The .243 Win superlite saga (painless method)

[gman82001]

I played hell getting a 90-100 gr to fly in my super light 243 1-8 and settled on a Berger 95.

I have a box of heavy eldm(108 I believe) I’ll be working up once I get it back from thunderbeast for threading so I’m glad you’re making this thread

 

[MT-nuffgun]

The 108 eldm will likely be my next try if H4831sc/105 bthp combo doesn’t work out.

 

[Steve300xcw]

Mine sure likes RL22 with the 105's. 2850fps is about all I can get outta it before hitting pressure though. Accuracy is just stupid though

Have heard good things about h1000 and the heavier bullets in a 243. Will most likely see what thats about when I burn up my RL22.

 

[MT-nuffgun]

Well, 46 gr of H4831SC did not work either with the hornady 105 HPBT. Onto the 108 eldm.

 

[MT-nuffgun]

108 eld-m seated at 2.810” was 20 thou off the lands (barely fits in the M magazine). Loaded one at 47.0 gr of H4831SC. Fired round showed no signs of pressure. Loaded 20 for 100 yard groups. Best 10 round group was 1.4”. Undecided if I will do more testing or stick with this load. Shooting it at distance will probably be the deciding factor.

 

[dirtytough]

I loaded mine 50 thou off I believe. I’m also 2 grains under your load since Hodgdon shows 44.7 as max with the 108. Mine shoots about an inch for 10 rounds.

 

[MT-nuffgun]

I loaded mine 50 thou off I believe. I’m also 2 grains under your load since Hodgdon shows 44.7 as max with the 108. Mine shoots about an inch for 10 rounds.

What’s your speed? I noticed that hodgdon data was at 44.7 for standard H4831 but couldn’t find any data on the website pertaining to H4831SC so I just went with the hornady data which is 47.1 max for H4831SC.

 

[dirtytough]

2980ish off the top of my head.

 

[ddowning]

I have shot a truck load of 105 hpbt. From a custom barrel that will bughole berger 108s, I had trouble getting 1/2 moa for a measly 5 shots with 105 hpbt. After sorting bullets by oal, they load will shoot 3/4 to 1 moa for 10 shots. That's plenty good enough for hunting or casual shooting for me.

In my experience, hornady bullets are not as consistent as berger. Fpr the price and terminal performance, I prefer hornady. If you sort them, they will do a lot better. If you're only buying a few at a time it is harder. The plastic tip bullets have the same general effect as the Tubb NoseRing that is suppose to help with bc variation. Hornady also does something with the bullet tip on eldm and a-tip to help with bc variability.

Some dispersion is caused by the gun/load, but a lot is caused by the bullet. Variability in the jacket thickness, air voids in the core, and spots in the core where the lead alloy is not mixed well and has variable density will cause dispersion downrange. It took me a lot of shooting to realize this, but a good bullet will make a huge difference in dispersion on target. With that said, a decent bullet will normally shoot well enough to get 1.5" for 30 rounds which is normally deemed good enough for hunting around here.

 

[Harvey_NW]

What’s your speed? I noticed that hodgdon data was at 44.7 for standard H4831 but couldn’t find any data on the website pertaining to H4831SC so I just went with the hornady data which is 47.1 max for H4831SC.

Hodgdon 4831 data is the same for regular and SC.

 

[eyeguy]

My 8 twist tikka shoots the 108 eldm at 2.80 coal with 44gr of h4831sc well. loaded up one with 45 to iff close to pressure but no signs of pressure at 45.0 gr. velocity was 2844 fps. last 5 shot group was a bit under an inch.

The 103 eldx shoots as well or better with 47.0 gr h1000. Loaded one with 47.7 gr h100 to see if close to pressure but no evidence of pressure. velocity was 2945 with 47 and 2980 with 47.7 gr of h1000. These groups were as or a bit better than above .8 inch.
Think i just got lucky with a good shooter.

 

[Castle Rock]

The Hornady 108 is quite variable, in my reality accurate 6 BR I can shoot consecutive groups that will vary from 0.2 MOA to over an inch

 

[NWBLKTAIL]

2980ish off the top of my head.

I like hearing that I just loaded some up at 44gr see how they shoot and what velocity I get.

 

[MT-nuffgun]

Well I made another trip to the range to fire the last 10 rounds of virgin starline brass. I figured I would bump down a grain just to see what happened. It shot a little better. So 46.0 gr of H4831sc grouped 10 into 1.1”. Good enough for my needs. I also tried the 105 bthp in my daughters savage axis 1:9.25 twist 243 while I was at the range since those bullets didn’t work out in my tikka. Those bullets shot great out of her rifle. Final load data for both rifles is written on the pics. I will get some chrono data on my tikka load next time I go to the range.

 

[gman82001]

Glad to see the 4831 loads worked good for you I have plenty of that in hand as well as 4350 but probably going to start with the 4831 just based on your experience and having the exact same rifle

 

[MT-nuffgun]

Went to the range this evening to chronograph my load. Average velocity was 3006 fps for 16 shots.

 

[MT-nuffgun]

SUMMARY: my first try at Forms “painless method” I would say was a success. It was abundantly clear my rifle did not like the Hornady 105bthp. I took Forms advise and tried 2 loads for 2 different powders with that bullet. My very first load with the 108 eldm showed acceptable results with only 11 rounds invested. I decided to drop down 1 grain to 46.0 grains of H4831sc and grouped 10 into 1.1”. If I would have started the process with the 108 eldm It would have been 21 rounds total to find my load. These results are hard to argue with and I will continue any load dev I do in the future with the painless method.

 

[8nbait]

I haven’t seen too many stock tikkas that shoot small for 10 round groups. Most, like my stock 6.5 creedmoor hover around 1.2-1.5 inch, 10 round groups. What I have seen is they are always zeroed even if that zero is a little bigger than I like.
My Xbolt and Seekins are both more accurate for 10 round groups but I do like the function of the tikka.
Your .243 looks to be a good one enjoy.