243 Winchester Reloading

ydg

ydg

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I recently bought a Winchester XPR and have been trying to reload it. I went to a reloading store where I bought the only match bullets in 243 that they had, 105 grain HPBT. Turns out my rifle does not have 1:8 rifling, its 1:10, and i could not shoot a 12 inch group to save my life.

So after that rambling intro I was wondering what kind of powders and what shoots best out of similar set ups in these bullet weights:

65 GR
75 GR
87 GR
 
I would think much of the reloading info for 308 would transfer over. Medium powders...4350, Varget, R19....ish. Maybe even 4895, would think 4831 would be too slow.

Most bullets under about 80 gr would be Varmit or Target. Just doesnt seem to get the bullet development of 6.5 or 7mm.
 
I bought a pound of 4350 thinking i could use it for the 105's but i was woefully mistaken there. I also have varget that I use for my 308, which was where my misconceptions started because my 308 loves 200 grain bullets, so I thought, hey that's pretty heavy and these 105's are heavy... Winning!
 
one of my load was 87gr vmax with 36.5 gr vargets , 1/2 inch 100 yards , or with a 90gr berger bt 36.5gr imr 4064 1/2 inch at 100yards all 5 shots group
 
I have a fair bit of experience with 243’s, I shoot a lot of Hornady Bullets, they reccomend Imr 4064 and H4350 as top performers and ive tested multiple rifles and one or the other or both work. My coyote load for one 243 is a 75 vmax with 45.9 Gr of H4350. .005 off the lands, the other 243 likes 40.0 Gr of Imr 4064 behind a 75 vmax. .005 off the lands. I shot some old nosler 85 grain solid base bullets with a max load of Imr 4831 and they grouped well under an inch. All are savage rifles. I have also used varget a bit and it shows promise as well. All loads were safe in my rifles but as always work up to them in your rifle. Hornady also reccomended N160.

Ave
 
ydg said:
I bought a pound of 4350 thinking i could use it for the 105's but i was woefully mistaken there. I also have varget that I use for my 308, which was where my misconceptions started because my 308 loves 200 grain bullets, so I thought, hey that's pretty heavy and these 105's are heavy... Winning!
Click to expand...

Get some 100gr soft points, some basic speer or Hornady bullet would be fine. My research suggests normal 100gr 243 pills are fine in a 10 twist, and my 10 twist mossberg shoots factory remington and federal 100gr into 1.5" so I would agree with the internet on this one.

Your problem was likely going with a long, aerodynamic bullet. Pick something that's less concerned with maximizing its BC and more concerned with killing deer and you might find good results.

I'm going to start with a box of 100gr interlocks and IMR4350 whenever I get around to buying 243 bullets...
 
Here is my winning 243 load for 85gr TSX in a model 11 Savage.

Case: WW
Powder: RL19
Charge Weight: 43gr*
Bullet: 85gr Barnes TSX
Primer: 210 Federal
C.O.A.L: 2.705”. CL: 2.035”


* Max charge of 46gr in the Barnes manual, my model 11 Savage started to get wild around the 45gr mark and 43gr was well below sub-moa.

Hope that helps,
-Cole.
 
-2la said:
Here is my winning 243 load for 85gr TSX in a model 11 Savage.

Case: WW
Powder: RL19
Charge Weight: 43gr*
Bullet: 85gr Barnes TSX
Primer: 210 Federal
C.O.A.L: 2.705”. CL: 2.035”


* Max charge of 46gr in the Barnes manual, my model 11 Savage started to get wild around the 45gr mark and 43gr was well below sub-moa.

Hope that helps,
-Cole.
Click to expand...

My savage 10 does not like super hot loads either I'm usually about 1.5 grains below the max for most bullets.
 
Plumsask said:
I have a fair bit of experience with 243’s, I shoot a lot of Hornady Bullets, they reccomend Imr 4064 and H4350 as top performers and ive tested multiple rifles and one or the other or both work. My coyote load for one 243 is a 75 vmax with 45.9 Gr of H4350. .005 off the lands, the other 243 likes 40.0 Gr of Imr 4064 behind a 75 vmax. .005 off the lands. I shot some old nosler 85 grain solid base bullets with a max load of Imr 4831 and they grouped well under an inch. All are savage rifles. I have also used varget a bit and it shows promise as well. All loads were safe in my rifles but as always work up to them in your rifle. Hornady also reccomended N160.

Ave
Click to expand...

Ill have to find some vmax to test out, thanks :D
 
So, new rifle, with I presume a new scope that was recently mounted and new loads. Lots there that can cause 12" groups. Have you tried a box of factory rounds to confirm that you are not dealing with a mechanical issue in the rifle / scope / mounting job? I used to use Federal Classic 100 grain loads to check my new-to-me 243's - not many groups over 2". Many handholds below 1" - 85 grain Speer with 42 grains 760 was my usual load.
 
Potashminer said:
So, new rifle, with I presume a new scope that was recently mounted and new loads. Lots there that can cause 12" groups. Have you tried a box of factory rounds to confirm that you are not dealing with a mechanical issue in the rifle / scope / mounting job? I used to use Federal Classic 100 grain loads to check my new-to-me 243's - not many groups over 2". Many handholds below 1" - 85 grain Speer with 42 grains 760 was my usual load.
Click to expand...

Yep the factory 100 grain soft point grouped around 2" 7 shot, I did not really wait to let the barrel cool either between shots. That's why it surprises me that the extra 5 grains would prevent the bullet from stabilizing that much, but it would seem so. I also suspected at first that there was something off with my scope mounting, so I brought it to someone who found that my front was a little loose so it was contributing to my initial 5" 5 shot group when i first put factory rounds through it.
 
Try IMR 4350, imr4320 for the 65gr, try Varget for 75 gr

44.1 gr of IMR 4350 with a 65gr v-max had produced 1 hole groups at 100yrds in my savage

38.1 gr or Varget with a 75 gr v- max is 1/2 moa or better at 100yrds
 
Savage 11, .243 1:9.25 twist 20" barrel. I tend to like H414 because it's the first powder I ever tried, and it gave outstanding results, .2-.5 MOA anytime. Being spherical it measures beautifully.
H414 43.5g with Sierra 85g #1520 gives 3200 fps and easily .4MOA.

With Sierra 100g Gameking #1560 I run 39g of H414 (Lyman book MAX) for 2830fps and .3 -.5MOA.

One daughter just did up a batch of 85g Sierras with 33g of some IMR 4895 that my wife hauled home.(Hey, it has a pretty pink label!) That's book minimum load and shoots same POI at 100yds as the H414 Sierra 100g loads, and .5 MOA for backyard defense work. Haven't chronyed them yet.
We have run lower powered 4895 loads for the 9 year old, but not enough pressure to seal around the brass neck in chamber when fired.

I was concerned about H414 not being temp stable, so I did some testing. Something like 6.6 fps per degree is what I got. Not a problem here.

Cheers and good luck!
 
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