Factory Recommendation

Last year I special ordered a Savage in .243 Winchester, specifying a stainless barreled action, a laminated thumbhole stock and for the barrel to be 24".

Click image to see it full-size

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/f...h_IMG_1311.jpg

When the gun arrived, there was a piece of paper in the box that recommended Nosler 70 grain ballistic-tip bullets for the gun.

I didn't pay much attention to that at first, as I intended to shoot 100 grn bullets for deer and pigs. This week though I decided to explore the guns capability for varmint hunting, so I made up the following loads for comparison:

.243 Winchester Custom Savage 24” barrel

All loads use Federal Brass, Winchester WLR primers

70 grn Nosler Ballistic Tip - ( Factory Recommended Bullet )
47 grn H4350
@ 3450 fps

58 grn Hornady V-Max - ( Much like a .22-250 as far as bullet weight and velocity go. )
43 grn VARGET
@ 3700 fps

95 grn Nosler Ballistic Tip - ( My Deer/Pig Load, so far. )
40 grn H4350
@ 2850 fps

At the range, all of the loads shot well - but the 70 grain Noslers were phenomenal. - Returning groups roughly half the size of the other two loads.

The 24" barrel on this rifle measures at .710" diameter at the muzzle. - Kind of medium weight I guess, as it's a bit heavy for a deer gun, but a bit light for a varmint/bench gun.

It is somewhere in between - like the .243 cartridge itself.

So yes, I definitely have a gun that will do a competent job on deer or varmints - though I couldn't honestly say that it is optimum for either one, due to the compromises inherent in it's dual-use nature.

I feel that the gun is perfectly set up to take best advantage of the .243 Winchester cartridge, though the same setup would fit just as well with the .250 Savage, I would bet.

One thing that really stood out for me, an old big-bore magnum fan, was that the recoil was practically nonexistent with all loads, even the warmer ones. It felt like I was shooting a .223 or something.

Anyway, I thought I would note that if the Savage shop recommends a particular bullet for your rifle, then you owe it to yourself to give it a try.

I am very happy that I followed their advice, as now I have a tack-driver varmint and target load for my dual-use rifle. - I probably never would have tried the 70 grain pills on my own.

Very nice looking set up.
I'm in the process of setting up / building a .243. A guy at my local supply shop recommended starting with 90gr Nosler Varmints.

I like your recommendation better. At least you have a little testing to prove what works.

Lots of luck with it.

Frank in Fla

That's the factory load Savage uses for accuracy testing,I believe it's Federal with the B-tip. Your barrel twist is probably 1/9.25".My LRP likes 95 gr Bergers and 75 gr Vmaxes.

My VLP 243 also loves the 70 NBT's! It shoots the 55's almost as well!

Salvo I built a 243 with a used Shaw barrel that I bought from here and it really likes the 65 gr. V-Max with 40.5 gr of IMR 4064. That is .3 below the max by the Hornady book. It will shoot this load into the .15's to .20 if I do my part, pretty regularly. I have some 87 gr. V-Max loaded to try now but haven't tried them yet.

Gordon

(I'm in the process of setting up / building a .243. A guy at my local supply shop recommended starting with 90gr Nosler Varmints.)

To my knowledge Nosler doesn't make a 90gr varmint bullet. If you're using it for varmints it's tough to beat the lighter Btips and Vmaxes for terminal performance.

"PRODUCTS"

55 to 80 grain, "Varmit" NBT's

90 & 95 grain straight Balistic Tips

I don't really know the difference between the BT's vs the Varmit BT's ??? But technically, there is not a 90 "Varmit" BT, but I bet there isn't much difference. I have shot the 55's, 70's, and 90's with great results in my VLP 243!

After reading, the 90 & 95's are for heavier game vs varmit size game. They are made to penetrate deeper in larger game.

http://www.nosler.com/Bullets/Ballistic-Tip.aspx

The difference between the varmint and regular bullets is that the varmint bullets are very lightly constructed in order to produce 'explosive' expansion within the few inches span of a varmint carcase.

Shoot a deer or pig with a varmint bullet and you will most likely produce an ugly but shallow wound ( no penetration to speak of ) that lets the critter get away - to die a painful, lingering death.

This is why we use the more heavily constructed big game bullets on big game, and never a varmint bullet.

If you shoot a varmint with a big game bullet though, chances are that it will poke right through like a pencil without much expansion. - Not always the worst thing for reducing pelt damage, but still a poor substitute for a varmint bullet at the proper velocity, which will often leave a small entry wound and no exit wound - on a very dead varmint.



Use the recommended type of bullet for the task at hand, and you'll seldom go wrong.

Yep..... You guys are right.
I looked at the box of 90's but read the one below it. That was the one that said 55gr VARMINT BT....

The 90's are the regular BT's.

It's that middle age thing again. Look at 2 things, try to read both but eyes can only focus on one. ::)

SOmetimes I think they print a meaningful name on the box & charge another $5 a box. Probably the same stuff.

Nice looking rig! I just recently bought a 243 too except I got a Ruger M77 MKII VT. So far I've only shot the Hornady superformance varmint with the 58gr vmax in it but it shoots them pretty good. Just sighting in I was getting groups under an inch @ 100 yards. Since I bought it for coyotes/varmints that's probably the only ammo I'll shoot in it. I've always been a magnum fan like you and am used to getting knocked around pretty good when shooting. Shooting the 243 was a pleasant experience! Combined with the weight of the rifle I could almost see the bullet impact on te target. I look forward to shooting it more. Good luck with yours.