Powder advice

[deerman]

Hi guys,

 

I would appreciate it if you knowledgeable reloaders out there could offer some advice on powders for loading for .243 and .308 and types of bullets that would be good enough for deer and fox. I currently use soft tips 100 grain on the .243 and 150 grain on the .308. I bought the reloading gear a while back but have not yet got around to doing any reloading. The rifles in question are pretty boring and standard: Tikka T3 Light .243 and Sako 75 .308. Also recipes would be very helpful. Ideally, I would like to use a powder that I could use for the two calibres.

 

Look forward to your replies.

 

Best,

 

George

[baldie]

Vhit 140 or 540 would be a good place to start George.

[eddieb]

I have also used Vit 140 for 243, but with 80 and 85grn bullets. No problem with performance at all.

 

Currently using Varget dont know about about its performance with 308 but i use it with 30.06 and it is spot on.

 

Cheers

[rabbit fingers]

Varget is great in 308 so no problem there.MAY be a bit quick for 100g bullets in 243?

[eldon]

George,

Like baldie said vit 140 is a good option.

My current recipes, safe in my guns, work up blah blah.....

 

243 sierra 1515 85 grain with 38 grains v140 cci primers sako cases 3050 fps out of sako 75 standard barrel.

308 sierra 2140 165 grain with 44.5 grains v140 cci primers lapua cases 2725 (24" barrel) can be a bit hot in summertime on long strings.

 

If your using 150 heads then 46 grains seems a good number to work up to generally. I used to use this with Nosler bt's.

[Chris-NZ]

Varget is great in 308 so no problem there.MAY be a bit quick for 100g bullets in 243?

 

 

Totally correct RF.

 

A starting load of say 44grs of Varget behind the 150 .308 would be good. Max is in the region of say 46grs but as they say, --work up carefully--

 

CHris-NZ

[Alycidon]

Use 65gr Vmax for fox in the 243 if the twist is right for it.( 1 in 14). Heavier bullets ( over about 85 grains from memory) have thicker jackets and are not as fox disruptive !!. They tend to just drill through and do things like cut a neat new a***hole on a front chest shot.

 

A

[17 Rem]

I fear that your wish to use one powder for 243 and 308 will be difficult unless you change one of your bullet weights.

Changing your 243 bullet to 70 grains would certainly make Vihtavuori N140 a brilliant choice, but it's too fast for 100 grain bullets in the 243.

N140 has been fantastic in every 308 I've had any experience of, with 150 and 130 grain bullets.

[deerman]

I fear that your wish to use one powder for 243 and 308 will be difficult unless you change one of your bullet weights.

Changing your 243 bullet to 70 grains would certainly make Vihtavuori N140 a brilliant choice, but it's too fast for 100 grain bullets in the 243.

N140 has been fantastic in every 308 I've had any experience of, with 150 and 130 grain bullets.

 

I am totally green to the world or reloading, so please do advise as to other bullet weights and/or powders, even if that would mean using two different powders for the different calibres. I use the .243 as my everyday rifle, for fox and deer. I hardly use the .308 these days as the Met Police will not allow it to be used on fox due to Home Office guidelines, although when I lived in Essex the Constabulary there was more than happy to add fox on the .308 conditions. When I got back to London the Met immediately removed that condition and no amount of representations made them change their views. So, in short, I want a bullet for the .243 that will be deer legal and not too hot and be good for fox. All my shooting is never over 200m. I have been using mainly Federal ammo on both rifles and they seem to like that load and group quite well considering that they are factory ammo on bog-standard rifles.

 

Many thanks for all your contributions and look forward to having some more.

 

Best,

 

George

[AHPP]

Have you showed them mid/long range ballistics for heavy .243 loads compared to mid .308 loads? For example, compare DTACs against a Palma bullet.

[deerman]

Have you showed them mid/long range ballistics for heavy .243 loads compared to mid .308 loads? For example, compare DTACs against a Palma bullet.

 

Not shown anything. I have virtually no knowledge of reloading but keen to start, so will have to start from the basics and built the knowledge from there. Am keen to know what reloaders out there are using and achieving with these cartridges and then see what works for me.

 

Best,

 

George

[AHPP]

Basically, after a few hundred yards (400 ish from memory) a .243 with heavy bullets (100 grain ish) has more energy and ballistic efficiency (i.e. it's going to go further) than a .308 with medium weight bullets (150 grain ish). If the police were worried about you having "too much gun" or you accidentally landing rounds on the next valley then you're more dangerous with a .243 in some circumstances.

 

Ballistics programmes like Exbal give a good indication of stuff like I've described above. You put in stuff like bullet weight, velocity and the programme predicts how much the bullet drops, is affected by wind, retains kinetic energy etc over distance.

[baldie]

The Met are appalling as a licensing force. All other constabularies are now applying the new guidelines which mean if a .308 or any calibre has been issued for deer, it can be used on smaller species such as fox too.

[17 Rem]

George,

the 70 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip is a far better deer bullet than it's light weight would have you believe.

42.5 grains of N140 gives me 3500 fps from my 243 Tikka 595's. I've shot Fallow, Roe, Muntjac and Sika with it and have been delighted with its performance. As I said earlier, N140 is outstanding in 308 as well.

[grahamfarmer]

hi deerman,

 

well varget is my powder of choice for 308 and 243 and my 223 as well. in the 308 it will drive anything from 110 grn vmax up to your 168 grn match bullets and from my experience i tend to find the most accurate node some where just above the mid point between min and max recommended in the loading manuals and of course the magic 44 grn of varget with a 150 grn match bullet is as accurate in my rifle as many others.

with the 243 i only run two loads and that is a 70 grn sierra blitz king along with a 87 grn vmax the sierra been a 40grn of varget and the 87 grn vmax 37 grns of varget work this one up slowly as you get pressure signs quite quickly as the 87 grn bullet is at the extreme of the varget range .if you want to go lower on bullet weight ie around 55 to 60 grns then you really fall into vargets true performance area and you can load to acheive 22 250 velocities with a 6 mm bullet all my reloading is done using lapau brass and i also use cci br primers instead of standard primers .

 

graham