243 ai loads and questions

[calib]

i am looking to load up some 95 grn bergers here in the next couple weeks or so and was wondering who might have some info to get me going? i have a 1:9 twist 26" barrel ill be pushing them through.

thanks

[Joe O]

Haven't shot Bergers out of mine,but getting excelent groups with Sie 95 MKs and H4831sc.Still developing,but have had one group in the 0s (barely).Hart barrel 1:9 28"+Vias Brake, .270 neck.

[calib]

joe arfe you gonna be trying bergers at all if so let me know or keep me posted

[calib]

there must not be many people shooting the 243 ai any one else out there

[kdog70]

.243AI 105 Berger, Lapua 243 brass 44 gr. h4350 .10 off the lands 3150 fps. Savage Target action, 26 inch 1 in 8 twist. H4350 is great with velocity in both my 243AI's.

Savage Target action 16.5 inch XP pistol, 243 AI shooting 95 berger and 87 VMax I launch it with H4350 also getting anywhere in the 3220 fps area with Vmax, I have not ran the Bergers yet. My chrono seems to be broken, A member at my range placed a Corelok through the it for me.

I have used H4831SC, Varget, RE17, and H4350 all worked great but I picked the powder based on what use. I use all other powders in other guns so why dip from my own powder reserve.

good luck
kdog

[calib]

thanks kdog,
as you have read abouv i have a 26" 1 in 9 twist i would like to shoot the 95 grain bergers, but what else might i be able to shoot well through this gun? i would like to use for paper, coyotes, maybe antelope some where down the road.

[bootsmcguire]

what else might i be able to shoot well through this gun? i would like to use for paper, coyotes, maybe antelope some where down the road.


I have been shooting 58gr v-max over Varget in mine and it has done very well on paper out to 300. I haven't tried it farther than that but ballisticly it looks like 450 will be my major falling off point. Haven't had a coyote in my sights with it yet but it should be devistating. I am estimating that it should be moving between 3975 and 4025 FPS and thats just a starting load, but I figure thats fast enough for me since it has been .5MOA and better. Wouldn't be a load for antelope but should be promising on varmints and has been really good on paper. I am shooting a 1:9.25 twist.
The guy I got this barrel from was shooting rockchucks out to around 700yds with 70gr blitzkings and RL17 at 3850 FPS (so I am told). Might be something else to think about.

[calib]

sounds like you got a decent load for now. why didnt you try to follow the previous owners loading? sounds like that would have been a pretty sweet load. i have thought that the least i would try is maybe a 87 grain v mav i would like to keep the bc kind of high to take a bit of the wind effects away, and also be able to keep the momentum going for a good ways. i shoot 85 grn sierra bthp's out of my stock 243 and am very comfortable with 300 yd shots, but would like something that would make me that comfortable with 500 and beyond. i can reload fairly accurate rounds as i get one hole groups out of that 243 and a stock stevens 22 250 and seem to shoot decently so i am hoping that if i make a good round and have a good gun to shoot it from i should have some real nice results. i just got the itch to build something and the 243ai is what i decided on. if it turns out a real shooter, maybe i will either tear the 243 appart, or keep it and buy an action if i could get one cheap and do some kind of a long action build.

[bootsmcguire]

Well I was going to use the previous owners load. Getting the bullets was not a problem but my local powder supplier didn't carry RL17 yet and I was overly happy with Varget in a couple other guns and had plenty on hand. That same local shop had several boxes of the 58 V-Max collecting dust and so I made him an offer on all of them and he took it. It was cheap enough I figured I could start with those and once they got used up he would probably have RL17 in stock and then get some of the 70 Blitzkings and try to replicate the previous owners loads.

I like the 87 V-max and Varget. I ran it in mine and my buddies 243Win guns (I have since sold mine since I got the 243AI). It was a good load at 100 constantly giving me .75MOA in the 243 and my buddy was getting .5MOA after we tuned his load a bit. I never got around to tuning mine as I got the 243AI Barrel and kind put the 243 Sporter on the back burner.

For around here 400yds is pretty much my max distance and the 58gr does quite well. But if I were going farther 70gr and up would be the way to go.

[calib]

i am hoping to be firing this rifle soon. wondering should i be ok checking the oal of this new gun and taking some of my 243 loads for my factory stevens that shoot very good making sure the bullet is set just off the lands on the new gun and firing them to form my brass and also tenetively zeroing my new rifle?
or should i save those and just make up some bs rounds with a good 243 loaad of powder and throw some bullets i have laying around in and firing those in the same way of measuring and seating?
i would rather use bullets and be able to get some sighting done and break barrel in a bit than shoot some cream of weat or paper down the barrel.

let me know what you guys think or what you have done.

also i will be getting my dies this friday. i have been told that go gauging the barrel to your dies is a good way of making everything fit and work well. how would i go about doing this?

thanks guys

[bootsmcguire]

First off, I would say if your loads are for another rifle, save them and use them in that rifle. Secondly I would not form any brass for the 243AI with anything more used than once fired, virgin brass would be best. Look up and see what the Max. load for your bullet and powder is in a standard 243 and load that. Don't mess around with the C.O.W. method. I wondered about it when I first got mine and everybody said it was unnecessary and they were right. Make up some loads, use those to get on paper and break in the barrel. You will be suprised how accurate your barrel will be while fireforming. I was getting .6's while fireforming.

All I did to gauge my barrel to my dies was to take a once fired brass and run it through my FL sizer and then use that as a go gauge. Add a pc. of scotch tape (which is about .002") to the base of the brass and you have your no-go gauge.

[calib]

damn boots you got the info i need , should have sent you the bolt handle free for the info you have been providing me with. wish i where down in IA. could do some loading/ shooting. boots check out my picture post and read about the case gauge idea and let me know what you think! i like it.

[calib]

boots,
did you load the bullets that you where wanting to use in the final loads. what i mean is that i want to use 95grn bergers in the end so should i just load those over a max 243 win load and shoot those to form, sight in and break in?

[kslefty]

I feel there is no need to use your favorite bullet for fireforming. Certainly ok but there are cheaper routes. I shoot a 6mm AI and my fireform load is with some cheap 70gr bullets I came across. After fireforming I load the 107gr SMK but the 70gr bullets shoot very well @100 yds anyways. I also tend to load a very near published max load for the parent case and sometimes my bullets a slightly jammed into the lands but so far it has not been necessary.

[calib]

well we will see how my reloading efforts pay off. i loaded 25 a max's and 25 bergers.
i used the case gauge idea to check depth then the first time after that i threw a bullet into some brass and checked it to see how the lands marked it then i went from there. i loaded 5 groups each with a little different seating depth. with the a max's i used retumbo, the berg's i used h1000 i do have other powders just could not find a lot of data for them.

where could i find some data? i looked at the hodgdon data i looked in my little 243 spiral book, where else?
i have:
h1000
retumbo
varget
8208 xbr
benchmark
reloaders 22, 19, 15


what do you guys suggest.

[bootsmcguire]

I am glad i have been a help. Yes i did load my fireformed loads with my choice bullets, but I am shooting 58gr V-maxs out of mine and they are cheap anyway. I would say shooting more expensive bullets isn't necessarily a waste but I think I would save them for formed brass. Since you are looking for 100gr ranges, I would say order some 100gr remington bullets from Natchez (they are only like 14 bucks/100) and use those, or something else you find cheap. As far as your powders I would think Varget and RL15 may be a little too fast for top performance on 95 and up grain bullets, but I could be wrong.

Of your choices for powders for the 95gr bullets my book is showing H1000 @ 48.0grs and Varget @ 35.0grs to be the top 2 picks.
Of your choices for powders for the 105gr bullets my book is showing H1000 @ 46.0grs and Varget @ 33.0grs but the Varget is a lot slower FPS on this one. H1000 looks to be the better choice for both. These loads are Max loads for the 243, but should be good starting loads for the 243AI.
As always work up slow. I know there was some data on 6mmbr.com I think, I found some just by Googling 243AI data.

[calib]

any one shooting 95 grn bergers from there 243 ai? i have now shot my formed brass and a little more un formed brass. the best group i got with formed was an inch at 100yds, but when i fire formed even with a warm dirty barrel i was almost stacking the shots. what the hell. i am using h 1000 what do you guys suggest and what are you loading?

[calib]

i may have gotten a load figured out for my 243 ai with berger 95 grn vld's i used reloader 22 powder and shot 4 shots in a center to center measured .208" group see pic on my post in the picture area labelled my first build may do a little more reloading to see if i can get better, but no more than one more reloading session needed

[TORCHRIDER]

For the heavier bullets dont leave IMR4350 or H4350 out of your tests. It is one of the finest powders for the .243AI.

[calib]

torchrider,
are you shooting a 243 ai? if so what bullets are you shooting? about how much powder?