bigrich wrote:got some more load work this weekend. i'm going to try out some loads with the sierra 85gn gameking. supposedly a very accurate "all round" projectile for the 243 , the hornady 87gn vmax being a lot more frangable. however , a bloke who's bin giving me advice on 243 loads has used them on deer with great sucess so long as their put in the heart/lung area . i want something that's a bit sturdier for penetration should i come across a pig . however, one odd thing is sierra give the loaded COL length as 2.650 . i've checked and rechecked a dozen times with the hornady gauge (great tool ) and dummy case, and these projectiles touch the lands at 2.622 in MY rifle ! just goes to show to check things properly and not assume anything . i've done my first reloads at 2.602 and will see how this goes . i'm not going for max velocity , but accuracy. if i can keep my loads around 3050-3100 FPS i'll be happy as barrel life should be good
You may find if you speed things up a bit you will get the accuracy you are chasing. I can shoot an 87 grain Vmax out of my 6mmBR at 3,050 fps. I shoot 107 grain pills out of a 243 at 3,300 fps and that barrel has more than 2,500 rounds through it. Not telling you how to run your barrel just observations from my own experience. Speed is often your friend.