Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles load advice for 243

Some cartridge have a popular load that tends to shoot well in most rifles ie-IMR4350-30'06-165 gr bullet. I don't have any experience with reloading the 243. I have an ICON with 24" bbl. Using win brass, have fed 210's on hand, lots of powders to choose from. I want to get a load for the 100 gr hornady btsp, and a load for the nosler 80 gr ballistic tip. Looking for some advice on a load to work up to. I know all guns are different, but are there any loads that just tend to work for most in .243 win? I've looked at the data in the manuals but having trouble making up my mind where to start. Appreciate any feedback

I have a rem mohawk 243 that would not shoot 100 grn pills no matter what powder flaver I tryed , but it will shoot the 80grn nolser bt. 1/2 " groups @ 100yrds all day long . it realy likes h4831 at 47 grns using rem brass and CCI primers. this load is near max so start lower and work up !! hope this helps .
Gordon

41gr of IMR 4350 and 100gr Remington bulk core lokts shoot very well in my 243. I get around 2850fps out of a 22" bbl and deer die just fine and dandy. I would figure on 41-42gr of either of the 4350s and 100gr cup and cores to give great accuracy and 2900+ fps out of your 22" bbl.

I don't own a .243 WIN any longer, but my old one - a butt ugly 1964 mfgd Winchester M70, would shoot five shot sub-MOA groups with this load all day long. 41.5 grains (Nosler #4 MAX load) of IMR4350, Nosler 95 grain BT, R-P cases, Win WLR primer.

I run IMR 4350 and 100 grainers in both the 243 and 6mm Rem. About the same charges as mentioned above. Long time ago, I had a 6mm that liked 85 gr Speer BTSP and IMR 4895. It wasn't a super fast load but it was accurate.

Dale

I'd start with 4350, H-4350 has worked very well in my son's .243 with 85 tsx, and various 100 and 105 gr cup/core bullets. You also might want to try Varget or RL-15 with the 80's.

IMR 4831 always produced the best results for my .243 in a Ruger Mod. 77.

I'm with gwindrider1 on 4831 for the 243.

Any of the popular slow burning powders such as 4350 or 22 will work just fine, but they do not properly fill the case.

The old style long-grain 4831 just fills the case nicely. The short cut stuff, not so much.

I'd start at 39 gr. of H380 and work up by .5 gr. to 41 gr. I haven't met a .243 yet that won't find a good load in that range with 100 gr. bullets.

I haven't yet found the downside to short cut H4350 not "properly" filling the case under 95 grain bullets.

A 1" five shot group at 100 yards would be an easy effort by my friend shooting his rifle I made that load for. It's a Rem. Model 7 XCR, not a varmint gun. It shoots little groups to the right place, be it hot or cold, clean or dirty.

I'll definitely try long cut H4831 to see if I can beat that, but I'm doubtful.

I've used 4350 with 100 grain Sierra flat bases and boat tails, core-loks, and hornady's and all shoot extremely well in all the guns we shoot them from. I load 40.9 grains but have noticed no change in accuracy from 40.5 grains to 41.6 grains. I would have to say 4350 with 100 grain ball is an easy load to dial in.

My 11 year old son shot 2 deer this week one with core-loks that made mush of lungs and deer went 45 yards and died. The 2nd was a neck shot at around 68 yards with Sierra flat base spitzers that flat dropped it.

If by this you mean the groups stay small and the group centers don't move you've hit a good OCW node.

Shot this mule deer @334 yds caught both lungs left a quarter size exit. That's a 3006 recovery gun in the pic as the deer went into a wooded bottom and I didn't know if it would get western or not. My bolt gun is a 700 remington with a Shilen 26" barrel. The whitetail was @ 245 yds bang flop with a neck shot. My load is 42.7 IMR 4350 behind a 85gr Sierra BTHP. Got it down to a 1.15 group @ 200yds. The .243 is a great caliber for any North American game with a well placed shot. It doesn't matter how fast or how big a bullet is if it doesn't hit the mark.

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I think I'll start with imr 4350 and maybe one of the 4831's. I might try imr 4064 too with the 80 gr BT. I may have to take a look at gettin some 85 gr sierra bthp's

43-44 grains of H4831 with 95gr Nosler BT's have produced fantastic groups, 100gr Nosler PT's slightly larger groups.

Been wanting to try H4350 though......


Casey

I've had good luck with IMR-4350 41.5gr. and the Hornady 100gr. BTSP.
6.5 SWEDE.