target .243

[duncan61]

From what I can deduce 90gn will be my heaviest bullet that will stabilize in my 1:10 HOWA.Has anyone developed a target load for .243

[AZZA'S HJ47]

Cant say that i have developed a "target" load however i use the 87g vmax with a load of 2208 scary accurate to 400. Cheap proj also

[duncan61]

Yes my LGS has the 87gn v-max in stock going of their website.$60/100 is good for me as well.I will use 34gn 2208 as that is what I use in my standard 80gn field ammo and it is well in the ADI load data.The range I am going to was developed for troops before WW2 and is gravel mounds from 100yards -600 yards that accommodate 4 shooters at a time and is laid back.Its cool to shoot well but its more about the camaraderie and setting.When I shot the 300 yard a mob of roos come out the bush and ponced about at the 200 yard marker for a while

[SCJ429]

I have a 243 but have a 1:8 twist and shoot 105 and 107 grain bullets. If I was going to shoot a 90 grain bullet I would use the Berger VLD. It should do pretty well from 500 to 1000 metres. I was running my 105 at nearly 3,300 fps so the 90 grain should produce pretty handy velocities.

[duncan61]

$$$Berger%206mm%2090gr%20Target%20BT$0.jpg (38.34 KiB) Viewed 5771 times

according to the Berger twist rate calculator these should be stable in 1:10 twist.2213sc appears to give the best velocity it would be going hot to get 3300fps

[SCJ429]

I ran out of room in the case using 2213 so I switched to 2209. I never ran into any pressure signs so I am not sure how far you could push it. I would think that 3300 with a 90 grain Berger would not be a hot load, at least not in my rifle.

[juano86]

I'm running the berger 95gr VLD's out of my varmint barreled howa .243 great results at 1000yrd's. it loves AR2209

[sungazer]

I have a target load for my 1.10 Sako I think it is 1.10. I also use those Berger 90 gr BT Targets. The bad part is I am in hospital just now and wont be home till next week. If you can wait until then happy to divulge. On another not I also shoot a couple of 105 grn hunting bullets with very good accuracy out to 500yrds.

[duncan61]

This is all sounding very good. I may look into ackly improved as well

[SCJ429]

I'm running the berger 95gr VLD's out of my varmint barreled howa .243 great results at 1000yrd's. it loves AR2209

How fast are you sending the 95s?

[SCJ429]

This is all sounding very good. I may look into ackly improved as well

That's funny, I was thinking the same thing. I have a set of dies and a reamer. Just need to book the barrel in.

[Blr243]

AZZA. I also shoot a 243 with 2208 and 87 vmax. How much powder are u useing in your scary accurate load please? I want to steal your info

[GQshayne]

AZZA. I also shoot a 243 with 2208 and 87 vmax. How much powder are u useing in your scary accurate load please? I want to steal your info

Might be hard to match in your BLR (unless you have another .243). Barrel length, taper, and rifle design will make it hard to match bolt action accuracy.

[duncan61]

The Ackley Improved .243 would be very close to the 6mm Remington in performance.An F/Class guy I met at Coolilup range was running a 6mm Rem and did very well and he only used a short bipod for support.We were on optical targets as there were only 3 of us but he hit the 10 every shot

[AZZA'S HJ47]

AZZA. I also shoot a 243 with 2208 and 87 vmax. How much powder are u useing in your scary accurate load please? I want to steal your info

Not to sound like a buzz kill BLR243 the load i have for my 243 is a little bit on the custom side seated 5thou off the lands cant feed from the mag. And a little over max charge. Trial and error BLR243 I use 2208 because i use it with my 308 303 and 7 62 x 54r i have had the same sought of results and less powder with 2209. Try some 2208 and 2209 and im sure ypull work out the load for your rifle.

[duncan61]

Good call AZZA as if we replicated and something went wrong you have everything to lose and nothing to gain.I will confess years ago I loaded 43 grains of 2208 instead of 34 and it went bang and I knew I had stuffed up and pulled all the other reloads.Apart from the bolt being hard to open all is good.Some modern rifles can take a bit of abuse however my theory has always been if you need more performance get a bigger one.Engine rifle maybe even girlfriend she will be grateful and it doesn't last that long.Anyhoo here I go chasing performance out of a bog standard HOWA I bought for someone else when I have a 7mm Rem Mag Sendero that was designed to shoot a long way.Have we ever had enoughgun??I have had a very good day and the movie Deerhunter has just started and I have never seen the whole film before

[RoginaJack]

Yo, speedy recovery Sungazer. Trust all ent well...

[Stix]

I have a target load for my 1.10 Sako I think it is 1.10. I also use those Berger 90 gr BT Targets. The bad part is I am in hospital just now and wont be home till next week. If you can wait until then happy to divulge. On another not I also shoot a couple of 105 grn hunting bullets with very good accuracy out to 500yrds.

Hey sungazer...hope everything is ok & you have a speedy recovery what ever is going on...

[SCJ429]

I just want the Ackley because it looks so much cooler than the standard 20 degree shoulders. Sending pills out at over 4000 fps is an added bonus.

What sort of groups are you getting at 400 that are scary accurate Azza? I am happy as if I can shoot a three inch group at 500 but then the guy next to me will shoot a one inch screamer in the same conditions.

[duncan61]

If you shoot 1 inch at 500 metres on target you have shot a perfect score with the super v being 72mm.I suppose it can be done

[AZZA'S HJ47]

I just want the Ackley because it looks so much cooler than the standard 20 degree shoulders. Sending pills out at over 4000 fps is an added bonus.

What sort of groups are you getting at 400 that are scary accurate Azza? I am happy as if I can shoot a three inch group at 500 but then the guy next to me will shoot a one inch screamer in the same conditions.

Have done 2 inch groups at 400 im not saying that i do this every day but when all goes to plan its has been done a few times

[Apollo]

From what I can deduce 90gn will be my heaviest bullet that will stabilize in my 1:10 HOWA.Has anyone developed a target load for .243

Well, I have a Tikka T3 and a Sako 85 in .243W. The Tikka T3 in standard mode has a blued barrel and I've shot 100gr Sierra's with good hunting accuracy but it's shot quite a few rounds over the years. I got a stainless barrel with only a handful of rounds shot of a member at another forum as I wanted to set up an accurate Factory Class Rifle for 300m. I have shot quite a few different bullets and weights over the years but for a target grade I went for the 90gr Berger BT.

I did some testing, not a lot as I pretty much knew what would work at 300m best. I did try the 95gr Berger VLD's and they were not very stable at all. Then the 90gr BT's which gave me a 1st Place the first shoot it entered and a 2nd place at another shoot, just a point difference which could well have been just me having a bad day.

At my testing range at home, about 200 yards give or take I settled on a load that gave me well under 1/2 MOA. Like 4/5 shots touching and one just out which I'm sure I could fix with a bit more tweaking but I don't like wasting too many rounds in a .243W. The load I went with twice was 42.5gr AR2209 with bullets set to a 0.010" jam so with my light neck tension they are soft seated on the lands. These are Moly Coated bullets as I need to shoot 50 rounds for a competition and I don't like cleaning at all during the day shooting. So, you may need to drop the charge a bit for naked bullets. I don't chase velocity so I don't know their velocity, I chase accuracy.

Now, the same bullets and load with the same barrel but in a fully bedded Sako 85 Action is more accurate again. Then again the stainless fluted Sako Barrel is even more accurate from the few tests I have done but not used in a full competition as yet but coming up soon. Best I've done with the Sako 85 at 300m at home once was a 5 shot group of 0.65" in perfect conditions.

I have tested lighter bullets with great accuracy at shorter ranges but I wanted to go on the heavy side especially if the wind comes up.

A mate has tried a number of different bullets and powder but can't come close to the accuracy so he's been on the bottom of the list.

All barrels can be swapped between the Tikka or Sako, the Sako is the best accuracy and all are 1:10 Twist Factory Barrels.

Hope that helps.

[Blr243]

Thanks for the info. Apart from the levergun I have a Sauer 100 also in 243

[SCJ429]

I too chase accuracy but at a decent velocity. It helps in the wind.

[Apollo]

I too chase accuracy but at a decent velocity. It helps in the wind.

Well, I don't know if I'm out of place here so here goes.

In most calibres there are at least two accuracy nodes, sometimes three but the higher accuracy nodes do not necessarily bring consistent accuracy over say a whole match day. Quite often as I have found the lower velocity node give better overall results. I don't shoot 1,000 yards but know those that do and they try for the highest velocity....?? Only shot 1,000 yards twice so I'm a nobody there.

I would think that wind reading skills take over a lot in distance shooting rather than just pushing a bullet as hard as you can.

Anyway, I'd better spend more time tuning my skills for the 500m Nationals next month.... You going...???

[on_one_wheel]

My .243 has 9 1/8 twist and likes 100 grain projectiles.

I started out on 2208 and found a good load for it but I was left with a heap of empty space, I then switched to 2209 to better fill the cases.

At one point I had it humming along pretty well with a reasonably warm load but have since reduced my charge to a very mild 38.5 grains of 2209 giving me a lazy but highly consistent (1/2" @100m) 2850 fps

I reduced my loads mainly because I was doing lots of shooting at close ranges on goats and roos, I simply didn't need to burn my barrel out and stress my brass with hot loads.
Another good thing about the mild loads is that my barrel doesn't foul anywhere near as fast as with the hot loads.

After previous correspondence, MR SCJ429 has me wanting to load it up hot again when he reminded me just how much Im leaving on the table. (Dam you MR SCJ !)
After all, I'm not hammering the .243 like I use to, I've got a .223 for that work now and I'm almost due for a reloading session for the .243 ... I just wish I hadn't lost my old data.

[SCJ429]

I too chase accuracy but at a decent velocity. It helps in the wind.

In most calibres there are at least two accuracy nodes, sometimes three but the higher accuracy nodes do not necessarily bring consistent accuracy over say a whole match day. Quite often as I have found the lower velocity node give better overall


Anyway, I'd better spend more time tuning my skills for the 500m Nationals next month.... You going...???

Just trying to learn here so let me know if I am wrong... My understanding is that your barrel vibrations can be represented by a sine wave and you find your nodes at the top and bottom of the waves. You want your bullet to exit when the vabration is at its calmest so any number of speeds from the slowest to the fastest could intercept the top or bottom of the sine wave. If you are going fast but not yet at a node, just keep going faster until you find it.....or your primers fall out the back of your case.

I have never shot at Batemans Bay. I should probably stop making excuses and get along.

[SCJ429]

My .243 has 9 1/8 twist and likes 100 grain projectiles.

I started out on 2208 and found a good load for it but I was left with a heap of empty space, I then switched to 2209 to better fill the cases.

At one point I had it humming along pretty well with a reasonably warm load but have since reduced my charge to a very mild 38.5 grains of 2209 giving me a lazy but highly consistent (1/2" @100m) 2850 fps

I reduced my loads mainly because I was doing lots of shooting at close ranges on goats and roos, I simply didn't need to burn my barrel out and stress my brass with hot loads.
Another good thing about the mild loads is that my barrel doesn't foul anywhere near as fast as with the hot loads.

After previous correspondence, MR SCJ429 has me wanting to load it up hot again when he reminded me just how much Im leaving on the table. (Dam you MR SCJ !)
After all, I'm not hammering the .243 like I use to, I've got a .223 for that work now and I'm almost due for a reloading session for the .243 ... I just wish I hadn't lost my old data.

Don't blame me, you don't get onto one wheel if you don't give it a little gas. I think the 243 is a great case if you want to see how fast you can go. No need to be conservative with this case but let us know how you go.

[Apollo]

Well, in my understanding too and I'm not what you would call an expert but I try and listen to my mentors who were when they had time Annie & Stuart Elliott. Australian Hall of Fame members. A few others that have and/or still shoot at International Level in Benchrest. My other mentor is one of these silly Full Bore / F-Class guys a number of years old than I am...sorry, that was a PUN...he's my Gunsmith.

Yes, the barrel vibration is probably a sine wave but who says its verticle, if could be 90 degrees to verticle. The idea is in my mind to pick that vibration that is constant even with a slight variation in the shooting conditions, your powder load and/or case/bullet slight weight variations. You need the bullet to exit the barrel at the same point of time in that vibration each and every time you pull the trigger.

Also, just in my view is that the harder you push the velocity the tighter that accuracy node gets and any change can turn a very tight accuracy into a miss....lower score.

At lower velocities / mid range I have found that the sweet spot for that barrel vibration is wider in the lower nodes so greater margin for error. Just my views.

You should come to Batemans Bay, great people and this time it's over three days depending what category you enter or not. I'm not sure if I'm going to enter the 200 Yard Rimfire as all I have is a Rabbit Gun, Brno Model 2 but last time I went in that class I gave the best with their expensive target rifles a run for their money at the top.

[SCJ429]

Also, just in my view is that the harder you push the velocity the tighter that accuracy node gets and any change can turn a very tight accuracy into a miss....lower score.

At lower velocities / mid range I have found that the sweet spot for that barrel vibration is wider in the lower nodes so greater margin for error. Just my views.

top.

My understanding is that the speed of the pressure wave or profile of the sine wave is determined by the profile and length of your barrel. A thicker shorter barrel has a calmer sine wave than the long whippy barrel, and so it would have larger nodes. The speed of the projectile would not change the frequency that the barrel vibrates at. Not saying that I understand the science but this is my take.