6-BR
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With the right bullets and shot placement, it works just fine. 6BRA here, and at the shorter ranges, its vels are similar or higher than the longer range impacts of my 243's, 6RemAI's, and routinely with 103-105's, I use the 6RemAI out past 600. The 6BRA with the 95/100's has performed well on deer sized game.
Jim Richey
Member
It will do just fine kill 19 deer 4 antelope and a buffalo with mine all one shot kills. Shot placement is the key none ran more than 30 yds. If you can shoot go for it.
window licker
Well-Known Member
Get the 7.5 twist. The 6BR is more than capable of killing deer out to the 400 mark. The MDT BR magazines are the ticket, you will want to pull out the spring and stretch it a bit to give it a bit more tension. I run the MDT on my 22BRAs with no issues.
Hey All,
I'm in the Texas Hill Country North of San Antonio and most our White Tails are small but I take Does & Spikes with a 6 BR and a 60 gn. Sierra varminter with H322 in head & neck shots and they are all DRT.
jaclthr
I'm in the Texas Hill Country North of San Antonio and most our White Tails are small but I take Does & Spikes with a 6 BR and a 60 gn. Sierra varminter with H322 in head & neck shots and they are all DRT.
jaclthr
nkyshooter
Well-Known Member
To OP - @JWgroups
I wouldn't hesitate to use a 6BR for deer ... I'm able to run 105 Berger Hunting VLDs out of my ER Shaw 1:8 Twist in the .2s and get 2850fps using Varget and Remington small Benchrest primers - don't remember the charge of the top of my head but it is in the upper end of the window. It's savage 10 (pre-accutrigger days), Sharp Shooter Supply trigger, in a Bell & Carlson composit with aluminum bedding block. ... So - Mine is heavy - light enough for groundhogs over the truck, etc but I would only use mine to hunt deer if on an easy access powerline, field, etc with good support.
Feeding is a consideration - without mods, they don't like mags - just plain too nose heavy for the overall length.
Other consideration is barrel weight. Most 6BRs are going to be a heavy barrel similar to mine. If you have one already and are satisfied with the weight/setup - I say 'absolutely' use it for deer ... you're good to 450 and with a head shot, further ... However, if you are planning a build, there are others that will give great accuracy, same or more speed, be available at Walmart, etc, etc, etc ... and those will feed better - namely the 243 and the 6 creed ...
That being said, my 6BR is not for sale
... and when I take family/friends to the 1000 yard range, guess which rifle is their favorite to ring steel at 1000 ... yup - the 6BR for its super light recoil (even with no brake) and it's amazing accuracy. Deer don't care what shape the brass is we use to send it ... accuracy, impact velocity/energy, and bullet construction/reliabiilty/terminal ballistics are what matters on target ... But if you might need a second shot, a plan for feeding the next round in needs to be taken into account if using the BR.
Dang ... I need to get that thing back out and shoot some more golf balls at 300m this weekend!
mnshortdraw
Well-Known Member
If you get the twist right, sure. I've shot deer with a 6br and 6ppc but both only stabilized 75gr bullets and I didn't care for the results. They both did the job but not well. Spin up a 100gr+ hunting bullet and hammer away.
LOL......Overachiever !!
Glad to see another egg/golf ball shooter. For many years, we held egg shoots, and then went to golf balls.
Those shoots were/are always a load of fun and great days with friends.
I have been thinking the same thing for some time now. I just haven't "pulled the trigger" on the project yet.
If someone else asked me to build the rifle for them, I'd prolly try to talk them into a 243Win instead. I prefer the Win over the CM (flack jacket on) mostly because I hate the CM hype. I'll state the obvious here: the 243 Win has killed more game and more varmints than all the other 6s combined. I'm simply not interested in another 243 wanna-be or a 243+ or whatever you want to call them. The 243 just plain makes sense.
That said, I'm not building the rifle for someone else. I'm building this one for me. I already have several 243s and in my old age, I'd like something a little "sweeter". The 6BR ought to fill those sweet boots quite nicely. My other 6BRs are heavy barrelled target rifles. They kill flies at 200 yards.
I've killed well over 50 white-tails in my life. I like the idea of something easy to load for, light to carry, and especially something that I can see my hit in the scope with. I'm not really sure that latter one is possible with a sporter barrel, but I'd love to find out.
I like to look at effective range a little differently than others. If a 6CM or 243Win is deemed to be an effective deer cartridge at let's say 500 yards (just picking an arbitrary number) then the 6Br ought to be good to 400 yards with an associated accuracy edge. Velocity falls off fastest at the highest velocity. If both rifles are using the same bullet (arbitrarily the Sierra 85gr GameKing HPBT - a personal fav) then referring to the Sierra Reloading manual, the 6Br has a muzzle velocity of 2900 fps and the 243 is 3100 (that's a safe velocity max) Plugging the 243 factors into almost any ballistics calculator shows that its velocity falls to 2900 in just over 100 yards. In simple terms, that means the 243 has a 100 yard advantage over the 6br - not 200 or 300. Just 100. If you would feel comfy shooting a deer at 400 yards with a 243, you can feel comfy about shooting a deer at 300 yards with a 6br. In actual fact, it's probably less than that since wind drift and accuracy will be way better for the 6br at 300 than for the 243 at 400. Nonetheless, it's a very pragmatic way of comparing cartridges within a caliber family.
I think our issues in attempting a 6br deer rifle build boil down to the magazine feeding issues that others have described. I am planning to build a single shot. Then again, I am old so I don't think that's a big deal either. I prefer to take my time, place my shots, and I don't worry about taking second shots. There is an old saying about deer hunting that I like: One shot in the forest probably means a dead deer, two shots probably means a wounded deer, three shots means a hungry hunter.
Yup, a light weight single shot 6br makes good sense to me!
Can't wait to hear more about your build!
My Dasher with the 103 eldx at 2910 FPS out of a 22" Benchmark holds 1785 FPS out to 700 yds. Energy is only 729 ft-lbs though. At 500 yds is 2074 FPS and 983 ft-lbs. I feel that's about the limit I'd shoot a deer with this gun. But out to just under 700 yds the bullet should expand according to most manufacturers suggested 1800 FPS impact velocity to ensure expansion. Still amazes me when I look at that tiny case and see what it can do.
Lionel Boyd Johnson
Well-Known Member
I've killed several whitetail deer with my .243 Winchester loaded to about 3141 fps using Sierra's excellent 85 grain BTHP. Hodgdon lists a top load with CFE223 under the same bullet in the 6BR case with 3159 fps. I'd not hesitate to hunt whitetail to reasonable range using a 6BR.
Alex Wheeler
Well-Known Member
Id look at the 6BRA. Its just a 6 BR with a 40 degree shoulder. Dies are available and fireforming is as easy as just shooting a 6br load in your BRA chamber. You should be able to run 2900 in a 24" barrel with 105s and it will flatten deer.
