.243 reloading help

[Worstan]

New to the reloading scene and in need of a bit of advice and help.

After reading up and downloading various tables I've settled for

70g Nosler Ballistic tip bullet

I've bought some Varget powder but cannot find starting/max loads on the Hodgdon site

for this combination of bullet and powder.

Does anyone have any experience of these bullets/powder.

I shoot a mauser 96 american .243

My main quarry are foxes but I am looking for a load to shoot the occasional roe

[njc110381]

It's a shame you didn't ask here earlier. The 70grn NBT will make a right mess of a Deer if you hit it in the heart/lung area! Have you opened the box yet? If not would your dealer exchange them for something a bit heavier? Maybe 90s of the same make?

 

Don't get me wrong they will be a stunning Fox bullet. The trouble is when you start to compromise and want to shoot Deer then you're set to either take neck shots with the lighter bullets or use something slightly tougher on the Foxes. You'll get jacket fragments all over the place if you heart shoot a Roe with these.

 

Varget will be a reasonable powder for the bullets you have. If you can get data for something slightly heavier then use that as you can always use a lighter bullet when loading. It's only when you go heavier the pressures go up.

[njc110381]

From the Hodgdon site...

 

70 GR. SPR HP Hodgdon Varget .243" 2.625" 38.0 3433 45,500 CUP 40.5 3574 50,100 CUP

[garyb]

I load 37grn of Varget for a 75grn V-Max.

 

Hodgdon say for a 70grn head to start 38.0 and max 40.5

 

You should be fine to start at 38.0 in my view.

[wy111]

My recipie for 70 gn bt's and varget in my .243 is 41.5gn's, oal of 2.72. Runs at an average of 3553fps(chrono'd)

Dave

[Worstan]

Thanks for the replies, I havn't got the bullets yet so could always change those.

[njc110381]

How much shooting have you done with the rifle? Usually people shoot a bit with factory before getting into home loading? Have you shot with the 70's and now want to copy the load? I only say what I did because I shot a Munty with my .243, 75gr Hornady, and it completely destroyed the far side. I salvaged some meat from the near side front and back legs but that was it! It really was a mess!

 

I've just bought some 85gr Speer SP as they seem to be as light as you can go and still have the manufacturer suggest they can be used for Deer. You may well have shot a lot before now in which case it's up to you, but if not then I was just passing on some info to save you from ruining a good carcass through poor bullet choice/shot placement.

[Worstan]

Good advice, thanks. I havn't had the rifle long, so far I've only used factory load Sako arrowhead 70g. Works well on foxes but not used for deer yet.

[Mr_Logic]

My 243 load was a 95gr Hornady SST over the top of a 46gr H4831SC. Gave me over 3000fps and a half inch group. Neither Bambi nor Charlie enjoyed their experiences with these things

[kent]

As already said this is not a good deer bullet you need the 95 grn Nosler B/tip for them or have some messy lardering. I use the 95 grn Nosler Btip for both very sucessfully and it suits my ground, some deer bullets dont do a good job on charlie and vice versa but this bullet works well for me on both. If it were just an odd go at deer then go out with a few factory rounds and re-zero perhaps?

[Worstan]

Think I might be heading for a 95 gr bullet. Thanks for the advice. Using the varget powder it looks like starting at 33 Grs. Does that sound about right?

[kent]

try vhit n160 it will perform well with a higher fill level. You should know what your start load should be before you start and were the maximum might be, too little is as dangerous as too much BTW - no experiance of Varget personally look up data for that bullet. If you are not totally sure seek hands on advice i don't want to seem condecending but done badly reloading can kill,injure and or ruin your gun

[Mr_Logic]

I would definitely try H4831SC, I did have very good results.

 

I would steer away from Varget, it's too fast for 243 and heavy bullets.

[garyb]

Agreed varget and heavy bullets don't really get along.

 

Plenty of other powders out there... I like H414

[Devilishdave]

95 grain Nosler Balistic Tips or Hornady SST driven by 42 grains of 160, was getting 2970 Fps out of a 22 inch barrel with that and sub inch groups all day long.

 

Dave

[mikee]

I load 100gn siera game kings boat tail soft points on a max load of 40gns of H414 (worked up), shot 3 roe this week with no damage other than about 1/2 a sausage worth of meat lost on each animal, and a fox who was very very dead aswell, I tried lighter ammo and found they just smashed everything to mush 80gn soft points were as bad as the b-tips, 100gn seems to be very good unless you hit a big bone then its gets a bit ugly

 

mike

[scotland rifles]

used the following to great effect in my old .243

 

.243 sako brass, CCI primers imr 4895 @ 38gr, nosler 70gr BTs, no issues, i have dropped over 40 munty in the past 3 years and no issues, it does dump all its energy in the animal and leaves charlie cold for sure.

 

i would look at a 85gr if you only plan to shoot roe/minty/charlie and run them instead of having 2 loads. 1 for deer and 1 for charlie but make sure you have the right energy at target end to be within the law when it comes to deer.

 

happy hunting and loading.

 

bob.

[Worstan]

Found someone who's going to help me make up first few rounds, need to get some new powder now though. Advice has been invaluable, Thanks

[wy111]

95 grain Nosler Balistic Tips or Hornady SST driven by 42 grains of 160, was getting 2970 Fps out of a 22 inch barrel with that and sub inch groups all day long.

 

Dave

N160 has a very similar burn rate to H4350, which is what I use for 100gn Speer btsp. Same weight as you(42gns), although with current reloading data, it's 2 gns over maximum. No sign of pressure problems and gives 2942 fps.

As stated by Mr Logic, Varget is not preferred above 70gn as it too fast and has a low case fill.

Dave

[DaveK]

95 grain Nosler Balistic Tips or Hornady SST driven by 42 grains of 160, was getting 2970 Fps out of a 22 inch barrel with that and sub inch groups all day long.

 

Dave

 

:stupid:

[Crouch valley]

Thats all i use for fox's nosler 70g bt and i load with 40 grains of varget never had a problem and ive had 99 foxs since feb with that load

[kent]

N160 has a very similar burn rate to H4350, which is what I use for 100gn Speer btsp. Same weight as you(42gns), although with current reloading data, it's 2 gns over maximum. No sign of pressure problems and gives 2942 fps.

As stated by Mr Logic, Varget is not preferred above 70gn as it too fast and has a low case fill.

Dave

 

mmm, i use 4350 in other cases and was under the impression it was a far smaller fill than N160, though a popular choice for .243 non the less, must check data

[njc110381]

Supposedly Varget gives quite good velocity with 85gr bullets in the .243? I really hope it works because that's what I have at the moment. That or RL22, which I should think would be too slow? :unsure: