Load Development Ruger Precision Rifle .243

[jdmecomber]

Well
We took the H4831SC and Ruger combo out to 1000 today. We went from 100 yards straight to 1000 yards. I shot 6 rounds prone at an 18" disc. I hit the disc the first shot. The next two were also hits. I got cocky and went for fourth really quick and missed. Slowed down and the next were hits. I have to say after all the work we put into this load development maybe I shouldn't be shocked but I was very amazed at the consistency.

 

[buckfvr]

I was on the spotter, and aside from the miss. the other 5 were solid shots, no edge hits.

 

[buckfvr]

So our next test will be putting a relatively inexpensive .243 win together to see how it compares over all.

It is going to be a Savage stainless Varmint/Tactical action from NSS in a Bell and Carlson Medalist M40 stock with the aluminum bedding block. The barrel is coming from Benchmark and will be a 26" stainless match varmint contour 1-7.75 twist. The barrel will get an APA Lil Bastard brake as well.

Same loads will be tested, skipping most of the preliminaries.

Vortex will be the scope, not sure which one yet, have to see how my wife is handling it....... But it will be a turret model with milrad reticle.

Soon as stuff starts showing up, we will start sharing our findings. R

 

[jdmecomber]

So for those that have been following, we shot some steel out to 800 yards

800 yards. 3 shot. 3.25 inches

665 yards. 3 shot. 1.5 inches

It's shooting very well

 

[jdmecomber]

665 yards 105 vld about 2930 fps

 

[buckfvr]

These were shot from the prone on a mountain side, 40 degrees. That gun is only limited by the shooter.

 

[etisll40]

follow

 

[Ghost7]

Guys, this is some good stuff and I have been following. I am currently doing the same thing with my Savage .243 LRP but being fairly new to reloading and long range shooting this has taken me a while. My savage has a 9.25 twist and am unable to stabilize the 105 Bergers. I am able to shoot the 105 Amaxes and 95 SMK. This weekend I shot out to 623yds and had a 5.085" group with 95s and a 2.1" group with 105 Amax. I was pleased with first attempt but want to improve on it and shoot farther. My velocities with the Amax ave 2873fps and this was with imr4350. I would like to get velocity up but my grouping goes to crap at 100 yds with my testing as I increase powder charge. I'm going to try some h4350 and see what happens. Sounds like I need to try some 4831. I have learned a lot from your thread so please keep the good info and data coming. I think the .243 is just as capable of a long range caliber as any and with some diligent and methodical work you can make these babies shoot. Look forward to reading about your progress.

 

[jdmecomber]

Ghost. Real quick. It appears those bullets are horrible for your twist
95 Berger classic is your only heavier option

 

[buckfvr]

When we shot tuesday, we also had another friend along who shot his Remington .243 with the 9.125 twist. We only did a very limited ocw test ( that day ) on his powder of choice, H4350, and then loaded more up with just under 40gr of powder behind the Berger 95gr Classic Hunter loaded .010 off the lands. We immediately headed for the steel targets. The results were ZERO misses out to 800 yards with most shots at or near the center of the targets.

I also have a 10 twist .243 and the 95 Classic is the only premium bullet close enough to consider. That gun likes H4831.

So we make great use out of Bergers twist rate calculator on their web page. It lets you pick their bullets from a drop down and automatically gives specs for the bullet. You enter your velocity and elevation and hit calculate, and there you have it....results. One thing we have started to do with all bullets we consider is to go beyond checking stability at muzzle velocity, but also include entering down range velocities from one of the ballistic calculators we use to determine down range stability at say 6, 8, 1k, and 1200 yards. We feel this gives us an idea as to what is going to happen with a particular bullet at extended ranges.

We know a bunch of this stuff is impractical for hunting , but we want to see just how well the .243 can perform as a long range caliber. You are shooting a great gun so you surely can benefit from going the extra mile with it to develop it to its full potential. Only reason I am putting a Savage together on the Varmint action is because I wanted the 7.75 twist to optimize the 105gr Berger. still waiting on the barrel.

Joe will post up some data as he gets time, because he is hugely data and mathematically driven, where as I do pay attention to that but often find myself leaning towards what I can glean from logic based on those results, and I try and draw parallels from one test to another and then in my own mind simplify it for the sake of reason. We are certainly not done yet, so there will be more...

 

[Ghost7]

Ghost. Real quick. It appears those bullets are horrible for your twist
95 Berger classic is your only heavier option

I understand that according to twist calc that this is not optimum bullet but I have read where others with the same twist did quite well with them. So far they have seemed to stabilize out to 600 yds and the 2.1" group seemed to speak to that. Now, this is not to say they will destabilize a little further out...time will tell. The 95 Sierra matchking grouped well at 100 (.200-.330" consistently) but didn't do so well for me at the 600 yd range, not to say that couldn't be pilot error but the 105's outperformed them to that distance. I haven't tried the Bergers because I wanted to shoot their higher BC 105's and I know that the 9.25" will not stabilize that bullet without a doubt. Once this barrel is shot out I plan on re-barreling with a faster twist in the same .243 cal. Have you guys had good luck with the 95s out to 1000 yd?

 

[buckfvr]

Tuesday was first time out to 800 yards with the 95gr classic hunters, and it was pretty impressive.......

 

[jdmecomber]

My buddy who just got into the LR game shot the 95 Berger at 800 yards Tuesday. It shot .97 moa 3 shots with very little effort. Data says without a doubt those bullets are a waste of time for your twist rate

 

[buckfvr]

So what we try and do is if something doesnt work with all our resources, i.e. twist calculator and ballistic calculators, etc., we make every attempt to move on to a component that is more favorable. In the case of the bullets for slower twists, the 95gr Classic hunter is better suited ( according to their tests ) for the application, so thats where we are......not saying desired performance can NOT be achieved by using the other bullets, just that at some point it will rear up and bite you in the arse........