Hi All,

Your wisdom would be appreciated as I am at a bit of a loss on this one. I picked up a remington 700 CDL in 243 and decided to use 95 grain Hornady SST. I have been using H4350 and have worked from 38.5 - 41.5 grains and accuracy is still not great. I used the smoked bullet method to determine COAL and it seems very long compared to the other 243's I have owned. The COAL for this particular rifle is 2.744 inches. I also have Varget and H380 on hand. In the past, with other 243's I have used Nosler 90g BT and 95 and 100g partitions with great success and with the 95/100 grain bullets, 41g of H4350 has been outstanding in every rifle. So, time to change bullets or use one of the other powders I have on hand? Also, anyone else have issues getting SST bullets to shoot well?

Thanks in advance

Mark

quote:

So, time to change bullets or use one of the other powders I have on hand?

One or the other. If the H4350 isn't working with that bullet try a couple of other powders and see what happens. If that doesn't work then try another bullet.

Because the .243 is a legit dual use cartridge, the bullet weights are all over the spectrum, and you might have one that prefers 70 grainers or 55 grainers or something else.

LWD

quote:

Also, anyone else have issues getting SST bullets to shoot well?

SSTs have always shot very well for me.....as have ballistic tips from Nosler.

It's like this....it it isn't shooting well then change something......as suggested...change the powder.....then the bullet....something will work!

I didn't notice you mention primer change? I have had a change to magnum primers in .270 help.

My Ruger will not shoot the heavier bullets well, but it loves the lighter bullets. I hunt with 75 and 80 grain bullets, but it will even shoot the 58 grain Vmaxs well. I use Varget powder and get some tremendous groups. I suggest trying Varget with the bullet your now trying to use. If that doesn't help try a lighter bullet, say, a 75 grain.

With the bullet extended you have room for more powder.. How are pressures? Whats your velocity at 41.5 gr h 4350?... This is dangerous if you dont know what your doing, but it looks to me your underloading this particular gun... If you understand what to look for, very carefully work up your loads to velocity that the books says you should get at max if no signs of high pressure.. Watch primers, case sticking, etc and trim cases each time you shoot, etc.. I could be wrong, but wait for some one who has lots of experience that agrees with me before you proceed.. remember warmer days can increase pressures., so pay attention.. Dont change components or overal lenght without working load back up from lighter loads.. dave

You might get a better and more informed response (I don't mean that in a rude manner) if you duplicated this post on the EUROPEAN HUNTING part of the Forum.

Why? In Great Britain and a lot of Europe the .243 is used plenty as a "light deer" rifle rather than a varmint cartridge. Use of 95, 100 and 105 grain bullets is very, very, commonplace.

Indeed for some deer in Great Britain the .243 with a 100 grain bullet is about the legal minimum practical cartridge in terms of weight and diameter requirements of the bullet.

Hope this helps!

You might try some Nosler BT's. If they give the same result, I would look at the rifle for some minor tune-up: bedding, stock clearance, tip pressure, crown, scope bases, etc.
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quote:

Originally posted by enfieldspares:
You might get a better and more informed response (I don't mean that in a rude manner) if you duplicated this post on the EUROPEAN HUNTING part of the Forum.

Why? In Great Britain and a lot of Europe the .243 is used plenty as a "light deer" rifle rather than a varmint cartridge. Use of 95, 100 and 105 grain bullets is very, very, commonplace.

Indeed for some deer in Great Britain the .243 with a 100 grain bullet is about the legal minimum practical cartridge in terms of weight and diameter requirements of the bullet.

Hope this helps!

Enfield
There are probably 100X the number of 243s in Europe used in the US and nearly all of them for whitetails. I would not be surprised if there are more deer taken in Texas with .243s than in all of Europe.

I find that I can shoot 45 gr H4350 with 100 gr 2.725" OAL, the extractor groove grows .001"

If I back off to 43 gr H4350 100 gr Honady round nose moly coated 2.275", I get 2975 fps with a 24" barrel, and long brass life [the primer pockets do not get loose after many firings]

If you are not moly coated, that would be 41.7 gr.

I tried SSTs in my 280 & 7mm Dakota & just couldn't get the accuracy I usually get from NBTs or even plain old Speer soft points.

I've found the SST's invariably need seating a lot further out in order to be close to the lands than other bullets due to the shape of the ogive.
That's one of the reasons I've gone back to Partitions.