Just started reloading .243 and would like to know what people are using in their 6mm and .243's. I'm not only interested to hear what people have had success with but also what they haven't had success with. (and yes I do know that the performance of a projectile can be relative to the firearm)

I have a 6mm Remington -- a Remington 700 Varmint Special with a heavy barrel. This is the older one with pressed checkering in the wooden stock. I've had very good results in terms of accuracy with the 70 grain Sierra Matchking bullet. 90 grain Berger moly coated boattail bullets also gave very good results (groups of under 3/4 inch at 200 yards).

This rifle is persnickety about the powder that it likes. So far the only thing that I've found that works well in it is IMR 4064, and I've tried a lot of other things: H 414, IMR and H 4350, Varget, Benchmark, IMR 4320, and possibly a few others. I also got good accuracy results with H 380, but it seemed to have erratic ignition.

I did not get good results in this rifle from the 80 gr. Speer Hot Cor bullets, nor from the 85 gr. Hornady boattails. I've not used bullets heavier than the 90 gr. Berger in it.

[This message has been edited by LE270 (edited 12-27-2001).]

I use Nosler 55gr. Ballistic Tips in my Ruger 1-B .243 for woodchucks; it is absolutely devastating and shoots 1/2" groups @ 100yds.

In my custom Rem. 700 .243 Ackley Improved, I use 70gr. Nosler BTs on prairie dogs and 95gr. Nosler BTs on pronghorn. Both these bullets shoot 1/2MOA or less out to 300yds.

George

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

for p dogs 80grbtsp blitz by serria.

I should also say that one day at the range where I shoot, the person at the bench next to me was shooting a 243. He was using the Hornady bullets with the red polycarbonate tips and Varget powder and getting very good results. I'm sorry but I don't know what his rifle was. I'm saying this because I've never found a good use for Varget myself, but it seemed to work very well for him in his rifle.

Nosler 70 gr Ballistic Tips for groundhogs & 95 gr Partitions for deer.

100gr Hornady boattails for deer

Sierra 85 grain HPBT in both...

IMR 3031 Pushing a Hornady 75gr. V-Max is the most accurate combo I've shot out of my bull-barreled Rem.700. It has constantly shot 1 ragged hole @100yds and I have killed 2 coyotes @ 500yds+ with this round. I got the load from a friend and I'm about the 5th person that uses this exact load gets great resuts!! Not the hottest but very accurate!!

Hey folks,

I find the Sierra Matchking hollow point boat tail to be very accurate for me, and, in spite of Sierra's disclaimer, I would not hesitate to use them on deer.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile

Nosler BTs for little things...the Partitions for bigger things...Berger's for impressing people with groups.

I love the 100 grain Hornady Bt's in my 243.

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When I started, I had a .244. Remington made 90-grain corelokts for it. They were acceptably accurate and gave real good results on deer. When those bullets became unavailable I found the 87-grain Hornadys gave the closest deer killing ability, the 90-grain Speers were more accurate, but for some reason didn't penetrate as well or expand as much. I don't understand how both could occur at the same time, but that is what I observed. My Dad used 85 grain Sierras in his 6mm, and was happy with the results. He used the same bullet on groundhogs and whitetails.

I use a Rem. 700 Varmint model in 6mm Rem. I have had excellent accuracy and IVG (instant visual gratification) with the 75 gr. Hornady HP in Rem. brass, Rem. 9-1/2 primer, and 42.0 grs. of IMR-4064. It will really launch a rockchuck.

I've gone to 85-grain bullets for everything, saves fooling with scope and trajectory tables. Between Speer, Nosler, and Barnes, there's a bullet for just about everything 6mm-able.

Tom

We have two .243s. Both seem to work best with Hornady Vmax. I've tried Nostler BTs, but they haven't liked these rifles.

Anyway the Remington works best with the 75 gr Vmax, and the Ruger 77 with the 65 Vmax.

1 in 10 twist. Berger 68 gr & 88 gr, 90 gr. Sierra 70 gr match. Powder IMR4350, IMR4831 for 88 90 gr bullets. Turn neck, Use Redding bushing dies, no expander. All work well in a 243 win.

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Lately I have been shooting 75 grain sierra hollow points and 100 grain corelocts. Both shoot splendidly in my 6mm. The gripe is the 75's hit 3 inches to the left when zero'd with the 100's. When I hunted where there were no feral hogs I used 85 hpbt's by sierra or 87 grain hornady soft points.