Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Best Powder for the .243??

In my long barreled Rem. 40X 45.5 gr. of I7828 shoots well with 100 gr. bullets.

Jim

Im sure it will shoot other powders well enuff but the only powder I ever shoot thru a 243 win. is IMR 4350 and my 243s do it well enuff I just dont waste my time looking for another........

IMR 4831 works real good for me with 87 gr V max

Alfredo

I use H4350 with 85g bullets, and it delivers the best accuracy and velocity I've had ...

I tried RL-7...Did not work well. I tried varget. While it worked great for my 30-30 it did not do well in my 243. IMR 4350 worked good but it took a lot of trips to the range. One day while looking at the empty shelves at my local gun store, I noticed one can of Winchester 760. I bought it, loaded it with 42 grains (used Hodgdon load data for 90 grain bullets) and 87 grain Hornady bullets. The first trip to the range proved to me I had a winner.

RE15 and 85TSXs work well for me. Varget is too fast IMO. Lost about 150 fps with Varget. 4350 had a slight vel nod but was not as accurate as '15 in my rifle.

RL22 to RL 25 and everything in between

Thus far with 85 grain TSX's I've tried Varget, IMR4350 and IMR4831. The 4831 has shot the best, but only slightly better than the 4350. Both are consistently under 1". I couldn't get the Varget to work in my gun with that bullet. I have test loads loaded up with H414, H100V and H4350. Gonna see if any of those will out shoot the IMR4831.

Agree with swamptoad-Win760 has worked best for us,whether in the .243Win. or the .243 WSSM----regardless of bullet weight we tried!

I'm quite some distance from the handloading bench & my journal,so I do not recall exact loads,but nothing we load for rifles is at Max...usually 2-3 grains under Max.

But what really turned the trick was when I mentioned it to an old-timer,who told me: "Win 760 don't work right without Magnum primers,boy!"

He was correct.At least in these 3 rifles.

----AttitudeRN

Joe....I generally use IMR-4350 or IMR-4831 with the 90 to 100 grain bullets, with Nosler Partition bullets. I have lots of these powders in kegs. I use H-380 on those 80 grain bullets, coyote medicine and H414 on the 55 grain bullets.

None of the 243 rifles I have owned never showed any real preference to powders, they shot everything well. I liked IMR 4350 because it worked so well in my 270 and 30-06. H414 is a great powder also,