Very Reduced 243 loads

idahohunter8 · Dec 17, 2015

I have had less than zero luck finding any Trail Boss powders to make up very reduced 243 loads to allow my 8 year old son to practice and learn to shoot. I have 90 grain ballistic tips to load.

According to the Nosler manual, a starting load of 38.0 grains in 760 is listed at around 2900 FPS...

Is there any problem or safety issue with dropping that down to around 25-30 grains as a very light practice load? I don't really care about the velocity as these are target loads to learn how to shoot at 50,75, and 100 yards?

Any other suggestions or reduced loads to share?

BretN · Dec 17, 2015

I would not drop below book minimum loads. Sometimes bad things happen when there is too much air space in a cartridge (hang fires, pressure spikes etc). The only powder I know of that is recognized as being regularly used for reduced loads is H4895. Hodgdon has a whole section on reduced loads on their webpage for this powder and how to go about reducing the load safely. Good luck with it.

Here is one link. I know they have some more info on it than this though.

http://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/Hodgdon%20H4 ... 20load.pdf

idahohunter8 · Dec 17, 2015

In the new Nosler 8 manual it shows a starting load with IMR 4320 behind 33 grains that shows 2700 FPS...The rifle we are loading for has a 20" barrel so I would expect that load to run around 2500 FPS in this rifle.

Per the recoil calculator that is around 5.5 pounds of recoil energy...I think that will be a good start with the goal in the next 12-18 months to work up to a standard deer hunting load.

SJB358 · Dec 17, 2015

idahohunter8":2phf5ah4 said:
In the new Nosler 8 manual it shows a starting load with IMR 4320 behind 33 grains that shows 2700 FPS...The rifle we are loading for has a 20" barrel so I would expect that load to run around 2500 FPS in this rifle.

Per the recoil calculator that is around 5.5 pounds of recoil energy...I think that will be a good start with the goal in the next 12-18 months to work up to a standard deer hunting load.

IMR4895 and H4895 are both excellent in reduced loads. I wouldn't wanna experiment with slower type powders being reduced as the secondary explosion could be really rough on things if it happened.

I ran H4895 in quite a few reduced loads and it's excellent. Accurate and tailor able without a lot of worry. John Barsness says IMR4895 works the same and it has for me in a couple cartridges I've tried as well.

HeathSexton · Dec 17, 2015

sr4759 if you can find some

jimbires · Dec 18, 2015

what I've used for reduced loads in a 243 is IMR4198 . I used this with a 87 gr sierra HPBT . this is a very mild load . I had no bad experiences using this combo . this load was used close range deer hunting by a young boy , and he did take a few deer with good results .

the info below is from the speer #13 book , page 172 .

85 gr spitzer BT bullet , IMR4198 powder , min 17.0 gr @ 1796FPS , max 19.0 gr @ 2005 FPS
90 grain spitzer soft point bullet , IMR4198 powder , min 17.0 gr @ 1766 FPS , max 19.0 @ 1990 FPS

Gunner46 · Dec 21, 2015

Google H4895 reduced loads. If you can find any bullet weight, listed in any manual, for H4895, just multiply the MAX charge by 60% and you can work up from there.

Example. a 90 gr bullet @ 2700fps, w/ 28gr of H4895, in a 7# rifle will yield 7lbs of recoil, compared to a full charge, at 12lbs.