80 gr Hornady GMX .243 Win

N

Naber

New member
Hi guys, been lurking on the PM forums for a while but just signed up. In looking for a good cross over bullet for deer & doggies I came across the 80 gr Hornady GMX, thought it should work fine for both and bought a box. Now I'm looking for load info and can't really find anything specific to the 80s as far as powders or charge weights...wondering if anyone else out there has tried these bullets and what the resuts were and what the loads were. They are going out of a 700 vls in .243 win. I have used the search function and not found anything on the 80s specificly. Oh and I won't hold any one liable for quoting powder charges, I'm not dumb enough to start where anyone ended.
I'm also wondering what the 243 reloaders are doing that are shooting the 55 gr, i've played around a bit with them and the little buggers are so short I cant load them out enough to get them anywere close to the lands. For now I've just been letting them jump and they work ok but I'm just wondering what everyone else does with these.
I have to say this site is gold to anyone hunting or shooting anything. Thanks for the help.

Ted
 
What I have read on the 55 and 58's set them at normal setting depth and adjust slightly up or down but no less than bullet dia. I have not had any luck with either one though so I just stick with the 70gr nblt.
 
I forgot I would start with IMR4064 with a starting load at 37.5gr. 4064 has always been a good powder for 243. That is what is listed in my reloading manual for 80gr bullets.
 
That sounds about right as a starter, I'm wondering what the flat base versus the boat tails do to pressures. Any body study this.
 
I will be very interested in how the GMX bullets perform for you. I decided to give lead free a try this year for deer. The 90 gr Nosler E-Tip shoot much better in my rifle than the Barnes 85 gr TSX with much less copper fouling, but the Nosler is a very long bullet. I have been curious about the 80 gr GMX and the tipped TSX, but deer season is approaching fast so I will be shooting the E-Tip this year.

Keep us posted on the GMX performance
 
Roger that, I'll let you know how they turn out, they are long alright. I need to pick up some 4064, I've been using varget on the 55s I was plinking on the weekend & off the hood of my truck they were shooting 3/4s and I'm not a hotshot by any stretch. Dang do they flatten the mutts though.
 
If IMR4064 doesn''t work try Varget. They have identical burn rates. But I have two .243's and one only shoot good with 4064 and the other only shoots good with Varget.
 
I agree IMR4064 first varget second. You are at the upper end of bullet
weight for Varget. The 85's and up you can't get the speed from varget
that you can with 4064.
 
I had some Varget so I loaded some starter loads with that, if it's not too cold here in the next couple of days I'll try them out. I bought some of the 85grain Hornadys to try as well. What kind of speeds are you guys getting that are shooting the 55s close to max. Thanks for the replies.

Ted
 
One thing I forgot to mention was that the 80s pressed into the neck hard, don't know why other than the flat base doesn't slide down as easy, I started them and then rotated the cases a couple of times till they were seated. Just found it strange how hard they went in compared to the 55s. Any Ideas??
 
So I braved the cold and did some shooting. The 80s averaged 3080 fps with 37.5 grains of varget. 10 shots into about 1.5" off a crappy rest and bench. With the 85s I was lucky to keep them on the paper with 36.5 of varget, unreal. They were averaging 2980 fps. I think I'll bump up a bit and see if they come together. The factory 55 gr winchester balistic silvertips shot 3/4" at 3820 fps average. The fastest loads I saw today were 55 gr Noslers in front of 51 gr of H380, just under 4100 fps.

Ted
 
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