Interesting results with .243 win. work up

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gamestalker

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One of the fellows who has joined out group brought me an older ADL Rem 700 wood stock that he says has never shot anything better than a 2" group at 100 yds., and he has had it for about 10 or so years and had given up on it as ever being a shooter. I checked it out to make sure everything was clean, barrel wasn't touching the stock, any obvious problems all looked good. So I lapped the barrel is about all, and I worked up a time tested load I use for a number of other .243's that has produced excellent results, as follows:

Speer 100 gr. SPBT's .010" off lands
IMR-4350 - Ended up at 41.7 grs.
CCI standard LRP
Win and RP brass, 20 of each

I sent him on his way about a week ago with those loads and heard back from him today. He was ecstatic, he said the groups were consistently 1/2" or better. He also told me he didn't even clean the barrel at all during his session, despite the fact that he shot up both 20 round boxes, apparently he couldn't put it down.

It just feels really good to return a great rifle back to hunting duty, and with minimal effort. Also of importance is we may have gained another reloader, as he was astounded how much difference a reloading made.

GS
 
Thanks for this write-up! :) .... I am going to start reloading for 243 and this will help!
BH
 
Yeah, it does make a difference. My first experience reloading for rifle was with 308 Win. and made the groups it shot reduce by 3/4".

It's great you had such success with your friends rifle. Your "mission" will probably reap the reward you wanted and start a new hand loader into the hobby.
 
I have found the .243 to be an easy round to reload for as well. I got my wife a tang safety Ruger M77 and the first load I loaded was sub MOA. I've never had a load that didn't produce excellent results. And I don't go all out measuring to get the bullet just off the lands either. I just load to the manual's recommended OAL and go from there.
 
Paul, I agree with everything you said, my experiences with .243s have been the same. I loaded for my fathers 1946 model 70 and he then shot a water snake that had been annoying him for months, that was sunning it's self on the dock of his pond at 125 yd away from his front porch. (He shot it with one of my loads though).

I took the same load and used it in my sons cheap Savage 110G and it shot just about but not quite the same accuracy as Dad's model 70.

I still had the record with Dad for a while with a ground hog eye shot that I called at 75 yds until he shot that water snake. I never heard the end of it after that.

I think a .243 is one of the best calibers that exits as far as reloading goes. It's very versatile and forgiving as far as I'm concerned.

Gamestalker, I bet that made you feel really good, it would have me. I would have been very proud.
 
I am serious about a 6-7 MM for my next hunting rifle, the 243 Win is on the top of the list, but I have a hankering for a 7MM-08. The 243's top line is , a lot of powders I already have in stock, 308 brass is plentiful .

All I need is the $$ ( I'm PW'ed) and the wife's OK!
 
I'll tell you dagger dog, I admit to being a little to taken in by the gun writers and considered the .243 to be on the light side for deer. This opinion of mine was without any experience or real knowledge. Then my wife wanted to go deer hunting. She's a little thing and I decided to get her one. After a few deer have fell to it, I'm no longer a skeptic. Holes are just as big as my '06 makes. And with a handloaded 85 grain SGK BTHP, every single one have been DRT.

I don't feel under-gunned in the slightest with one.
 
I'm a big fan of small bullets (58-70gr) and slower powders (IMR-4350,Re-19) in the .243. On small varmints. they are the laser beam of death.
 
How would you feel with a quality hunting bullet, 90gr or better, on a 200 pound boar at 175 yards? I'd feel very comfortable with that load on deer, but in my mind hogs are tougher and I question it.

Where would your limit be regarding hog size and distance?

I have the same sentiments about my 243 regarding accuracy and ease to reload.

36.1 of IMR 4064
70 gr Sierra Match King

It's a starting load and gentle on the barrel, but still 3,000 fps and good for quarter to half-inch groups out of a factory Tikka


I'll tell you dagger dog, I admit to being a little to taken in by the gun writers and considered the .243 to be on the light side for deer. This opinion of mine was without any experience or real knowledge. Then my wife wanted to go deer hunting. She's a little thing and I decided to get her one. After a few deer have fell to it, I'm no longer a skeptic. Holes are just as big as my '06 makes. And with a handloaded 85 grain SGK BTHP, every single one have been DRT.

I don't feel under-gunned in the slightest with one.
 
I will agree with others that the .243 if VERY versatile. I have owned the one my pop gave me since I was 7 and it will still shoot 1/2" at 100yds with my handloads.

ArtP, putting hogs down with the .243 is as easy as putting the shot where it needs to go. Myself and my friend and several members of his family have shot them for years with .243's using 100gr bullet. Most who shoot hogs however treat them like a deer, and aim behind the shoulder. This is where most mess up. If your going to shoot one learn where the vitals are up over the front leg just about where the neck hits the shoulders. Everything is up front and tight on them. Here is a GREAT source for finding out before you go,
Texas Boars
Look up under the tabs showing Hunting Tips and such.

If they are simply feeding I try to put the shot just below the ear no matter what I am using. If they are moving, anymore, I just put it on them up front and if needed I finish them off. We have them in some numbers that I try to put as many down as I can first then pick up the stragglers. I don't like to see anything suffer, not even feral hogs. If and when they do run we make every attempt to follow up on them. Their fat however will make this a real issue though as it will effectively plug up most exit holes. Case in point, the grandson and I were out sitting over our back pasture one brisk morning just before Christmas. I heard something behind us and just over my left should not 15yds from us comes this 200'ish pound boar. I rolled to my right and shot him twice with my 45 Colt using some 280gr WFN cast loads. The first shot spun him completely around one direction, and the second spun him completely around the other, and with that he was on his way through the thick stuff. We both saw the big whit spot showing from his black hair on the offside of the first shot, and as expected after a hour of looking we found nothing so much as a drip leading down the trail he went. Where I hit him was hair and pieces and drops but nothing after that. Three hours after we gave up we found the buzzards had found him up in some stuff so thick we couldn't even crawl into it. They were all sitting up on top of it and on the ground around it but not getting to him either.

But back to the .243, choose your shot, put it whee it needs to be, and you will be cleaning hog shortly thereafter.
 
I'm just starting to load .243 and this an interesting thread. One thing that makes it interesting is the wide range of bullet weights it can use. It uses a lot of slower powders that are easier to find these days than those for .308 or .223. Even though I have a .243 and .308 and don't need one, I really want a 7mm08.
 
Gamestalker,

I don't know why this thread stuck in my head. I got to thinking about your cleaning and hitting a good load though and thought of the Sako Forrester I picked up for $325 as a donor rifle. When I saw it I figured that if nothing else I would have a great Sako short action foe a build. It literally look as if the previous owner(s) had drug it behind the truck back and fourth to the stand. The stock was gouged and chipped, the front sight had been sweated off, and overall it just looked like crap.

It took me literally a day and a half and every cleaner I had including Sweets, to get a clean patch out of the muzzle, and I don't know how many trips through the bore. The last thing I did was run ten patches slathered down with JB paste through it to polish it up some.

After all this I told the wife to load up we were going to go see if the thing would even shoot. I stopped at the closest store and picked up a box of the cheapest ammo they had in 100gr Win loads. I had stuck a cheap scope I found in the back of my safe on top just to make sure I hit paper with it. When we got to the range I set up a paper plate at 50yds and bore sighted it, then moved out to 100 and shot 5 rounds. This was the first 5 shot group I shot with that rifle,
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Needless to say I haven't done anything with it since but change out the chewed up stock with a new one, and mounted a MUCH better scope on it. The handloads I have worked up for it also shoot equally as well and I passed it on to my oldest grandson. So far he REALLY likes it.
 

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I'm on my second 243, the first I won in a raffle. I gave it to my son and in a moment of weakness he pawned it .... poof it was gone.

The second I bought from a Pawn shop in Huntsville, many years later. It was a Remington 788 bolt with a 6X9 Redfield widefield scope and I got it just a bit north of $300.00. Probably not the best price in the world but I was happy. I replaced the stock because the old one was worn and had been carved up by a previous owner.

I reload with 95 grain Hornady SST's over 35 grains of Varget. The bullets are seated .030 off the lands. The gun performs very well with this load. I'm not the greatest shot but even I can hit a golf ball at 100 yards.

I have never shot a deer or a hog with it, but I would not hesitate to do so. Shot placement is just as important as caliber and bullet weight. Back in my younger less responsible days I brought many a deer down with a 22 LR. So I have no doubt the 243 will perform.
 
I have owned multiple .243 Win chambered rifles over the years. The one thing that comes to mind when I think about my reloading experiences is that none of them shot lighter weight bullets very well.

Every one of them shot 95-105 grain bullets the most accurately.

Some shot 85-87 grain bullets OK, however NOT a one shot 55 grain bullets with anything I would call accuracy.

Regards,

Rob
 
WitchHunter, this is what worked for me.The Sierra manual has info for 55-60gr bullets and IMR-4350. Every rifle is a study in ballistics unto its self, so good luck.

Rob62, I've had just the opposite results. Go figure.
 
I'm getting ready to work up some 52gr loads for my 243 BAR for coyote hunting. I hope I can find a 1/2 MOA load. If not, I'll go back to 90gr. I want something that will push 4000fps.
 
You know 41 mag, I'm less and less surprised any more by such results, it's simply amazing what a little TLC, and a decent load can do. I picked up a Savage for a couple hundred bucks some years back that had been badly abused. Same story, some cleaning, a little barrel lap, floated the barrel, the right load, and I think I may have even glass bedded that action. But when I finished cleaning and tuning it, it was shooting as good as any hunter would expect or need with just some elbow grease, and a few dollars for the bedding material. These are relatively simple steps just about anyone can implement to make a shooter out of any rifle that hasn't been physically damaged the result of neglect.

I've spent the last 35 - 40 years jumping between the .243, the 6mm which I really have a soft spot for, the .270, .280, 30-06, and my personal favorite for long range game hunting, deer and everything larger, with the 7mm RM. So I had long considered the .243 to have it's place among deer and smaller game, I never thought of it as being a strong contender for anything larger. But way back in the early 80's I was taken under the wings by two brothers who were well respected guides. The one brother was a hard core .270 fan, while his brother who is recoil sensitive due to being blind in his right eye, and is right handed, hunted everything with a .243, and I mean everything. I saw successful hunt after hunt in which he took antelope, deer, elk, black bear, and big horn sheep using his ,243 and factory 105 gr. PSP's, and this was prior to me reloading for him. So needless to say, I gained an enormous degree of respect for this often under rated cartridge with respect to larger game.

But from a personal stand point, I wouldn't make the .243 my first choice for anything larger than deer beyond 300 yards or so. And particularly from a guides stand point, I certainly wouldn't recommend allowing a new hunter, or one with a limited or questionable degree of experience to use it on game larger than deer from any distance, as shot placement becomes far more critical with a mid sized projectile such as this when considering elk or larger game.

I apologize for straying off topic, but as some of you know from my typical posts / replies, I have a problem with this. But the bottom line here is, the right load, some good training and extensive practice, a properly maintained rifle, most production rigs have the potential to shoot surprisingly well. In most instances they will often produce accuracy potential that exceeds that of the average hunter.

GS
 
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