subsonic .243 ?

[414gates]

I would like to put together some subsonic .243 loads for short [ 50 meters max ] range pest control.

Any recommendation on the bullet ?

[Milky Duck]

it wont matter....if your going subsonic you will struggle to get ANY expansion unless are going pure lead...and hollow point... you might get lucky and find one that tumbles...but you will just have to try out what you have and see what works.... if using trail boss it will be easy..std primers and somewhere between 6-8 grns SHOULD see you right..thats about where the 7.62x39mm and .308 sit charge weight wise.... without a chronograph..start high and work way down till you notice noise decrease....dead easy with a suppressor.

[jmorris]

50 meter subsonic pest control, sounds like a standard velocity 40 gn solid from a 22LR, to me.

I don’t have a bullet recommendation because I don’t know of anyone that has a 243 bullet designed to work at such low velocity’s but trailboss powder is pretty forgiving for subsonic work with large case volumes.

[Rich/WIS]

Most any cast bullet will work backed by 4-8 grs of Bullseye, although you may go super sonic at the higher level. Only consideration is these low power loads will cause the cases to shoerten unless the flash hole is enlarged which means resticted to sub sonic loads in the future. I drill mine with IIRC #29 drill and use a brand of brass different from what I use for medium velocity (15-1600 fps) loads. My bullet is the NOE mold is the 246-105 sized .244 and GC'd. In my M70 FWT will stay under 1/2" at 25 yards, although not sure how well it would do at 50 yards.

[Rapier]

Unique and a flat point plain base 6mm bullet at about 1,000 fps. Check your altitude then check the speed of sound at that altitude, there is a table on line. A sure test for a sub sonic load is if you can clearly hear the bullet impact on a paper target at 50 or 100 yards when you shoot.
Lyman says their best result was with their 90 grain at around 1,700 fps, which is too fast for subsonic.

[Milky Duck]

the drilling of flash holes is NO LONGER a done thing...apparently... you definately do not need it with trail boss loads.