slower burning powders used in the .243 winchester

[vegas steve]

today at the range i tried a slower burning (reloader 22)powder in my .243 win with the 87 grain hornaday vmax and it grouped very well. i also noticed that the barrel did not heat up as fast and the barrel was more evenly heated than my normaly used powders such as h414 and h380. the load that surprised me was 44 grains of reloader 22 behind an 87 grain vmax seated .010 from the lands. my question is will this load promote barrel life or possibly wear my barrel faster?

 

[ZSteinle]

by rights it should be easier on a barrel. Will you actually notice a difference, i doubt it.

 

[Trikstr]

I had good luck with IMR7828(not SSC) in my brothers 243 with 95 grain Partitions.

 

[vegas steve]

hmm i think my dad has some 7828. thats good info, thanks brother i'll look into that.

 

[Joe King]

My 243 has a real big appetite for Rl22 with 95-100gr noslers, it really doesn't care which ones I feed it.

 

[vegas steve]

thats good news. i just hope that this combo doesn't promote increased barrel wear.i'm hoping for just the opposite

 

[wadevb1]

My 243 also performs well with 7828 and RL22.

My best load for the 95 grain BT is .5 grain over max of 7828.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

thats good news. i just hope that this combo doesn't promote increased barrel wear.i'm hoping for just the opposite

keeping your pressures back and actually watching barrel heat a bit will do more for barrel life then powder choice will usually. Look up the 204 ruger if you want to see what dropping the pressure will do for barrel life. They were able to roughly double barrel life by dropping the pressure to 58000 psi or so instead of 6400-65000 psi like normal high pressure rounds use.

If I'm out knocking off prarie rodents, I'll bring both my striker pistol in 22-250 and my 25wssm rifle. I used to bring out my striker in 243 out too, but the barrel got tired and I traded it. It keeps the barrel a lot cooler if i can alternate between the guns.

 

[green 788]

For the heavier bullets (105 and up)... Retumbo can't be beat.

these are running around 3000 fps from my Douglas 8 twist, 24 inch barrel. use magnum primer... cci250 or fed215

Dan

 

[Catbird]

I have a factory 700SS with a 24 in barrel that shoots great with RL22.It does not seem like that case should like such a slow powder, but I've also had good results with IMR7828. I read another post about Retumbo with heavier bullets.
The 243 is the first rifle I loaded for almost 40 years ago. It is still my favorite round for deer.

 

[vegas steve]

awesome guys,lets keep the posts commin in.

 

[angus-5024]

I have a few pound of 7828ssc, does it make much diffrence between 7828 and it ssc brother? Im thinking 95 grain bergers.

I wish I could shoot 105+ but my factory tube only has a 9-1/8 twist.

 

[Catbird]

I've never used them yet, but from what I understand is that the regular and short cut powders are interchangeable.For the cost of one box of 105's it would not hurt to try them. You may find that they perform OK. Brands other than Berger , like Sierra, might work.For those a 1in9 is probably fine.

 

[Hornhunter32]

My stock Remington 700 243 loves H4831SC. I also shoot the 87gr v-max.