.243 load

[COYOTECRACKER]

recently i purchased a tikka 243 lite for coyote hunting. my father and i both reload and have been working up an accurate load and want to share with you what i have found. the most accurate load i have found so far is 80 gr. nosler ballistic tip with 34 gr. of h322. now i know what alot of reloaders are going to say thats alittle to fast burning powder for the 243, also your not filling the case with enough of powder. but i have tried h380, h414, and none would group as well as the h322. i shot 4, 5 shot goups at a 100 yds and the largest group measured .437 of an inch. the smallest was .375 of an inch. last sunday my father and i went coyote hunting and at 5:15 in the morning at 45 yds 5 minutes into the first set i dropped my first dog using this load. a quarting to front shot, went in left front neck and exited out the boiler room d.r.t. (dead right there)..... do any members live near northwest indiana????

[Coyotehunter]

I shoot 100 gr sierra soft points bullts out of my .243 and load 47 gr of H1000 and have fairly tight groups at 3050 FPS. Oddly enough I get very little fur damage with this load. the big bullet just does not seem to expand with the lighter animal. At least compared to a Deer.

[Tyrant]

I'm currently working up loads for my new .243 AI with 87 GR a-max's and RL 19 and going to test drive the new RL 17. Havn't got much accomplished other than FF about 50 cases with 47GR RL19.

Norm

[Coyotehunter]

glad to have another reloader on the board. great pics. good luck with the new loads.

[coyotelatrans]

With those 80 grain noslers try 37.5-38 grains of varget my rem will shoot less than 1" at 200 yards with this combo and nosler brass. Another great load is Nosler 90's with 43.5-44 grains of H-4831 SC makes dandy little groups, just not as flat as the 80's. Neither are close to max loads so keeps some barrel wear down draw back is the 80's are a few inches flatter at extended ranges.

[LeviM]

With those 80 grain noslers try 37.5-38 grains of varget my rem will shoot less than 1" at 200 yards with this combo and nosler brass. Another great load is Nosler 90's with 43.5-44 grains of H-4831 SC makes dandy little groups, just not as flat as the 80's. Neither are close to max loads so keeps some barrel wear down draw back is the 80's are a few inches flatter at extended ranges.

do you know what these loads chronograph at?

[coyotelatrans]

Yes out of a 26" rem barrel with 1-9 twist rate I get 3,100 fps with the 80 grain bullet and I get 2930 fps with the 90 grain bullet! Like I said not max but rarely do I find the most accurate load by going max!

[LeviM]

I also shoot a .243, i am going to start reloading next year. I find myself to be more accurate, with a faster bullet. Currently I am shooting factory 58 grain hornady. I choronographed those this fall at 3600 fps. I am hoping to reload a little heavier bullet but at approximatly the same speed. Thanks for the info

[coyotelatrans]

I think your going to find it almost impossible to get 3,600 FPS out of an 80 or 90 grain bullet in a standard .243 The pressure builds quickly in a caliber with that powder capacity. Good luck in finding your load.

[LeviM]

80 to 90 grains is alittle heavy for me, I was think 58 to 70 grains

[coyotelatrans]

It is my opinion that varmint bullets are not the "best" chocie for killing coyotes! Thin jackets and bone don't make for a good combo! Your going to get runners and your going to get non penetraiting bullet splash at some point and runner coyotes. I have a 22-250 that does a good job most of the time with 52 grain A max bullets but hit bones and it makes a non lethal mess as you add on yardage.

You will also note at 600 yard BR and 1,000 yard BR compitions you won't find those who win shooting 50-80 grain bullets they want as much BC as possible! Wind is the true enemy when you start extending your range not drop. I have a friend who is darn good at the BR shoots and 600 yards he is using a 6mmBR with a 105 grain Berger bullet, tiny long range groups are ahcieved when you master windage alot more than elevation, the distance is a constant the wind is not.

The reason I have switched to a .243 more power and larger bullet selection. I have called and killed coyotes in all months with this setup even thinned skinned summer coyotes you get very little hide damge when put into the bread basket, but sadly the 80 nosler is still in the vbarmint configeration, something I brought up to Nosler and they maybe making a change and giving this bullet a thicker jacket!

The more room one can allow himself for shot placement the better IMO. Add in a 15 mph cross wind and miss that boiler area by 3" and now your talking in some cases a direct shoulder bone hit, leaving those coyotes to run off and die,and waste time trying to recover or not recover them.

Shooting coyotes with winds in 10mph-15mph at 400 yards or greater means more room for L/R error and a good bullet can help lower that spalsh from happening. To me a varmint bullet is that for varmints, rabbitts, p-dogs, woodchucks etc, where it is neat to see that exsplosive reaction to a fast/thin jacketed bullet, but not for coyotes in my book.

The last thing I want are coyotes to run off and die and me not being able to know 100% they are dead, while many calibers do a decent job or better on coyotes I think they can all be better with a proper bullet meant more for a tough critter like a coyote than those fast, hot little exsplosive pills. The reason relaoding is an advantage to those that kill coyotes you have a much better bullet selection than the standard factory offerings of a thin jacket varmint buller or 2 and the heavy big game bullets. Being the 6mm is one of the most popular a guy can try many bullet offerings and weights but to me I want them to have a thicker jacket and more weight retension.

Most of the time the 80 noslers do a fine job, but they would in my mind be the coyote bullet for any 6mm cambering if they made them with a thicker jacket. Becuase as they are now bone= bullet splash even at my "reduced" speed! The 90's are a better bullet in my workings, the draw back is I do loose a few inches of bullet drop at extended ranges otherwise they would or might be my bullet of choice for killing coyotes. I know I can stop the spalsh with these over the 80's, we will see if nosler decides to offer the 80 with a thicker jacket guns with 1-9 all remington 6mm's and others in the 1-10 twist will shoot those 80's darn well!

[lyonch]

It dont matter what gun you shoot or type of bullet you shoot if you hit bone there will be some type of bullet splashing going on than if you hit the guts between the rib cage bones. Shot placement is the number one thing on an animal. They dont know how heavy the bullet was or how fast it was traveling. You hit them in the right place you can kill them with any gun. A guy just needs to know his limits and stay within them limits until he has proven to himself that he can make those longer shots. I know when you watch Blaine Eddy in his moving "Skinning for Profit" he talks about using a .17 centerfire as his preffered caliber of a gun to shoot coyotes. It all depends on what you are doing with the coyote afterwards. If you are in the animal control buisness and need to make sure they will not wiggle after they get hit then the bigger calibers and such are what you should be looking at. Then there are guys on the site like Urbanhunter who in his line of work needs to use a .22 rimfire. He kills the coyotes just as dead as the next guy. Its all about the shot placement.

[LeviM]

I am fairly new to the .243, like i mentioned before i am currently shooting 58 grain hornadys. All the coyotes I have shot so far, have been bang, flop! I have had one coyote run on me after its been hit, and the was just poor shot placement on my part. I personally aim for the front shoulder, and all the coyotes this year have been mush with that bullet, I have had great penetration with these lighter bullets. Like I mentioned before, I am way more accurate with faster bullets, just my personal prefrence! I have a lot of learning to do with my new toy! Hopefully some experimentation with different bullets, I can find a load that I like

[coyotelatrans]

To a point yes but a coyote is not a thick boned critter so a thicker jacket desinged for light skinned big game does a good jobwith out making big holes, and a bonded core bullet yes would be overkill on a coyote, the problem with varmint bullets is they where never made for coyote sized critters and if someone did then they didn't think it "ALL" through! I do use accu bonds for big game and they do the job at extended ranges in the same principle as a little thicker jacket will do for coyote sized critters at extended rangesIMO.

Bullet placement is key but as mentioned wind also plays a key. In the wide open I wouldn't think about a .17 cal for coyote calling unless I wanted to limit my opportunity of shooting 20% of those coyotes. You can do a decent job on coyote fur with many calibers as you stated bullet placement and bullet slection, but when things go wrong and no one is 100% I want the advantages in my favor not the coyotes.

Different areas can get by with different things, but bullet makeup to "ME" is something all can benefit from. I live in country where 300 yard shots are not uncommon and where some coyotes you need to shoot or want to shoot are at further ranges, a .22 cal rimfire would be of little use to me in open country. I don't want this to go down hill but a coyote is tougher than many give them credit for and I hate missed or running coyotes I know I have hit. Many scenarios where you take the shot and because of many reasons it isn't in that ideal spot, so a better built bullet will help you out and make that kill versus those thin jacketed types where you end up with splash. a 90 grain Nosler hasn't splashed if I hit bone it makes a dandy hole but I have a dead coyote, different strokes for different folks but 15.00 coyote hides aren't my main concern. I want it dead first and foremost.

I have shot enough with this .243 to know that overall the pelt performance isn't that much worse than shooting my 22-250 with amax bullets at 3,700fps. Overall the pelt performance is similar, the end results favor the .243 from bullet jacket choice, weight availability and the power to rug out coyotes from 400-500 yards. The 22-250 can do the same but less room for error, on my part and somethings we as shooters can't control that last step movement of the coyote, the wind changes velocity or direction or what is wind doing where the coyote is 400 yards or more away? A larger higher BC bullet places those things more in our favor!

Good day!

[coyotelatrans]

Your using a 58 grain v max at 3,600 FPS and hitting front shoulder bone without bullet splash?

That is something I haven't found in my use of v-max bullets? Use what gives you the best performance!