Accuracy seeking with handloads
Read the whole .243 project rifle review story
Official Australian Hunter review
There are three powders available to Australian reloaders that are just ideal in the .243 Winchester. These are AR2208, AR2209 and Alliant Reloder 15. With these powders, one can load bullets from 55 grains right up to the heaviest 6mm bullets available. The type of game being sought should be the determining factor when choosing your bullet.
In my opinion, bullets of less than 70 grains are a bit pointless in the standard .243, as one is limiting the wonderful potential of this calibre by using the lightweight pills. Apart from that, the rifling twist of one turn in 10", which is common to most .243 rifles, is too fast for bullets of less than 70 grains. Perhaps if one was only shooting small game at short ranges, such as less than 250 yards, there might be a case for light bullets. However, most calibres work very well with bullet weights that are in the top third of the available weight range. For the .243, that means somewhere around 80 to 95 grains.
We purchased some Sierra 85-grain HPBTs and some Nosler 80-grain Ballistic Tips. As an afterthought, we purchased some 75-grain Hornady V-Max to work up a light and fast load for some rabbit busting and the like. We also purchased some 80-grain Berger Match bullets to see how much accuracy we could find in those lightweight barrels.
The plan was to seat the bullets for each rifle with an overall length that would allow them to feed from the magazine. In most cases, this meant that the bullet would be a fair way back off the lands. However, this compromise had to be made if the rifle was to be used as a repeater. As a final test, we seated some right up to within 10 thou off the lands, but this was used only with the match-grade bullets and necessitated single loading.
I do not believe that it is necessary to use Magnum primers with the .243, unless perhaps slow powders such as AR2213 or Winchester 760 are loaded under heavy bullets. For all of our testing, we used PMC large rifle primers and for the match loads, we used Federal Match 210M. We had no problems whatsoever with these combinations.
| Some of the handloads tried in the rifles | |||
| 75-grain V-Max | |||
| Powder type | Weight | Velocity | Comments on pressure/accuracy |
| AR2208 | 36 grains | 3276fps | No pressure signs |
| 37 grains | 3341fps | Near max in Tikka | |
| 38 grains | 3418fps | Best load in Weatherby | |
| AR2209 | 45 grains | 3218fps | Light load in all rifles |
| 47 grains | 3382fps | Good accuracy in all rifles | |
| RL-15 | 39 grains | 3298fps | Accurate in Tikka and CZ |
| 41 grains | 3376fps | Best load in Rem | |
| 80-grain Nosler BT | |||
| Powder type | Weight | Velocity | Comments on pressure/accuracy |
| AR2208 | 35 grains | 3189fps | Accurate in Browning |
| 37 grains | 3319fps | Near max in all rifles - accurate | |
| AR2209 | 44 grains | 3194fps | Good accuracy with no pressure signs |
| 46 grains | 3281fps | Max load in most - good in CZ | |
| RL-15 | 37 grains | 3097fps | Accurate in Weatherby and Rem |
| 39 grains | 3291fps | Max load - accurate in Browning | |
| 85-grain Sierra HPBT | |||
| Powder type | Weight | Velocity | Comments on pressure/accuracy |
| AR2208 | 34 grains | 3011fps | Good in Rem and Tikka |
| 36 grains | 3279fps | Very good in CZ | |
| AR2209 | 42 grains | 3011fps | No pressure signs - accuracy good |
| 44 grains | 3135fps | Shot well in all rifles | |
| RL-15 | 35 grains | 3036fps | Light load - moderate accuracy |
| 37 grains | 3172fps | Good accurate load in all rifles | |
| 80-grain Berger Match | |||
| Powder type | Weight | Velocity | Comments on pressure/accuracy |
| AR2209 | 46 grains | 3304fps | Most accurate load in Tikka |
| RL-15 | 40.5 grains | 3317fps | Max load caution - very accurate |
The Sierras shot well in the Remington, CZ and Browning, while the 75- and 80-grain Ballistic Tips performed extremely well in both the Tikka and Weatherby. The Berger Match bullets performed as match bullets should and were very accurate in the Tikka.
The two smallest groups of the entire test actually went to the Weatherby, with one remarkable group that went just less than the 0.5" mark for five shots at 100 yards.
One must not lose sight of the fact that these are lightweight hunting rifles and not expected to deliver tack-driving accuracy. Nonetheless, we did manage to achieve genuine sub-MOA performance from some of them. It is worth noting that a rifle that is only capable of 1.25 MOA will still, theoretically, hit a rabbit in the head every time from 100 yards away. It’s not until one puts the shots on paper that the true potential of any firearm is revealed.
Please note that all of the above loads were within safe working pressures in the rifles tested, but we strongly recommend that hand-loaders commence at 10 per cent by weight less than our published figures.
Read about Modifications, range and equipment testing