Another .243 on the way...

Just an FYI .... friend bought same rifle for his grandson and daughter in law to hunt with last year for antelope and loaded Win Youth load of 28 grs +/- H4895 with 80 grain Sierra Blitz ( per Sierra recommendation since they don't produce SSP bullet anymore) and velocity in 20" barrel was 2550 fps and shot just under MOA at 100. Two dead antelope last year at 85 yards and 230 yards. Recoil in line with 223 but downrange performance quite impressive. Just mentioned it in case your wife or daughters are new/recoil sensitive shooters. Personally wouldn't hesitate to hunt animals up to deer and 240-250 yards with it!

They drew cow Elk this year and contemplated 85 gr nosler Partition with this load but swayed over to 270 Win with 130 gr and similar Youth load. (2600-2650 fps)

Good luck with your load development!
 
Thanks for the info. I actually wanted to work up a load with the Barnes 80gr TTSX, but I had the 90gr E-tips already. I won't lie, it's a small rifle and it has a bit of a kick to it with these loads. Obviously it's nothing crazy, probably about like top end 105gr loads in my 12lb .243 "varmint" rifle.
 
Oh ya, Im sure you can tell by those targets, some of the "groups" are pretty bad. It's not me, I can shoot 1/2" groups consistently if the rifle is capable....
 
There were two loads that stood out however and it's interesting that with the 87gr hpbt and the 90gr e-tip, the best loads were almost at the same velocities.

I am becoming convinced that nodes are velocity based. The more I shoot (and pay attention to speeds and results) it seems that a certain speed with a particular bullet seems to give the best results with different powders.
For example, with my 260 AI, if I get the powder up to run between 2920-2950 with 140s, that will be my accuracy point, regardless of which powder I'm using. H4831, RL26, etc.
just a thought.
 
Dwh7271":r7y37hwy said:
There were two loads that stood out however and it's interesting that with the 87gr hpbt and the 90gr e-tip, the best loads were almost at the same velocities.

I am becoming convinced that nodes are velocity based. The more I shoot (and pay attention to speeds and results) it seems that a certain speed with a particular bullet seems to give the best results with different powders.
For example, with my 260 AI, if I get the powder up to run between 2920-2950 with 140s, that will be my accuracy point, regardless of which powder I'm using. H4831, RL26, etc.
just a thought.
That's not so far-fetched, especially if you are shooting long-for-caliber bullets. The longer the bullet is, the more spin it requires to stabilize. You can get more spin either via a tighter twist on the rifling, or by increasing velocity.
 
Sorry, I wasn't very clear now that I read my post.
What I meant was if I find a velocity area with a bullet weight, say 140s, I can usually, with some depth tweaking, get any of the bullets I care to shoot in that weight to do fairly well by getting to that speed "zone" and tweak the depth.
 
OK, getting back to this. I'm not messing around anymore! 90gr e-tips wet molly coated, br2 primers, neck sized brass, all loads are .100" off the lands at 2.100" base to ogive. Three rounds each charge weight/powder.

RL16, 41gr, 41.5gr, 42gr, 42.5gr and 43gr

H4350, 43gr, 43.5gr, 44gr, 44.5gr and 45gr

H4831sc, 47gr, 47.5gr and 48gr

IMR7828ssc, 47gr, 47.5gr and 48gr

Just rolling the dice here and hoping that something shows up. I feel like the odds should be pretty good. I will update with velocities and group sizes when I get a chance to do some shooting.
 
I did shoot all of those test rounds. Nothing worth mentioning believe it or not. This is a 1 moa rifle with the best loads I've tried which was with Superformance powder. The velocities were also excellent with Superformance and the 87/90gr bullets.

My most recent project was to figure out a coyote load. I used 55gr LFBTs and IMR 3031 since my Savage .243 loves that combo. Tried 41.5gr up through 44gr. 42gr had a velocity of 3734fps, ES of 0, SD...0 as well obviously! 3 shot group was about 1 moa. So was 41.5gr, but the ES was 138fps. 42gr it is and I loaded up a few for my wife to use on coyotes soon.
 

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