243 loads. 75gr VMax & varget......

jimmyp

New member
K guys I started a new chapter in my life yesterday and picked up my first .243win. tired of the long action of the 25-06.

The guy I got the gun from gave me a handfull of reloads that he said were 75gr VMax and 40 or 40.5gr of varget. I spent some time at work looking through lyman 49 and and a couple of other manuals and couldnt find any load data for this particular bullet and powder. They shot good Im just curiouse if there is any printed data out there.

Also I use benchmark in my 223 and my dad uses it in his 308, but I cant find anything using benchmark in 243. is anyone using Benchmark in their 243?

thanks
Jim
 
the data will be in a hornady load book....i use nosler 70g with varget straight from the nosler manual...excellent load as well...
 
2muchgun said:
Neither Benchmark nor Varget are the way to roll in the 243....... [/qu


have to disagree there 2much....lighter bullets love the varget imo... what bullet weight and what powder are your preference?
 
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So far with my 75-85 gr bullets, IMR4350 has worked pretty well, I have also used Varget, but my results showed 4350 to group better in My rifle. Im looking forward to trying IMR4064 soon. Seems like a great all around powder for the .243. Win760 has produced good results, and meters well too in the lighter weights. Good luck.
 
My Tikka likes Varget well enough.

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Lyman's 49th edition of the reloading handbook has varget listed for several of the lighter bullet weights including 75 grain and indicates in their tables that it performed well.
 
I'm using 40gr. Varget with the 70 Nosler BT's getting about 3460fps out of my Remington SPS-V. I used the same bullets with 39gr. of 4064 and got about 3450fps out of the same rifle. I only switched to Varget due to temperature swings here. It seemed to affect my load of 4064 in the cold versus the summer when I worked up the load.
 
Originally Posted By: sully2Hodgdons data shows 38.5 as a max with a 75 grain Hornady..??

http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp

NOTE: For a 70 grain bullet they DO list 40.5 as a max load...? Seems for a 5 grain difference a lot more powder can be loaded..???

I found that last night while doing some searching but of the 5rds I fired that the guy gave me none of them showed any pressure signs. the one I took apart showed an even 40gr of powder. I looked through lymans 49 and it did show 75load data but not for the vmax I didn;t know if that would matter.
I guess ill just work up some loads using varget and some different bullets and see what I can come up with.
thanks guys.

Jim
 
I found the following loads pretty universal between Remington 700's, Rugers, and customs:

Rifles and lot# of powders may vary .5g or so.

44.5g of Win 760/h414 with 70-75g bullet, fed 210 primer

39.5g IMR 4064 with 70-75g bullet, Fed 210 primer

The Mack Daddy of all the loads I found has been with 47.0 H or IMR 4350, Win primer, 70g nosler ballistic tip at 3600 fps and shoots groups in the 3/8" area at 100 yds. I would back off just 2.0g and work up for the 75's.

I seated all bullets to just touch the lands.

From my experience shooting p. dogs, I will tell you that 760 will extend your barrel life over 4064...if that is an issue.

75g V max is wierd, some guns will not shoot them at all..when they love it, they love it.
 
Originally Posted By: ackleyman75g V max is wierd, some guns will not shoot them at all..when they love it, they love it.
Funny you mention that. My rifle flat hated them and I really wanted to shoot them, but couldn't make a go of it with about 4 different powders. I put the 70 NBT's, 65 V-max, 88 Bergers, and 68 Bergers over several powders and they did fine with the 70's working best.
 
IMR 4350 is great in both of my 243s as a matter of fact both of them hated Varget . The goto loads for me is 70 Gr TNTs by Speer and 75 Gr Sierra HPs .
 
Speaking of Varget, my Browning 243 is the only rifle I load for that likes Varget. I load for a Tikka 243, Rem 700-243, & a Hart custom 243, none of which shot great with Varget.

Every rifle is unique, isn't it?
 
Originally Posted By: shanedogg
2muchgun said:
Neither Benchmark nor Varget are the way to roll in the 243....... [/qu


have to disagree there 2much....lighter bullets love the varget imo... what bullet weight and what powder are your preference?

I have played with a whole bunch of 243s. A whole bunch. I'll take 4350 and 4064 over Varget every time.

Others that are just as good or better(in terms of accuracy and velocity in different bullet weights) include AA3100, 760, 414, and H-380.

This is "across the board". If your rifle shoots great with Varget, then that is all that matters. I've not found it to be one of the best overall in the 243.

Personally, I like the 87gr V-max a lot better than the 75gr.

Like most cartridges based on the 308 case, the 243 ain't too picky, and a lot of combinations work well.........
 
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