Thread: Fussy 243.

Gidday Team.

So thought I'd ask here as a close mate of mine whose a experienced reloader is having trouble with his 243.

Rifle is a howa match 243 24"
Arken 6-24 scope.
suppressor( the Swedish ones that DM sell)
B&C stock.

Projectile- 95gr TMK.
Brass- Norma.
Primer- Fed LR
Powder- Superformance.

Now these are seated 30 thou off the lands from memory( again not my rifle so don't quote me) but this thing will just not Group.

Done a ladder to find a node and then gone and grouped it from there.

Now this thing will not shoot.

Best group is 1 3/4". The hottest group still hasn't found any pressure and their doing 3212fps when I was last out with my mate at the range.

So what we've come to the conclusion of is this rifle does not like those projectiles for some reason unless we are missing something. So perhaps looking at trying a different pill. Like the speer 85gr btsp?

I have no experience with reloading 243s at all so I'm really out of my depth with the calibre.

The other thing yet to be done is to try some factory ammo to see if it's a rifle issue( which we highly doubt but am happy to be proven wrong).

All bases, screws etc are torqued to spec.

The thing that baffles me is the TMK is my go to bullet for 7 and 30 cal and I'm yet to see one that won't shoot it albeit in the said calibres from first hand experience so I'm not sure what the go is with this .243? And help would be highly appreciated

Change pill, change powder or change your expectations, 30 thou off jam/lands is as good a point as any to load to if they fit in the mag.
Personally I would do a charge ladder to find the velocity I need/expect to do what I want it to and then when you find the velocity you want load up as many as your comfortable, in reality 30 has been proven to give statistically relevant results and then shoot them at a target, even if you need to shoot 3-5 at a time then let it cool off, rinse repeat till you've shot them all. That will tell you true accuracy.
Granted if your not comfortable loading up 30 load up 10, if after 10 shots the group is awful it isn't going to get better by shooting another 20 rounds.
If it's shit refer to my opening statement.... "Change pill, change powder or change your expectations"

Some rifles just don't like a given projectile.

You are on the right track trying different factory ammo - find the most accurate one, reload that projectile to the same velocity and fine tune from there. Don't play with the OAL at the same time as you only want a single variable!

Have some different 6mm projectiles here if you want to try different. What twist rate is it?

Aside from the issues around tuning.

The rifle will never shoot the 95gr TMK. That bullet requires a 1:9" twist and Howa .243s come with a 1:10".

The 95gr Targex will stabilise.

@dannyb

He's done a ladder but still hasn't found pressure is all. It's been done with 5 shot groups and letting the barrel cool, bagged front and rear etc. Suppressor off after each string. I was just having a good hard think about; what am I missing here, what's my mate missing about this 243?.
@gimp

We had a look at a few twist rate guides and most of them said the howa with the 1 in 10 twist does up to 100gr? But could you please explain why it would do the targex and not the Sierra as their the same weight? I've never used or seen a targex pill so but are they quite different in ogive etc?

I think going forward he will try the speer 85gr btsp which we will start on this week.

Cheers for the replies folks it got me in particular a bit stumped is all!
@Husky1600#2 thank you for the kind offer. We will see how these Speers go and update you.

The Sierra has a long VLD shape. It requires a 1:9" twist regardless of the weight. Check the box or the Sierra website.

The 90gr ELDX is another good option for a 1:10. The 90gr TGK is marginal in a 1:10 and likely will not work.

The 95gr Targex is a good bullet and has shot well from several 1:10" twist .243s for me - every rifle I have tried it in.

Originally Posted by Rock river arms hunter

@dannyb

He's done a ladder but still hasn't found pressure is all. It's been done with 5 shot groups and letting the barrel cool, bagged front and rear etc. Suppressor off after each string. I was just having a good hard think about; what am I missing here, what's my mate missing about this 243?.
@gimp

We had a look at a few twist rate guides and most of them said the howa with the 1 in 10 twist does up to 100gr? But could you please explain why it would do the targex and not the Sierra as their the same weight? I've never used or seen a targex pill so but are they quite different in ogive etc?

I think going forward he will try the speer 85gr btsp which we will start on this week.

Cheers for the replies folks it got me in particular a bit stumped is all!
@Husky1600#2 thank you for the kind offer. We will see how these Speers go and update you.

If it's shit refer to my opening statement.... "Change pill, change powder or change your expectations"

Originally Posted by gimp

The Sierra has a long VLD shape. It requires a 1:9" twist regardless of the weight. Check the box or the Sierra website.

The 90gr ELDX is another good option for a 1:10. The 90gr TGK is marginal in a 1:10 and likely will not work.

Don't believe this?, put up a really big target and I mean big a1 sized at 200 metres and fire a few rounds at it, go look at the holes if there are any. You'll be a convert

They say you need an 8T for this pill. Notorious for needing specific twist. Fell into that error.

Those TMKs are a fussy projectile and in my experience very few rifles like them

Even some of the older 100 and the 105gn Sierra pill can be loose in a 1:10 tube.

The 90 nbt is a good pill in a 10 twist, and the 95 maybe ok in your barrel.


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Depending on end usage,maybe try some basic cup n core Hornady or speer in 80-90 grn weights. The 87grn Hornady had a huge following for many years.

Try changing the pill. Sometimes a rifle simply wont shoot the pill you want it to....youll have to find what the rifle likes