Today at the Bench.....

[JeffreyDeGraff]

JTD, what are you planning on loading for your .243? I’ve played around with mine for years and shot a small variety of bullets. My Savage 11 doesn’t seem to hate anything I’ve fed it as usually with a bit of tinkering all loads have been hunting worthy. It’s even a few years since I touched anything besides the Barnes 85 TSX in mine, but I know I’ve shot the 95gr SST, 100gr Sierra ProHunter as well as a Sierra GameKing too, I just don’t remember which one. I some old 65gr Speer or Hornady HP’s loaded up for mine that I’ve wanted to test for a couple years, but there is just always something more pressing to get to when I’m at the range. I can honestly say I’ve never shot a deer with the .243 as it is always my loaner rifle. Loaned it to my brother for a few years when he was getting into hunting during high school, and didn’t buy his own rifle. Now my wife seems to have commandeered it until we have her 6mm all finished for her. Someday I’ll get to shoot it! Ha!


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I’m going to load some 95gr sst this go around. Ive also got 100gr Hornady interlocks and nosler partitions.


JTD

[Jbotto]

Those SST’s were very accurate for me, but in the close ranges of MN deer hunting we never got one to exit. Made a mess of the deer inside and never made anything hard to track as you watched them tip over shortly after being shot. Honestly, the SST’s were one of the main reasons we went to Barnes so they would hold up better. Not sure if the bullet has changed any, and everyone looks for something different in hunting bullets, but I bet you find a very accurate load with them! [emoji106]


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[JeffreyDeGraff]

Those SST’s were very accurate for me, but in the close ranges of MN deer hunting we never got one to exit. Made a mess of the deer inside and never made anything hard to track as you watched them tip over shortly after being shot. Honestly, the SST’s were one of the main reasons we went to Barnes so they would hold up better. Not sure if the bullet has changed any, and everyone looks for something different in hunting bullets, but I bet you find a very accurate load with them! [emoji106]


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Ive heard that about the sst’s from multiple people. I have 80 of them so I figured what the hell. I’m not a huge fan of the sst in general, but I love trying new and different things.


JTD

[JeffreyDeGraff]

I got a few things done to mark off my list. 35 whelen and 338-06 brass has been sonic cleaned. 257 Roberts brass is primed. My Hornady 6.5 creedmoor brass is sized trimmed tumbled and primed. Tomorrow I will start working on my new starline 6.5 creedmoor brass.


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

[JeffreyDeGraff]

Got the starline creedmoor brass sized and primed. I was impressed, except for a few pieces, all of the brass was +/- .001” of the book trim length, and all of it was was within .001” to the datum on the shoulder.

I started on my 243 brass and ran into a situation. My Hornady dies would not size the brass enough to where the bolt would close with minimal resistance. I remembered I had bought a set of lee dies, from jbotto here on the forum, so I dug those out and bam, it was perfect. I got 10 pieces done before bed, and hoping to get the rest finished today.

After 243 comes 338-06.


JTD

[Jbotto]

Glad those dies are working well for you JTD!


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[Flyeralan]

Got the starline creedmoor brass sized and primed. I was impressed, except for a few pieces, all of the brass was +/- .001” of the book trim length, and all of it was was within .001” to the datum on the shoulder.

I started on my 243 brass and ran into a situation. My Hornady dies would not size the brass enough to where the bolt would close with minimal resistance. I remembered I had bought a set of lee dies, from jbotto here on the forum, so I dug those out and bam, it was perfect. I got 10 pieces done before bed, and hoping to get the rest finished today.

After 243 comes 338-06.


JTD

I have been reloading 243 for nearly 5 decades and had never had this problem until last year reloading for a Howa 1500 that my wife shoots. I just couldn't get the dies to resize quite enough to close the bolt cleanly. Unfortunately mine were Redding dies of which I am a big fan, got out a set of RCBS that I had and everything is ok. Just seems weird that you ran into the same issue.

[JeffreyDeGraff]

I have been reloading 243 for nearly 5 decades and had never had this problem until last year reloading for a Howa 1500 that my wife shoots. I just couldn't get the dies to resize quite enough to close the bolt cleanly. Unfortunately mine were Redding dies of which I am a big fan, got out a set of RCBS that I had and everything is ok. Just seems weird that you ran into the same issue.

That is pretty interesting. Same problem, same fix. I bet another fix would be to use the Redding shell holder set that has different height shell holders.

Ive had to sand down a couple shell holders through the years, in order to be able to size my brass. Just switching dies was much easier tho.


JTD