bigrich wrote:I spoke with deye243 last night, about the 6x45, there are a few pros and cons from his first hand perspective. The gist is that long 223 projectiles slow more gradually, and have more sectional density which helps the further out you get in terms of energy and wind drift.
Spoke in terms of bullet weights and case capacity, the point of diminishing returns, more or less
I myself, think that for a 200-250 yard general purpose rifle, shooting around 75-87 gn maximum projectile weight, ya do get a lot from little powder and cheap, common brass. The other thing is light 6mm projectiles always seem to be available, whereas high BC 223 projectiles always seem to be harder to find
These views are MY interpretation of information gained through a conversation. Don’t hold deye243 to account for anything I’ve just said
Cheers
In .224" I have bullets from 30gn to 90gn so far, for the .223Rem. My Ruger lets me seat the VLD's 5mm longer than the standard .223Rem length of .2.260" so I don't lose as much case capacity as many other rifles might. I haven't tried the 95gn SMK yet. Obviously you're not going to push a 90gn bullet to super high velocities from the small .223Rem case, but 2500fps is achievable without blowing primers. And it's still supersonic at 1100m, with 2850mm drift in a 10mph wind at 1000m.
In .243 I have bullets from 55gn to 117gn, but my rifle only shoots bullets up to around 1.175" in length, around the 100gn region. The 95gn SMK can make about 3100fps, and is supersonic for another 150m, with 2550mm drift in a 10mph wind at 1000m.
For hunting at closer ranges the .243 hits much harder than the .223 due to the significantly higher close-range velocity, but at longer distances the differences are marginal, but the .243 burns twice as much powder for it.