243 Special Sauce?

[YZ-80]

View attachment 162151 View attachment 162151 ~3,200 fps with a 100 grain....hello !!

Wow! That's 240 Wby mag territory! My other .243s a Cooper Custom Classic w/ 24" tube. You can bet yer bottom dollar I'll be grabbing a pound of that RL-26 when I see one!

 

[Wedgy]

Wow! That's 240 Wby mag territory! My other .243s a Cooper Custom Classic w/ 24" tube. You can bet yer bottom dollar I'll be grabbing a pound of that RL-26 when I see one!

I was going to build an AI .243 but I stumbled onto Rl26 people said I was going to blow myself up when I first reported the speed...LOL
Alliant didn't have any data out and people were comparing it to Reloder 25

 

[YZ-80]

I was going to build an AI .243 but I stumbled onto Rl26 people said I was going to blow myself up when I first reported the speed...LOL
Alliant didn't have any data out and people were comparing it to Reloder 25

One has to wonder how fast it will push an 85 grain Sierra BTHP? Also, I'm assuming these are compressed loads or a drop tube is necessary? Very interesting indeed!

 

[Wedgy]

One has to wonder how fast it will push an 85 grain Sierra BTHP? Also, I'm assuming these are compressed loads or a drop tube is necessary? Very interesting indeed!

I didn't get to compressed loads as RL 26 is very dense but you'll need more with an 85 grain bullet, but you may have more space also depending on where it's seated.

 

[West Calamus]

Hornady min. recommended twist rate for 103 eld-x is 1-8in. I use 44.2 gr of superperformace on 100 gr. bullets. MV of 3020 fps. Superperformace is about $4 a can cheaper then IMR or RL powder. The super is a really flow-able powder. I don't think you can go wrong with either the the sierra or speer 100 spitzer boat tails. Speer is on sale at Midway for 17 cents now. (not factory seconds) Whenever I have accuracy issues with my long leade factory rifles shooting whiz bang long tangent plastic tipped bullets I always go back to the old school spitzer boat tails to solve the accuracy. My theory is that due to magazine length COL restrictions you cant get the eld's close enough to the lands but the longer bullet barrel on the speer's can greatly reduce the bullet jump. What is the psi on the RL 26 at 3200 fps? that is 240 weatherby performance and probably has the same recoil as a 240 Mag.

 

[slas]

What ever happened to Varget? 85 Sierra and Varget have been accurate and deadly in my 243 for several years.

 

[Capt RB]

What ever happened to Varget? 85 Sierra and Varget have been accurate and deadly in my 243 for several years.

Try 100V for the 85's I get stellar accuracy and speed with low teens ES. I use varget more for 60-75 grain pills. They shoot well but es is quite high I assume due to load density not being optimized