243 Win - Is there only heavy grainers avail?

[PeterD]

Got a time sensitive question. I have someone leaving the States soon to visit and they want to bring down some reloading parts as its very expensive to buy them in this country.

I didnt have the luxury of time to fully search everything so the molds I just grabbed a couple lee's for the 30-30, a lighter 120'grainer for plinking and a heavier 160?ish grainer to hunt with. This is for an '84 Win94 and I assume its a .311 or .312 sizer I want... I mistakenly ordered a .308 before reading that 94's have .308 lands and .310 grooves. I dont have anything to slug the barrel with yet so I held off ordering a lee .311 sizer.

But I am really here to ask about the 243 Win. I picked up a Tikka T3 Lite and am loving this gun. Accuracy and with all the selection of different grain bullets it is very versatile as varminting and hunting which in Oz handles all the imported pest deer up to but not including Sambar.

But I am not finding many molds. Only a 95 grain RCBS that I may end up getting for want of somethig, anything; and a 85? by Redding.

Is there nothing in 55-60 for small varmints and 70-75 for large varmints out there?

BTW, am using Midwayusa to get the items to them before they fly down here if that helps.

Cheers,
PeterD

[shooting on a shoestring]

Yep you found both of them. There is a dearth of moulds for .243. Its the only caliber I own that I don't shoot cast in. I may have to cure that some day. You'll find that gas checks are also often hard to find for .243. Its just not a high demand caliber for cast boolits.

You can go to the 22s and find several moulds, the 30s are over-run with selection. Theres a gap between that is just not well populated.

The custom guys would be a good choice for mail order, or the RCBS for get it now.

Best of luck.

[BCall]

NOE has a 75 gr available here-
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?p=1411048#post1411048

Other than that, I don't know of any from larger manufacturers. The Saeco seems to be the lightest. Don't discount the heavier boolits for varmints though, especially if a HP job is done on them. BRP made a lighter 243, but sadly he is currently out of business, I have one but I do not know how many he made.

[PeterD]

Thanks for the replies. I'll have to go with the RCBS for now in 95. A HP job I assume will have to be done by someone else or are parts available to affix your own? I wouldn't have time to send the RCBS off to another shop for modification unfortunately.

I'll have to pick up a pack of gas checks but loath having to do it. I saw somewhere, maybe youtube of a guy that was testing out a punch mit to make your own gad checks. That I would be interested in but still not getting search hits for one.

Edit: I checked out the NOE post but looked like only 9 available in 2011 and a lot of interest in the thread of buyers. I checked their production schedule and not seeig any 243 molds for this year.

Cheers,
PeterD

[303Guy]

There's a maximum velocity with cast regardless of the weight. With cast you could do well with a 105 gr if you could find one but 95 is not that light. You could shallow up the lube grooves a bit in that mold to get the weight up a little. A bit difficult to get both cavities the same.

[BCall]

Thanks for the replies. I'll have to go with the RCBS for now in 95. A HP job I assume will have to be done by someone else or are parts available to affix your own? I wouldn't have time to send the RCBS off to another shop for modification unfortunately.

I'll have to pick up a pack of gas checks but loath having to do it. I saw somewhere, maybe youtube of a guy that was testing out a punch mit to make your own gad checks. That I would be interested in but still not getting search hits for one.

Edit: I checked out the NOE post but looked like only 9 available in 2011 and a lot of interest in the thread of buyers. I checked their production schedule and not seeig any 243 molds for this year.

Cheers,
PeterD

Yes, you would have to send it to someone for a HP, unless you are equipped to do it yourself.

The NOE thread was started in 2011, when he had the molds for sale. He updates the threads as molds are sold, so he still has nine left. If you contact Swede, he still has them. Al is supposed to be cutting this one, http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=124042, it is a .243 version of a 22 mold. Supposed to be made at the same time the 22 molds are cut, probably in about a month. If you want a lighter mold, best thing would be to check with Swede.

I have a 243 Freechex gas check maker too. It makes great checks from aluminum flashing, but he no longer sells on ebay. I think he has a website, but I do not know what it is.

[GabbyM]

With the huge case capacity to bore diameter (over bore) of the 243 Win the heavy bullets help create back pressure to ignite the powder.

My 243 AI is a stellar cast boolit shooter. I have the Saeco 85 gr and the Lyman 84gr round nosed Loverin. After purchasing the excellent Lyman 3rd edition handbook I discovered the Saeco bullet ahs a BC of .159 while the RCBS has a BC of .258. If I’d of known that before hand the RCBS may have been my first choice. Although the Saeco bullet shoots great so I’m not going to seat it.

Have only tried two powders. Rx7 and Unique. With Rx7 it’s a fine line between enough powder to burn consistent and to high a velocity to shoot good. With 18.0 grains under the 85 grain Saeco 243 boolit I get 1.00 to .900 inch groups at 100 yards. Average FPS over a chrony is 2,040 fps with an impressive E.S of 6.54. That’s out of a one in ten twist 26 inch barrel and an Ackley improved case. 2,040 is the raged edge for accuracy so more powder still has a low ES but the groups open to 2.5” at 100 yards. Less powder and the ES goes up and groups open up. After I got the Saeco bullets shooting well with Rx7 I loaded some of the Lyman 84gr Loverine over 11.0 grains of Unique. Didn’t shot them over the chrony but they book at around 1,850 fps. Group at 100 yards was .850 inch . Like about four or five 5 shot groups in a row. This is a ten pound varmint rifle with a 24X scope. That was last fall and have not played with the Unique load again. Was impressive to shoot my best groups on the first try. don’t think any magic was involved. The Unique burned extremely clean at the pressures it was running and obviously was burning consistent. It is burning well while the velocity of the bullet is still low enough to be accurate. Another advantage with the shotgun powder was I could shoot long strings of fire without over heating the barrel. At fifty yards the load with Unique cuts a single hole in a paper target. Note this rifle will do that with J bullets at 200 yards. If the wind don’t blow. Report is a crack instead of a boom. Definitely a 100 yard squirrel load.
For a while last year I had a mind that a 5.56mm NATO necked up to 6mm (6x45mm) with a 1-14 twist would be all the rage for boolits. But I now have my 243 Win AI shooting so good it’s hard to talk myself into another rifle.

I also cast some 22 caliber bullets. Those are a challenge but no great hurdle. 6mm boolits are as easy to work with as there larger fatter cousins. Recoil is nill and you can see the bullet strike inside the view of your scope. Which is something I really like in a rifle.

Huge advantage of plinking for fun out to 200 yards with the cast bullets in a 243 is barrel life. I’ve burned out a few 243 Win barrels prairie dog shooting in under a thousand rounds. Gave that up to go with a 223 Rem for long barrel life. Loads like 11gr of Unique or 18gr of Rx7 in a 6mm bore under a cast lead boolit isn’t going to take much life from your barrel. Simply a pile of fun shooting.

I use a slightly modified Felix Lube formula and have no leading issues.

[GabbyM]

The light bullets were for rifles chambered for 22 PPC and ohters with 1-14" twist barrels. Tikka 243 WIN will stabalize the RCBS 95 grainer with ease.

I'd not go to the trouble of hollow pointing them. Unless you have a very specifice performance requirement. Water drop a hard alloy and they will become hard and brittel. Thus fragmenting upon impanct. When BHN number of the cast bullet is lower than (velocity in fps x 100). Mushrooms will happen upon impact.

[PeterD]

Thank you Gabby,

Gives me a lot more confidence with what was going to be a bit of a hit and miss roll the dice on such a short notice purchase.

Cheers,
PeterD

[MT Gianni]

If you can get 2400 try 11-14 gr of it with the 95 gr RCBS. My sweet spot is 12 gr.

[Newtire]

Got a time sensitive question. I have someone leaving the States soon to visit and they want to bring down some reloading parts as its very expensive to buy them in this country.

I didnt have the luxury of time to fully search everything so the molds I just grabbed a couple lee's for the 30-30, a lighter 120'grainer for plinking and a heavier 160?ish grainer to hunt with. This is for an '84 Win94 and I assume its a .311 or .312 sizer I want... I mistakenly ordered a .308 before reading that 94's have .308 lands and .310 grooves. I dont have anything to slug the barrel with yet so I held off ordering a lee .311 sizer.

But I am really here to ask about the 243 Win. I picked up a Tikka T3 Lite and am loving this gun. Accuracy and with all the selection of different grain bullets it is very versatile as varminting and hunting which in Oz handles all the imported pest deer up to but not including Sambar.

But I am not finding many molds. Only a 95 grain RCBS that I may end up getting for want of somethig, anything; and a 85? by Redding.

Is there nothing in 55-60 for small varmints and 70-75 for large varmints out there?

BTW, am using Midwayusa to get the items to them before they fly down here if that helps.

Cheers,
PeterD

Title says it all. Deputy Al won the Winnemucca shoot with that load and the 95 gr. RCBS. We came close last year with that load and the 85 gr. Saeco. Both rifles were M70 Sears M53 rifles too. Whatever twist they were? I have used the 245496 with OK performance and had keyholes with 245498 bullets-just godawful! So, it was a narrow window but the accuracy can be got!

[RKJ]

I believe you'll like that 95 grain RCBS. I've got it and it is easy to cast and very accurate. It hasn't gone hunting yet as it's mainly for my Grandsons but on paper it's very good.

[MT Gianni]

Well since it has been 5 years it would be nice to know if it turned out. Unfortunately the OP was last on Oct 2015.

[Newtire]

Old post it is true but if someone is doing a search for information and runs across this thread, at least they might find the information that they were looking for I figure. In some cases, the age of a thread makes no difference.