Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 6 x45 Deer Hunting Load?

Enjoying playing with this cartridge.. rifle has a varmint barrel, but I have a sporter barrel, 4 inches longer on order from Douglas...

Savage Single Shot action...20 inch heavy barrel, 1 in 7 twist...

Powder Used: W 748

Bullet Used: Hornady 100 gr SP/ BT.

26.5 grains: 1. 2666 2. 2675 fps

27 grains: 1. 2734 fps 2. 2740 fps

27.5 grains: 1. 2778 fps 2. 2816 fps

28 grains: 1. 2856 fps 2. 2850 fps.

brass was easy to resize down, and primer pockets were tight still with 8 reloads on the brass.

I think that dog will hunt! 26.5 grains at 2666 fps, was able to hit 12 inch gong at 300 yds, with 3.5 inches of elevation off the bench.

Was wanting a 6 ARC/Grendal, but a 6 x 45 barrel was cheaper than a new barrel and there is an endless supply of 223 brass, in my shed, along with picking it up off the ground at our local range. Picked up 250 rounds of brass in the last two weeks at the range on 4 or 5 trips... 3 miles from home.

What's not to like...hard to tell the difference in recoil of the 223 or the 6 x 45.

I like the 6x45. Great little cartridge. Fun to mess with. That 100 gr Hornady BTSP should work very well. When I developed loads for mine, I settled on the infamous 85gr Sierra game king. That bullet also shot much better out of my 6x45 barrel. YMMV..

This barrel is shooting about anything I feed it real well... Got it from Douglas, and went with a 1 in 7 twist ( oh what the hell?)

In the mid 80s, I bought a nice little Kimber in 6x47 as a starter deer rifle for my sons. It's now serving the same purpose for the grandkids. The 6x47 (222Mag necked up) was apparently the darling of the benchrest crowd at the time. I load the 85 gr partitions for deer. It's a sweet little rifle and, it works so well on deer I sometimes wonder why I fart around with 270's, 30/06's etc. Were I doing it today, I'd go with the 2x45, but I have plenty of brass.