.243 twist

[conor]

hello, new on here. can anyone tell me what weight bullets a .243 with a 9 1/8 twist barrel will shoot? ive a secondhand remington 700 lined up for not too much cash. cheers conor

[bbob]

hello, new on here. can anyone tell me what weight bullets a .243 with a 9 1/8 twist barrel will shoot? ive a secondhand remington 700 lined up for not too much cash. cheers conor

My Remington SPS same twist shoots 75 v-max very accurately excellent fox round out to 300+ yds 3300fps also had good results with 100grain Speer spitzer btsp

 

[rem700]

my remie 700 in 243 [same twist] would shoot a clover leaf at 100 yds with ,winchester silvertips 95gr,worked well on deer

BUT they are costly factory ammo

[conor]

cheers for the info lads, id like if it would shoot the light bullets for foxes, but id live with it if its more accurate with the heavies. im in ireland so all expensive factory ammo im afraid. theres a pic of a half inch group at 100yds with the rifle

[gbal]

Hiya conor,

 

if you try using a ballistic calculator you will see that there is very little advantage in using lighter bullets for normal foxing purposes. It may be true that the 58 grain VMax in a .243win will drop very little at normal foxing ranges (Out to 300yds) but they will move a LOT more in the wind than the 87grain VMax.

 

Check it out and see for yourself ;)

 

Hiya conor,

 

if you try using a ballistic calculator you will see that there is very little advantage in using lighter bullets for normal foxing purposes. It may be true that the 58 grain VMax in a .243win will drop very little at normal foxing ranges (Out to 300yds) but they will move a LOT more in the wind than the 87grain VMax.

 

Check it out and see for yourself ;)

Factory ballistics: 243 rem

 

58 g Hornady V max moly mv 3750 BC .252 at 300 yards drop is 5 inches and 10mph drift is 9.2 inches energy is 833 ft lb

 

87 g Sierra Match King 3300 .315 6 8.3 1090

 

 

I didn't see a 87 g Vmax listed in current US factory offerings,but it wouldn't be far off the 87SMK.I like/use both bullets,but not much in it on this data.58g has a little less recoil,so nicer over 50+ shots.

 

george

[gbal]

Hiya George,

 

The BC on the 87 grain VMax is .4 mate which is a lot better than the 87smk you have quoted above. the figures I am getting on Nightforce Xbal are as below.

 

A 3300fps 87 Grain Vmax will have 8.9" drop at 300yds and 6.3" windage when Zero'd at 100yds.

A 3800fps 58 Grain Vmax will have 7.2" drop at 300yds with 9.0" windage when zero'd at 100yds.

 

As range is a lot easier to estimate up to 300m than the winds behaviour I prefer to use the slightly higher BC bullets which move around less.

Completely agree about wind drift being the 'problem'- distance can be precisely lasered. I'm not sure a 3 difference is 'lots',but it is there(2.7,but allowing a bit for the extra 50fps for the 58g)

But the original question was from a non reloader-factory ammo only in NI-which is why I quoted the available -if usa -data on factory ammo. No doubt either load could be tweaked,but the better BC does come in,of course.I was surprised that there was no 87g Vmax commercial load,but none was listed.If you have such,clearly that would be the relevant comparison.There might too be some European factory loads. But I agree-ish.I note there are those on here who claim to deal with a wind drift of 30+ inches at 500.That's remarkable,given an error of 3mph judgement means an error of 10 inches-must be big rabbits,so if we could get them sent to NI,bullet choice won't matter.-a 3 mph mistake will only be an inch different between the 58/87 at 300! I used to shoot the older 87s all the time,but there was little choice then,nor really was much needed!

george

[kent]

Hiya George,

 

The BC on the 87 grain VMax is .4 mate which is a lot better than the 87smk you have quoted above. the figures I am getting on Nightforce Xbal are as below.

 

A 3300fps 87 Grain Vmax will have 8.9" drop at 300yds and 6.3" windage when Zero'd at 100yds.

A 3800fps 58 Grain Vmax will have 7.2" drop at 300yds with 9.0" windage when zero'd at 100yds.

 

As range is a lot easier to estimate up to 300m than the winds behaviour I prefer to use the slightly higher BC bullets which move around less.

 

I get 1" difference in wind between the Hornady v-max 87 grn BTHP and a 55 grn Nosler B/Tip @300 yds 10mph at respective speeds. Of course the 55 is a little flatter but there aint a hill of beans in it

[gbal]

I get 1" difference in wind between the Hornady v-max 87 grn BTHP and a 55 grn Nosler B/Tip @300 yds 10mph at respective speeds. Of course the 55 is a little flatter but there aint a hill of beans in it

Hi Kent,

OK-the original question was by a non reloader,so we need to give commercially available data.Handloaders can tweak those,of course-sometimes within apparently non critical,if increased pressure levels.

My mian point is not about drift/drop directly which is a matter of physics,and at 300 yards or so frankly,different bullets within a wide envelope.don't make a huge difference,as you note-and really it's just a metter of a few more/fewer clicks or possibly hold off to compensate,as approprite for that load(ditto chamberings,while were at it!).

The real difference comes in at longer ranges-I used 500 y,as some claim to be able to shoot reliably-whatever that means-at such distances. It's not a matter of wind speed,it is a matter of MISJUDGING wind speed,and therfore introducing a considerable error (like 10 inches) Very few can judge (averaged?) wind speed out to 500 yards ,though a good anemometer will give you muzzle wind speed.It is likely to vary- with the above consequences.Tinkering wth minor BCs etc won't take away this problem (like 8 inches miss,rather than 10). All this of course assumes you have an accurate distance,which a good laser will provide.) Otherwise you need a spotter,and a looser set of moral/ethical values to accept a reduced hit/shot ratio at sentient targets.

 

 

george

[kent]

Hi Kent,

OK-the original question was by a non reloader,so we need to give commercially available data.Handloaders can tweak those,of course-sometimes within apparently non critical,if increased pressure levels.

My mian point is not about drift/drop directly which is a matter of physics,and at 300 yards or so frankly,different bullets within a wide envelope.don't make a huge difference,as you note-and really it's just a metter of a few more/fewer clicks or possibly hold off to compensate,as approprite for that load(ditto chamberings,while were at it!).

The real difference comes in at longer ranges-I used 500 y,as some claim to be able to shoot reliably-whatever that means-at such distances. It's not a matter of wind speed,it is a matter of MISJUDGING wind speed,and therfore introducing a considerable error (like 10 inches) Very few can judge (averaged?) wind speed out to 500 yards ,though a good anemometer will give you muzzle wind speed.It is likely to vary- with the above consequences.Tinkering wth minor BCs etc won't take away this problem (like 8 inches miss,rather than 10). All this of course assumes you have an accurate distance,which a good laser will provide.) Otherwise you need a spotter,and a looser set of moral/ethical values to accept a reduced hit/shot ratio at sentient targets.

 

 

george

Don't disagree with anything your saying, the quarry also has time to move between trigger release and the bullet arriving- I shouldn't want to be shooting at 500yds with factory personally as good as they have become over the last few years