Reloading .243 win.

[alstar80j]

Good afternoon group. New to the site and new to "handloads" and the process along with some of the termonology. I have a couple of questions I need answered before I jump in this with both feet. First off, what is "CUP pressure" ?? How is it determained, is there a "red line" for .243 win ?? How can I calculate this ??
The rifle I just bought is my first upgrade from my Marlin .22 mag. I bought a Remington 700 SPSDM in .243 win cal. I bought it for varnmits, paper, and deer. I read and thought this would be the best "pick one to do all". The problem is to do handloads, there are numerous "recipes". I'm looking for that "pick one to do all" load. Nosler 95gr partition, Barnes 85gr triple shok, with Wichester brass or Remington nickel/brass. Both loads look good on paper using Hodgdon powder. Am I on the right track ?? Better choice ?? Do's OR dont's ?? All comments and advice are welcome. Thank you. Lars

 

[sewwhat89]

If you want a bullet that will do it all for you, consider Sierra's 85 gr GameKing HP. It will work for critters up to deer-size game. Friends of mine have taken deer at 370 yards with this bullet. In my .243, 44.5 gr H414 gives me 3220 fps with the Sierra bullet and 1/2 MOA at 200 m, and the same charge of H414 with 85 gr Nosler Partitions give me 3412 fps. My girlfriend has laid claim to my .243, and she used it and the 85 gr NPT to take a cull spike buck in AL this year at a range of 70 yards. The bullet absolutely vaporized the heart and lungs and left a blood trail that anyone could follow. The deer piled up about 35 yards into the thicket.

If you want to use one powder and possibly a couple bullets for each task you listed, try Berger's 88 or 90 gr bullets with H4350 for paper and varmints out to 5 to 600 yards with ease. Then with about 1 grain less powder, load up the 95 gr Partitions you mentioned. All of your needs would be covered with those two,or three) bullets and one powder.

I would advise against the nickel brass. Go with Nosler custom brass seconds from ShootersProShop.com. It runs a little over Winchester's price but worth it. All the Nosler brass I have used is top notch. I am using it in my 243 FWIW.

If you don't want anything too flashy, but only want to have one load combination for all of your needs, I would focus on the 90 or 95 gr Nosler Ballistic tip. They are tough enough to put down a deer at close range through the boiler room, but they have 'enough' bc to allow you to enjoy long-range critter shoots and paper punching at an affordable price. Second choice would be Sierra's 100 gr SBT.

I have shot 243s for 21 years now, and I will always have one in my safe. Maybe even two one day!

 

[cntryboy1289]

I load the Barnes 85 gr TripleShoks for deer and they do very well. I also load the 95gr CT Ballistic SilverTip as well and both do very well for deer and or short range target work. If this is all your after, then you could load either one and shoot out to 300yds for either one and do very well. If you want a good varmint round, I would recommend using a good varmint load with any of a number of bullets in the varmint class which includes all sorts of good bullets varying in weight up to the 105 Hornady AMax. I use H4350 in my hunting loads as well as my target loads so all I have to change is the bullet I use for both. Good luck with it, I think you will enjoy the .243 for sure.

As far as worrying about CUP or PSI levels, always follow what the loading manual says and start out with a good starting load and then carefully build up with their listed loads. As long as you go up slowly with small increments of powder, you should be able to visually inspect the cases and notice any high pressure signs. If you notice sticky bolf lift and or flattened out primers, you will have a high pressure load and need to back the loads down. Be careful and stick with what the Loading manual suggests as the limits for a load and you should be fine.

 

[Bobs243Ackley]

Hello Lars,

Welcome to the sight. One thing that you will most likely find useful is to open up the new .243 Winchester guide that was just put up on the sight. There is a lot of good information available to you on it. I think that you are finding a lot of good information from the folks on the forum and all of us are always available to answer your questions.

Cordially,
Bob Blaine

 

[Aussie_bob]

I have used my 243 on critters over here in Australia up to medium sized pigs 80Kg., 85gr Gamekings 44.8gr AR2213sc=H4831) haven`t hunted deer as we dont have to many up here in Nth Queensland but i thought the whole idea was to stalk deer, yet i see all these people shooting them from 300yards With your best 85gr projectile you are down to 1,000ft/lb of energy.
The .243 will work well on small game at long range but for the larger game use some of those so called hunting skills and get in a wee bit closer.

 

[alstar80j]

Thanks to all for the replies and "helpful hints". The jist of what I am hearing confirms my suspicions. My first time around to see how things go, I think the Barnes Triple Shok 85gr and the Nosler Partition 95gr with H4350 will be the first step of the testing pool. I must agree that the lighter bullets,ie... 58 to 87gr) will undoubtedly be faster and be more of a "tack driver" at long distance but, to switch from light to heavy will involve scope adjustments every time you switch. If I am in the neighborhood of consistency at 300yds. all the time with a heavier bullet, I will achieve my goal of "one round to do everything". I am trying to take into consideration my location also. Living in WNY is not like Texas or New Mexico where 1000yd shots are readily available. If you are constant in the 3-500yd.range around here, you just covered 80% of the open areas available to shoot anything. There is no sense in building a 750yd shooter if only 10% of available shooting is 750yds when most shots will be 500yds or less. Some of you might think that this is a strange way to think but, for now I think it's a good way to start. Again thanks to all for the ideas and help. I will let you know what the range says.................