.243 Ackley advice

[Bugs]

Folks. . . . I have dug my old .243 Ackley out of mothballs (built by Bobby Hart many years ago, Remington with a 9-twist hart barrel) and wondered if anyone has any experience with some of the newer powders. I am shooting my old standard of a 105 AMax with 45 grains of H4831 shortcut and getting about 3050 fps out of the 26 inch barrel with excellent accuracy. A number of years ago, I whacked deer out to 500 yards with this load and it worked well so I am kind of reluctant to change. However, I would like to get more velocity without pushing things to the max and was wondering if anyone has any experience with any of the newer powders (i.e. RE26 or similar). If anyone has any advice, please pass it along.

Best,
Mike (central Penna.)

 

[stacy]

NOT RL-26 BUT I HAVE 2 243 ACKLEYS AND I FOUND NONE THAT MY RIFLES LIKE BETTER THAN H-4350 W/105 HVLD'S I'M GOING TO TRY THE NEW IMR-4451 WITH IS EQAVALENT TO H-4350 BUT SOME SAY ITS A TICK FASTER FORGOT U MENTION I HAVE A VERY ACCURATE LOAD WITH H-1000 ALSO W 105'S

 

[germanlongbow]

Not sure about RL 26 but mine loves both RL 22 and 25. Kinda hard on barrels though...

 

[Jeffvn]

I have a 6 Competition Match (very close to the Ackley in capacity). It runs on H1000 and loves the 115 DTACs. Mine runs at 3,100 fps out of a 30" tube without pressure signs in the Nevada desert.

Jeffvn

 

[JLT]

RL-26 is well-suited to the .243 Ackley case. I'm getting an average velocity of 3,305 with 105 gr. Hornady A-Maxs out of an 8 twist 26" barrel (SD 8.2 fps) and excellent accuracy. I settled on a charge weight of 48.8 gr. of RL-26 in Lapua fire-formed brass, lit by a CCI #34 primer. The load is not close to maximum in my rifle, but that load delivered the velocity and accuracy that I was looking for. No reason why it wouldn't deliver the goods with the DTACs, but your 9 twist may not group them well.

Good stuff in the .243 AI in my experience. 6.5-284 Norma, too . . . .

 

[jpretle]

243AI, 30" Brux, Fed 215, 50g.RL26, 3400+FPS
It is a max load!!!! in my lot of Winchester Brass.
Gotta clean about every 20=25rds and i suspect it is going to pretty tuff on the bbl.