New to 243, some questions.

pharaoh2 said:
If you want a fun round to play with I like the 55 grain ballistic tip around 4000 FPS. The rifle I used to use had a 26 inch barrel and yours has a 22 I think but you could still get those little buggers humming along. Very little recoil and very good accuracy and they do wonderful things to little critters. :D
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4000 FPS Holy cow! :eek: :D

proonur said:
I just started working up a load for my "new" 243 as well using Sierra Game kings 100 gr and Reloader 22 powder. My rifle didn't like the starting loads very much as my groups were terrible until I broke the 2800 fps barrier at 43.4 grains of powder, when the shots all went into the same hole! Max load is 43.8 according to my load data, but I ran out of time and didn't get to try that load.
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Hmmm I was wondering if I would get more use out of the big plastic bottle of Reloader 22 I have for my Swedes.

I'll have to go searching for recipes today. :)
 
sunray said:
"...Sight in for 3" high at 100..." Yep. On target, on deer sized game, out to about 300 with no hold over. 95 and 100 grain bullets drop like a brick past there. Mind you, Handi-Rifles don't have great barrels or triggers. It may not be accurate enough for 300 yards.
"...or a..." Go with the scope. Red dots cover too much of the target at 100. Usually about 4" at 100. Have a 2.5 to 8 Scopechief(they were much better scopes 30 years ago) on my rifle. 3 to 9 will do nicely though.
"...Sunray suggesting..." That'd be rediculous. Just like your comment. Been shooting and loading for the .243 for over 30 years.
"...I am also sure he will..." A personal attack from a moderator?
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Nothing wrong with Handi rifles barrels or triggers, they may not be the nicest on the market but my 22-250 handi rifle shoots .85 groups at 100 with cheap remington ammo.
 
Looks like I'm stuck with the red dot for now as I can't get clearance past the fat eyepiece on the dusk to dawn scope.

Also the other two scopes are not able to set far enough back to give me proper eye relief...ie all looks OK until I zoom-in and then I get tunnel vision.

I think I'll put them up for sale and get something else.

The red Dot looks great and covering 4" at 100 isn't that bad given most of the deer around here are taken within that.
Similar to an iron sight anyway.
 
Here is a group from my .243 handi when I was sighting it in a couple months ago.
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A word to the wise .I've tried every bullet weight and 80 grains are the one my H&R likes.I've done a lot of experimenting up to a 100 but it shoots 80's too good to argue with it.
 
I'm using 95gr SST in my Savage. It really likes those and they've performed great for me. I can't remember the load right now but I use Varget. Some guys says the SST blows up and doesn't perform properly but I think they might be pushing them too fast. All deer shot so far with this load have gone maybe 10 steps before piling up. The last one I shot tried to take off and fell to the ground like some one cut his legs off in mid-stride.

What I do know is that I use 65gr Vmax for gophers and coyotes with 40gr of varget and they shoot one hole groups going around 34-3500fps. Sometimes I'll use the 62gr grenades going around 3700fps.

Whatever you end up using, have fun. The .243 is a great bullet and I like it a lot when put into good hands. Spray and pray hunters will always have a hate on for the .243 but a well placed shot does the trick no matter what you're shooting.

PS, I use a target scope so I'm zeroed at 100m. To date, I've never had a shot passed 150 so I've been holding dead on. I use the turrets for gophers and coyotes with help from a range finder.
 
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Myself and my 2 daughters all shoot .243's for deer. 2 are 700 SPS's and one is a model 7 youth. We use 95 gr Balistic tips and partitions over IMR 4831. All three are sighted in 1.5" high at 100, which is zero at 200m and at 300 it's 1 mil low. We shot several deer last yr. My youngest got a whitetail buck at about 90m that scored 158. shot it walking towards us through the chest. My other daughter and both got mule deer in the 165-170 range. Both those shots were under 200m, all were one shot kills. The yr before we shot 9 deer (2 does and a buck each). It's been a great little cartridge.
 
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