Forgive a new thread on something that has surely been covered repeatedly. However, I've tried the 'Search' and can't get any results.

I have a 243 on the way and have never loaded for one. Not planning to try to get it up and ready for deer this fall, so the heaver 90+ gr hunting bullets can wait for a bit. Where to start for a 70ish gr coyote destroying load? I'm sure I'll try V-max, B-tips and blitzkings for pills. What powders do you suggest?

Mine was great with 70gr Sierra BlitzKings and H4895 for 3400fps

The noslet BT is my favorite of the tipped bullets by a wide margin.
A charge of varget between 40 and 42 grains has worked in several different rifles for me.

Which ballistic tip...Dude? powdr

For an accurate 70 grain Bullet, I have ordered 2 boxes of the Speer 70 grain TNTs ( 750 count ).... plus I fell into 16 lbs of H 322.. been using those to play with out of my multiple 243s for off season fun.....

can't say how the TNT will perform being fur friendly... but I question if it will, given the nomenclature of its name...

but who knows...

can verify the accuracy of the bullet and that powder is pretty darn good...running them in the 3200 fps range.... I think their limit is like 3400 fps in a one in 10 twist...and I am running them in a one in 9 twist...

55 gr BTs and 58 gr V-Maxs work well if your rifle likes them. mtmuley

The two .243's I've loaded for seemed to like RL 15 with 75 gr v-max. Don't recall the load offhand, but believe Hornady's published max charge provided the best accuracy.

Thanks for the responses.

RL15 wasn't on my radar, I'll add it.

I seen Varget noted above. It is one of the powders I was considering. Anyone else have any experience with it?

How about RL17?

I'd try IMR 4350 or RL-19. Both do well for me in 85-105 gr bullets.

75gr V-MAX with 49.0gr Hodgdon Superformance gives 3530fps from my Weatherby Vanguard S2. Also very accurate - a 3-shot �" group at 250yd.

I haven't tried Varget in the .243, but it should be a good choice. I've found RL-15 and Varget are in most instances match eachother grain for grain and fps for fps.

In my experience RL15 is great for 75 gr and lighter in the .243, H-4350 for 85 gr and heavier.

If you change your mind and use H4350 or IMR4350 and a 95 or 100 grain bullet, it should take one loading session and one range trip to find your load. That's how well the combination works.

Dittos on H-4350, and the same applies to the Barnes 85 gr TSX. Both the .243's I've loaded for shoot their best with Hodgdon's max published charge lit off with a Fed 210 and anything between 85 and 105 gr.

I love rounds that are easy to work up loads for.

It sounds like I'll be trying these: H4350, Varget, Superformance, maybe RL17 & RL15 too.

I may have to get some 55/58 grain bullets too. Never been to the other side of the 4000 fps line, wouldn't mind seeing it just for giggles. Still, hoping for a something accurate in the 70 gr +/-5 ball park for general use.

As I said, I may not get to a deer load for a while, but what are your thoughts on the 90 grain accubond? I've read the active thread on the 95 grain ballistic tip. Any thoughts based on experience with both? I'll ask on that thread as well, as more folks may be watching it.

Thanks for all of the input thus far. I'm off to the local shop for some bullets, Varget & RL15. I have the others on hand.

Unless the gun has issues, I'd be highly surprised if you had any trouble finding a 75 v-max load with Varget or RL15 that wasn't a hummer.

I picked up a couple boxes of 58 gr barnes hp's when they were on sale for my son for some plinker loads. They seem to shoot fine with RL 15.

70gr Blitzkings
40gr Varget
3250 fps

Very accurate outta my .243

The local gun shop was good to me...

I did a little experiment today with my 243 with a small handful of range pick up Hornady 7mm08 brass. I paper clip checked them for head separation issues and found none. So I ran them through my 243 FL die and loaded them up.

A mix of old CCI 200 and Rem 9 1/2 primers was used.

The dial on my Redding BR30 measure was set to where the last part of a pound of IMR 4350 was throwing 42 grains on average. The cases were filled with thrown charges at that setting. Don't worry, 42 grains was already known to be safe.

Some fifty year old 100 grain Sierras were seated to SAAMI max length.

I shot six rounds at 200 yards, and they went into a 3" group. So that's about 1.5 MOA for a six round group. Not too shabby given the haphazard load preparation.

Using holdover, I shot four rounds on a 300 yard gong, and the palm of my hand covered those.

Like I mentioned earlier, with actual load tuning involved, you can get a good 243 ready for deer season in one loading and shooting session. Heck, even with my mix and match stuff today any deer inside 300 yards or so would have easily been in mortal danger.

I think the combo of Varget and 70gr BTs will be fantastic. It certainly is in my 6BR. I will be trying it in a new Savage predator very soon.

Dean

Ivehad a 243 for 40 yrs varget is hard to beat

Good to know. Thanks for sharing. BTW, I enjoy reading your posts. I'm an engineer, so I love it when rifle loonies the talked nerdy.

RL15 works great in my Sav Mod12 with 70gr bullets, and RL17
puts 105A-max's into 1/4" groups. Tried RL17 with 70gr bullets,
but both velocity and accuracy were disappointing.

I had pretty good success on the first time out. 4 different charges of Varget combined with the 70 grain ballistic tip gave sub 1" groups at 100 yard. Also, 41.0 grs of H4350 under the 95 grain ballistic tip resulted in .75" groups.

My question now, what charge of H4350 are you guys finding to be max with the 95 grain ballistic tip? I loaded up to 42.0 grains and no sign of issue. Although, accuracy dropped off at both 41.5 & 42.0 grains.

I had a snafu with my chrono, so I was unable to collect velocity data on this session.