Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Explosive varmint bullet for .243 Win

So why would your barrel last longer shooting 70s than it would shooting 55s. Also a 55 will get to 600 darn fast and still ruin a varmints day. HAPPY HUNTING

ruger243223,
Mainly the 300-400fps difference between the two bullet weights. I figured the 55-58gr bullets are explosive and I have had some fine accuracy with the 58 Vmax. But at close to 4000fps I figured they are a barrel burning SOB.

Anyone have some pics they could send me, or post for that matter, of 70-95gr bullets and what they did with chucks?

I fail to see why 300-400 fps will burn your barrel out any faster. It is not speed that burns your barrel out it is more fault of the shooter that will burn the barrel out. I have talked to several barrel manufacuters and I have shot many thousands of 55gr BTs and I have had several 243s all shot extremely well even after 3000rds of BTs. You are not going to burn your barrel out shooting 55s. You will shoot out your barrel if you shoot and get your barrel hot enough too cook eggs and don't give it a chance to cool. Your 70s will burn out your barrel just as fast. HAPPY HUNTING

Heat is a big contributer of throat erosion. So is the amount of powder you use. The 55gr bullet will use more powder at 3900-4000fps than the 70gr bullets at 3600fps. So the way I see it the 55gr bullets will wear out a barrel faster than a 70gr bullet. Happy Hunting to you also.

Shoot what your gun likes. In my case it's 75gr. V-Max in front of H380. Dead nuts.

Fortunetly this rifle has liked bullets from 58gr-80grs so far. What I'm looking for is terminal performance with the 70gr and up. Looks like other people have had excellent results with 70-95gr bullets and of course the 55-58gr. What I'll end up doing is try the 80gr BTs I have loaded up and also try the Sierras and Hornadys once they're available in my area. I'll also have my loads chrono'ed to confirm the velocities. Thanks to everyone for their imput.

GoForBroke: I suggest giving the Nosler 70 Ballistic Tips a little more field use and maybe the results you are after will appear?
I have used the wonderfully accurate and rather "explosive" Nosler 70 grain Ballistic Tips in a number of 24 caliber Varminters for many years now.
Including Varminters in 6mm PPC, 6x47, 6mm Remington Bench Rest, 243 Winchester, 6mm Remington, 6mm Remington Ackley Improved and 240 Weatherby.
I choose my bullets for accuracy first, lethality second and availability third - the Nosler 70 grain Ballistic Tips fulfill my needs very well and I still use them in several of my 24 caliber Varminters.
"Explosive-ness" does not really enter into my comparisons of Varminting bullets.
I do remember a number of spectacular terminal "performances" these bullets have made for me on Rock Chucks in the past though.
Again run a few more Nosler 70's through your Rifle in the field and keep tabs on the results.
2 Chucks is not a large enough comparison pool to write off this fine bullet just yet.
Best of luck with the 243!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VarmintGuy: 2 Chucks is not a large enough comparison pool to write off this fine bullet just yet.

I agree with you there! I did shoot a sagerat at 100yds this weekend and the 70BT still did not give the terminal performance of my 22-250 with 55BTs. Maybe I'm just excepting too much, but I figured if the 22-250 with 55BTs @3650-3700fps is good, then the 243 with 70BTs @ 3600 had got to be as good if not much better. I have 60 some rounds of the 70BTs loaded up and will shoot them this season. I just don't want to waste an accurate MarkX rifle if it doesn't suit my needs.

GoForBroke, I wanted the same thing you did with my .243 AI. What I did is I found the 87 Vmax and stuck it over some H414. It has one of the highest, if not the highest, B.C of a bullet under 90gr., at .400, and it is extremely explosive. You should have seen the rockchuck I hit at 470 yards on Saturday. No joke, it blew that thing in half and the top half landed 6 feet up the rim and we couldn't find the bottom half. These are going 3340 fps at 20 feet from the muzzle. These also do a good job at 550+ yards, still empties them out there.

Yeah I wanted to get them 87gr Vmaxs, they rave about them at 6mmBR. But I can get the 2nds BT for dang cheap. Beside there hasn't been any VMaxs available here since I traded for this rifle. But I'll try them and once they're available.

Midsouth has 75 and 87 now.
Allan

Allan,
Thx for the heads up.

I loaded up 3 brands of bullets last week and went to the range for sighting in.....They were all about the same weight (70 grains +/-) and I had them all going at the same speed of what turned out to be 3200 fps. I used different powder for each.

My friend's Savage shot them all at different remote areas and my rifle (Win. Mod. 70)shot them all pretty darn close to each other. The 68 grain Berger came out the winner for accuracy with both rifles so the next day we went out hunting coyotes with the Berger hollow points.

Out in the desert we got one huge male to appear about 220 yards out and my friend nailed him about 2" above his chest line right behind the shoulder. The result was a ragged tear across the chest and left a destroyed heart and lungs. The hole was 3" wide and went from shoulder to shoulder. Never have I seen a result so hugemungus. It was steep rocky terrain and the coyote came tumbling down splattering blood everywhere. What a mess.

I forget how expensive the Bergers were but I was amazed at the performance. The sternum was also blown away.

[img][IMG]http://i593.photobucket.com/albums/tt17/Inhaminga/IMG_0432.jpg[/img][/img]

idahochukar2,
Nice pic! Well I'll just have to start experimenting with other bullets. Bergers are also on my list, but your right they are expensive. I generally shoot those only through my PSS. But maybe I'll have to give them a try in the 243.

I've used the 70 grain BT for prairie dogs many times......they work quite well and are quite accurate.....but I agree....the "mist" factor doesn't match some of the 22-250 performances. They shoot with less drop of the TNTs as well.....but weren't necessarily more accurate. I thought the TNT had a slight edge in "mist" but nothing I've used matched the 55 BTs at close to 4,000.

I know you want 70 grains and up.....but out to 250 yards the 55s really do the trick!

Vapodog,
Thx for the info. Yeah the mist factor has been great with my 22-250 w/ 55BT at 3670 fps. Since I have a 22-250 that shoots fine out to 300yds fine in wind and with Kentucky windage I'll use it for out to 300 or so. I figured I'd use the 243 out beyond that. Ideally I want to use my AR for out to 300 and then the 243 out beyong that. Honestly the only area that my 22-250 lacks in is fighting the wind beyond 300yds, that were the 243 comes in. So I'll try some of the bullet sellections that were suggested for this season and and make a decision at the end of this year. Worst case scenario is I'll use my PSS for long range varmints. Which isn't bad at all since my family got that rifle for me back in 1991 when I got out of the Army.

What velocity are you getting out of the 70 grain ballistic tip?

I've not worked with the .243 much. My experience with that bore diameter is 99.9% from a slow twist 6x.284. I shot mostly 70 grain ballistic tips, but at roughly 3850 fps at the muzzle. Until a couple years ago when I got into .204, that 6x.284 was the most destructive thing I've ever used on varmints including .22-250 and .220 Swift. The 65 grain VMAX was a little more explosive yet, but not quite as accurate.

If you're not happy with the 70 grain ballistic tip, you might want to try the 55 grain version. It's got a higher BC than the .22 cal 55 grain and in some rifles can be launched over 4000 fps, so you've got both higher BC, more velocity, and greater frontal area than the .22-250 or Swift with a 55 ... thus more splat downrange.

The 58 grain VMAX is more fragile yet but doesn't have quite the BC, nor in my gun, was not as accurate.

Tom

try the rem 80 powrlokt HP... ded nutz accurate in most rifles... wicked results

Sierra 80 grain Blitz boattail, but the 55BT is your best bet, or any VMax

Thanks for the info Tom, johnw, and DakotaDeer. I got some 58gr VMaxs and 55gr BTs given to me so I'll give them a shot.It's nice to have friends! I'll also give the 87gr VMaxs and some of the Sierras a try also. I want the best combination I can find of high BC and explosivenes. We have some wind over here so a higher BC will come in hand.