.243 Powders?

A

ACLakey

New member
I have not loaded for the .243 in a long time, most of my time has been spent with the 6mm. I was thinking about Varget for 85gr HPBT and something like H414, W760, H4350 or RL17 for 95gr BT. Any recomendations and personal experiences?
 
Varget & H-4350 should work for you. I use H-4895 for 70 grn & less, RL-15 for my 85 grain loads, & H-4350 for 95-100 grain bullets. I could use Varget for most of these too but I have the other powders around & available. These are just some loadings I have settled on, plenty of others would work too.
 
Varget works pretty well with 85 gr. bullets though I have found it to be a little hard to get best accuracy with in the .243. Varget is great in the .308, but I'm kinda on the fence with it in the .243/85gr.. I've had some luck with Varget and 75 gr. bullets where it proved to be quite good.

Anyway, IMR-4064 has been very easy to work with on the lighter weight end of things in the .243. IMR-4350 isn't bad at the 85 gr. weight range and up either. I have no experience with R17 but a lot of guys claim great things from it and I do plan on working with it some. H414/W760 has a lot of fans, though my time with it has been limited enough that I can't give much information.

IMR-4350 and H4350, IMR-4831 and R22 do quite well with the 100+ grain bullets too. Last night I loaded up a batch of 105 grain bullets with a dose of IMR-4350, a favorite old load that has worked really well for many years for me. Hopefully the wife center punches a nice deer with it this fall.
 
I shoot mostly 70 to 80 grain bullets. IMR-4064, and Varget have done really well. The best loads have been with 70g NBT and IMR-4350.
 
I used H414 behind a 100g SP when I owned a .243 in the 80s.
Great groups @ around 5/8" and greater blacktail deer/antelope combo.
 
i have been using 7828 with bullets 90 - 100 gr in my rifle it shoots very good groups at 3000fps plus the kids ruger ultra lite with a 18 1/2 in barrel shots 95 gr nbts at 3227 fps and very accurate
 
With the 85's,I got fantastic velocity with good accuracy out of R#19, Win brass, and Win primers, Right at a max load, I bump the shoulders after each firing. Velocity you would not believe.
 
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I've been working like crazy with Varget, and now with CCI BR-2 primers I am making progress (no good w/Rem 9 1/2's!). IMR-4064 is also great. I originally thought I wanted to get 4350, but found 4831 first (still haven't broken into that one yet). From the little I've done with H414, not the one. I have heard good things about RL-19 though.

I wanted to try Varget because I had heard it was a little more forgiving on the high-end, and less temp sensitive as an extreme powder. I've had the Nosler BT's up around 3,500fps. Very capable 300yd load. Haven't really had any shots yet beyond 300 or 325.
 
I have had great luck with the 70 and 75 GR bullets and IMR 4350 and the powder I am using right now is Ramshot hunter with a 75 GR hollow point shoots real good out of my rifle . I didnt have the best of luck with Varget and the bullets I was shooting , so far the most accurate loads have been in the lower ranges from the Lyman manual not that interested in speed cause where I hunt 300 is a LONG shot most are within 100 and less
 
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