70gr Ballistic Tip varmint the BEST!

Kiwi · Jan 1, 2007

Hi there,

Brought a very nice Sako AII in .243 Winchester off a mate of mine for a very reasonable price. He had been shooting 65gr V-Max's through it with 48gr's ADI 2209 (H4350) and claimed that he was getting 3600 fps and one hole accuracy. However, Using his same load I could not get anywhere near the same velocity (actually about 300fps less) and accuracy was running at about 1 inch at 100.

Made the switch to the 70gr Nosler Ballistic Varmint projectile and changed powder to ADI 2208 (Varget). 42.7grs gave me a one ragged 5 shot hole at 125 yards of 0.354! This is from a factory rifle that has only had the trigger tweaked.

Velocity averaged 3454fps. I could not get the 3600fps as listed in the Nosler latest reloading manual but I'm not certainley not complaining. One thing that impressed me was the very consistent velocities. Over the chronograph they were as follows:

Shot 1: 3463fps
Shot 2: 3463fps
Shot 3: 3454fps
Shot 4: 3445fps
Shot 5: 3445fps

I can't wait to try this load out on the local rabbit population.

Regards,

Michael.

Jerry 919 · Jan 1, 2007

Q: What length barrel are you shooting? I have used 42.5 grains of Varget and the 70 grain BT for three years now. Always .5"or less and average velocity of 3670 FPS. Longest kill on a coyote was 583 yards. Rifle is a Ruger 77VT 26" topped with Leupold 6X18.

Used 55 grain BT's the first year. Outstanding accuracy. Velocity 4105 FPS. Had to give them up. To get the accuracy the bullet had to be seated on the lands. Bullets was too short and if you dropped a round or whole box as I did the bullets popped off. The 70's are longer and the coyotes don't know the difference. Dead is dead.

Jerry

Kiwi · Jan 2, 2007

Hi Jerry,

My Sako has a 24 inch tube.

Cheers,

Michael.

remingtonman_25_06 · Jan 2, 2007

Congrats on finding a great load for your .243, they sure are accurate.
Those 55's are ok, but a real pain the ass sometimes. I've shot them out of a Ruger S/S w/22" tube at 4000-4100fps and encountered the same problems with the bullets being to short. I had an action full of powder on more then one occasion. Talk about being a barrel burner as well! Also, the little heavier 70g is a lot better for 500 yard shots on coyotes. The little 55g is just to small and explosive. I've shot coyotes with both and will always prefer the little heavier bullet. Coyotes are pretty tough for there size...However, if you want to see rabbits and squirrels do the magic dissapearing act, stick a 55g on top and watch them vaporize!

Savage99 · Jan 7, 2007

I have had very good accuracy with the 55 and 58 gr 6mm bullets seated deep to 2.6" or less. When I seated them to where they looked good they were not as accurate as the deep seating. I never tried them seated way out to the lands.

I find that the 58 VMax makes less pelt damage to coyotes than 70 gr bullets.