243 Win 95 Grain Ballistic Tips

[Palouser]

I was going to develop a load for my 243 Winchester Model 70 featherweight. I had completely pulled the copper out of my barrel with JB's bore paste so I fired a string of Federal 80 grain soft points as fouling shots. The fouling shots measured about an inch and a quarter. I then fired four shots that I loaded 95 grain ballistic tips in front of 43 grains of RL 19 and br2 primers and new Nosler brass. The bullets were seated .035 off the lands. in the string of four shots I completely flinched and pulled one shot as you can see. The last gun I was shooting was a 300 Weatherby and I flat out hate recoil. Excluding the shot that I pulled the three measured just under three quarters of an inch. with a factory model 70 do I try to load for more accuracy or do I just call it good? it seems like that gun should not be able to shoot consistently less than three quarters of an inch so should I just be happy with that load?

 

[Jimbeaux82]

Depends what you are trying to accomplish, but with normal factory rifles, 3/4" is pretty darn good. Any idea on the velocity?

 

[Larry in SD]

I think only you can answer that question as it largely depends on what you consider good enough.

The last .243 I had was an old Ruger KM77RP MKII with a 1 in 10" Twist Barrel. With it's preferred load of H-4350 it would print 3 shot groups of the 95gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips so all were touching or nearly touching. Never shot a 3 shot group with that rifle with that load that went over .5". If I could have been able to get that particular rifle to print anything close to a group with lighter varmint weight bullets I would likely still have it. After the fact I realized that I should have just kept that rifle and used the one load for everything.

Larry

 

[Guy Miner]

That bullet has a high accuracy potential, as noted by Larry with his tight groups.

In a sporter barreled rifle, I don't shoot more than three. The barrels start heating up and can do bad things to groups. I save the 5, 10, and 20 shot strings of fire for the match rifle.

My 6mm Rem has shot those 95 gr Ballistic Tips into 5/8" groups, but it's been a while since I checked for group size. It sure killed a whitetail buck real well last November, for my son.

I suspect your Winchester can do a little better than that. Look at some of the crazy-good groups Dr. Mike has pulled off with careful handloading for factory Model 70's!

How is the trigger? Bedding? Scope adjusted perfectly and mounted solidly?

Can you mess with the seating depth a little? All those things could help the group a bit.

Or you can do like I did when I got my .30-06 Rem 700 down to an inch.... Call it good and go hunting. :mrgreen:

Regards, Guy

 

[Guy Miner]

BTW, I REALLY like where shot #1 landed... Right at 12 o'clock, 2" above the bull. Perfect!

That's a shot that would end the season nicely.

Guy

 

[SJB358]

I'm with Guy. It may take a lot of shooting to get better but if your using it to hunt deer it wouldn't be the loads fault unless you were shooting a long way out.

 

[1100 Remington Man]

I think your rifle shows great potential. Practice with it more and test that load at 300 yds then you will know if you have a winner. When Antelope hunting or average distance one was bagged was just over 290 yds & when Deer Hunting I would say 250 yds or less is where most have been bagged.

 

[Palouser]

That bullet has a high accuracy potential, as noted by Larry with his tight groups.

In a sporter barreled rifle, I don't shoot more than three. The barrels start heating up and can do bad things to groups. I save the 5, 10, and 20 shot strings of fire for the match rifle.

My 6mm Rem has shot those 95 gr Ballistic Tips into 5/8" groups, but it's been a while since I checked for group size. It sure killed a whitetail buck real well last November, for my son.

I suspect your Winchester can do a little better than that. Look at some of the crazy-good groups Dr. Mike has pulled off with careful handloading for factory Model 70's!

How is the trigger? Bedding? Scope adjusted perfectly and mounted solidly?

Can you mess with the seating depth a little? All those things could help the group a bit.

Or you can do like I did when I got my .30-06 Rem 700 down to an inch.... Call it good and go hunting. :mrgreen:

Regards, Guy

I know the bedding is decent it is simply glass and not pillar bedded. The scope is a 3 x 9 x 50 VX1 and the mounting is all top-of-the-line and well done. The only thing that needs work is the trigger. I guess I am going to try some at 43.6 grains and see what that does. We live at the top of the hill and our range in in our front yard so it's tough to find some calm nights because the wind always blows but the next calm night I will try 43.6 grains.

Todd

 

[Palouser]

This is the same rifle that took a nice whitetail buck at 411 last year and a calf elk at 501 both with 85 grain partitions, as well as a pile of deer and antelope with 95 grain SSTs at much closer ranges. Before the elk, I think my longest shot on deer or antelope was 200 or so.

 

[Palouser]

I think only you can answer that question as it largely depends on what you consider good enough.

The last .243 I had was an old Ruger KM77RP MKII with a 1 in 10" Twist Barrel. With it's preferred load of H-4350 it would print 3 shot groups of the 95gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips so all were touching or nearly touching. Never shot a 3 shot group with that rifle with that load that went over .5". If I could have been able to get that particular rifle to print anything close to a group with lighter varmint weight bullets I would likely still have it. After the fact I realized that I should have just kept that rifle and used the one load for everything.

Larry

I guess your last sentence sums it up, I might use one load for everything! Thanks for the input!

 

[Guy Miner]

That's been a successful little rifle right there! Cool.

Hoping you have more success this season as well!