new to .243 reloading

Some of the longer 105gr bullets may not stabilize even in a 9 1/4 twist. Many great bullets in the 80gr to 100gr range. IMR 4831 is also worth a try, as is H100V, 760, and probably some others.

H4350 is quite good in 243 win and us more temp stable than the imr version. I've also used imr 4895,h4895. Ramshot hunter and ei. 760, of all of them the 2 4350 powders were my go to's

The 87 Hornaday amax was the standard for metallic Silhouette when my dad was shooting. I have a few hundred of them but he smoked the barrel and that rifle is now a 6br.

conan32120 said:

I have a 9 1/4' twist 700 and I'm looking for its potential. I've already tried 100gr interlocks with IMR4350 and it seems quite promising. now I feel the need to try 87 and 105gr pills and am curious if there's a consensus about an additional powder or other weights I might play with. I only shoot paper and steel, no hunting, range is good to 200 yards.

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The 87VMAX is a top contender for 6mm bullets in 1-9 or 1-10 twist rate. It has a decent BC while being easy to find a load for.
I would stay faster than H1000 and slower than IMR4064. It gives you a pretty broad choice of powders to try.

I don't own a. 243, but I do load and sight in my niece's deer hunting rifle. 95gr sst and 100gr btsp are pretty good in her's behind imr3031, 4166, and h4350. The load she's hunting with this year is the SST behind imr3031.

I've also got some 108eldm I haven't tested yet.

Hugger-4641 said:

I don't own a. 243, but I do load and sight in my niece's deer hunting rifle. 95gr sst and 100gr btsp are pretty good in her's behind imr3031, 4166, and h4350. The load she's hunting with this year is the SST behind imr3031.

I've also got some 108eldm I haven't tested yet.

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If you're loading the bullet behind the powder somethings wrong. Just saying.

barnfrog said:

If you're loading the bullet behind the powder somethings wrong. Just saying.

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Nope, when I'm loading the case, primer 1st, powder 2nd, bullet last. I have tried it other ways and they don't work!

conan32120 said:

such is the reason for my query. the hodgden site doesn't recommend 3031 for any bullet weight above 75gr but I don't know if my 9 1/4 twist will stabilize that weight. working 6 days a week severely limits my range time and barrel heating limits my rounds down range when I can go to the range

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When I get home this evening I can check what my charges were for sure, but I think it was 37gr of 3031.

Hugger-4641 said:

Nope, when I'm loading the case, primer 1st, powder 2nd, bullet last. I have tried it other ways and they don't work!

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OK, but the powder has to be behind the bullet in order to push it out . . .

Never mind. Joke's not funny anymore.

barnfrog said:

OK, but the powder has to be behind the bullet in order to push it out . . .

Never mind. Joke's not funny anymore.

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Well, I can laugh now, but it wasn't funny when I tried those other ways either. Powder running out the flash hole, primer and bullet with no powder, yep, I 've tried them!

My 243 likes 4350 but I have also used 4831 and RL-22 with heavy bullets.

A year ago, I tried loading some 243 Win for a Mossberg Patriot youth gun. Goal was 1 MOA with bullets for deer hunting. Never got close to that....not sure if it was me or the gun. But my loads were at least as good as factory ammo in it, so left it at that.

Anyway, as I was looking for powders then, what became apparent is 243 is an enigma. Manuals all suggest faster powders in range of 4064, 3031, Varget, etc. Same group you might expect to find with 308. Yet a lot of guys seem to have good success with slower powders in 4350 and 4831 range. What it came down to for me was there was a cut line for bullet weight. 85 grain and less bullets......faster powders. Heavy bullets.....slower powders.

If I had a 243 with 9 1/2 twist......and wanted to pop targets, would be looking at some Match Kings in range of 100 grains, either one of the 4350's, and work it till it worked.

But there is a 2nd part, Since OP is popping targets, if this is to be a fun experiment, then let it be so. Find a baseline that you know works, then branch out from there. Try to duplicate or better your best success with something else.

conan32120 said:

I have a 9 1/4' twist 700 and I'm looking for its potential. I've already tried 100gr interlocks with IMR4350 and it seems quite promising. now I feel the need to try 87 and 105gr pills and am curious if there's a consensus about an additional powder or other weights I might play with. I only shoot paper and steel, no hunting, range is good to 200 yards.

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If your serious about trying for small groups a box of these should be tried to see how your gun likes them. Sierra makes one similar and barts makes them as well.
https://bergerbullets.com/product/6-mm-68-grain-fb-target/

I use IMR 4064 with my 243.
-mike

I'm with Mikey, IMR 4064 with the lighter bullets

If you are only shooting out to 200 yards, try some of the lighter bullets. I have had great results with the Speer 70 gr TNT and the Nosler 70 gr Tipped Varmageddon with Ramshot Big Game. Over the years, lots of powders have worked well, with bullets 75 gr and under, IMR-4064, 4895, Reloder 15 and others. With bullets 85 gr and up, the slower powders allow higher velocities and the 4350’s, Reloder 17, the 4831’s, Ramshot Hunter, and Alliant Power Pro 4000-MR have performed well for me.

i'm fixing to try reloader 19 and reloader 22 in my 243 using 100gr bullets has anyone tried this in their 243?

Dad and I only had one load for our whole lives with .243, 100gr Sierra Game King, ahead of, No Behind, no what ever , 40 gr of IMR4350.
Mostly because Dad would have a **** fit if I loaded anything else. I must say he never had a deer get away from him with that load in his old Model 70 with that J Unertl scope on it. It just didn't happen. They never went very far either.

I run a published load of IMR4831 behind 75 grain HPBT as my hunting round. Standard CCI rifle primer.

conan32120 said:

is 9 1/4 good for bullets that light?

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Light bullets are generally not twist limited and are what 6ppc and 6br shooters used to set world records for a long time. Barrels and bullets are what make accurate rifles. It's a lot cheaper to dabble in high class bullets than high class barrels. You have them both and a dialed in load a half inch group is a bad day.

According to MIller Stability rule (which assumes 2500fps), with 9.25 twist 105's are not spinning fast enough to be stable, the 87's are GTG.

I have great success with Accurate 2520. SD is in the single digits, ES is under 20, case fill over 90%, burn rate over 96%, and effective efficiency over 31%.

(EDIT) At the outset, I tried A2520, TAC, and Varget. I achieved better initial results with 2520 so that is what I focused on. At some point I would like to go over Tac and Varget again, but with short summers and long crappy frozen winters I have to make a choice (to the best of my ability) and focus on one thing at a time.