Author Topic: 243 & 100grainers (Read 1107 times)

DANNY-L · « **on:** October 02, 2012, 10:08:41 AM »

Me and a friend each have the handi in 243win heavy 22" barrel 1/10 twist and neither will group a 100 grain bullet (speer,hornady) tried several loads with several powders and it's more of a pattern than a group,I was thinking the 100's would work ok with the 1/10 but I guess not. I wanted a good deer and coyote load with the 100's but think I'm going to get some 85gr gameking and try them.

cwlongshot · « **Reply #1 on:** October 02, 2012, 10:38:46 AM »

Well I have to say in a 243 and just talking 100g bullets, you have a plethera of bullets to try before giving up...

Some guns just dont like boat tails, others plain bases. Then you have OAL to play with , some dont respond till you get with in a couple thousandths of the leade others dont care... some really respond to a crimp or perish the thought "factory"crim for a LFC die. THEN there is at least 7-10 really good powdrs to try....

The very first "NEW"rifle I bought myself was a brand new Winchester Feather weight Deluxe in 243 with a brand new Leupold Vari X 2 3x9x40 scope. I still think this is one of the best looking factory rifles one can buy. BUT it would not shoot, I mean would NOT shoot, 4-6"groups with every factory loading and maybe 10 different powders and a half dozen bullets... FINEALY after re crowning, bedding the action, tuning the action and trigger I was able to find that a 90g Speer behind a near max loading of Brigadieer 4351 Powder and seating the bullet just off the rifleing netted me, round, 2"100 yard groups. Its not great accuracy, but I'm telling you I worked HARD at the bench making shure it was not me or my loads causing the accuracy problems. Its the best this gun would shoot.
What powders have you tried? Have you tried a boat tailed bullet or all plain bases? What about seating depths, have you checked max OAL for your rifle and set up loadings with in .005-.007 off that number?
Good luck,
CW

DANNY-L · « **Reply #2 on:** October 02, 2012, 11:29:00 AM »

I tried the bt hornady and flat base speer,powders tried were imr4064,imr4350,reloader19 with several charge weights of each. I was thinking it was just my new to me rifle and was kinda glad to see his shoot just as bad.

quickdtoo · « **Reply #3 on:** October 02, 2012, 11:53:40 AM »

I have three 243 H&Rs, two shoot 95-100gr great, one doesn't like the 95-100gr loads that I've tried, but really does well with 80-87gr, it's a 6mmAI now, all are 1:10". One member reported his 243 had a twist closer to 1:12", so that could be the problem if they've made some with slighly slower barrels. Best advice is try something else as CW recommended. See the twist info in the FAQs, below it you'll find instructions on how to check the twist in your barrel.

Tim

FPH · « **Reply #4 on:** October 02, 2012, 12:00:06 PM »

My 6 mm (.243 kissin cousin) likes 87 gr BTHPs. It will shoot factory 100 grs (Hornady customs) but prefers the factory 90 gr bullets I can't find anymore.

DANNY-L · « **Reply #5 on:** October 02, 2012, 12:35:22 PM »

I have checked the twist with the cleaning rod method and they both came out at 1/10,I ordered some 85gr sierra game kings from midway late this morning hopefully I'll be getting an e-mail that they shipped. I hope they will do the trick once I can get a group started. Whats the go-to powder for this weight range? Thanks for all the input.

petemi · « **Reply #6 on:** October 02, 2012, 12:49:32 PM »

I just fine tuned my new .243 Superlight with the 85 gr. Gameking this past weekend. 41.0 gr. RL15 gave me a chronyed 3109 fps. from the 20 inch barrel. I loaded long, just about into the lands, no crimp. After I was done, I shot clay birds and paper at 300 yards. I nailed a bird with each shot but one, and that was my fault. Groups on paper were three shots 2 - 2.5 inches. I covered one group with a quarter.

My frame and barrel came home from the bench of Brian56 last week. The old harsh NEF trigger is now as smooth, light and crisp as possible. It's a sweet little rifle.

Pete

FPH · « **Reply #7 on:** October 02, 2012, 12:53:35 PM »

IMR 4064, IMR 4831, RL-19. Try IMR 4064.

DANNY-L · « **Reply #8 on:** October 02, 2012, 12:56:47 PM »

Thanks petemi,sounds like ya have a shooter there. fph I happen to have those powders on hand,thanks

FPH · « **Reply #9 on:** October 02, 2012, 01:02:51 PM »

Quote from: petemi on October 02, 2012, 12:49:32 PM

I just fine tuned my new .243 Superlight with the 85 gr. Gameking this past weekend. 41.0 gr. RL15 gave me a chronyed 3109 fps. from the 20 inch barrel. I loaded long, just about into the lands, no crimp. After I was done, I shot clay birds and paper at 300 yards. I nailed a bird with each shot but one, and that was my fault. Groups on paper were three shots 2 - 2.5 inches. I covered one group with a quarter. My frame and barrel came home from the bench of Brian56 last week. The old harsh NEF trigger is now as smooth, light and crisp as possible. It's a sweet little rifle.

Pete

I recommend the same. I neck size my fire formed brass, load long with no crimp and let the bullets rest against the lands. I also try to fill the case as full as possible. This has given me a tack driver.

Ranch13 · « **Reply #10 on:** October 02, 2012, 06:15:12 PM »

H414 has prooven the best powder in my 243 with all the bullet weights. Used 4350 for a couple of decades before discovering the joys of ball powder.

Tony Gable · « **Reply #11 on:** October 13, 2012, 06:13:06 PM »

Quote from: DANNY-L on October 02, 2012, 10:08:41 AM

Me and a friend each have the handi in 243win heavy 22" barrel 1/10 twist and neither will group a 100 grain bullet (speer,hornady) tried several loads with several powders and it's more of a pattern than a group,I was thinking the 100's would work ok with the 1/10 but I guess not. I wanted a good deer and coyote load with the 100's but think I'm going to get some 85gr gameking and try them.

Try this scenario. 100gr SierraiPro Hunters. 35.0gr IMR4064. Seat bullet .010 off rifling. Put and Oring on the forearm screw lug and snug the screw down.
The .243 in notorious for not shooting well. I had similar problems with mine.
Check all scope mounts and what not. It WILL shoot 100 gr.bullets. Mine does not like Nosler 95 gr Ballistic tips at all. Looks like a shotgun pattern with 95's. Mine now shoots very well.

I have found that the best bullet to start with is Sierra. They just work in all of my rifles.

Tony

wileynet · « **Reply #12 on:** October 13, 2012, 07:38:43 PM »

my handi didnt like the heavier bullets, using 38 gr varget and 70gr noslers BT awsome coyote, antelope and mule deer round

tsigmon · « **Reply #13 on:** October 14, 2012, 01:01:15 AM »

After working on the fore end, the biggest improvement came from adjusting the case overall length on the .243 I had a chance to use for a while.Not sure of the exact length now but I do remember it being much longer than the max. C.O.L. in the manual.

DANNY-L · « **Reply #14 on:** October 14, 2012, 01:49:44 AM »

I finally got mine to give me just under an inch group. After trying most powders mentioned I gave varget a try (34.1gr)for 100gr hornady and imr 4350 (43.6gr) for sierra 85gr. My friends is a different story I am currently building up the ejector latch on his so it doesn't bind on the brass and stick the cases. Mine needs to be done also cause my ejector latch is below where it should be and the round falls all the way into the chamber and when I close the action it actualy slides underneath and pops back up into place but atleast for now it doesn't cause a stuck fired case. Going through the stickies I'm useing dinny's method except I'm useing just jb weld and I'll file it down slowly til it works fine. This is my second attempt,I did the same thing yeaterday andfiled the jb weld down slowly and it worked perfect but after 5-6 rounds it was lower again and would allow the round to pass above it when loading and cause the case to stick.Hope ya can understand my description of the ejector issue.

bearcub · « **Reply #15 on:** October 25, 2012, 05:40:14 AM »

Mine will not shoot 100's but Hornady SST 95's or Sierra 80's will work fine

Brian P. · « **Reply #16 on:** October 25, 2012, 09:54:38 AM »

The 87gr Hornady spire points are my favorite general purpose 243 bullet. For a dedicated deer bullet I would go with a bonded bullet as 243 can sometimes not exit when the shots are really close because they fragment.

theratdog · « **Reply #17 on:** October 25, 2012, 07:25:50 PM »

my post 64 Winchester is deadly shooting the 87 grn Hornady bt hollow points.REAL GOOD ON DEER.

DANNY-L · « **Reply #18 on:** October 26, 2012, 06:00:48 AM »

Well I finally got it tuned in to my liking with 85gr sierra and imr 4350,haven't taken it out yet but will before the deer season is over. I still get the occasinal stuck case but I found that the brass rod that is used with the float in a toilet to be the right diameter for the 243. I cut a 2 1/2" piece,rounded the ends and I can just drop it down the barrel and it will knock out the case. I store it under my cartridge case holder that I have on the butt stock.

cwlongshot · « **Reply #19 on:** October 26, 2012, 06:37:30 AM »

Quote from: DANNY-L on October 26, 2012, 06:00:48 AM

Well I finally got it tuned in to my liking with 85gr sierra and imr 4350,haven't taken it out yet but will before the deer season is over. I still get the occasinal stuck case but I found that the brass rod that is used with the float in a toilet to be the right diameter for the 243. I cut a 2 1/2" piece,rounded the ends and I can just drop it down the barrel and it will knock out the case. I store it under my cartridge case holder that I have on the butt stock.

Nice idea!!

Good luck with the 85g Sierras!!

CW