Nosler 55gr BT in .243

[DannoBoone]

Just got a Savage VLP in .243 and shot 70gr Sierra MK's very well first
time out. I also have the little 55gr BT's for loading. For those who have
loaded these, how far do you seat them? No way can they be loaded
anywhere near the lands!

The Hodgdon Reloading Center lists their tests with a length of 2.650".
That only puts about 1/8" of bearing surface of the bullet into the .243
neck. That's less than half the length of the neck in my cases.
Can that work?

[CJ in WY]

2.650 will work if you are carefull but in field conditions will give you trouble sooner or later. Luckily my two 243s prefer them seated to 2.625 8) Even though I load them into single shots they are packaged in balk bags for shootin prairie dogs, have yet to have one come apart.
Hodgdon says you can get more speed out of H380 but H414 has proven to be a better choice.

[loaders_loft]

I've found a nice load with H414 as well, 51gr out of a 22 7/16" barrel yields about 4050 fps!! I seated them per the nosler manual, don't even try to seat them longer. These bullets are about as long as a 40gr vmax in 22cal.

Accuracy is pretty good and field proven amazing performance on prairie dogs.

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj193/loaders_loft/guns/24355grnbt.jpg

p.s. the 70gr ballistic tip is also very accurate with varget...

[Dennis]

My 243 loves 55 and 70gr NBT's, 85gr GM BTHP are also deadly, probably the most accurate out of the gun. VLP243

[NRV]

I'm not sure of the exact OAL, but I'm loading them 0.090" off the lands, in a factory varmint barrell. I've had good results with around 43 grains of IMR 4064. Not the absolute fastest, but critters can't tell.

[kslefty]

I use 43gr of varget which is almost identical to the 4064 load above. They both shoot very good out of my .243 and my brothers stevens .243, would have to look for exact seating depth but it is around 1/4" inserted into the case neck.