243 Win Reloading - Unpredictable?

[Dexter_Morgan]

New to rifle reloading - done a bit with .223 Rem.
Have read in Cartridges of the World 13th Ed. that loading .243 Win can have unpredictable results.
Would experienced re-loaders like to comment on this.?

I am thinking of buying a .243 and do not want to purchase factory ammunition.

 

[4895]

I have loaded .243 Win with excellent results. In fact, it is probably the most accurate factory cartridge available...waiting for the sky to fall...
I have had great results with H4350 and Ramshot Hunter, but there are many, many great powders that work great. The cartridge is so accurate in fact, recently a man won the high-power rifle championship with a .243 Win. Of course it was modified in every way possible, but it shows the potential.

It is a great cartridge to load for and presents no problems that I know of except the use of some slow powders suggest you do not drop below the start load data. Any currently published data is safe enough for you to use but you need to start low and work accordingly as any other caliber.

If you get a .243, you probably won't shoot the .223 anymore. It does everything and more...better.

P.S. While the 6mm Remington is rumored to be a better cartridge (I have no experience with this), the .243 Winchester is much more common to find rifles chambered for it and brass is more common.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Get a real reloading manual and you'll have better results. I have had excellent results also with .243, even in cheaper rifles, like the older Savage 110G.

I'm using Lymans 49edition and IMR 4350 @ max load with 100gr hornady Speer Points and about .020 off the lands.

 

[Grumulkin]

Have read in Cartridges of the World 13th Ed. that loading .243 Win can have unpredictable results. Would experienced re-loaders like to comment on this.?

I am thinking of buying a .243 and do not want to purchase factory ammunition.

Have no fear, I have two 243 Winchesters that have never had a factory round through them. They're both excellent shooters and load development was easier than I've experienced for many other cartridges. You will have no more "unpredictable results" with the 243 than with any other cartridge.

 

[ultratec1]

I love shooting and loading for my .243. I am using 36.5gr of RL15 with a 85gr Sierra Spitzer

The one on the left is a 4 shot 200yrd group.

 

[Potatohead]

Nice shootin Tex. I dont know much about rifles and Im thinking of making my first purchase, hopefully this is not to far off topic-what is the effective range of the 243? Is this a hunting caliber/rifle/round? (I guess theyre all hunting rounds in a way)

 

[kerreckt]

I second everything that's been said. It is the most fun cartridge to reload. Lots of variety, power and accuracy. I wish I had bought a .243 sooner. Go buy the rifle and have a great time!

 

[greenlion]

I ran into a few little problems trying to develop good loads for 7mm-08, but haven't had any trouble with 243 win.

 

[HexHead]

If you get a .243, you probably won't shoot the .223 anymore. It does everything and more...better.

That's a strong statement, considering how much less expensive it is to load .223. You use less powder, cheap brass. .223 is a fun round too.

 

[murf]

the sixth edition has no such comment. happy reloading!

murf

 

[Arkansas Paul]

You will have no more "unpredictable results" with the 243 than with any other cartridge.

Agreed 100%. I've only reloaded for 8-10 different rounds but the .243 was one of the easiest. H380 and Seirra bullets are my favorite combination but I've never found a powder that didn't produce accurate loads.

 

[gamestalker]

I've been loading for multiple .243's for a long time, and I can't even imagine why anyone who knows what they are doing would slap such vague and generalized a label on that cartridge.

Just recently I loaded for two different rifles using RL22, IMR-4831, and H4831 with three different bullets. The results were astounding with each rifle, each bullet, and each powder, and all were very predictable and accurate. Additionally, I have worked with IMR-4350, RL19, and H4350, and again with predictable accurate results.

GS

 

[lightman]

I have not found anything harder about a 243 than any other cartridge. The hardest part for mine was picking the best load, as everything I tried shot very well.I would say to treat it like any other bottleneck rimless case. Lightman

 

[ranger335v]

"Have read in Cartridges of the World 13th Ed. that loading .243 Win can have unpredictable results."

I'm not questioning you read it but it's amusing! I've been handloading since '65 and haven't yet found any cartidge to be predictable; not even in two rifles of the same model and cartridge. That's why I laff at those hopeful noobs who wishfully post something like "Post your best loads for a Remchester .248 Whisbang with a 19' 1:27 twist barrel and stainless steel sling swivels."

 

[ClarkEMyers]

Fact is, and it is a fact, that the .243 has a well deserved reputation among some very knowledgeable folks for being more prone to odd results at the margin than most other cartridges. The 7mm Remington Magnum has a similar perhaps lesser reputation.

That said and it true that the reputation is there and deserved, nothing special follows for the average user using current data. Don't load at the margin. For extra speed try a 6mm '06 or 6mm-284 or 6mm Weatherby. There is more variation across different firearms chambered in .243 than most others but that's not an issue for the person who loads for only one rifle - as always it pays to track speed and especially variation in speed as one indication of pressure but on the other hand a good accurate load with a little more variation is still a good accurate load.

 

[Reloadron]

To be specific, Cartridges of the World, 13th Edition, Frank C. Barnes and edited by Richard A. Mann does read in part:

(Editor's note: The 243 has garnered a reputation among ballisticians for erratic performance. Handloaders should keep this firmly in mind.)

However, that is followed by 13th Edition Update material where the editor mentions some of the new all copper bullets Additionally the editor goes on to mention:

Additionally, Frank Barnes mentioned the erratic performance handloaders could expect when working with the 243 Winchester; while this has become an ever-presistant warning with this cartridge, I have been handloading the 243 Winchester for 20 plus years and find it as easy to work with as any other cartridge. Richard A. Mann

That last quote pretty much shares the thinking of ranger335v and my own thinking. The 243 Winchester to my way of thinking is no different as to predictability than any other similar cartridge when handloading it. I also have no clue and Frank Barnes fails to mention what led ballisticians to state the 243 Winchester had erratic performance?

Personally I wouldn't lose any sleep over it or let it stop me from interest in a 243 Winchester rifle.

Just My Take....
Ron

 

[Potatohead]

Good investigative work there Ron.

 

[witchhunter]

I've had several over the years, they were "normal" to load for. I just bought another one last month and tried three different powders with a 58 Vmax and already have a half minute load. This is not a new rifle, 1976 Ruger 77R sporter. Bedding and trigger to come and it should be a keeper. I have a Remington youth model that I can't get to shoot well, but I bought it for the action....

 

[Don McDowell]

Been reloading the 243 for 50 years.
H4350, Imr 4831, Imr 4064 and my all time favorite H414, produce predictable results with every useful bullet weight they've came up with for the 243.

 

[ClarkEMyers]

It's not made up it's real but don't worry about it

....So if you develop a 7mm Remington Magnum (or .243 Winchester) handload that shows minimal velocity variations the pressure obviously isn't varying all that much.

But yes, the wider pressure variations have been documented many times in professional pressure labs in both cartridges, and tend to get worse as the throat erodes......
_________________________
John

The result has been that SAAMI and following SAAMI the various data books have lowered pressure limits for the .243 so that a wider variation won't exceed acceptable limits. A cartridge with small variations will allow average pressure to crowd the upper limit. A cartridge with wider variations will have high readings outside the upper bound while given the wider variation the lower readings depress the average. Some say in the .243 it's the heavier bullets say 100 grains (and I suppose slower powders) that show variation much wider than expected with other similar cartridges.

Not going to play lets you and him fight over this but it's a real issue for a rifle loony and no problem at all for the careful handloader who respects limits.

 

[Grumulkin]

Nice shootin Tex. I dont know much about rifles and Im thinking of making my first purchase, hopefully this is not to far off topic-what is the effective range of the 243? Is this a hunting caliber/rifle/round? (I guess theyre all hunting rounds in a way)

I suppose it depends on what you're hunting. I've taken out a couple of coyotes at over 300 yards with mine this summer and I'd use it further than that should the target present itself. Having taken deer with lighter stuff, i.e., 204 Ruger, 222 Remington and 22-250 Remington, I would consider it more than adequate for deer as well.

 

[Reloadron]

The result has been that SAAMI and following SAAMI the various data books have lowered pressure limits for the .243 so that a wider variation won't exceed acceptable limits. A cartridge with small variations will allow average pressure to crowd the upper limit. A cartridge with wider variations will have high readings outside the upper bound while given the wider variation the lower readings depress the average. Some say in the .243 it's the heavier bullets say 100 grains (and I suppose slower powders) that show variation much wider than expected with other similar cartridges.

Not going to play lets you and him fight over this but it's a real issue for a rifle loony and no problem at all for the careful handloader who respects limits.

While I haven't loaded 243 Win for about 15 plus years I went through a period with the cartridge for around 5 years prior to that. I am not the one to count every hand load I make but I would venture a rough guess I loaded maybe a few thousand over 5 years. The bullets were all Sierra and 70 to 85 grain flavors. The powders I liked were VihtaVuori N135 and N140. While I no longer have the chronograph data I don't recall anything unusual meaning what I loaded was consistent. I am a little OCD with my rifle loadings using brass of the same manufacturer and same number of times fired as well as measuring each charge on a scale. The rifle was a Remington 700 that I built up with a 1:12 twist. Again, I never had an issue or observed anything weird.

That rifle went on to become a 6 PPC and I never went back to the 243. However, that rifle eventually suffered a broken bolt and other issues and I have given some thought to making another 243. I know the barrel was Shilen or Douglas? Either way I have a perfectly good 6mm 1:12 twist barrel.

While I can't speak for others all my experiences rolling my own in 243 were good, nothing inconsistent anyway that I remember.

Ron

 

[Ken70]

10 years from now, somebody will be researching 243 Winchester and come across this thread...this is how stupid rumors get started and grow. In a lot of respects, it was easier before the net. Your own experience is what counted, because you didn't have any way of knowing anybody else's.

 

[Conservidave]

I know what my next Rifle will be!

 

[Clark]

9-12-2003 I fired the last 3 shots were the same load.

The brass was 308 necked down to 243.
100 gr bullets.
Surplus pull down bulk 4895.

It was a standard 243 reamer.
It was a $30 Addams and Bennet barrel blank.

It damaged my cleaning rod getting the last one out, so I went home.

In retrospect.....when it takes 100 pounds of force at the bolt handle ball to close the action, the necks might be tight.

I have never shot that rifle again.

I won't even use 308 brass for 260 now, unless I turn the necks.