not be ideal for me. Nor do I think it is ideal for an inexperienced HUNTER. I think it's perfect for an inexperienced SHOOTER, but that's different entirely. Does that make any sense? Use what works and stay away from the extremes (too big or small) to hedge things in your favor in the event conditions or shots are not perfect. Sorry, but that makes sense to me.

my girlfriend shot her first deer tonight with a .243 loaded with a 70 gr ballistic tip. she shot her first antelope with the same load 2 weeks ago. she isn't by any means an experienced hunter or shooter. I introduced her to shooting 2 years ago, got her first rifle for christmas last year. didn't have to track either. we didn't "jump shoot" any of them however, I save that for ducks.

I'll take my 8 year old. $500 bucks a 3 shot group. We'll shoot as many as you can afford. He's shooting the 6x45 and you the .270 Whateverthephuckyoucallit.

Oh - and Paul wasn't even talking to you...

Firenuts obviously ain't overly bright, there's a lot of that around here these days.

Takes a lot to keep a deer down...

When you shoot it poorly...

good one gregW!

70 NBT is what I'd be all about

Dober

could you get the 75 or 85gr X up to speed to work well in this cartridge?

I still haven't gotten around to putting a barrel on an action that I have a barrel laying around with plans to be made into a 6 x 45....

but I have downloaded 243s to those kind of velocities...

on our blacktail here...

take your pick... some of my favorites.. 80 grain Ballistic Tip, 75 grain HP Hornady.. Sierra... Speer, 75 VMax, 65 grain V Max...
60 grain Sierra HP, 70 grain TNT...

I'd have confidence on blacktail with anyone of those bullets at 6 x 45 MVs...

all of those bullet do quite well at lower velocities for penetration...and of course we know it is all about shot placement

for kids, or some of we 'getting old' guys, I thought a neat little package for hunting deer here in Oregon, would be a Ruger Compact barreled in a 6 x 45 or a 6 x 47....

and as a response to Blammer's Signature line about your ship coming in...if you don't want to unload it...

Call 202.456.1414... and ask for Barry or Joe, and tell them you need some governmental assistance...

No, It's you guy's that aren't bright.You a Have stupid comment for every dam thing anyone say's.Fireball 2 had more intelligent things to say than the rest of you retards.You don't have to shoot every bullet to know alot about ballistics and what sizes work on deer.Keep shooting your varmint size bullets on deer.You will here me laughing when your tracking it all night.Steeldouch!!

I had a 6MM Improved Wasp made for my youngest son because he was really small when he was young, for Antelope and Deer. This was many years ago and what was available that shot well was a Hornady 70 Grain SP. They still make them. At that time they made a 70 SX also and he used that bullet on varmints. The standard 70 worked well on the 3-4 antelope and the 3-4 mule deer he shot. I do recall one nice antelope buck he shot on the shoulder because of how loud the crack was when the bullet hit. The antelope folded and never even reaised his head.
It might be worth a try.

Isn't Barnes saying 1,800 fps or so for the TSX and TTSX to open and perform? Personally, I'd save the monometals for high speed and go with a good cup and core for slower speed calibers. I like the NBT and the SST, thinking the later is a bit tougher than the former. Both are very accurate. I'd see what the gun liked and go from there.

IMHO,

DF