55 grain noslers for a 243

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0205Yote

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I am a new reloader and I have some 55 grain nosler partisions and IMR 4320 powder. I am reloading for a 243. My question is how deep do I set that bullet or what should my finished bullet measure in total length when I am finished?
 
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doesnt it have something to do with your gun specifically?I thought bullet depth has to do with your chamber. If not, I would love to know as well!
 
I have been told it is different for every gun and to get the best accuracy out of your gun you should seat the bullet to fit your fifle. How you do that I don't know. I also know there is a recomended tolerance for a 243 which is 2.710. My question is how deep to seet the 55 grain because it is a much shorter bullet than the 100 grain. I have only reloaded 100 grains and almost half that bullet ends up in the brass. If I reload the 55 grain to the same 2.710 only 1/16" or so will be in the brass and I don't know if that is enough and I don't know if I can go shorter than the 2.710.
 
You need to use the recomended length, contact Nosler. When I load match ammo, its so the bullet is touching the rifling but thats with longer profile bullet. For hunting, I go close to the COL, prob just a touch longer.

What rifling do you have that will stabilize a 55 gr 243 bullet? Mine wont stabilize anything less than an 80gr??
 
Top gun I have to ask what twist is your barrel that it won't stabalize a 55gr NBT? I don't think I've played with any 6mm that won't stabalize a 55gr NBT. Some don't shoot it well but all will do a good job of stabilizing it.

AWS
 
OK guys I spent some time reading through my reloading manual. I have the one book one caliber paperback manual. In the nosler section all it says is the recomended OAL is 2.710. They recomended for best accuracy to be a little longer than that. If I do that my 55 grain bullet wont even seat in the brass. Some one mentioned contacting nosler. does anyone now if they have a 1-800 number for bulletsmiths? I read in my manual that sierra has such a thing. Thanks for all the good comments guys.
 
If you are using the 55gr Nosler Ballistic tip bullet I seat mine 2.690. You can seat out a bit more but I have found that if you seat out much more you don't have much bullet holding. I haven't had any accuracy difference with any of my 5 243s. I use H380 and H414 both have shown great accuracy and very good velocity. HAPPY HUNTING
 
Published OAL's are most often for the longer bullets, and are established to fit the common magazine lengths and to provide just enough but not too much bullet in the case with those long bullets for safe pressures. Short bullets are completely different. In the .243 the 55's are about half as long (roughly) as the 100's. So seating the bullet to the recommended OAL doesn't give you much of a short bullet in the case. This is exactly what you are running into.

OAL's in the book are recommended lengths based on the parameters above. But that doesn't mean you have to use that length. Your gun will tell you what it likes, and you'll have to experiment to find that out. You'll often hear something like "best accuracy is achieved with the bullet just touching or just off the rifling". This length in your rifle may be way longer than the recommended OAL, depending upon how your gun is chambered. For instance, most factory 243 rifles are chambered to handle up to 100 grain bullets, so the short bullets can't come close to the rifling and still have enough bullet left in the neck. If they do, with the 100 grain bullets, you'd have way too much bullet in the case and likely have pressure problems.

The best solution that I've come upon, has been to load the short bullets, in your case 55's, to where there is 1 bullet width (.244) into the case and use that as a starting point. Work up your loads and pick the best one. Then try increasing the OAL by .005 at a time, changing ONLY the length, out to the point where you have about 1/2 bullet width in the case. Any further than that and there won't be enough neck tension to hold the bullet, and the bullet could actually get knocked off center (runout) or they may even fall out of the case if they get knocked around.

So, to figure out how deep one bullet length is, take a sized case and set a bullet on top, measure that length and subtract .244. Set your seater up to that measurement and start there. Keep trying. You'll find a decent load in there somewhere.
 
Thanks a lot guys I think that is enough to get me going. I really appreciate your responses. I am new to this forum stuff but I am liking it.
 
I have tried several powder / primer combinations with the 55g NBT.Unfortunately I never tried the IMR 4320.I did have decent results with IMR 4064, Accurate 2700,and H414 with COL`s of 2.630, 2.625 and 2.650 respectively.When working up a load using H414 I experienced pierced primers with the maximum reccomendation in the Nossler manual. I was watching for signs of excessive pressure and did notice some slight cratering with the previous 5 rnds but thought it wasn`t too bad. No harm done luckily. I hope not to experience that again.
 
I have the 55gr Nosler seated to the top of the shoulder, which is about a bullet width as bownut stated. This gives me a OAL of 2.605in. I have an moa of .4 to .6 at 225yds if I do my job. This is using 43gr Reloder 15.
 
Originally Posted By: divartydadI have the 55gr Nosler seated to the top of the shoulder, which is about a bullet width as bownut stated. This gives me a OAL of 2.605in. I have an moa of .4 to .6 at 225yds if I do my job. This is using 43gr Reloder 15. WOW! That is some shooting! What gun are you using?
 

I have the (new) Nosler reloading manual 6, and you'd think they'd tell you the 2.710 is not to be used in the 55 grain ballistic tips. I just bought qty. 500 of these same bullets.

The Barnes 4 manual is better it states max and min coal. The min. coal listed is 2.540

The length of the 55 grain bullet is .786 and the brass trim length is 2.045 so if you seat the bullet .243 or .244 depth. your coal is 2.587

And half that is only seated .122 depth ,,, and remember this is a boattail with about .050 beveled off the base. sounds like not enough to me?? that would leave your coal at 2.709 and not a very stable set for your bullet.???

Lee
 
Hi 0205yote
You are right I looked in the book that you have and it is not there, but both Hornady and Sierra have simmilar sized bullets and do list COL of 2.600 and 2.630 respectively in this book. This is simmilar to other info that has been given here. Sometime we just get too focused, it is good to ask around if not sure though.
 
I just had the same coversation with a friend that has loaded for years and he says that the 55's like a little jump. I have several loads for the 55 worked up to try tomorrow, col i have loaded at is 2.698, The gun is a Ruger factoy heavy. will let you know how we fair.
 
My dad and I Loaded some out as close the lands as we could but couldn't ge them there. The did not shoot good at all and we pretty much gave up on them.

On a whim I bought a box of Factory Winchester ballastic 55Gr. Winchester with Nosler BT they shot great.

We changed our COL to what Winchester factory where and we were shooting SUB MOA

Longest shot on a coyote to date 385 yds, you are going to like this bullet, most the time no exit.
 
KansasCowboy, I agree my Ruger does not like them too long either, I've found that book length is about it. I shoot the 55gr bullets almost exclusively in my .243 except when the wind is really howling then I go to the 80gr Nosler.
Most of the time there is no exit on the 55 but when they do...it's ugly.
 
Originally Posted By: nadI just had the same coversation with a friend that has loaded for years and he says that the 55's like a little jump. I have several loads for the 55 worked up to try tomorrow, col i have loaded at is 2.698, The gun is a Ruger factoy heavy. will let you know how we fair.

Let us know how your's come out please.
I too have some 55 grain NBT loaded up with both H-4895 and Varget.
OAL is 2.655 and 2.675, for a Heavy barreled Ruger M77.
But with snow and temps in the 20's, it may be a few days before I can get out to the range. :-(
 
Hey youngdon! kimberyote here. I use to have the same line of thinking with 55 bal tips, then switch to 87 gain v maxes. What I discovered was on my ballistic programs was that if you run a 55 @ 4000fps and a 87 v max @ 3250, the bal tip just isn't all that bad in the wind when you look @ the numbers.
 
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