100gr for .243win......Any suggestions please.

Lightyear

Well-Known Member
Folks,

I would like to try and reload a 100gr round for my .243.

My rifle is a Sako A11 with 22" 1 : 10 Border barrel.

It shoots 90gr Sako SP and Hornady 87gr BTHP very nicely but I would quite like to go slightly heavier and slightly slower if that makes sense.

Can anyone suggests a readily available 100gr bullet that they have tried or would likely stabilize and maybe shoot well. I currently use Varget powder.

Cheers + ATVB

Philip
 
hornady SPBT over 39.5 N160. lot tighter than the loads I made up with 87gn SP
cheap too

IMG_4218.jpg
 
That would certainly do !!! Very nice.

I was thinking either Hornady SPBT or Speer.......or whatever I can get locally really.

Cheers + ATVB

Philip
 
100 grain bt speer, reloader 19, 40.4 grains, i have the same rifle, but having said that it is a good group above.
cheers
richard
 
Thanks guys. It is good to hear of actual experience. I shall see what I can buy and give it a go...I just hope my rifle does stabilize nicely.

Cheers + ATVB

Philip
 
Mine is a PH lightweight, I assume it is 1:10, havent tested it. I expected the 100gr to be poor grouping as everyone tells you a 1:10 wont stabilise 100gr
I couldn't get the 87gr to go lower than 1.5" on my first attempts havent given up as they may need some tweaking.

I got this by complete fluke with the 100gr working my way up to this charge weight. I stopped there and haven't changed anything for the obvious reason!
 
Folks,

I would like to try and reload a 100gr round for my .243.

My rifle is a Sako A11 with 22" 1 : 10 Border barrel.

It shoots 90gr Sako SP and Hornady 87gr BTHP very nicely but I would quite like to go slightly heavier and slightly slower if that makes sense.

Can anyone suggests a readily available 100gr bullet that they have tried or would likely stabilize and maybe shoot well. I currently use Varget powder.

Cheers + ATVB

Philip

I have a Sako A11 standard barrel 1 in 10 twist now some say a 1in 10 wont stabilise a heavy bullet but never had much problem in fact had better results with 100g than I had with 80g

Had good results with Hornady 100g bt, at present using Sierra Prohunter 100g 37 grains Hodgdon's H380 and Remington magnum primers, this is not quite a maximum load Speer's list 39 grains as max but I found groups were not great , also 39 grains whilst listed as a safe max in Speers manual was a little to much for my rifle.


However whilst this combination works well in my rifle, there is no guarantee it will give the same results in another.
 
Hand-loading manuals often recommend Magnum primers with ball powders but it depends a lot on case capacity in my experience. The 30-30 Win loaded with H335 (a ball powder) behind Hornady's 130 grn SP bullet shoots superbly with a Rem 9 1/2 or CCI 200 primers both or which are of the normal type. I also found that normel primers are fine with H380 (another ball powder) in the .270 Win with 130 grain bullets and BCL-2 works well with normal primers in .308 Win.

Oh yes I then found that Reloader 19 would not ignite properly/reliably in my 25-06 without the use of magnum primers yet the same tub of powder worked fine in the .270 with normal primers. Rel 19 of course is a stick type powder :confused: just goes to show that you never stop learning or experimenting with hand-loading.
 
Last edited:
I always found Vit N160 worked well in my .243..better with a 95gn bullet than 100gn though.
However, I think the Sierra Prohunter bullet is great. Does the biz every time & shoots more consistently IMO than either Sierra or Hornady boat tails. Don't know why, just does. Perhaps finding the sweet spot takes more time with a SPBT than a spitzer.
Changing primers can make a difference in how a load shoots, occasionally, quite a dramatic difference!
It's often been said, Fed 210 primers are the most consistent of all.
My personal favourite load (Do not try without working up) was 44.5gn Vit.N160 with Nosler 95gn BT & Rem 9 1/2 primer. OAL 2.490" measured with a comparator.
Cheers, :old:
 
When I had a .243 Tikka T3 use to use 100grn Speer soft point boat tails. Powder I found that worked really really well was H4831SC, and I think i used 43.5-44 grains of H4831SC, was very effective, flat shooting and accurate shot sub 1 inch at 100m. have droped muntie, Roe and Red Stags with his load. my mate uses 100gran speers over H4831SC simular wieght of powder out of a .243 Styer seamed to happily drop hill hinds with out to much of a problem.

Jase.
 
Back
Top