I am betwixt and between deciding on my next Encore barrel. I thought I had made up my mind to go the 22-250 route, but one last snag has arisen. I am wondering how useful the 243 would be if I put the 55 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips to work. You guys that are already loading the 55 grain BT for your 243's what kind of accuracy are you getting?

I have a .243 M788 with a 1-10" twist that shoots these little grenades at close to 4000 fps and under 1/2" MOA on a good day, under an inch every day. I was just like you, hesitant to try them, but I figured what the hell and got bored, started at 50 gr. of H380 and worked up to 53 gr., groups got tighter as I got more powder in and 53 gr. is max in the Nosler manual and is as much as I can get in the case, it is a compressed load. Work up to it with H380 or Varget, you should get good results, put a 26" barrel on that Encore and look out! A .243 AI is my next barrel for my Encore when I allocate the funds, it should scream those little grenades out!
Yardbird

The 53 grain H380 load is a good one. I've noted that you really need to seat those bullets pretty deep into the case to get them to do well.

OAL of 2.600" is about right.

Yardbird, what OAL are you using?

Dan

Thanks alot, I was hoping to hear that you had experienced poor to terrible accuracy, and that it would be best to stay far, far away from the .243/55 grn. BT combo. Oh well, we will just have to see.

green788, to be honest with you I haven't measured them with a dial caliper. I will measure a few this weekend, I load them with a set of old Hornady dies and I have no idea how good the tolerances are, I don't measure as much as I should, I like to try different bullet/powder/primer combos til I get one that shoots well. I seated the 55 gr. in just far enough that it will hold the bullet in the magazine, but will still fit into the magazine, but I'll get you an OAL, I can't seat them out far enough to contact lands, and I don't think I'd want to, the pressure curve would change on me with that my powder. I'll let you know.
Yardbird

I was getting .5MOA with this bullet in my Ruger 1-B .243.

It was very explosive on groundhogs.

George

Green788,
I happened to load up some 243's last night with 53 gr. H380. However, manual shows OAL at
2.650 for Oal for 55 gr bullet. Typically I try to seat my bullets as close to the lands as possible. You believe that 2.60 is better than 2.650?

[ 02-08-2003, 06:06: Message edited by: Geedubya ]

In most cases, seating them deeper seems to tighten groups.

It is thought that bullet deformation is reduced with a deeper seated bullet.

The jackets of these bullets are very thin, and when the powder charge ignites the bullet "obturates," which means that it swells like a soccer ball being kicked before it begins to move.

There is a gap at the end of the case mouth before the throat starts, and it is surmised that if the bullet is not seated deep enough, it leaves the case while it is still in this obturated, or "bulged" state. It swells into this area ahead of the case mouth, and may in many cases lose its concentricity.

If the bullet is seated deeper into the case, the obturation is held in check by the case neck until the bullet is moving forward. After the forward motion of the bullet begins, obturation is not severe at all.

This effect is not an issue with larger, heavier, thick jacketed game bullets.

Dan

green788,

I think i'll load some more 243's later tonight. I'm loading 55gr. CT ballistic S-tips, fed 210m primers, and H-380 charges between 51 and 51 grains at 1gr intervals at 2.650. I'll seat the same variations at 2.600. I chrono each group and get back w/ you after I'm done. These will be shot out of a pre-garcia Sako that I picked up a while back.

[ 02-08-2003, 06:41: Message edited by: Geedubya ]

7mm-08
i use a 788 in a sporter barrel. Try hodgen4895 @44.5gr - right off their website/powder specs, cc br2. I use norma brass, but what the heck try federal gold. Very pleased with the accuracy.
Footnote: Your gun will sound like it is shooting dynamite. Your bullet will be pushing > 4000fps. Not a stealth rig! When you hit a crow/hog they explode. Espcially crows.
What green788 said about seating the bullet deeper does has some merit. I played around with this with norma brass versus federal gold. Norma is very durable brass.

Right at an inch out of my boys Savage 110. Hogdon H414 can't remember the grains offhand.

I'm shooting Hornady V-Max in 55gr. The powder is H-380 but the exact load escapes me. The rifle is a Weatherby SVM and those little 55 grainers will turn a prarie dog into red mist in a hurry.

I shoot 55 grain Ballistic tips in my 243 and get cloverleaf groups at 100 and under 1" at 200.
It sure make a good coyote load kinda one of those AT&T loads.and shoots right with my buddies Swift.

i would love to reload these 55 grainers in my 243 win. remington 700 adl. but it has a 9 1/8 twist rate. do you all think that fast twist will stabilize that small bullets?

thanks sambo

Off topic, but worth a shot:
Anybody use these in a 6mm Rem?
I'm using W760 and had decent results at 52grains. Still looking for better accuracy though.

The 55 gr BT's equal or exceed the accuracy of the 70 gr Bt's in my Browning-Sako HB .243 -- and that's very, very good. Velocity is running right at 4000 fps, and could be pushed higher.