The .243 handi ?

[Country Boy]

 I'm so happy with my .45-70 that I'm thinkingof buying a .243..But I've heard the .243's are a bit finiky ? Also can the handi take the loads I put in my Browning A-bolt (I sold it this morning)  42 grns of imr100 grn bullet and 44 grns with any .85-95 grn bullet ?
 Are the handi .243's accurate ? I rarely shoot over 200 yds.

[quickdtoo]

I'm so happy with my .45-70 that I'm thinkingof buying a .243..But I've heard the .243's are a bit finiky ? Also can the handi take the loads I put in my Browning A-bolt (I sold it this morning)  42 grns of imr100 grn bullet and 44 grns with any .85-95 grn bullet ?
 Are the handi .243's accurate ? I rarely shoot over 200 yds.

There are several recent 243 threads, read thru em and you'll see that the 243 Superlight is the one that can be hard to get to shoot accurately, but even that isn't true once you learn to take your time shooting it, the thin contour barrel heats quickly and doesn't help accuracy. I have three 243 H&Rs, that last one is a superlight, hopefully it will shoot as good as Stimpy's and several other superlights that do very well with the right load. The other 2 shoot excellent, the standard contour and bull barrel will work fine for you with the right load, just like any other H&R.

You'll have to provide us with the IMR powder you're using, you left that part out!! The only way to know what load works is to work that load up in the rifle using safe reloading practices, IE using start load data, just loading some max or near max loads and trying them isn't safe in any firearm, Handi or otherwise.

Tim

[Country Boy]

Sorry, a senior moment. I use imr 4350 those loads have been used in many different .243 rifles with great success.

[quickdtoo]

Well, Hodgdon shows 40gr max with a 100gr Speer, 43gr max with a 90gr Speer, Lyman says 39.5gr is max for the Hornady 100gr, Speer says the max for a 100gr bullet is 38gr, Sierra shows 41.7gr max for their 100gr,  so I'd say your load isn't real Handi friendly and in fact is way over any current book loads, I'd be using current start data and working up a load for the Handi.

Tim

[tvc15]

I shoot a .243 ultra, It was funky with factory rounds, but after a little work on the rifle and hand loading it shoots great.
I have had success with the imr 4831 with 75 grain and h4350 with the 100 grain. good luck TVC15

[Dave Allen]

howdy...i'm shooting a 90 grain speer over 38.0 grain's of imr4350...it shot worse the closer i got to max...

[Trapper-Jack]

Like Dave said, IMR4350 is my powder of choice for the 243.  It also helped a lot to bump the shoulder back a little when resizing or else I wouldn't get a consistent lock up and the accuracy would suffer.

[Country Boy]

I took those loads from an imr powder guide and some old load books that I have.Nosler,speer,hornady, walters pet loads, Sierra and speer. They have always worked fine in any rifle I've use them in, except for a Savage/stevens 200.

[quickdtoo]

That was then this is now, if you're using current production powder, it would be wise to use current data.   The 2007 IMR guide says 42gr of IMR 4350, Win brass and WLR primer with a COL of 2.650" is a max load with the 100gr Speer BTSP. Any way you look at it, starting with a max load in a new rifle is not a wise thing to do.

Tim

[~Ace~]

I have not shot heavier than 75G V-Max in my .243 Barrel, and it liked a low to mid power load of Varget the best (Sub Moa if I do my part) Thats the Size I was hoping it would shoot as a Step up from the 55 G V-Max in .223 for Yotes. I will try some heavier when I find a good deal on some partial boxes. ~Ace~

[quickdtoo]

Nosler has some pretty good prices on their 2nds if you order enough to cover the shipping.

Tim

http://www.shootersproshop.com/noslerfactory2nds.html

6mm bullets