Today at the Bench.....

[JeffreyDeGraff]

I've killed many a PA groundhog with the 243 as well, I have always had good success with IMR 4350 for accuracy. My 300 BO is an AR, BCA upper that I won in a raffle (otherwise I would probably not still own an AR) on a PSA lower. Nothing special, but it eats just about anything I feed it and is reasonably accurate. Been working with an array of 175gn and up for subsonic and am finally trying the Berry's 220gn this weekend. AA1680, and a similar surplus have been pretty good suppressed, but IMR 4227 has been so quiet that I am focused on it to see if I can get it to cycle consistently. At any rate, I am having fun learning.

Ive used 243 on many prairie dog hunts. What bullet do you use for deer?

I have a bolt action blackout. Ive had great success with 180gr plated with unique. Super quiet but won’t cycle an AR. 4227 was almost as quiet and is supposed to cycle the action. I didn’t like 1680.


JTD

[Flyeralan]

Ive used 243 on many prairie dog hunts. What bullet do you use for deer?

I have a bolt action blackout. Ive had great success with 180gr plated with unique. Super quiet but won’t cycle an AR. 4227 was almost as quiet and is supposed to cycle the action. I didn’t like 1680.


JTD

JTD, My favorite is the 95 grain Nosler Partition, I have used the 100 grain Partition with equal success and the 85 grain with good success. In recent years I have had trouble finding the Partition and am loading the Barnes 85 grain TSX BT, though that has yet to be proven in my world as I have been unsuccessful in getting shooting for my wife and daughter as they began hunting in ernest. The Nosler Partition has put down so many whitetails for me that I wouldn't hesitate to use them and may switch back as the supply reappears. That is about 45 years of hunting PA white tails for me and almost exclusively with the Nosler. I have no doubt about it's capability in the 243.

Now, the blackout. The surplus powder I use is a 1680 clone and I have 8 lbs of it so I will use it. No trouble with cycling my AR but it is not as quiet and is a bit dirty. I just shot 30 rounds of the Berry 220 grain plated today and they performed flawlessly. I again hit the charge perfectly as the hottest loads were 1/2 sub and 1/2 super. The subs were nice and the accuracy off a very unpleasant rest was acceptable. Now that I have identified where the subsonic begins, I will work on the accuracy issue with a much better rest. Today was strictly a data point day with the chronograph. Again, as much success with getting my AR to cycle with IMR 4227 makes me wish I had bought 8 lbs of that instead of this surplus. I can't believe the difference in noise between the two and so far getting this AR to cycle has been easy.

[JeffreyDeGraff]

JTD, My favorite is the 95 grain Nosler Partition, I have used the 100 grain Partition with equal success and the 85 grain with good success. In recent years I have had trouble finding the Partition and am loading the Barnes 85 grain TSX BT, though that has yet to be proven in my world as I have been unsuccessful in getting shooting for my wife and daughter as they began hunting in ernest. The Nosler Partition has put down so many whitetails for me that I wouldn't hesitate to use them and may switch back as the supply reappears. That is about 45 years of hunting PA white tails for me and almost exclusively with the Nosler. I have no doubt about it's capability in the 243.

Now, the blackout. The surplus powder I use is a 1680 clone and I have 8 lbs of it so I will use it. No trouble with cycling my AR but it is not as quiet and is a bit dirty. I just shot 30 rounds of the Berry 220 grain plated today and they performed flawlessly. I again hit the charge perfectly as the hottest loads were 1/2 sub and 1/2 super. The subs were nice and the accuracy off a very unpleasant rest was acceptable. Now that I have identified where the subsonic begins, I will work on the accuracy issue with a much better rest. Today was strictly a data point day with the chronograph. Again, as much success with getting my AR to cycle with IMR 4227 makes me wish I had bought 8 lbs of that instead of this surplus. I can't believe the difference in noise between the two and so far getting this AR to cycle has been easy.

The partition is pretty much a favorite of mine in most calibers. They just plain work.

Seems you’ve got you blackout squared away.


JTD