Four grand with the 243 Winchester

todbartell

todbartell

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
290   0   0
Location
BC
anybody done much loading with the 55 grain bullets in the 243 Winchester??

I've done a bit with the 58 grain Vmax, got up to 3800 fps in my 24" barrel Model 700 with Varget.

Hornady lists their 58 gr factory load @ 3750 fps, which is pretty mild Id think. Federal and Winchester both load 55 grain Ballistic Tips. Winchester @ 3910 fps (lubalox coated Ballistic SilverTip), and Federal @ 3850 fps (naked NBT). BlackHills ammo in the US loads the 55 NBT @ 3800.

Nosler #4 manual lists one load at 4000+ fps, and six that are above 3935 fps. Hornady #5 lists no load with the 58 grain Vmax at 3900 fps or above. Hodgdon.com shows a few loads with the 55 gr NBT over 4000

I got five hundred 55 grain Ballistic Tips and a bunch of Varget & RL15. Im gonna see what the 243 can do :runaway:


anyways, results w/ chrony info will be much appreciated. stay tuned
 
I managed to get some 58gr Vmax moly's up to ~3940k w/ IMR3031. I'll check my loading log and see if I can't find the actual chrony data from the 10 shot string.
 
I've hit over 4000 fps in my Model 70 with a 26" barrel, with published loads for the 55gr. H380 as I recall.
 
I had a shooter on my range last year with a 26 inch barreled Husky that was getting 4025 fps with 55 grain bullets. His accuracy was not very good and I did not ask for his load data because of this.
 
45 grs of Varget gets me 39 and change (I don't have the printout from the chrongraph handy) with the 55 gr BT. The load shows no signs of pressure, it's accurate, and to me breaking 4K is not an important milestone. My rifle is a M-7 with a 22" Lilja barrel.
 
well I was able to reach 3970 fps with Varget. The charge weight is over what any manual I've seen lists, but bolt lift is easy, extraction fine, primers have round edges still, no ejector mark in case head, etc. I'm going to load some up to test groups and keep using the same lot of cases so I will be able to tell how the primer pockets hold up over time
 
Tod - I saw your post about the 243 Ack on the varmit board. I shoot a 243 Ack. I don't know the velocities but I have had excellent groups with 55gr Nos in my Ack. With 49.0grs of H414 my notes say I had one hole groups and with 48.0grs of H380 groups were 1/4 to 3/8. What stood out to me is that at 125 yards (distance where I shoot) is that the 55's and 100's printed in virtually the same place.
 
Hodgdon alone has four published loads at modest pressure that break 4000 fps and then some. I have a 26" barrel that shoots fast. 52.0 grs of H380 gave me 4110 fps.

H380 - 51.0 - 4010 - 48,700 CUP
Varget - 45.0 - 4000 - 50,000 CUP
BL-C(2) - 47.0 - 4025 - 49,400 CUP
H4895 - 44.5 - 4058 - 49,300 CUP

I've only shot the H380 load and it was accurate. Took two groundhogs with it - one at 125 yds and one at less then 20 yds! The latter shot gave new meaning to ewwwww! I had to use a shovel to get it off the path.
 
Last edited:
Did some shooting this afternoon finally with the 55 grain Noslers in my 243.

I had ten rounds loaded up with 45.4 grains of Varget and they did 3815 f/s for a 10 shot average. I also had 10 rounds loaded up with 46.6 grains (Ive worked up to this charge previously) but only got to fire one group, and got an average velocity of 3930 fps.

Here is a target shot with the 45.4 Varget load (3815 f/s)

right of bull = .5" 3 shot, beside the '3' is a .7" 3 shot, and beside the '15' is a .52" 4 shot. Just above the bull is a .82" 3 shot with my 260 & 129 grain Hornady
24355nosler.jpg



I will hopefully get out some evening this week and try the rest of my test loads, and go from there. Its gonna be hard to beat the load I shot today, its not 4000 f/s but if it shoots half inch @ 3800, it dont matter :D
 
well I went back to the range after dinner and fired off the rest of my 55 grain NBT handloads, with the higher powder charge.

Accuracy was not bad, around one inch @ 100 meters, but not as good as the load I tried earlier in the day. Sure does shoot flat though, +1" @ 100m = 6.5" of drop @ 330 yards

Scope is being yanked off the 243 and sent to Leupold for a turret so probably wont be shooting for a few weeks :)
 
Don't want to hijack, but I have had excellent success with the 55 NBT in my 6mm Remington, getting around 4200 with excellent accuracy, c:¾moa. I use mostly H380, but have also used RL 15 with good success. Regards, Eagleye.
 
Last edited:
I tried a few in my 243 last weekend. A handful of loads over Varget, but none printed terribly well. Still, I think I'm getting closer to a reasonably accurate load.

Part of the problem, I think, is that these bullets are soo short, you can't seat them anywhere near the lands. So far, the 70gr noslers are outperforming the 55's for me in the accuracy department
 
Chrony'd data from my Sav12FV. 26" pipe.

H4895 (gr) Avg Vel (ft/s) 40.0 3715 41.0 3796.5 42.0 3890.5 42.5 3941 43.5 3983 44.0 4033 44.5 4064
Nosler 55gr BT
Win Brass
GM210M
 
I tried 44.7 grs of IMR 4895 with the 58 grain Vmax back in the winter and got 3750 f/s in my 24" tube, and accuracy sucked :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom