IMR 4064 in .243

Combatpreacher

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I,m looking for some good starting loads or even your favorite "pet" load in .243 with IMR4064 powder...

I have a factory Rem. 700, .243, 20" Barrel with 1-91/4 twist. I'll be using Hornady Brass, Federal Match primers (all I have on hand) and 2 different bullets:

Hornady 75gr. V-Max and Hornady 100gr. InterLock BTSP

Any help or suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
4064 is too fast for the .243, I don't know why, but a lot of people use it. I've done extensive testing with a Remington 700 Varmint 1-9 1/8 twist rifle with a 26" barrel. With 70-87gr bullets IMR 4350 and IMR 4451 worked the best for me. I understand you have a shorter barrel, but I would try IMR 4350 in it. I've used this powder in Rifles with 22" barrels as well and it worked great. It also worked well with 100gr Sierra's.
 
4064 is too fast for the .243, I don't know why, but a lot of people use it. I've done extensive testing with a Remington 700 Varmint 1-9 1/8 twist rifle with a 26" barrel. With 70-87gr bullets IMR 4350 and IMR 4451 worked the best for me. I understand you have a shorter barrel, but I would try IMR 4350 in it. I've used this powder in Rifles with 22" barrels as well and it worked great. It also worked well with 100gr Sierra's.
Thanks, I will most likely pick up some 4350 and give it a try with some of the 100's. i just have 2 lbs of 4064 sitting on the shelf and wanted to give it a go. Appreciate the advice.
 
4064 works great in the 243. I've had good luck with the 87 grain Bergers and 4064.
 
I can't remember the load offhand but it was in a 10 twist barrel so your results are gonna be different with a faster twist barrel. I'd work up some loads and shoot them. That's the only way you're gonna find out what's best.
 
we've shot thousands of rounds of 243 with 100 hdy and 4064. usually the load is 37.5 gr 4064 with a standard primer. My Dad shot this load through a rem 700 and 2 win 670 rifles for around 20 years and killed north of 100 deer with it. I killed my first deer with that load...
 
Looked in my old Sierra manual they used FC brass 75 GN Sierra hp col2.625 imr 4064 their best most accurate load was 38.1 grns 3300 fps 26 in bbl 1/10 twist . 100 grn bullet with same powder was 34.5 gns imr 4064 for 2800 fps there 100 GN bullet col 2.650 primer was fed 210m also 26 in bbl used ,however there best load was with imr 4350 with their 100 bullet accuracy charge was 39.1 gns for 2800 fps !
 
Right from the Hornady Load book.

IMR 4064 75 grain V-max COL of 2.640, Primer Federal 210, Lowest charge is 33 grains for 2900 fps Max charge is 38.9 grains @ 3300 fps.

IMR 4064 100 grain BTSP COL 2.630, Primer Federal 210, Lowest charge is 29.4 grains for 2500 fps , Max charge is 34.2 @ 2800 FPS.

Another good powder would be IMR 4831

The testing was done with a 24 Inch 1:10 twist barrel.

Hope this helps. They do not offer load data with IMR 4350. But that is all I use in my .243 with the 75 grain V-Max.
 
The 243 is a very versatile caliber that can usually shoot great with slow or fast powders and heavy or light bullets. Of course, twist is a big factor but all things said, even a 10 twist can shoot a pretty heavy bullet. 4064 works fine and if you have some, there's no reason not to use it up. Slower powders may well optimize things on the fps side of things but when you find a load that shoots well, does a few feet per second really matter that much? I find RL-25, which is considerably slower, gives good speed and accuracy but I've used Varget and it's done well too.

Personally, I feel the 243 is a barrel burner only because it's so darn much fun to experiment new loads with.
 
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