.243 load for yotes...and bigger.

[Random guy]

Looking through the reloading room I have a TON of .243 lead and brass. Might as well take that out for yotes. Those that reload what are you finding for a good load? Grains, tips powder etc etc. I also need to burn up some IMR4350 so guessing that is going to be the powder, just curious what has worked well to get a starting point.

[Grayfox]

Sorry Jonny,

I don't reload yet but it is on the short list for Christmas though. Not to jack your thread but what brand of reloader do you use and would you recommend it. I've been looking hard at the Hornady lock and load.

Rob

[K_Josh87]

i have the hornady lnl single stage, works great... Johny, I have been loading .58gr v maxs for my .243... i would have to look at my book for powder and grains of powder... i have not loaded any since winter...

[Random guy]

I use a RCBS press with a blackened side from the fire in 1975. It is super simple and works well. Of course I still use a spoon into the scale for powder, a homemade trickler and the recipe for .270 deer loads is written in the back of my reloading book published in 1971. Not excatly current with the realoding stuff, but the laods still shoot better then I do.

Kunz_Josh, does that lighter .58gr hold in the wind ok? i tried the super light stuff one and had bad wind drift, but I also had them loaded on the light side.

[picksbigwagon]

I too have loaded and used the 58 gr vmax, Wth varget for powder, I had better succes with 70 grain nosler partion tip and 42 gr. of varget. My hornady book doesn't list 4350 as a good powder until you get into the 75 gr vmax. Reloader 15 and varget have been really good powders to me with the smaller pills in both the 223 and 243 calibers.

Greyfox, when you do start reloading, I suggest a turret style press where you can set the dies in the turret press and change turrets easily with out have to switch out the dies all the time. I use a lee classic turret a buddy uses the hornady turret style.

[Whopper Stopper]

I do quite a bit of reloading and the 243 is one of my favorites. I usually stick with Nosler or Sierra bullets. The ballistic tips are nice as they do a good job in controlling expansion. Some bullets you have to run at higher velocities to get good expansion whereas the ballistic tips, even at slower speeds, mushroom out nicely.

I have shot many deer size critters with the 243 and barrels of various varmints. The lighter weight bullets will drift even when pushing speeds on the upper end of the scale. For most things I settle on the 80 grain bullet and usually use the 100 grain on deer. For coyotes out to 300 yards I would think the 80 grain would be perfect. If you want to get into the 400 yard range, then you most likely, will want the 100 grain to help with wind drift.

As far as loads go, every rifle is different. I think accuracy has more to do with seating depth then wringing out top speeds. With the IMR 4350 for 80 grainers , start at about 43 grains and work up to about 45grains in 1/10 grain increments. Just watch for usual signs that you are approaching top end for your rig. For 100 grainers start out at 39.5 and work it toward 41.5 grains checking along the way. My records show that with IMR 4350, 41 grains was where my gun shot the best when seating bullets .010 off the lands. I always use H380 for my 100 grain bullets.

Hope some of this helps. Like I sent you on FB, let me know when you get your schedule book out for tip up fishing for northern. I would like to set something up.

WS

[K_Josh87]

Johnny,m the load i have worked up is decent, could be better... my problem is I think I have 500 58 graun v maxs that I got free when I bought my press...so i will be loading a bunch of those yet. I hve tried the 65s with out any better luck... but this year hope to try the 80s ish range of bullets to see if I can get to driving tacks, or decent at 300+ yds....

[fishuhalik]

Johnny, it's a common misconception that smaller bullets drift more. The exact opposite is true. A larger bullet, moving slower, has more surface and catches more wind, and also is exposed to the wind for longer. A smaller bullet moving at greater speed will always, always drift less. Check any ballistics calculator. The reason extreme long range shooters (1200+ yds) are using .30 or bigger is the bigger bullet will spin farther without starting to tumble.

[fishuhalik]

85 gr 25-06 at 3470 fps

Range (yd) Drop (in) Drop (moa) Wind. (in) Wind. (moa) Veloc. (fps) Energy (ft-lbs) Time (sec)

25 -0.83 -3.18 0.04 0.17 3389.67 2174.03 0.02

50 -0.35 -0.68 0.18 0.35 3310.86 2074.11 0.04

75 -0.07 -0.09 0.41 0.52 3233.51 1978.34 0.07

100 0 0 0.74 0.71 3157.55 1886.49 0.09

125 -0.14 -0.11 1.17 0.89 3082.92 1798.37 0.11

150 -0.52 -0.33 1.69 1.08 3009.57 1713.81 0.14

175 -1.13 -0.61 2.33 1.27 2937.44 1632.64 0.16

200 -1.99 -0.95 3.08 1.47 2866.49 1554.73 0.19

225 -3.11 -1.32 3.93 1.67 2796.67 1479.91 0.22

250 -4.52 -1.72 4.91 1.87 2727.94 1408.06 0.24

275 -6.21 -2.16 6 2.09 2660.25 1339.06 0.27

300 -8.21 -2.61 7.23 2.3 2593.57 1272.77 0.3

325 -10.53 -3.09 8.58 2.52 2527.87 1209.1 0.33

350 -13.19 -3.6 10.06 2.75 2463.11 1147.95 0.36

375 -16.21 -4.13 11.69 2.98 2399.3 1089.24 0.39

400 -19.6 -4.68 13.46 3.21 2336.41 1032.88 0.42

425 -23.4 -5.26 15.38 3.46 2274.44 978.82 0.45

450 -27.61 -5.86 17.46 3.71 2213.37 926.96 0.49

475 -32.26 -6.49 19.7 3.96 2153.21 877.25 0.52

500 -37.38 -7.14 22.12 4.22 2093.99 829.66 0.56

525 -42.99 -7.82 24.71 4.49 2035.73 784.14 0.59

550 -49.13 -8.53 27.48 4.77 1978.45 740.63 0.63

575 -55.82 -9.27 30.44 5.06 1922.18 699.1 0.67

600 -63.09 -10.04 33.61 5.35 1866.95 659.5 0.71

625 -70.99 -10.85 36.98 5.65 1812.79 621.8 0.75

650 -79.55 -11.69 40.57 5.96 1759.77 585.95 0.79

675 -88.81 -12.56 44.38 6.28 1707.92 551.94 0.84

700 -98.81 -13.48 48.42 6.61 1657.32 519.71 0.88

725 -109.6 -14.44 52.7 6.94 1608.01 489.25 0.93

750 -121.22 -15.43 57.23 7.29 1560.07 460.51 0.97

775 -133.74 -16.48 62.02 7.64 1513.57 433.47 1.02

800 -147.21 -17.57 67.07 8.01 1468.59 408.09 1.07

825 -161.67 -18.71 72.39 8.38 1425.22 384.34 1.12

850 -177.21 -19.91 77.99 8.76 1383.52 362.18 1.18

875 -193.88 -21.16 83.87 9.15 1343.61 341.59 1.23

900 -211.74 -22.47 90.04 9.55 1305.61 322.54 1.29

925 -230.88 -23.84 96.49 9.96 1269.55 304.97 1.35

950 -251.37 -25.27 103.23 10.38 1235.58 288.86 1.41

975 -273.27 -26.76 110.25 10.8 1203.78 274.19 1.47

1000 -296.67 -28.33 117.56 11.23 1174.23 260.89 1.53

100 gr at 3220 fps

Range (yd) Drop (in) Drop (moa) Wind. (in) Wind. (moa) Veloc. (fps) Energy (ft-lbs) Time (sec)

25 -0.79 -3 0.05 0.19 3144.29 2200.78 0.02

50 -0.29 -0.55 0.2 0.38 3069.88 2097.86 0.05

75 -0.02 -0.03 0.45 0.57 2996.75 1999.1 0.07

100 0 0 0.81 0.77 2924.83 1904.3 0.1

125 -0.23 -0.17 1.28 0.98 2854.08 1813.29 0.12

150 -0.72 -0.46 1.86 1.19 2784.46 1725.9 0.15

175 -1.5 -0.82 2.56 1.4 2715.91 1641.97 0.18

200 -2.57 -1.23 3.39 1.62 2648.41 1561.36 0.21

225 -3.94 -1.67 4.33 1.84 2581.9 1483.93 0.23

250 -5.64 -2.16 5.41 2.07 2516.36 1409.55 0.26

275 -7.69 -2.67 6.63 2.3 2451.78 1338.12 0.29

300 -10.09 -3.21 7.98 2.54 2388.13 1269.54 0.32

325 -12.88 -3.78 9.49 2.79 2325.4 1203.73 0.36

350 -16.06 -4.38 11.14 3.04 2263.58 1140.58 0.39

375 -19.67 -5.01 12.95 3.3 2202.67 1080.02 0.42

400 -23.72 -5.66 14.93 3.56 2142.68 1021.99 0.46

425 -28.25 -6.35 17.08 3.84 2083.62 966.43 0.49

450 -33.28 -7.06 19.4 4.12 2025.54 913.3 0.53

475 -38.83 -7.81 21.92 4.41 1968.43 862.53 0.57

500 -44.94 -8.58 24.62 4.7 1912.34 814.07 0.61

525 -51.65 -9.39 27.52 5.01 1857.29 767.88 0.65

550 -58.98 -10.24 30.64 5.32 1803.33 723.91 0.69

575 -66.98 -11.12 33.97 5.64 1750.51 682.12 0.73

600 -75.69 -12.05 37.52 5.97 1698.88 642.48 0.77

625 -85.15 -13.01 41.31 6.31 1648.51 604.94 0.82

650 -95.4 -14.02 45.34 6.66 1599.44 569.47 0.86

675 -106.5 -15.07 49.62 7.02 1551.74 536.01 0.91

700 -118.5 -16.17 54.16 7.39 1505.51 504.54 0.96

725 -131.46 -17.32 58.97 7.77 1460.8 475.02 1.01

750 -145.44 -18.52 64.04 8.15 1417.71 447.41 1.06

775 -160.49 -19.77 69.39 8.55 1376.33 421.68 1.12

800 -176.68 -21.09 75.03 8.96 1336.74 397.77 1.17

825 -194.09 -22.47 80.95 9.37 1299.08 375.67 1.23

850 -212.78 -23.91 87.16 9.79 1263.38 355.3 1.29

875 -232.83 -25.41 93.65 10.22 1229.79 336.66 1.35

900 -254.32 -26.98 100.43 10.66 1198.39 319.69 1.41

925 -277.31 -28.63 107.49 11.1 1169.23 304.32 1.47

950 -301.89 -30.35 114.82 11.54 1142.32 290.48 1.54

975 -328.13 -32.14 122.41 11.99 1117.58 278.03 1.6

1000 -356.1 -34.01 130.25 12.44 1094.86 266.84 1.67

[fishuhalik]

This with a 10 mph 90 degree crosswind

[K_Josh87]

really depends on what the gun likes too...

[Random guy]

The Seko likes the heavy stuff. 95 grain Nosler Partition Spitzer at 40.5 grains of 4350. Shoots way better then I do now with a little drop at 3OO yards but most of my territory is 200 yard max shot.

It really did not like the 80 grain boat tails, kept tumbling them no matter what I did. Deadly accurate but dropped like a rock was the 100 grain Hornady round nose at 38 grains. Then I heard the story from my grandfather about the 105 grain loads they tried in the the 1970's. He laughed you could cut down a tree but smoke would roll out of the barrel long after the shot, thats when they decided it might be a bad idea.

[klecker]

My Remington 700 sps dm likes this load. 100 GR. Hornady BTSP, 32.5 GR Varget. Also likes same bullet with 35 gr of H414.

[K_Josh87]

Yeah, the 58 gr v max load I have for mine isn't a tack driver... it will kill a yote... and one thing I like about the v maxs is once they hit something, they pretty well blow apart... which is important for me down here in cornfield county...