My nephew recently acquired an H&R .243. The manufacturer claims that the barrel has a rate of twist of 1:10. My question is what weight of bullet will give him the smallest groups and still mitigate fur damage? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

A guy I know shoots 55gr v-max out of his .243 It's a screamer at max loads. If you also plan to hunt deer with it, lots of folks use 85 gr but that would probably be your upper limit with a 10 twist.

Thanks RoscoeT. I'm pretty sure he will want to hunt deer as well, but he does have a 7mm that he can use for the deer. PS. That's a good lookin' dog.

Thanks, but that's one of my hunting buddies dogs. Mine is a yellow, she's a retriever too but was too young for geese this year.

She's a beautiful dog. I have to blacks. Both are males. One is 11 yrs old and he is from your neck of the woods. Picture Butte AB. to be exact. My newest one is only 9 weeks old. He's gonna be a great dog.

Picture Butte, that's about an hour away from where I got my pup.

I have had real good luck with 70gr NBLT. Shooting them out of my r-25 with 1-10 twist. They also shoot great groups out of my old 700.

The best fur bullet is the 75 grain barnes banned solid bullets. Have got 3 coyotes and no damage at all. The bullets leave a pencil hole going in and out. They are extreamly accurate.

Every barrel is different and will shoot what it wants to shoot, but I would try the 58 Vmax. I haven't shot it personally, but many people have said that it is a good fur bullet, for the .243. My 10 twist shot 87 Vmaxs well too, but they are not a fur friendly bullet at all. You will be able to stabilize 100gr. deer bullets, like Rem. Cor-Lokts and those, because they have more bearing surface and don't require as much spin to stabilize as the 105 VLDs or 95 VLDs do.

I bet a 100 grain Cor-Lokt has twice the "bearing surface" as a 105 VLD. Those babies are looooong, but the secant ogive and large boat-tail actually combine to make the bearing surface quite short in the VLD... one of the reasons they typically shoot better when loaded touching the lands.

It's the length that'll eat your lunch when you're trying to stabilize a bullet... not the weight or the bearing surface. As far as a factory load goes for the .243 H&R, the Federal fusion loads have shot well in a couple .243's I've played with... I believe they're a 95 grainer at a little under 3000 fps. I'd shoot them at deer or coyotes. If handloading, I like the 87 Vmax or the 90 Nosler BT.

Maybe I got my facts a little mixed up quarterbored? I know that length makes a difference, but I thought that the more bearing surface the harder it was to stabilize. Now that I think about it you are right, I think you need more spin to stabilize something with a shorter bearing surface. I might still be wrong, but that sort of makes sense. Maybe you or somebody else can clear this up. Sorry about the mix up.

I have had good luck this year with the 55gr NBT. So far three dogs down and not one of them have came out the other side.

Thanks to all of you for your in put. It sounds like I've got some options out there. I think we will try a little of each. Thanks again and Happy Hunting Days.