.243 Heaviest Bullet (1/10" twist)

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blauber

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Well got a Tikka 595 on the way, it's a 1:10 vs. 1:9.125 Remington. I want to buy one bullet that will work on deer and everything smaller (I know Berger 95 gr VLD will not stabalize).

Any good experiences with powder and bullets on the heavy side? Preference would be for the higher BC bullets,as I'll most likely put a varmint scope on this baby and reach out for some long range coyotes/Ontario groundhogs.
 
You realize the 308 has the same case dimensions as the 243 and has a crazy bullet selection. You basically just limited yourself when you went with a 243 over 308. The reason you buy that cartridge is so that it has less kick and allows 80g bullets to fly at stupid fast velocities. It suffers when you want bigger.

I think you can get a 120g bullet, but my LEE and Lyman manuals show the 100 grain jacket bullet being most accurate with Varget and show nothing else that's bigger. It also has a .400BC which is pretty good.

In .308win you have the choice of 110, 125, and 130g bullets that all have a higher velocity. You can shoot deer with a 125g bullet going 2900fps and that same load will vaporize a gopher.

Why not just stick with the standard 243 load? You can use an 80 or 100g bullet for deer no problem. Just use some TSX rounds for deer and vaporize the gophers with whatever is cheap and accurate (and legal).
 
Paper punching: Berger 6mm 90gr Match Boattail bullet (designed for specifically 1-10" twist)
Deer hunting: Nosler 6mm 90gr Accubond or 95gr Partition (better for slower twist)

I would stay away from 100gr hunting bullets since 1-10" is a relatively slow twist and even in 1-9.125" 95gr hunting bullets tend to be the most accurate bullets.

Alex
 
Rocket Surgery said:
Why not just stick with the standard 243 load? You can use an 80 or 100g bullet for deer no problem. Just use some TSX rounds for deer and vaporize the gophers with whatever is cheap and accurate (and legal).
Click to expand...

Went with the .243 (my second) because it's legal for small game in Ontario-anything over a .270 (i.e. .308) and you become limited. I'm not too far down the reloading pipe, and found my M700 BDL shooting 85 gr HPBT (Sierra GameKings) really accurately-but things start falling apart > 300 yds.

So, with this rare 595 that I got new (pre T3), I couldn't resist adding another .243 to complement the M700 :redface:. I am interested in going heavier (or trying the 80 gr TSX is a good option-except for their price) to reach out should the situation arise. I like the Accubond idea...

I tend to settle on one load per rifle so once I'm settled on a bullet/powder combo, that's it! Plus you get to buy more rifles this way. :D
 
Maybe you should consider switching up and work up a heavier bullet load for the Rem with the 1-9 twist and go for an 80-85 grn load in the Tikka which is what it was designed to shoot.
Your chances of success and happiness are much greater this way.
 
I've seen one in 10 inch twists that would shoot 100 grain pointed bullets to 1 MOA.
If they group OK at 100, but are falling apart at 300, there is something else causing it, not the stablizing of the bullet.
It takes a bit of distance to stablize a bullet, for the bullet to, "Go to sleep," as the old adage goes, but once stablaized, it stays that way to the end of its useful life.
 
Been using the 95 grain Nosler BT for years for deer and varmints. H1000 and H414 really shine for powders. As AlexF mentioned the 90 grain Berger BT can't be beat for target shooting
 
Love my .243, I know you asked for one bullet and powder, I can manage one powder but not one bullet; for deer I want penetration with expansion and the bullet to stay together, for varmints I want violent results with reduced chance of ricochets:

For deer I use 85 grain partitions over 42.0 gr of H414 for 3225 f/s. I still hunt rather than jump hunt and pick my shot placement. 265 yards has been my longest shot and there was no drama. I would expect Barnes bullets in this weight would give similar performance.
I have also used 95 grain partitions over 41.0 grains of H414 for 3145 f/s which worked well.

For varmints 46.0 grains of H414 is my load at just under 3500 f/s for a 70 gr ballistic tip and it anchors hogs and 'yotes - mind you this is under 400 yards which is about as far as I see them where I hunt.

Accuracy is about 1" for the partitions and 3/4" for the BT for 5 shots at 100m - certainly no match winners but when I miss it is my fault and not the rifles.

Use the normal cautions with the above loads.

Dan
 
Thanks for the tips-will try some TSX or 95 gr bullets. The other suggestion was to swap the Rem and Tikka for heavy/light bullets-great idea. The Rem has had a bunch down the pipe so I may not want to diddle with it.
 
i have run 95bergers and 105A-maxes through 1-10 twist barrels. on 243 and one 240wby. the 90gr lapua scenar is another good hig bc bullet thats been really accurate for me.
 
Been using a 100 grain Nosler Partition for years with nooooo problems. I have also had great luck with the Hornady 100 grain BTSP and the 100 grain Speer Grand Slam. No accuracy problems up close or far away.
 
My Cooper 6mm has a ten twist barrel. I can get good accuracy with Hornady 100gr BTSP IL but it would not shoot the 95gr Interbonds at all. I loaded some 88gr Bergers that shot well but went to 69gr Bergers loaded with Superformance that are just nasty on coyotes. I also load 55gr NBTs with H4895 for crows and gophers, not much left of either if you hit them in the center.
 
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