243 twist

Ive got an old 110 in 243 that Im gonna start loading for soon and Im not sure on what would be a good bullet choice. I plan on using this rifle for white tail deer and if Im checking correctly its a 1 in 10 twist. I checked it by putting a brush on a cleaning rod and measuring how much distance it took on the rod to make 1 complete revolution. If thats not correct please let me know how. Im not sure if this twist will stabilize 100 + grain bullets. Any suggestions on some bullets to try that would be reasonably priced, stabilize with this twist, and be appropriate for deer hunting? Or even just some suggestions on how heavy of a bullet would work so I have a starting point. Thanks

Most Savage 243's are 1-9.25 twist but even if yours is a 1-10 it will stabilize a 100 grain bullet. A good place to start looking for White Tail loads is Nosler's load page. As you can see their barrel was 1-10 twist except for the 105/107 grain bullets. Good luck on loading and your hunt.

http://www.nosler.com/243-winchester

Also http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/rifle

Dean

Thanks guys! really appreciate those links too. theres some very good info there.

Bullet WEIGHT is only connected to twist, by accident. Length is what needs a stabilizing spin.
If you have a specific bullet in mind, look it up.
http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmstab-5.1.cgi
Use the length link on the left to find your bullets length, then input your specifics in the calculator. It will tell you of you have a prayer in stabilizing it.

That's a really handy link! Thanks! They sure have a lot of bullets on there so great tool

I have always had excellent results with the 100g Nosler Partition from several different rifles in 243 on deer...have used it on Whitetail. Muleys and Blacktail many a time with great success.

I picked up a box of speer 100 grain btsp bullets. Have to see if I can work up a load for them now. I have varget, h4895, Imr4895 and h380 so I'm sure I can make something work! If any of yo guys have a good load for this bullet I'd be interested to hear

All those powders you have will work, but are kinda on the fast side, what you need for those 100gr bullets are H4350 or RL17 or slower, or else you are going to be giving up 200 to 300 FPS, which you really need for that heavy bullet you intend on using.

Dean

OK thank you!

With the 9.25 twist barrel, you top out at 95gr bullets if they are of the longer pointier variety (Hornady SST). The "traditional" hunting bullets which are stubbier are fine to 100gr. But 95gr Bergers were lousy in my 1:9.25 and the 105's out of the question. So far I am liking my 1:8 Shilen barrel. Nice to have a barrel that will shoot the 105 VLD's with utmost reliability.

Always had good luck with Hornady 100 gr SP. Excellent terminal performance. If it wasn't DRT,it didn't go far.

i almost got the speer 85 grain btsp. i may yet try them im just not sure how effective an 85 grain bullet would be on whitetail?

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Originally Posted by yotehtr1

i almost got the speer 85 grain btsp. i may yet try them im just not sure how effective an 85 grain bullet would be on whitetail?

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I've used em on Georgia deer and never lost one. I took neck shots and none ever walked away. It was bang, flop.

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Originally Posted by GaCop

I've used em on Georgia deer and never lost one. I took neck shots and none ever walked away. It was bang, flop.

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I usually take behind the shoulder shots but did pop a buck in the neck last year with my 270. Was definitely straight to the ground!