I posted this on the varmint forum and received no help. Please let me know your thoughts.

"Hi all, I'm new to this forum. I'm doing some handloads for a buddy with a Remington Model 788 .243 carbine. He has selected Nosler 55 grain ballistic tips for woodchucks. With the short barrel (18.5") the slower powders are out. Any good suggestions? (mine was to rebarrel the gun!)
tks. "

Hey, I have Model 788 carbine .243. I have never used the 55 grainers, but I can make some other suggestions that shoot well out of my .243. I shoot Hornady 100 grain Spire Points with 34.5 grains of IMR 4895 and I have had really good results. With this load, mine will produce under 3/4" groups at 100 yards. Also, I have used Hornady 70 HPBT with 40 grains of IMR 4895 and had decent results. Not quite as accurate, but I can still keep 5 shot 1 inch group at 100 yards. I cannot guarrentee your rifle will shoot these groups though, because every rifle is different.

If you want another one, mine is for sale, btw.
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"Hey, I wanna turn in Billy, man. He sold me the s**t that wouldn't get a fly high!"

[This message has been edited by Ben Rapp (edited 04-16-2002).]

Red Label-

Unless you are concerned about capacity/compressed loads, why would slow powders be out? That's just a myth...

For example, the favored load of a Rem 700 VLS with a 26" barrel in .260 was 46 grains H4350 under a 120 grain Nosler BT. In a 14" XP-100, that very same load -- the only difference being seating depth -- produced top velocity and accuracy.

You don't necessarily need "faster" powders with a shorter barrel. The same loads that perform well in longer barrels will often give stellar results in a shorter spout as well. AFter shooting lots of rifle calibers in pistols, this is something I can assure you of.

H4895, Re-15, Varget, N-140 and H414 are prime candidates for the 55 grainer in the .243, by the way.

I used to subscribe to the "shorter the barrel the faster the powder" theory, but in practice I found that the powders which work best in a caliber usually work well so long as the barrel is somewhere between the legal rifle minimum of 16" and the practical maximum of 28 or 30 or whatever.

I don't know how short you would have to cut a .243 Winchester to see a benefit of faster powders over slower, but it would be well short of your 788's length.

Just use whatever powder works best, without regard to where it falls on the burning rate scale. The 4895 suggested is a good speed for .243/55 grain bullets in any length barrel.

The only exception to the statements above comes if you are especially sensitive to muzzle blast and/or flash. The slower powders disproportionally increase both in shorter barrels. HTH, Dutch.

Thanks for the great info, guys. I picked up some H4895 today and we'll give 'er a go with that.

Thanks again

Mike (Red)

Tip of the hat to Dutch -- the slower powders will give some extra muzzle flash and blast than the faster ones.

Dutch is right about the extra muzzle blast. I bought a 788 .243 carbine back in December and have had it at the range maybe 4-5 times. On one visit, I had fired maybe 8-10 rounds when a guy on the bench to my right asked, "What the heck caliber are you shooting? That thing's a real boomer." When I responded ".243" he may have thought I was lying, because he obviously was expecting it to be at least a .300 Win Mag or better.

From behind the trigger, I haven't noticed it being any worse than my other guns of a similar caliber.

Red Label,

I can endorse that call for slow powder in the short barrels. I have done a lot of load development for a 14" Contender chambered in a wildcat called the 7 mm Bellm which is close to a 7-08 in powder capacity. I tried nearly all the powders from IMR 4895 and slower. In the end, I gave away about 50 F/s from what I got with IMR 4895 powder but got stellar groups with the heavy bullets (140 and 150 grain) and Reloader 22. It routinely shoots 5-shot groups between 5/8 and 1 MOA.

So yes, bellieve that slow powder thing - - it does work.

Good shooting,

Don Shearer

I have a Striker .243 ( 14 inch barrel ) that I have killed several whitetail with . I have found the best results for velocity with WW 760 under 85 gr bullets and RL 19 under the 100 grainers. Anything in the 4895 or RL 15 area should work just fine in your carbine with the real light bullets .......

[This message has been edited by sdgunslinger (edited 04-19-2002).]

Yes, I agree those carbines sure do bark. I hate spotting for my buddy when he's shooting, I always lay back about 2 feet further back than him!

Red Label.....if you take a .243 (or any caliber) and start with a long barrel (say 26") and test 10 different powders for max velcoity and then rank them from the highest velocity to the slowest and then start cutting off the barrel and continue shooting, the velocities will decrease but the order, from fastest to slowest, will remain the same all the way down to the legal limit. The differences between powders may change but the rankings will remain the same all the way. Several others have said essentially the same but I just thought I would reenforce it.

One other thing..if you change bullet weight for the same caliber the sequence of powders may change but the rankings will still carry on all the way down to legal minimum.

great rifle that short barreled 788/243 wish to heck they still made em!!

I shot one out a couple of years back shooting chucks for the summer. Re-barreled it to 240 PSP and it is still a rocking.
Too bad I sold it to a buddy-eh?

Enjoy that lil rifle.

"GET TO THE HILL"

Dog

KentuckyFisherman,
When shooting 44.5 gr of H4895 with 55gr noslers,I've been told that I'm shooting dynamite! I also use a 788/243 cal. It is a very reliable gun. A couple of things, the triggers suck on them - hopfully timney will come out with one, but whatch the barrel temp when you shoot this load. It heats up real quick.

Try some Norma MRP and Sierra 85gr. HPBT and standby for muzzleflash.

if you want to try slow power in a 243 with a short barrel i use 7828 with 95 Nosler BTs to hunt with in my ruger ultra lite it has a 18 1/2 in barrel with 48 gr it shoots at 3235 fps. this is over what the manual calls max but shows no signs of pressure