.243 Load Advice - Light Bullets

[AKFLshooter]

I'm without Quickload for the moment and need a little advice on some load development. I've got a compact .243 for my son/wife to shoot but find myself wanting to develop a load for plinking/varminting with lighter weight bullets in it. 18" Barrel, 1:9 Twist. Any suggestions on powder/primers/brass/bullets are welcome.

 

[243winxb]

I would not go lighter then a 70 gr bullet. To reduce recoil, the Hodgdon Youth loads with H4895 may be of interest to you.

 

[YZ-80]

I have a couple of .243's and until recently always loaded some combination of IMR 4350 or RL-22 with a 70 grain Nosler BT (Varmints) or 95 grain Nosler BT (deer). In the fall, I'd reset my POI for the deer load and in the spring, for the Varmint load. Those days are over. I now shoot an 85 grain Sierra BTHP exclusively over 42 grains of IMR 4350 in both rifles. I have set them for a 200 yard zero and it serves both my varminting needs and my deer needs. Very "DRT-ish" in both settings and no need to reset my zeros anymore. The Sierras are cheap too, so you can probably plink with them without breaking the bank. Just my .02.

Best,

-YZ

 

[RT2506]

Yep, hard to beat the 85 Sierra HPBT as a one bullet do it all from deer on down in size critters.

 

[jlvandersnick]

I have a 12 twist. so I'm shooting really light bullets. 58gr V-Max
44.4 gr H4895. getting 3925 fps prairie dogs just explode.
also a great coyote or bobcat load....never an exit hole

 

[Jpron]

32 grains of h4895, 95 gr sst. Win brass fed primer. My 11 year old daughter shoots this like it's a 22. She shot a bunch with it last fall at 160 yards one shot. We're getting about 2640 fps

 

[Quintus]

I loves them 70gr B-Tips with H414 and a WLR primer. Also as stated the 85 grain BTHP Game King is kind of a do-all.

 

[MZmoose]

Had great luck with RL15 and 55gr Nosler BT and Varget with Hornady 75gr VMax, both with Win WLR primers. Both shot .5 moa and we're devastating on coyotes, bobcats, and porcupines.