85 gr HPBT Sierra / 243 Win 1 in 10 twist / Coues Deer Load

[PowellSixO]

Hey guys I'm in need of your help, with a load for Coues deer. I had a great round loaded for the 87gr Berger VLD, but I'm having a heck of a time finding those little buggers for sale. I figured I'd play around with a new load so I don't have to worry about finding the Bergers. I can always fall back on the Bergers if this new bullet doesn't work. So anyways, after a lot of reading I landed on the Sierra 85 gr HPBT for my 243 Win. I've got a 1 in 10 twist barrel, so I didn't want to go any heavier than an 85-87 gr bullet. The 85 gr HPBT Sierra bullets seem to be a tried and true bullet, that should be perfect for a little Coues deer. I don't plan on shooting any further than 500 yards. I'll try to keep my shots 400 and shorter unless the conditions are perfect. I've got 100 brand new pieces of norma brass, plenty of winchester wlr primers (5000 of them), and plenty of Hodgdon H4350 powder. I'm not trying to set any speed records here. I'm just trying to find an accurate load for a Coues deer hunt that I might have coming up. According to Hodgdon the max load for an 85 gr bullet, is 40.5 gr. But the bullet they have listed is a Barnes TSX. I found my max load with the 87 gr Berger VLD to be 43.5 gr of H4350. From reading, I've seen people claim anywhere from 40 gr all the way up to 45 gr. I don't want to load 40+ rounds to find my max load if I don't have to. I was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction with this load, and possibly share your own experiences with the 85 gr HPBT Sierra. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

 

[johnnyk]

Very accurate bullet in my experience. I regularly shot 2" groups at 500yds with this bullet, 37.5gn of IMR3031 and BR2's. Velocity was 3200+ in a stock Win 70 HVB. JohnnyK.

 

[AZShooter]

I think you should do a work up with several incrementally greater powder charges. Start around 38 grains loading up four cases then move to 39, 40, 41 etc. Get a feel for what the rifle likes. You can go for 1/2 grain increments later if it is necessary.

Good news! Bullets.com has the Berger bullet that you use. They are even on sale.

6mm/.243 87 Grain Match VLD Hunting Bullets, Case of 100 | Bullets.com

 

[roninflag]

I load for a bunch of .243s. I have harvested a lot of game with the 85 sierra bthp. coues, mule deer and antelope , 60 + coyotes. . I usually use I-4064 or varget. 36-38 grains. I have loaded up to 44.5 I- 4350. lapua brass and 210m or br-2 primers. the 10 twist will easily handle 95 nosler bt and 100 grain spbt.

 

[PowellSixO]

Very accurate bullet in my experience. I regularly shot 2" groups at 500yds with this bullet, 37.5gn of IMR3031 and BR2's. Velocity was 3200+ in a stock Win 70 HVB. JohnnyK.

Thanks for the reply. When you achieved your best accuracy, what seating depth did you end up with? How far off the lands? Thanks.

 

[PowellSixO]

I think you should do a work up with several incrementally greater powder charges. Start around 38 grains loading up four cases then move to 39, 40, 41 etc. Get a feel for what the rifle likes. You can go for 1/2 grain increments later if it is necessary.

Good news! Bullets.com has the Berger bullet that you use. They are even on sale.

6mm/.243 87 Grain Match VLD Hunting Bullets, Case of 100 | Bullets.com

I agree with you. This is how I always come up with my loads. I don't just pick one and take it to the range. I was just trying to find a close starting point. I like to load 5 of each weight when trying to find my max load, and shoot 5 shot groups on my way to max load. That way I can kind of save some time in my load development. I can usually take my most accurate powder weight and fine tune the load with primers and bullet seating depths. With my method though, if you don't have a good starting point (published min and max loads ), it takes a while to develop a new load. The more information I can get before I start the better.

 

[PowellSixO]

I load for a bunch of .243s. I have harvested a lot of game with the 85 sierra bthp. coues, mule deer and antelope , 60 + coyotes. . I usually use I-4064 or varget. 36-38 grains. I have loaded up to 44.5 I- 4350. lapua brass and 210m or br-2 primers. the 10 twist will easily handle 95 nosler bt and 100 grain spbt.

I'm encouraged to see people having luck with these bullets. This rifle is used pretty much for coues deer and whitetail deer, plus coyote tournaments when it gets windy (I use my 204 ruger when the weather is nice). I think this should be a great bullet for my intended use. I'd love to use some different powders but I'm kind of limited in my powders. I have h1000 but I'm saving it for my 7mm Rem mag. I also have some reloader 10x for my 204. I also have varget, and h4350. I'd like to use the h4350 if possible.

You listed that you have gone as high as 44.5 gr of I 4350. Is that imr 4350? Or did you mean to put h4350? Thanks.

 

[wbm]

Killed a lot of Coues deer in the Chiricahua Mountains for over a decade. The 85gr Sierra HPBT is all I ever used in my 243. H4831 gave me the best performance...If you use H4831 start at 43.5gr. OAL=2.650"

 

[PowellSixO]

Killed a lot of Coues deer in the Chiricahua Mountains for over a decade. The 85gr Sierra HPBT is all I ever used in my 243. H4831 gave me the best performance...If you use H4831 start at 43.5gr. OAL=2.650"

Thanks for that information. 2.650" is th he exact measurement I get, when these bullets kiss the lands. I'm going to load my first loads .005" off the lands, because in my experience my 243 really likes every bullet ive tried loaded close to the lands. The closer the better. When I measure my oal with my bullet comparator, I get 2.255". So I'm going to load them to 2.250". Now I just need to find a min and max for H4350. I'd love to try some different powders, but I'm really limited where I live.

 

[roninflag]

You listed that you have gone as high as 44.5 gr of I 4350. Is that imr 4350? Or did you mean to put h4350? Thanks.
that was with imr 4350, but h-4350 is a great one to use also; I shot most of the game with imr 4350 some years ago. . my brother uses the same load you do for coyotes 45.5 of varget. 55gr. awesome results.
__________________

 

[PowellSixO]

You listed that you have gone as high as 44.5 gr of I 4350. Is that imr 4350? Or did you mean to put h4350? Thanks.
that was with imr 4350, but h-4350 is a great one to use also; I shot most of the game with imr 4350 some years ago. . my brother uses the same load you do for coyotes 45.5 of varget. 55gr. awesome results.
__________________

I was running varget with some 55gr nosler bt's. It was a bad mamajama too. I was running them just over 3900 fps. But now that I've got my 204 dialed in for coyotes, I'm trying to fill the gap between my 7mm and my 204. Plus i dont want to burn up my barrel too soon. My 7mm has been great for elk and mulies, but it's just too much gun for a coues. Haha. The 243 I'm working this load up for has been a deer killing machine. I've killed 4 whitetail bucks with, 1 whitetail doe, 2 muley bucks, and a muley doe. I know it's going to be a perfect gun for coues.

I've done some more digging, and it looks like I need to start around 42gr of h4350, and work my way up to 45gr or so. Time to sit down and load some rounds.

 

[PowellSixO]

I ran through a bunch of my different manuals, searched through loaddata, and never found an exact answer to my question. The closest I got was for IMR4350. With all the reading I did, I got a lot of conflicting information. Some would say 40.5 was the max load for an 85 gr bullet using H4350. Some would say 45.5 gr was the max load for an 85 gr bullet using the H4350. So I started studying the different bullets listed, and believe I've found the reason for the difference in the max loads listed. The bullets listed with the lower max load, were the bullets that were all copper. The ones listed with the higher max load, where copper jacketed with lead cores. This makes sense to me now. From the books I've read, they say that all copper bullets create more pressure than the lead core bullets. So it would make sense that the max load would be lower. Does this sound right?

So after all this I believe I'm going to load up some loads and try and make it to the range one night this week. I'm going to start at 40gr and make 3 loads for each weight, stepping the powder charge up .5 gr at a time until I reach 45.5 gr. Fingers crossed I'll find a winner.

 

[PowellSixO]

Well I finally got around to loading up some rounds. I'm going out in the morning when it's cool to shoot these. I ended up starting at 38 gr, and worked up in half grain increments to 42.5 grs. With my 87 gr Bergers, I found 43 gr to be max with h4350. If I don't reach my max I'll load some more up. But this should be a good, and safe, starting point for me. I also made a target with 10 little targets on it so that I can accurately document my groups, side by side. Wish me luck.

 

[PowellSixO]

Well guys, I'm almost too embarrassed to post my results. This is by far the worst grouping I've ever had while finding a load. I had two groups that were decent (under moa), and the rest were just awful. Lol. One or two groups were over 2 inches. The very first group is the only group I have an explanation for. The first shot was on a clean barrel, so I fired the second shot to see where I was on paper after fouling the barrel. The third shot I made an adjustment to raise the point of impact, and did not change the horizontal adjustment so I could see if I had any horizontal stringing. My second group showed promise, and then it just went down hill quick. I don't know if it was me, or if it was the rifle. Or if it was the load. Ive got vertical and horizontal stringing, and it almost looks like I was shooting 00 buck shot instead of a rifle. Lol. I'm going to have to do it all over again. I'm also going to go through the rifle and tighten everything back up. Hopefully it's not my scope. I'll update once I find the solution.

Here are some pictures of the massacre.