6 X 45 for prairie dog shooting

[WillinDenver]

In the West the heat during the summer can easy hit 105 to 110, add to that lots of targets, so little time; barrel life can go in the toilet fast.

The one 6 X 45 I shot, amassed me how well it shot in the wind on a very hot day. I hit several dogs at around 300 yards in a stiff 10 - 15 mph wind. We had a nice shade tree to set under but most of our shots were cross wind, but we weren't going to leave that shade tree. There aren't many shade trees to set under in Southern Colorado.

I don't shoot hot loads in my varmint guns, I want to keep them for awhile. I have one .223 Ackley that has over 9,000 rounds down the tube. I did set it back once, but it still shoots little groups with several different bullets.

I really like my 20 Practical built on the .223 case, low recoil, good in the wind, and a fast stepper. I'm hopping the 6 X 45 will be the same.

Will

 

[Chuckw]

i have built three 6TCU rifles now on remington 700 receivers. the first was a 1-10 pac-nor 22" barrel in a heavy sporter contour and bedded in a B&C light varmint stock. i built it for a truck gun to be handy for targets of opportunity. it shot very well and performed great but was limited to 85gr bullets. i then decided i wanted to build one to see if it would keep up with a 6BR in a slower twist. i chambered up a HV broughton 14 twist at 27". it shot extremely well but never really made better velocity than the 22' 1-10. what this tells me is that the TCU or 6x45 are very efficient cartridges. the load i settled on was the 60gr sierra at 3600fps and 1/4" accuracy. it will ALMOST keep up with the 6br and do it with CHEAP and readily available brass. the last rifle i built for a friend with a 1-8 rock creek barrel at 22". it was made to shoot the 95gr low drag bullets. we have only shot the 95MK and have achieved 3kfps with h335 and imr4895 albeit with excessive pressure. it will make mid 2800's without being too hard on brass. we shot it at 600yds and it shot flatter with a 100yd zero than my 308 does with a 200yd zero. h322 was the go to powder for bullets up to 85grns but it seems that 8208 may be ideal for the heavies. there is a guy on another forum getting 2870 out of the standard 6x45 with the berger 95vld. the TCU has 10% more capacity so it should make mid 2900's i am guessing. the following are bullets weight that i am infinitely familiar with in the TCU and maximum velocities i was able to achieve with acceptable (to me) pressure levels.

55bt 3700
60 sierra 3600
65 v-max 3450
70 hornady 3350
80 sierra blitz 3100
80 berger 3150
85 sierra GK 3050

you really cant do any better in a 223 bolt face than this. the 223AI is probably my all time favorite but the only thing it can really do better is save money on bullets. the 95MK has a bc of .480 which means you would have to push the 75 a-max to extreme velocities in the 223ai to keep up. the TCU carries more energy and being 6mm makes it legal to hunt game with in most states.

chuck

 

[WillinDenver]

Thanks for the info Chuck

You talk like the 6 TCU and the 6 X 45 are the same. Doesn't the 6 TCU have a 40 degree shoulder while the 6 X 45 keeps the 23 degree shoulder of the .223 Rem? I've never seen a 6 TCU case but isn't it also blew out like the .223 AI with straight walls? Like the .223 AI it has more case capacity than the 6 X 45. Maybe I should go with the 6 TCU and not the 6 X 45.

I had other people talk about the 6 TCU and the 6 X 45 in the same content. Are we taking apples and oranges, or are they the same?

Thanks again for the info.

Will

 

[Chuckw]

basically the TCU is a 6x223AI. in my post i made mention that the TCU has 10% more case capacity. they are not the same but hardly apples to oranges.

chuck

 

[WillinDenver]

Sorry if I up-set you Chuck, I've never seen a 6 TCU.

Will

 

[5spd]

Will,
I run a 1/10" twist on my 6x45 build, 24" SS McGowan bbl. and it puts the 65g vmax/70g NBT/ 85g sgk hp & the 95 NBT hunting bullet all into an average of .500" ( many less) at 100 yds and all sub moa or moa to 600 yards.

 

[WillinDenver]

5spd;

I use a 6mm BR that has a 1 - 10 twist, it shoots the 55 to the 70 sierras into one hole or at the most 1/2" at a hundred. I'm not looking for benchrest accuracy, I just want to be able to hit a prairie dog at around 300 yards. If the wind gets up to much I'd use the 6 BR or suck it up and shoot prairie dogs. I have on many occasions shot many many prairie dogs with the wind over 25 mph. Just suck it up and shoot.

I went through my safe yesterday and came across a Ruger M77 in .223 AI with a factory .223 barrel that has a little over 6,000 rounds through it. I first took it out to .223 AI about 5 years ago, then re-chambered it again a little over a years and a half ago. Since then I broke the sear from shooting it so much, my gunsmith had to make me a new one. It's one of the first Ruger M77 with a stainless barrel, the receiver is blue steel. It's lost some accuracy, but not a lot, may re-barrel it. So many choices so little time.

Right now I have to think about thanksgiving, lot of folks going to be in my house for the next week. I'll get back on this 6 x 45 after then.

But thanks for the response, still think about it.

Will

 

[rmr]

I shoot both 6x45, and 6TCU. the 6TCU will shoot in the 3's with 65Vmax, H335 on a 14 twist krieger. suppressed, it is without a doubt my favorite PD gun. its efficient, (less barrel heat when the shooting gets heavy) and it tolerates the abuse that I hand it. (200 round cleaning intervals) it also handles the wind acceptably.

no question, go for it.

 

[WillinDenver]

I'm sure I'm going to do it, now it what action. I have a Ruger and a Rem action that I could use. I'll think about it more over Thanksgiving.

Will

 

[5spd]

I'm sure I'm going to do it, now it what action. I have a Ruger and a Rem action that I could use. I'll think about it more over Thanksgiving. Will

As much as I like the Rugers smoother action Id probably go with the Rem. action just for the fact more things are available for them. Darn you dont have a Savage donor action though!

 

[redfeather]

Will...I would go with the Rem. action...
I like the toughness of my Rem 700 SA...I like them alot...
I also sent you a PM...
Thanks...

 

[DanCarey]

For colony varmints I would rather choose something that shoots flatter. The 6X45 has a trajectory like a rainbow, shoots bullets that were designed for 243 Winchester velocity. If I were to build some weird caliber for shooting prairie dogs I think I would choose something like a high velocity 20 caliber, most prairie dog hunters like spectacular hits and red mist, those two things are not attainable with a 6 mm cartridge that doesn't have the velocity to fragment the bullet on extremely thin skin'ed, low body mass varmints. However since this is America and everyone gets a chance to make their choice. Reinventing the wheel is sometimes an uphill battle.

 

[Chuckw]

DanCarey,

the 55gr 6mm BT has a higher BC than the 22 caliber version and can be pushed to 3700fps in the TCU so i would suspect that 3550 would be attainable in the 6x45. you will have 22-250 like trajectories with a larger frontal area for expansion. i have dabbled in the 20 calibers and find them to be extremely fickle. i would gladly shoot the 6x45 with 55BT alongside ANY 20cal and let you be the judge of how spectacular the hits are!

chuck

 

[rmr]

+1 chuck

the 6TCU isn't as devastating as a 243AI, granted... but it hammers them hard, no doubt. 70BT's expand quite explosively.

 

[WillinDenver]

I have a couple 6mm take-off barrels on the way. They're BR barrels that have lost the 1's and 2's, but will be just fine for prairie dog shooting. I'll load them down and probably get 3's and 4's out of them. With the smaller case capacity of the 6 x 45 they should do great as far barrel life. I still might make one into another 6mm BR, but the brass cost so cotton picken much. Still some long winter month to decide what I'll do. I also need to take a trip to my gunsmith and see what his schedule is for the winter.

Will

 

[5spd]

You may have seen this film clip using my 6x45. All of the shots are at 320yds to 380 yards with a 65g vmax at 3017 fps. On average my targets are mostly in the .400"-.550" range with that load. I have my scope marked for fast dial ups/down to 600 yards. I use only the 65g vmax for p-dogs as I figured if I wanted a 55g bullet Id stick with my .22 caliber rigs. Better in the winds & its also my coyote load.
http://s321.photobucket.com/albums/nn400/5spd1/?action=view&current=82db57e8.pbw

 

[Chuckw]

i had no problem getting 3400+ fps out of my TCU's with the 65 v-max. it was also my standard load in the 10 twist barrel because i could run it at mag length and still be at or close to the lands. it had plenty of poop for most varmints at most ranges but i really wanted something heavier for the pigs and deer. thats where we are at now with the 8 twist barrels and the 95gr bullets. there really is nothing about the 6x45 or TCU not to like. i know the TCU will do ALMOST what the 6mmbr will do with less powder and MUCH cheaper and more readily available brass.

chuck

 

[SDWhirlwind]

What powder are you gents running in your TCU's? I have only tried H335(28gr IIRC without going looking it up) and just over 3100fps with Win primers and 60 Sierra HP. About as far as I can go pressure wise with Rem brass which only is lasting 3 loadings. Just loaded some Winny brass and changed my expanding the neck etc procedure a bit to see if brass issue was my error or what. Headspace is near no more than .001" and a 12 twist 20" Douglas stainless tube with low round count. Remington brass issue may have been because of my near max loads but I only neck sized when I reloaded.

 

[peterf225]

Will,
If you are still looking for load data check out the following link. It has the most load data for the 6x45 that I have found yet.

http://buckammo.com/Images/6x45_loaddata_1_1.pdf

 

[WillinDenver]

Thanks, a copule focks have sent this to me.

Will