Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Pet loads for the 243

Ancient?

Well maybe, but you’re in good company.

Ha!

DF

Well after a Game Changer Failure last season...

I used the same load with a 90 grain Ballistic Tip this season... and put the bullet pretty much in the same spot...

the deer just laid down and died....

so old stuff works for us old guys.......

h

sierra game changer are a disappointment, arent they, I went back to the Sierra 85gr HPBT, old bullets for me, a old guy

If I could only have one bullet for the 243, that would be it.

For me the Sierras 85gr HPBT Gameking

Hey, you old geezers, how hard can you push the 85 grain Sierra GK?

How about sharing those details.

I don’t have the Game Changer, wasn’t looking to get any. Just curious.

I do like the SGK BTHP and the NBT.

DF

The .243 is my choice for culling Whitetails, over the tears I have tried just about every bullet and powder combo,that I've read about, some are ok, some are good, a very few are great. out of my 3 .243's all are 1x8 twist 21 1/2" barrels, H-4350 and 105 gr. Scenar, KIlls like lighting, from close to far. long range 1000yrds plus the 107 gr.SMK and Retumbo, is very accurate, We kill about 350 Whitetails every year, and a few semi loads of pigs, plus more than a few exotic's, and predator's, the .243 is KING, kills way above it's pay grade. Rio7

in a 243, 22" barrel 3358fps. 26" barrel 3614fps, 240 why, 26" barrel 3872fps

The above picture it the last 2 day's work with my .243 Rio7

I shot 2 deer with the 90gr gamechanger out of a 243, they acted like a FMJ bullet, hole in hole out, didn't look like they expanded at all, big doe at about 50 yards and 8 pointer at about 200 yards. Doe went down in about 20 yards, buck went down the hill crashed, went down and he got up and took off again then shot him in the neck.

that's stepping right on out there. I guess there's no worry on running them too fast, then...

I know a couple of guys that run them out of the 6mm-06. dont know there fps but it should be about the same as my 240 wby

DF,

just put Seafire and the Sierra Game Changer in the search box, for last years season, 2018...

I got massacred by the usual crowd.. that excel in that endeavor....what I should have done was just ignored them...
live and learn I guess....

its a good bullet, but just needs to be pushed real hard.... called Sierra's Tech guys when I bought a box and they gave me bad info on the bullet
after the failure I called them back, and their lead tech guy told me that many of their own staff didn't fully understand what the bullet was designed for..
originally they told me it was a Sierra Alternative to a Ballistic Tip.. it ain't...
so I took it afield, with a load of 30 grains of 4198, for an MV of roughly 2500 fps..
the bullet just penciled thru a blacktail and never opened up....

it staggered off into a ravine that was hard to recover, that time of the day, with the sun falling fast in a very mountaineous area..
went out with a friend, the next morning with his jeep and a winch on the front, to recover the animal
got real flamed over that also...in typical campfire fashion...

if you ever try the bullet for hunting... a fast pushed velocity out of a 6mm Rem or a 240 Weatherby would be the best choice in using it.
since then I've read a few others who have experienced the same performance of not opening up..and penciling thru...

if I had been hunting somewhere like Nebraska or Kansas where everything is flat, it would have had a better outcome...
the deer died, due to shot placement, but it wasn't a bang flop, that's for sure...

pushed hard,its a good elk bullet.. according to Sierra, which is kind of what they had in mind when developing it...

I've not used them in anything but a 243, but without taking the time to look it up, that's about the velocity that I'm getting with a 22 inch barrel. I use W760, 45.5 grains, and have never experienced what I thought was high pressure with that load.

in the 243's and the 240wby I don't have pressure signs at all. I'm using RL17 in my 22" barrels, RL19 in the 26" barrel and 240 wby

Reloder 26, 95 nosler btip, 3150
Reloder 17, 85 sierra hpbt, 3175
Imr4064, 55 btip, 3800

Gun- tc icon

From what I have heard on this forum and other shooting site, on the Sierra Gamechanger, it sounds like the Army might buying them up and uses them as their new AP bullet.

I used a max load out of a Nosler book (green). I believe it was 40 grains of 4350 and the 70 BT. my rifle had a 26 inch barrel, they were smoking. That Winchester is one rifle I regret trading off.