I put a CZ 550 american in .243 on lay away and I will pick it up in the next 2 to 4 weeks,
Not sure what I will do with it just yet, (shoot it of course) but I doubt I will deer hunt with it this season.
Its a rather heavy rifle at 8LBS so I think its sort of in beetween a sporter and a varmint rifle.
It has a 1 in 10 twist and a barrel length of 23.6.
I am wondering will it stabelize the 105 grain Hornady bullets , and also what are the tried and tru .243 loads.
You know what I mean the 60 grains of H-4831 under a 130 grain bullet for the .270, probably has an equivelent .243 .
Where would you start for a 1st .243 hand load, if accuracy was all that matterd ...tj3006

T.J. My 243 Win. is in A tikka T-3 and I have had good results with H-4350 with 100gr. and 87gr. bullets .Don't know what you have for poweders, But win.760,H-414,IMR-4350 H-4350, RL-19, RL-22, there is A small start for powders for all bullet weights. My rifle just seems to like H-4350 and the Hornady 87gr. at 44.5gr. federal 210 primer and Rem, or Win. brass. Have fun with .243 Win. Thomas J.

My most accurate 243 load is 44 grains of H414 and the 75 grain Hornady HP. Close runner up is same load using the Remington 80 grain PSP. The remington bullet holds together well enough for neck and behind the shoulder shots on deer, the Hornady generally comes completely apart and is very rough on coyotes. The standard load you are talking about must be 41.0 grains of IMR 4350 under either the 100 grain Sierra Pro Hunter or Gameking. I use magnum primers for the H414 load and standard primers with the IMR powder. These two loadings will take care of all reasonable uses of a 243. Work up to the H414 load.

I agree with Rick's observation of IMR-4350 for the "universal standard" for 100 gr bullets in the .243. It seems that anywhere from 40 gr to 42 gr is supposed to be the optimum, depending on your rifle. I had my new .243 (Stevens 200)out at the range yesterday to try out some 95 gr Nosler Ballistic Tips with my current favorite powder, Accurate Data 86 Extruded from Powder Valley. What makes it my current favorite is that it goes for less than $10 per lb delivered (if you order at least 2 of the 8 lb kegs) and is very close in burning rate to Accurate 3100 or IMR-4831, so it works quite well in all of my rifles (3, a 6.5x55 and .270WSM to go along with my new .243). I fired 4 5 shot groups from the bench at 100 yards on a warm 85 degree day, starting with 40 gr, then 42.5, 43.2 and then Accurate's maximum of 44.0 gr, all with the CCI-200 primer and Federal brass. The winner was 43.2 gr of Data 86, which tripped the chrono at 3058 fps with a Sd of 16, with 4 shots touching each other and a flyer (could have been wind or shooter) less than a half inch away. Group size .61 of an inch. I was pretty impressed with the velocity out of the 22 inch barrel, since the 43.2 gr load was over 100 fps faster than the Federal factory Power-Shok 100 gr loads. The 44.0 gr loads looked a little too warm, at least on a hot day, and chronoed 3110 fps average. a little too warm for my rifle, IMO. I also like the same powder with the Nosler 70 gr Ballistic Tip, 48 gr with the CCI 200 primer in Rem brass gets over 3400 fps and accuracy well under an inch for 3 shot groups at 100 yards. I am trying to figure out how to explain to my wife that I need to order more of that powder, when I still have 10 pounds left.

quote:

Originally posted by 2ndtimer:
I am trying to figure out how to explain to my wife that I need to order more of that powder, when I still have 10 pounds left.

Tell her roger said so! roger

My m70 Featherweight dotes on 42-Varget -70 Speer TNT. 38gr. of the same powder with the 85TSX is quite a load as well. H4350 does real well with the 100 flat base Hornady, but I don't use the heavier stuff much. Other rifles get the call for that.

I went and picked up a set of Redding dies, some winchester brass, some 100 grain hornady BT interloacks, and I am going toload up 10 rounds each with RL-22 IMR-4350 and mabye H-414 and see hoe it does. I am looking forward to trying her out ! ...tj3006

tj, congrats on the new rifle,rl-22 and imr 4350 are steller no doubt about it ive got h4350 but never player with it as yet 42.0 grains is your magic number, my 243 is a per a-bolt called a BBR, with 100 grain sierrea bt and 42.5 grains of rl-22 and fed brass and br2 primers she shot a 3 shot 3/8th of an inch group at 200 yds thats was when her trigger was breaking almost 9 lbs, any wayyyyyyyyyyy work up your load ,no punn enjoy, ps Speers 105 grain sptizer is a hell of a bullet give that pill a run sometime you can thank me later............... regards ..jjmp

2 loads work for me.

40.5 grains of Varget with a 60-grain Sierra HP,

and

33.5 grains of Varget with a 95-grain Nosler Ballistic Silvertip.

-Matt

I will have to get a varment bullet, and load a few of those too. Probably get a balistic tip just cause I like purple point ! I have some varget on hand and thats what I will try for the lighter slugs. My currant .308 doesnot like varget or RL-15. But It loves IMR-4064.
I will try the 85 grain barnes tripple shock at some point. I droped a mule deer with a 100 grain tripple shock in my Roberts last year and the wounds were very impressive...tj3006

If you do hunt deer with it try a 100gr Sierra or a 95 gr Nosler Partition.
Start with 39 gr of IMR 4350.
I used 40 grains for close range hunting and 42 grains when shots might be 250 yards plus.

My wife and I had excellent results on deer and antelope with the above loads.

I think that Hornady recommends a 9" twist for their 105gr A-max. The 10" twist might be too slow for it. You would have to try it & see how it does in your rifle.