243 reloading ????

Howa 9700 said:

One of the rifles I'm loading for is a Mossberg Patriot youth gun in 243 Win. It has a 20" barrel with 1:10 twist. Internet seems to think 243 Win is an easy caliber to load for. I'm finding it to be more like "no mans land".....or a tale of two rifles. Load data all over the place.....some treating it like a 308 and that speed of faster powders........others like a 270 and slower powders.

Have tried a couple powders using Hornady 100 grain Interlocks......SPBT. One load ladder using IMR 4955...said to be same speed as 4831.... splattered 10 shots over 8". A load of 39 grains of IMR 4350 got that down to about 3 inches....which is about what it does with some factory loads of 100 grains.

Then remembered I have a box of Sierra 1530 85 gr hpbt.......have had them about 30 years. Old enough a few of them have moss growing on them. The hpbt had me thinking they were like modern era Match Kings, not the hunting bullets I am wanting to use. Turns out those are Game Kings....so they went front and center.

Have 5 test loads ready to fire. One loaded with IMR 4350 in range of 43 to 44 grains.......and another with IMR 4064.....37.5 and 38 grains. As per Sierra.......powder and load of choice for that bullet was 38 grains of IMR 4064.

What I also find both amusing and troubling......have found at least two load data sources that describe the 243 as borderline adequate for "big game". When used on something like a deer......both say shot placement is critical......but both fail to then mention where.

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Howa 9700 said:

One of the rifles I'm loading for is a Mossberg Patriot youth gun in 243 Win. It has a 20" barrel with 1:10 twist. Internet seems to think 243 Win is an easy caliber to load for. I'm finding it to be more like "no mans land".....or a tale of two rifles.

Ok I'm with you here. Conventional wisdom is slow powders, but people are all over the map here. I'm working on a Rem 700 that shot 100 gr Partitions at 1 MOA until I converted it to a youth gun (chopped 4" off the 24" barrel). No regrets but can't find a great load yet for Partitions.
H100 gr RN 1.0 MOA with H4831SC 2580 fps (bullets out of production but still have some)
H100 IL 1.2 MOA with H43540 2710 fps

These are ok but still want a bullet that is good for short and long range which perform over wider range of velocities-like a Partition.
Varget has some potential for me based on 100 IL trials. Will try it with 95 Partitions (since I can't find 100's).

I need 95 gr Varget data. Hodgdon has it on their site, but wondering if anyone can check new Hornady 95 gr SST data to see if they list Varget.

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kmw1954 said:

As reported in another thread the gun these loads were to be used for has a mishap and the stock was broken. So this all got pushed to the back burner. Well a new stock arrived and I am back in business.

During this I received some .243" bullets from a member here in the Pay-it-Forward, which I appreciate very much. Not a lot of each but enough to at least get some sample shots in.

The bullets are Sierra 85gr hp., Sierra 80gr Spitzer marked for single shot pistol and a few 70gr Nosler. Now having trouble finding loads for these with powders I have on hand. Those being TAC, Benchmark, 2460 and BL-C2. Best I can do is some loads for the BL-C2.

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