Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats 6x45 lighter weight rig

Looking at maybe doing a 6x45 lefthanded rig. 7 twist, #2 or smaller contour, cut at 17" and suppressed. Looks like dies are around and not terribly expensive. Buy 100 lapua brass and should be good for a while on that. Just need throated for 95 berger vld I think.

Seems straightforward and low cost. Any hurdles I am overlooking?

Sounds great to me. Have to ask, why the 7 twist? I am thinking of the same build but 1/8 twist, that will shoot the 105 no problemo, 1/7 will stabilize up to 115 but I think that is too much of a good thing in the 6x45

Finding TAC or H'335?

No need for a 7" twist but with moderate impact speeds, it'll help you out for sure....

Berger VLDS are the best bullet for low velocity impacts I've ever seen. Love the cartridge...

Why not the 87 VLD in that small cartridge?

I have never shot the 87 or 95 vld. Have had great luck with the 6.5 versions so wanting to attempt them first in this one. Figure the 7 twist opens up all the heavies for me. I have a lot of big 22s for shooting 75-88 so figured I want 95 and up for this one. Slow is fine as max range for this rifle will be on 300 yard and under ground.

May grab brass, dies and bullets when I see them. Have primers and powder. Its a long term build though with waits coming on action, barrel and stock I am sure.

I chose that over the 6 ARC in an AR15 recently because of the simplicity of the 6x45. I went with a 1 in 8 twist, it will stabilize any 6mm bullet intended for the 6x45 velocities. Reloading die sets are easy to get. I bought mine on ebay for $70.00. I also just re-size 223 or 556 brass. Couldn't be simpler and you don't have to buy cartridge specific (6x45) brass. Range pickup that only cost your time is good to go with this cartridge. There is real beauty in that. I've been curious about the 6x45 for a long time and almost bought one 2 years ago. Another good thing that swayed me to building an AR for this particular cartridge was the 6mm bullet availability. Go to the LGS and what do you see? 6mm and .338 bullets on the shelves.. At least around here that is what I've been seeing. Kind of like .410 shotgun shells. I even bought 500 6mm bullets yesterday through powder valley, because that is all they had. The 6x45 also doesn't use the amount of powder that a lot of big game cartridges use, so it helps to conserve your much needed powder, but still get to practice shooting. That is also good too because barrel life is phenomenal with the 6x45. A lot of pros to going with this cartridge right now.






Definitely still under development, so groups will tighten up after finding a good load or 2..

I've had a 6x45 since 1996. I like the 55gn NBTs at 3250fps for small varmits, and the 85gn Speer BTSP for larger varmits.

This one at 120 with the little Speer.

Good feedback from all and appreciated. I'll start grabbing stuff as I see it.

I have one built on a Rem 600 action with a 21" PacNor barrel, I've had it a long time. 55gr NBT's and 58gr V-max for pelt hunting along the northern border. Since moving to the southern border the 6x45 is going in the barrel storage and I'm changing it and making it into a compact 20P. Having tried 6mm's on deer in the 1960's and having had terrible bullet performance I've pretty much abandoned it for deer hunting and have been using a 25-204(257 Kimber clone) as available bullets have a better track record for me in the 28003150 fps range.

I believe you could satisfactorily update your experience.

I was very interested in the 6x45 and on the verge of having Wayne York rebore my Ruger 77 ultralight from .223 until I recently learned of the 6mm-204RR. The Ruger mag box is too short so I'll have to figure that out, but the 6mm-204 seems like a better round on the same platform.

In a bolt action it probably is. A no go in an ar. Also,the mag box on a ruger 77 223 is extremely simple to modify.

This search was just for the past year. May be more older than 1 year.

Building a 6x45 on the cheap - Link

Simplest route to a 6x45 - Link

Considering a 6x45 - Link

Built a 6x45 on a tikka t3 action, shilen 8 twist barrel finished at 21" threaded for a can. It is quickly becoming one of my favorite rifles. I have shot the 70 blitzking at around 3150 and havent really tried much heavier bullets yet. Great rifle tons of fun I highly recommend it.

Good threads, thank you. Preferred barrel blanks look interesting.

I haven't looked into it much yet, but I'm hoping it's an easy modification. It would be nice to just use a .243 mag box and follower.

Ordered up a McMillan Edge Classic inlet for Hawkins bottom metal. Going MDT magazines. Deciding on action still.

Bullets arriving today lol.

30338,

I built one on a Sako L461 action because I love the action regardless of its magazine length limitations. I twisted mine at 1 in 9 and don't think I've ever shot a bullet lighter than 95gr (NBT) in it. One day I'll have to try some of the lightweights. Not much varmint shooting where I'm at. H4895 seems to be the best powder overall at this point with heavier bullets but have others to try. I've been shooting the 100gr Norma Oryx and have taken a couple whitetail bucks with it, couldn't be more pleased. Probably my favorite deer rifle for the Adirondacks right now over a full on Rem model 7 custom build in 7-08. I just love to carry the little 6x45 and have enough confidence in the setup that I carry it when guiding deer hunters.

I shoot the Oryx and Hornady 100gr RN in it due to shorter bullet length desirable in my rifle. It also shoots the 95 NBT well though I've not done much load work with it. Requires deep seating but works in my short action. In an action with a longer magazine it could be one of the absolute best deer bullets if you're an expansion and penetration guy. I hunt the forests of the Adirondacks which can be dense so waiting for the broadside shot isn't always possible, obviously only taking good shots is a responsibility. I'd probably be happy with the 100gr Oryx forever except for the increasing price. Midway just sent an availability notice at $100 for a box of 100 bullets. Glad I have a few. I also have a bunch of Hornady 100gr RN so they may be next batter up. I'm not sure that I can get enough velocity to insure full expansion with Barnes bullets on soft tissue hits and I don't like wasting shoulder meat.



Given the pictures that you posted for me in the Lightweight 223 thread I'm sure that you're going to build a beauty. I'd love to see pictures when you're done.

Best to you.

Frank

Good info Frank and appreciated. Slowly gathering parts and components here.

There's been a lot of good threads on this subject here over the years. I believe Frank has been shooting one of these for at least 9 years now. Correct me if I'm wrong. In those 9 years of use, he should be bringing a lot to the table in these discussions. I will add in some of my past experience over the last month, dinking around with the little 6x45:


After shooting a couple days ago^^




This target is load development, but still around 1.2 moa:





The 6x45 is an absolute pleasure to shoot. I don't see much difference between it and the 223 rem in recoil. I'm still working on developing loads and am going to go and pick up 8 pounds of TAC here in a bit. I've heard that powder works very well in this cartridge. Other great powders are shown in the targets above. They include H4895, RL7, AA2015. Some that I do not like have been LT32 (I'm still working on that one), H380. I'm going to try to shy away from H4895 and only use powders that I can drop from the powder measure. I do this with H4895 and still get good accuracy, but powders like AA2015 and RL7 are much better in that regard. I know this info is from shooting an AR, but there isn't going to be much difference in a bolt gun. Some bullets to stay away from are 90gr gamechangers: They are too pointy and you'd have to seat them way out there to work. And other heavy pointy bullets like the 105 A-max, 107 match king, and 105 Berger . Also, for Frank, you may want to try some 100gr Hornady BTSP interlocks. They have been readily available at midsouth shooters supply. I recently bought 500 there..

Hornady 6mm 100gr BTSP interlock

Also, another one to look at would be the 90gr ELDX:
90gr. ELDX

These are also in stock^^^^