Savage 243 Barrel Rate of Twist & Best Bullet

[dbuck]

I'm making up a Savage 243 project this winter and have a Savage 243 heavy barrel, my understanding is that the twist for a Savage is 1.9.5 twist. Given this what would be the best bullets to shoot. I'm doing mostly paper punching up to 500 yards, I do have a couple of boxes of Sierra 70 Gr. Match, gut would Sierra 115 Gr. Match be better or Berger VLD's., your comments and recommendations.

Thanks,

dbuck

[pa hog]

I really like the 95gr Berger VLD and the 90 Bergers too! I'm not sure how heavy of a bullet the factory barrel will stabilize,but the 105 A-Maxs work well as well.

[82boy]

Yes you are correct the factory 243's are a 1 in 9.25 twist with that said anything over 95gr is at the edge of the envelope. For a 115 gr bullet like the Tubb dtac or berger they require a faster twist, they both recommend a 1 in 7.5 twist. David Tubb told me that the 115 will stabilize in a 1 in 8 twist if you get the muzzle velocity over 3000 fps. I have had good luck with them in my 1 in 8 twist 6x47 lapua.

Going back to you question, I have shot 95 gr SMK's and berger VLD's out to 1000 yards in a factory 243. I found that my barrel would stabilize the 107 SMK's , but some will not. Seems like the 105 a max is a popular bullet that other have had good luck with. You may be able to shoot the BIB 108 flat back, because of its design it is recommended for a 1 in 10 twist barrel. All of them bullet I would use 4350 powder.

If your only shooting out to 500 I would say that the SMK 70 gr bullet would do fine, my 243 loved them. I found it was easy to shoot a five shoot 100 yard group in the .3 area with them. They just shot great and it keep the recoil down.

[Fjold]

I used to shoot spitzer 100 grain bullets in the 1:10" twist 243 that I had. I have a 26", 1:9.5" twist barrel also and plan to push it to shoot at our local club 1,000 yard matches and was looking at the 95 grain Bergers but I wonder if the 107 grain SMKs would work?

[dbuck]

I read someplace where David Tubb won Camp Perry using the Sierra 107 match bullets. I guess my save bet would be to use the 70 Gr. match and it may stabilize the Berger 95 gr. bullet.

[82boy]

The 115 gr Dtac is made by Sierra, it is very similar in design to a 107 SMK. The 107 SMK is no joke, it is a great bullet and has won a lot of 600 and 1000 yard titles.