.243 powder choices

[MTNMAN69]

I picked up my first .243 last week 9 in twist. I have 87gr vmax and 95 sst bullets with a decent choice of powers on hand. Imr 4895, 4064, 3031 as well as rl15, tac and a lb of lt32. Any recommendations?

 

[Kingcreek]

Of the ones you listed I’ve had good results with 4895 and 3031. Haven’t used the others but .243 is an easy cartridge to load for. (I’ve also used varget)

 

[IALoder]

Out of what you have listed I've only used 4064, and it did well with 75gr VMAX. Personally like a little bit slower powder for ~90gr and up bullets in .243. 4350, 4831 (either H or IMR varieties of both), RL16, 17, 19, 22, Ramshot Hunter all work well. I'm sure I'm leaving something out though. The 4064 with 87's may be worth a try though!

 

[lightman]

Of what you listed I've only used 4064 and it worked ok. I prefer 4350, the IMR version. 4831 and RL-22 have shot well for me also.

 

[2ndtimer]

I have used IMR-4064 with lighter weight bullets in .243 Win. For bullets heavier than 80 grains, slower burning powders will give you higher velocity potential. IMR-4350 has been considered a universal .243 powder with 95 or 100 gr. bullets. I have used it, along with 4831 (both IMR AND H), the old H-450, W-760, Accurate 3100, and Reloder 17 and 22. Other than the old Hodgdon’s H-450, the ball powders haven’t worked that well for me. Extruded slower powders like 4350 and 4831 seemed to give the best velocity and accuracy. With the lighter bullets, Ramshot Big Game has been excellent with 70 gr bullets. I think you will find LT-32 too fast burning for the .243, probably TAC as well. (Even though I love TAC in .223, .308 and .338 Fed). A lot of people claim good accuracy with powders like 4895, 4064 and Varget, even with heavier bullets in the .243, but I never achieved satisfactory accuracy or velocity with powders in that burning rate.

 

[lordpaxman]

I worked up loads with H4831SC and that worked the best for heavier bullets. IMR 4350 was ok, and I did try a slower powder, IMR4955 but even the start loads were pushing Vs over what the max load would have been so I didn’t pursue that. Of the powders you listed I’d go with the slowest, 4064 unless you find a slower one. Good luck.

 

[41 Mag]

Like others with your listed powders I've loaded 3031 and IMR-4895. With lighter bullets 60 and 70gr, I've also loaded H380 with good results and with 95gr up to 105gr used IMR, Hodgdon, and Accurate 4350 as well as IMR and Hodgdon 4831.

 

[Hugger-4641]

I've been loading .243 for my BIL lately with 4166 and 3031 behind 100gr Interlocks.

 

[MTNMAN69]

Tons of information thanks.

 

[stillquietvoice]

Out of what you have listed I've only used 4064, and it did well with 75gr VMAX. Personally like a little bit slower powder for ~90gr and up bullets in .243. 4350, 4831 (either H or IMR varieties of both), RL16, 17, 19, 22, Ramshot Hunter all work well. I'm sure I'm leaving something out though. The 4064 with 87's may be worth a try though!

I have used Imr and h4350 in my most recent 243 got great accuracy with 100 Hornady 100 gr btsp with a near max charge of 39.8 gr 4350. In my old, now gone, 243 I used imr 4350. 760. With 100 and 105 gr bullets but 760 need a magnum primer in my rifle, h a ni 4895, blc2, all with acceptable results, of the ones on your list imr 4064. 4031 and 4895 should provide good results.

Velocity might be a little low with those, but depending on your use or range shouldn't matter much. Imr 4350 operates at a lower pressure than the hodgen variety ime because it fills the case up south that, if operating at same pressure levels, the powder would overflow the case. Good luck with your new 243.

 

[Flycaster1977]

In my experience the .308 based cartridges like it a little faster. Im reloading norma 203b for my .243 and 7-08. This is the same as rl15. I pulled the load data from the norma website.