I am in the process of completing two rifles in this caliber. One a heavy barreled varminter for me the other a light weight sporter for the wife. I've been buying factory loads for the last 6 years or so due to time constraints. I want to start reloading again for this cartirdge and wondered which brass most people are using these days. I've always had equal luck with Rem or Win in the past. And the only time I favored one over the other was in .45-70, the Win brass had more capacity for BP loads.

Thanks,
Mike

I don't load 243, but in other calibers, I prefer Winchester To Remington brass. Norma even better, if you can find it.

I've used all different manufacturers for loading this caliber with equal success and performance. I have also necked down a large number of .308 cases to .243. Even used mini-gun brass, just trimmed and reamed. I use the .243 on prarie dogs and it works well with most any brass.

I use winchester brass in any caliber only. It just seems to hold up better for me. In the 243 my dad only uses norma, but winchester in any other cal. take it for what you will, but I haven't seen any difference in the norma and win. 243 brass. I will say to stay away from remington brass in any caliber as john said there eh.

I did try Norma brass in my .243, and found that the inside of the case necks had a tendency to form "donut" rings after only two or three loadings. I've had excellent luck with Norma and Lapua cases in other chamberings. The .243 Norma brass is my only bad experience with Norma cases.

My favorite, and seemingly most durable brass for the .243 is Winchester brass. Remington may be fine as well, but the necks may need to be turned for good runout numbers. A lot of the Remington cases I've had in .243 have shown .007" and higher runout on the assembled cartridge. Since the same dies turned out .002" runout using Winchester cases, I had to blame the problem on the Remington brass. I've often wondered if Remington isn't surreptitiously trying to exact some sort of revenge on .243 Winchester shooters for helping shoo thier 6mm to pasture!

You can get factory Winchester "Super-X" ammo at Walmart for under 11 dollars a box. It's good sighting/fouler and close range ammo, and provides nice fire-formed cases when done. (And you may find, as I did, that the Super-X ammo shoots extremely well for "cheap factory ammo").

I've developed the habit of buying a box of twenty Super-X cartridges, and phasing those cases in by using the rounds as foulers and sighters while working on the previous twenty brass cases. When all twenty are shot, I reload them, keeping them in that same box, noting on the box how many times those cases have been reloaded. You probably won't get more than about three or four good loadings out of any .243 cases before neck tension differences begin to cause accuracy drop-off. The .243 Winchester is wickedly tough on brass in my experience.

The .243 Winchester is also persnickety as hell, so if you haven't loaded for it in a while, you'll have to be patient. I've had my best results with heavy bullets (85 grains and over) with IMR 4350 and IMR 4831. If you want to shoot light bullets, go with IMR 3031--it can't be beaten in this application. I'm currently using the Sierra 60 grain HP with 39.8 grains of IMR 3031 (OAL of 2.600", keep this load short!) and Remington 9 1/2 primers (Remington had no idea these would be used in the .243 Winchster, so they're doing splendidly! ) for great 3/8 MOA five shot groups. That load clocks around 3550 fps from my worn 22" barrel, and would probably do much better from your rifles.

As I mentioned, the .243 is picky, and you'll likely note changes in POI when shooting new brass as opposed to once fired brass. Considering the cost of components used just to get new brass fire-formed, and considering what your time is worth to you, I would say it's a waste of time and material to purchase a lot of brass and have to load it all once and fire it before you can begin load development. The Winchester Super-X factory ammo is about 55 cents per shot (from Walmart), and the brass I've gotten from it is very consistent and very durable. That's why I suggest that you begin with the factory ammo, and keep the cases. That's probably the most economical (money-wise and time-wise) way to go.

And by the way... A properly developed load will be reasonably insensitive to lot variations in brass cases. If you have a load that goes to hell when you employ a brass case from an odd lot, you need to redevelop that load.

Good luck, let us know how things go...

Dan Newberry
green 788

Thanks for all the replies.

I haven't ever reloaded for the .243 so I appreciate all the info Green 788. I had been hearing a few complaints lately about Remington brass. Most of my Rem brass was purchased years ago in large lots and I've always had great success with it.

It will probably be a couple more months before I complete the rifles but I wanted to start buying all the reloading components now. I'll take Dan's advice and buy some of the Winchester loads. It will certainly make function checking if the rifles easy. I've used the cheapo Winchester varmint loads in .223 from Walmart with great results. I doubt seriously that I'll ever hand load for the .223 as long as I can get 40 rounds of 5/8 moa ammo for $11.00.

For the light weight rifle I'm inclined to stick with heavier 85 &100 grain loads. But for the heavy barreled rifle I'll try them all. Thanks for the 60 grain load Dan. I've only recently gotten into shooting Varmint rifles and was wondering, particluarly in .243, if you all favored light bullet weights or heavier?

Thanks,

Mike

I load for two 243s. One is a Rem 700 (my wifes) and the other is a Ruger 77, with aftermarket medium/heavy barrel.

I've found no difference between the results I get with Remington and Winchester brass. I use the two different brands to help me differentiate the brass for the two rifles.

With the Remington (1:9.25 twist), best results have been with a mild load of Varget, behind a 75 grain Vmax. 80gr Noslers, and 87 Vmax also shot well. Light projectiles have been hopeless.

The other rifle is a bit less picky (1:10 twist). I've been able to find decent loads with the 58 and 65 grain Vmax (although not good enough to continue using them), and excellent loads with the 70 Nosler BT, 75 and 87 Vmax.

Winchester is better then remington. Can load new win. with out sizing. The Rem must have the mouth ,neck sized to load. Have seen Rem. with the flash hole off center on brand new brass.I hear norma and Lapua brass is better than Rem. or Win., i must try them. 243winxb.