Cast Boolits in .243 Win??

[Krag 1901]

I've had a Bob Gilky custom FN Mauser in .243 1:12" twist, timminy trigger, oak leaf carved "checkering" Lovely rifle for the bench, for a long time ( maybe 50 years) and haven't shot it much in the recent past due to concern of washing the lead out with Hi Vel loads. It has a 26" barrel and shoots quite well with H-414 & 75 gr J-words.

I started shooting cast a few years ago with my .308, 30-40 and 30-06. I'll need moulds and sizer dies and the whole shooting match for .243 so wondered what I should try for quick results?

I only need 100-200 yards MOA to make me happy. :razz:

[Bad Ass Wallace]

I'm working with my 6mm International and a 84gn Ideal cast boolits, with powder coating. Still more experiments required, but I'm pushing these to 2,800fps with good accuracy with 26.5gn 3031.

[quilbilly]

My wife's 243 loves cast boolits from an old Lyman Loverin style 87 gr. mold. Her rifle is a Mossberg ATR (I don't recall the twist rate). The load is 11 gr. of Unique. Her groups are regularly about 1-1/4" but many are sub-MOA all at 100 yards. They would even be better if I could get her to practice occasionally. I wish I could get my 50+ year old 6mm to shoot as well with CB's. That NOE 80 gr - FN mold looks like a dandy to me and I use the Lee 243 sizer to make my wife's boolits. BTW - Welcome to the board and our community

[madsenshooter]

I've got a couple good 6mm molds but I'm working in 6x45 for now. I have a .243 that I'll get around to someday. Sounds like a case full of 860 proposition. The two molds I have are Noe's .245-80-FN and an Eagan mold that BaBore cut for me using the cherry I got off ebay. The Eagan's nose is a bit small for US bores, but I've beagled one cavity out and it's a bore rider in the McGowen 6x45 barrel. There are a few of the Eagan molds floating around. I really need to get a chronograph!

[GregLaROCHE]

I often think about getting a 6mm mould so I will start shooting my 6mm Rems again. It’s been a while. Nice to have some recommendations on moulds.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I've had a few 243 rifles, right now I only have one, a inexpensive Savage Axis, but it's a great shooter.
I like the NOE 245-75-FN cast with COWW, for "book" loads (from Lyman CBHB#4)
https://noebulletmolds.com/site/shop/243-6mm/245-74-fn-c5/245-75-fn-c5-4-cavity-gc

I've had the Lyman 245496 Loverin, but it was heavier than I liked for the moderate/light loads that I shoot.

[lead collector]

Hey guys,
I found your discussion interesting, as I have a couple of 6mm sized rifles, I just never tried lead in them.
Not to steal the show here, or hijack the thread, but I have a question.. Is a 1 in 10 twist rate too fast for cast in this caliber?
I have a 98 Mauser that I would like to try cast in..
ThankLC

[earlmck]

I have a Remington 700 youth model 243 that I use for the beginning hunters in the family. The Lyman 245496 makes about an 86 grain boolit that I put ahead of 10 grains of Trailboss for a nice practice round for the youngsters. I also used 7.5 grains of Green Dot with this boolit when I ran out of Trailboss and it did fine.

[Krag 1901]

I've always worried about my 1:12 twist barrel, I've never gotten good results with greater than 85 gr bullets and best with Sierra 75 HP's. I hadn't thought about the RPM factor but It might work with a short fat 85-90 gr boolit. What are you guys sizing boolits to? I use .310s in my .30s. I'd guess .244-.245 would be about right???/

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Hey guys,
I found your discussion interesting, as I have a couple of 6mm sized rifles, I just never tried lead in them.
Not to steal the show here, or hijack the thread, but I have a question.. Is a 1 in 10 twist rate too fast for cast in this caliber?
I have a 98 Mauser that I would like to try cast in..
ThankLC

I don't think you will have a problem, just avoid the heavy boolits.
My savage is 1 in 9.25

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I've always worried about my 1:12 twist barrel, I've never gotten good results with greater than 85 gr bullets and best with Sierra 75 HP's. I hadn't thought about the RPM factor but It might work with a short fat 85-90 gr boolit. What are you guys sizing boolits to? I use .310s in my .30s. I'd guess .244-.245 would be about right???/

I size to .2455 (I honed out a .245 Lyman H&I die)

[Krag 1901]

Doesn't seem to be many .243 moulds available. RCBS has one and Lyman none!

[MT Gianni]

If you can find them Lyman used to catalog 3. The 84 gr 245396 did great for me with a charge of 2400 between 11 and 14 gr.

[farmbif]

I'm still looking to find a h&I lube size die in .244 or .245, got the old Lyman 86 gr mold years ago when they were cleaning out the warehouse.

[Maven]

I've been shooting Lyman's #245496 @ .244" out of my Ruger #1 (26" bbl.) for almost 40 yrs. It is very accurate with various propellants, e.g., Unique, AA #9, IMR 4198, and maybe RX - 7. I'm fortunate since my #1's bbl. is one of the better ones and is capable of m.o.a. (or less) accuracy @ 100 yd. with jacketed bullets, but only 1.5 m.o.a. with -496. Btw, yesterday I loaded 15 of them with 6.5gr. Hodgdon Clays, but no gas check to see if it is a viable, i.e., accurate and no bore leading, load.

[1hole]

Some of my most fun hunting days were spent sneaking around the southern NC mountains after squirrels with my then new Weatherby Vanguard in .243 in the late 60s.

I borrowed a Lyman 85 gr gas check Loverin mold and made a couple thousand of the things and never got around to buying my own mold. Now my stock is getting low and I can't find that old mold at a price I'm willing to pay. Wish Lee would make it in a six cavity.

I sized my lynotype bullets to .243 in a Lyman 45 sizer, used Lyman checks and the then still new NRA Alox/beeswax 50:50 lube and never had any reason to think otherwise. I loaded them over enough 2400 to match .22 RFM trajectory and went tree rat killin'!

I don't know why but cleaning and drying the bore real good when switching bullets (both ways) did me a lot of good for accuracy.

One memory about those days still makes me grin. Squirrels sometimes hugged the back of too small limbs, I guess thinking if they couldn't see me then I couldn't see them; bad mistake. That hard lead bullet hit 2 inch tree limbs like an armor piercing round and the last thing they remembered was tree bark exploding under their fuzzy little heads!

Cast bullets in a light sporting .243 rifle is much better used in the woods instead of just punching holes in paper at a range. A bowl of fresh bisquits and a few smother fried young squirrels served with a big helping of my then young wife's thick brown gravy lavished over a plate of grits sure made many very tasty breakfasts for this southern boy!

That little cartridge loaded with 100 gr. Rem bulk SPCL bullets has killed deep woods southern whitetail deer just as well as my .30-06, .35 Rem. and 7mm RM. And, loaded with proper varmint bullets, it has taken a small truck load of crows and groundhogs out to 300+ yards; that's about as far out as I can hit.

I still love my ol' .243!