I just inherited a winchester model 70 .243 and am considering loading up some ammo to play around with. It would be used for anything from coyote sized animals up to white tailed deer. Does anyone have any load data that works well? Thanks for any suggestions!
My 22" Ruger Stainless-Synthetic .243 just loves 95gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips loaded with Hodgdon's H-4350 Powder. Brass is Remington with Winchester Large Rifle Primers. I'd have to look up the exact powder charge to be sure so I won't list it here. At any rate 5 shot 100 yard groups between 1/2" to 3/4" are the norm with this Gun-n-Load. Average Muzzle Velocity is 3071 FPS.
While I haven't shot any Coyotes with this load, my Wife, oldest Daughter and I all took Whitetails last fall with this load. All were one shot kills at between 180 to 220 yards and bullet performance was excellent. All 3 Whitetails had an exit wound and I didn't find any signs of bullet break up at all.
I have a Ruger M77 All-weather in 243 and with a 100grain Rem Core-lokt over 40 grains of IMR4350 lit with a Win. LRP, bullet seated to the Lans will put 5 shots through a slightly ragged hole at 100 yds (that is on a good day!).
Dennis Life member NRA
Posts: 1191 | Location: Ft. Morgan, CO | Registered: 15 April 2005
For the Deer I'd us the 95 gr. Nosler with IMR4350 or RL22. On the varmints if you pick a lighter bullet like the 55 gr. go with W760 or H414. With a 70 gr bullet my choice would be Varget. With my .243 all of these shoot at .5 MOA or better.
A max of around 42 grains of 4350 and a plain vanilla 100 Sierra will normally work and go 2900-3000 fps. Some will try to say otherwise, but it kills deer and antelope well and mine have always exited even on big mo. deer. H414, RL19 works well too.
A shot not taken is always a miss
Posts: 2788 | Location: gallatin, mo usa | Registered: 10 March 2001
Originally posted by bigbill0690: you might want to try 47.5 gr of 7828 and nosler 95 gr bt this shoots at 3270ftps out of my ruger ultralite with a 181/2 in barrel
That sounds like some great MV. But where is that load documented it's about two grains over what Nosler Number 4 calls MAX. But if you can document that load source I'd be interested in trying it.
I like IMR 4350, RL-22 and the old WMR powders for the heavier bullet weights in the .243, though neither rifle I have appears hard to please. Keeping the darn cases trimmed seems to be the thing to watch for with this caliber.
Telly
Posts: 163 | Location: Vincennes, IN | Registered: 29 January 2004
I am running a lighter bullet; 70 grain Nosler BTs. Using Lapua brass 41.3 grains of varget and CCI BR2. It stamps under an inch at 200 yards from my Weatherby. Velocity is 3512 fps (average)
May be a bit light for your uses.
DW
Posts: 156 | Location: UK Oxford | Registered: 12 August 2005
After a lot of working up loads for my sons Win M70 Lightweight with a light 20" barrel I found that a Sierra 100 grain spitzer boat tail and 42 grains of IMR-4350 (just like Jstevens load) produces excellent accuracy results ( well under 1" at 100 yards)and dropped several Mule Deer, Whitetails and Antelope with one shot kills. Have only recovered 1 bullet that travelled the length of a whitetail from brisket to right rear ham just under the skin and it weighed 80 grains. Not bad for a .243 and cheap Sierra bullets! This bullet and load really work in this gun, I've also worked up another load with the same powder and an 85 grain Barnes X that shoots well but we've not shot an Antelope or deer yet with it.
Posts: 5604 | Location: Eastern plains of Colorado | Registered: 31 October 2005
You mean that no good, bark all night, run past your stand at 7:00am, so called "Neighbor" ferral cat breeder's mutt he calls a dog up to Whitetai Deer. We'll in that case you need to work up two different loads. A zip & rip and a pound'em down. I am doing the same thing right now for my .243 Tikka. I just picked up a bottle of Varget and some Hornady 65 gr V-Max for yotes and some Sierra 100gr sp Gamekings for Deer. So far I have just been messing around. Honady 75gr V-max moly w/45grs of Win760 and Sierra 85gr HPBT Gamekings w/41grs of Win760 both with great results. Besides it's more fun working up a couple loads for each gun and gives you more options. Also many .243 shooters use IMR4064, check out reloadersnest.com
"You want me to get one of my skilled guys to do that"
Posts: 35 | Location: FOX RIVER VALLEY WI. | Registered: 20 May 2005
Asking what works best in someone else's rifle is like asking what works best with someone else's wife -- there's a wide range of results for any given effort. But as with wives, there are some generalities that usually do better than others:
1. Any bullet that works for deer will work for coyotes. So load for deer and forget the "theoretical" "best" coyote loads.
2. One hundred grain bullets (or bullets with 5 grains of that weight) are your deer bullets in .243 diameter. There's nothing wrong with some of the premiums like the Nosler Partion, but stay away from the "hard" bullets in .243 -- "conventional" cup-and-core bullets both expand better and retain adequate weight at .243 velocities.
3. The .243 does well with surprisingly slow powders, particularly with heavier bullets. H-4831 is a good place to start. I consider the 4350's just a little fast with 100 grain bullets, but they're acceptable. Many people like RL-22/N205, but it has a reputation of large variation from lot to lot. I wouldn't be surprised at finding IMR 7828 to be a good powder.
4. The .243 is chambered in a staggering variety of guns and actions, both foreign and domestic. Through the years, problems have ocassionally arisen with chambers/barrels that don't meet SAMMI standards. As a result, manufacturers consistenly "underload" ammunition. Any bolt action .243 with a 22" or longer barrel can easily and safely do 3000 fps with a 100 grain bullet. Some longer and "faster" barrels will add 200 fps to that.
Your best bet in load development is to start with an appropriately slow powder and reasonable 100 grain bullet and work up using a chronograph until you have a velocity that is commensurate with your barrel length.
Posts: 13266 | Location: Henly, TX, USA | Registered: 04 April 2001
I use 43 grns of imr 4350 for 3050 in my 22" bbl aND 100 GRN BULLETS. for lighter stuff try any powder you like with 75 grn hollow points my All round load is 45 grns of imr4350 with 85 grn sierra at 3300 + And yes it will kill deer or antelope and any varmit you want to shoot at.
hard luck, I use H-4350 in my 243 WIN. I use differant bullet weights in the rifle but I think the 87gr. Hornady BTHP works the best, and you can use it on anything. 243 WIN. is a great small bore round.
Posts: 185 | Location: MICHIGAN | Registered: 21 December 2005