dogmessiah
New member
I have been wanting a 6x45 since before they became popular on here (though that hasn't made me not want one). I just haven't been able justify why to buy one as I already have a 243 and a 223. In 3 weeks I have an examination coming up, and if I do well enough I may reward myself, but I don't have a lot of money to spend, so I may just buy a 6x45 barrel for my savage. I think I may know how to redneck engineer some 6x45 dies, and want to see if you guys think it is a sound idea.
Since the 6x45 is a 223 necked up to 6mm, my starting point would be 223 dies, I would probably pick up a three die set used, and I would use Lee dies making them cost about $15 or $30 new. This would give me the correct body taper, shoulder angle excetera. Lets look at the full length die first, if I were to take out the mandral and drill out the whole in the top to 7mm(the outside diameter of a .243 win case neck). This would not touch the threads on the inside of the die where the mandrel screws in because of the way that the Lee dies are designed. I should be able to replace the 223 mandrel with the mandrel from my 243 win dies. In my reconning this would give me a full length sizer die for the 6x45. Any problems there?
I am thinking I won't need a drill press to get the hole straight seeing as there is already a sizeable pilot hole.
Naturally I am not stopping there. Looking at the lee collet dies (which I love), it appears as though the collet in the 223 die is just a shortened version of the collet in the 243 die, even the hole in the top is the same diameter. The piece that holds the mandrel in place is 6.15mm in diameter ( I believe you can get drill bits in that size), and I would have to drill that out. I don't believe I would even have to alter the 243 mandrels, and even if I did you can buy them from LEE for $5 last time I checked. This puts my total cost at $20-$35
Additionally I think I may have come up with a way modify the mag box and bolt on my savage so that I don't have to single feed the 75gr A-max when I have my 223 barrel on there. This would probably also allow me to feed an 87gr V-max in 6X45 out of the mag without taking up to much case volume by seating them short. I think I may be justifying buying a barrel just to see if I can make dies. Is that wrong?
For those who tell me to just go out and buy an already existing die set, I say no.
Since the 6x45 is a 223 necked up to 6mm, my starting point would be 223 dies, I would probably pick up a three die set used, and I would use Lee dies making them cost about $15 or $30 new. This would give me the correct body taper, shoulder angle excetera. Lets look at the full length die first, if I were to take out the mandral and drill out the whole in the top to 7mm(the outside diameter of a .243 win case neck). This would not touch the threads on the inside of the die where the mandrel screws in because of the way that the Lee dies are designed. I should be able to replace the 223 mandrel with the mandrel from my 243 win dies. In my reconning this would give me a full length sizer die for the 6x45. Any problems there?
I am thinking I won't need a drill press to get the hole straight seeing as there is already a sizeable pilot hole.
Naturally I am not stopping there. Looking at the lee collet dies (which I love), it appears as though the collet in the 223 die is just a shortened version of the collet in the 243 die, even the hole in the top is the same diameter. The piece that holds the mandrel in place is 6.15mm in diameter ( I believe you can get drill bits in that size), and I would have to drill that out. I don't believe I would even have to alter the 243 mandrels, and even if I did you can buy them from LEE for $5 last time I checked. This puts my total cost at $20-$35
Additionally I think I may have come up with a way modify the mag box and bolt on my savage so that I don't have to single feed the 75gr A-max when I have my 223 barrel on there. This would probably also allow me to feed an 87gr V-max in 6X45 out of the mag without taking up to much case volume by seating them short. I think I may be justifying buying a barrel just to see if I can make dies. Is that wrong?
For those who tell me to just go out and buy an already existing die set, I say no.