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243 load
rong
Member Posts: 8,459
Good morning,does any body have
a good load for the 243 using
any of the following powder and bullets?
H4985;Varget;Imr4350 or RL-15
with a 70 or 80 gr boattail.
I just can't seem to come up
with a consistent load.
I'm shooting a Rem 700
26" hvy bbl
Thanks so much
Ron
p.s. if you have a sweet
load pls let me know and
I'll get the components.
a good load for the 243 using
any of the following powder and bullets?
H4985;Varget;Imr4350 or RL-15
with a 70 or 80 gr boattail.
I just can't seem to come up
with a consistent load.
I'm shooting a Rem 700
26" hvy bbl
Thanks so much
Ron
p.s. if you have a sweet
load pls let me know and
I'll get the components.
Comments
--But there's so much more to "consistency" than just the powder-I'm sure you must know that--
--I've got a Weatherby Bull BBL .243 and my last results are:
1)-IMR4831 (44gr)/Sierra 70gr hpbt-.407 group/3 shot
2)-AA2230c (37.7gr)/Sierra 70gr hpbt-.333 group/3 shot
--Accuracy and consistency take a lot of work-
--ood luck --JIMBO
1x9" (newer guns) or 1x12" (older guns)?
Makes a difference when selecting bullets.
The fun of reloading is trying them all to find the best
combination for your rifle.
The barrel twist 1/9.5
I'm keeping my reloading
consistent except for the length
of the sized case and now that
you fellas have confirmed my powder and
bullet selection I'm gonna
mike all cases and separate them.
There's a spread from 2.020 to 2.036
for the trimmed case.the loads I'm
"playing" with are :
70 HPBT-33 gr RL-15 /Fed 210m
80 SBT- 38 gr IMR 4350/fed 210m
I fire 5 rd groups and just when
I think I can decide to eliminate a loading
I get a lousy group. I'm not talking
big groups but significant deviations
to confuse me.I'm meticulous when it come to
cleaning and I've been reloading for 25+ yrs
,so now that I know I'm in the ball
park (thanks to you guys)I'm gonna go back to
basics ,re-install the scope and bases and use
consistent size case-btw I neck size only but
haven't played with oal yet only cause I didn't
with my 223.
I follow the latest Sierra manual and weigh
each load,use hedding seating dies.
My scope is a Leupold VX-11 6-18
and I'm only shooting at 100yds,
gotta be me although I have the same rifle
in 223 flavor and no issues there,always
good 5 shot groups and if not I know why:
fatigue or jittery or sloppy shooting,
but I can't figure this one out yet.
Thanks so much -Rong
Next, is all the brass the same make??
Yes all the brass is Winchester
and I stick to that brand for
no reason really.I started out
full length sizing and got
seemingly better results with my 223
with just neck sizing, that I now
neck size for my 243.I'm gonna
cull out the bad ones.
thanks-rong
It's close to max but I use 39 gr. of H4995 behind all of my 80 gr. bullets. In the new Hornady it's 4 gr. over max(I don't get that one, they use almost the same powder load in the 87 gr.) in the Newest Nosler it's max. I have a 26 in. barrel and that is getting me 3450 with those bullets. Obviously you need to work up to that
For accuracy it can be the bullet, the load, the rifle or the scope. You just have to start eliminating factors one by one. Something I run into quite often is that my eyes seem to have a good day and I can't get parallax right. The eyes just focus through anything. If you have a scope that you know you can get the parallax right, switch it on to the rifle and see where that goes. Again, check all tq's on all screws. Have you had the rifle checked completely as well? It's bedded right, screws the right tightness, crown is clear of burrs etc.? Anyways, just some of the standard thoughts.
I had a friend who had a .260 Rem with a heavy barrel, right out of the factory, who couldn't get groups to save his life. Ended up being a bad crown. Rem replaced the rifle and away he went shooting nearly same hole groups.
-good luck
It's a brand new rifle, but I have to
say that on either load I sometimes
shoot raggeded holes and then I check
again to elimiate the other loading
and then I shoot a 3 inch group.
Then I get frustrated and switch
to my hunting rifle Rem700-270
"thin hunting bbl" and shoot consecutive
3/4" groups.Maybe it's confidence.
Don't make sense,gonna give up
shortly sell all the dam* rifles
and just play cribbage.
OAL in relation to the lands?? how much "jump"??
Case mouths nice and burr free?? a miniscule knick on the base of any bullet will severely damage accuracy. You can bend the tip with pliers and a hammer and see very little change, but the base must be perfect.
the varying lengths grab differing amounts of bearing surface, and this will create differing "release tensions". That will vary MV, and therefore POI.
keep us informed of what you find.
about the neck tension just
what the dies deliver,like I said
OAL isn't something I have "toyed"
with yet. The rounds are as pristine
as I can keep them. All the case mouths
are as burr free as I can get them.
Here is something to consider. After I
clean a rifle and dry fire it the triggers
break clean,crisp and easy, but at the range
I swear that they change in pull.I wonder if
I have developed a flinch with the 243,infact I
was kind of wondering that but I shoot my 223 ,270
308 and 444 without a problem and my 444 bucks a bit.
also, how many firings on each case so far?
Besides the problem with the case length variations, you need to pin down the problem with the excessive variations in the groups and I see two things right off the bat.
First, is your rifle bedded stress-free? If not, there can be a great deal of movement with the barreled action in the stock. Every time you pull the trigger, the barreled action flexes in the stock. If the stock is the least little bit flimsy, you get flexing there as well. This needs to be addressed before you start doing anything with loads. Your rifle needs to be as consistent as possible shot-to-shot, group-to-group. The scope, mounts and rings are in that same boat.
The second part of this is your loads. They are on the low side of all of the load lists I've seen. This means that there is at least 20% of the case that's empty and every time you fire a shot, there is the potential for that powder shape to shift inside the case, giving all the variations that you're seeing from your chronograph. Besides that, I rarely find my most accurate loads at the bottom of the load list.
The reason your cases are not as full as they could be is because you're using powders that are too fast for the bullets weights in most of the situations. The exception here is the H-4350 and the 80 gr. bullets. All you need to do there is increase your charge weight incrementally by testing.
You can even stick with the H-4350 for the 70 gr. load and start working up until you see some of the beginning signs of pressure then back off a touch. You simply have more work to do because you're not there yet.
Best.
223/243 have synthetic stocks,free
floated and full length aluminum
bedding.I will adjust the powder load
and overall length to see how
that works out for me. All you guys have great
advice and I'm sure I'll get
this inconsistency resolved
Thanks one and all !
Rong
Contrary to advertising and marketing verbiage, all stocks with aluminum bedding blocks require additional epoxy bedding in order to get proper contact and stress-free contact between the block and the barreled action. This is not a statement of whimsy but a result of having worked with dozens of these stocks where the rifle was suffering from lesser than acceptable accuracy. After proper bedding all rifles showed improved accuracy. This is not just my opinion since this process is supported by gunsmiths that study and strive to achieve increased accuracy from rifle systems. As much as I believe that you really need to improve your loads, bedding is also critical to achieving accuracy.
When you are searching for every aspect for improving accuracy, stress-free bedding is always on the list. Here is a photo illustrated article about the diagnosis for the need and the process of bedding the aluminum blocks.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/davidawilson/LongRange/Bedding01.htm
Best.