I bought a Ruger compact laminated stainless in .243 for my son to start hunting with.This gun only sports a 16.5" barrell.I am surprised that this gun shoots very at 100 yards,with both handloads and Hornady light magnum factory loads.I have only tried loading with H414 so far with no complaints except that it throws a good bit of flame at the end of barrell taht is noticable only when shooting at dusk.I have heard that with a short barrell you need to use a fast burning powder.Have any of you all had any experience with this?

Based on my experience with 14" t/c contenders, I'd say the fast powder recomendation for short barrels is BS. Just use the same powders as recomended for full length barrels. You'll get muzzle blast and flame from a 16 odd inch 243, no two ways about that. You won't pick up some magic lost speed by going to a slightly faster powder.

I just handled one of the compact ruger 308's yesterday, pretty neat gun! Seems like the stock is a bit bulky, and could be lighter, but overall, a nice package for a youth gun.

I also have a short .243. It is loud and flames at dusk also. It shoots everything from handloads to factory stuff very well. Rarely does anything go over an inch at 100 or 2 inches at 200. It does fine with IMR 4350 and 4831. I don't have access to a chronograph but they are both extremely accurate with several different bullets. These may or may not be great powders for this length. They work for me. Some one with Quickload could probably make a pretty good comparison though. Good luck.

I agree that you won't gain anything with the fast powder over the slow in your 16" barrel, at least not in terms of velocity.

Non-ball powders usually give a little less muzzle flash than ball or spherical.

A faster powder will generate a little less muzzle pressure, therefore, at least in theory, a little less blast.

I would try something like IMR 4064 or H4895 and see if that makes any significant difference. Expect only a marginal improvement, but you might be surprised.

sll,

The muzzle flash is nothing to worry about, since that .243 shoots well.

I too shoot 14" barrels, and I don't use fast powders; I use the one that gives me the best accuracy and velocity.

George

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Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

im using 40gr of varget in my savage striker pushing a 75 gr ballistic tip.going to swich to a 85 bthp sierra. short barreled 243's can really shoot. jason