Light Load for 243 win

[Larrys1911]

My son (7) has started to show an interest in shooting and he wants to shoot a scoped rifle (which of course he calls a "Sniper".) I have taken him to the range with me and let him shoot a couple different 22s with open sights and bought him a Red Ryder BB gun (wow are they different from what I had) Hes bugging the hell out of me and I want to encourage him to join my passion but I dont have anything other than a AR in 223 and 6.8 that are low recoil rifles. SO Im left with my Savage mod 10 in 243.

Can anyone point me in the direction of some low end loads for a 243 that recoil like a 223.... as in none.

Ive seen the really light bullets available but I assume they need a different twist from the norm to perform accurately.

He may handle it fine as is but I dont want to scare him.
I will most likely buy a 223 in the future but right now I just dont have the scratch for it.

Thanks for the help

Larry

 

[Clark]

Re: Light Load for 243 win

Blue Dot loads for the bottle neck cartridge are great for beginning shooting, but are advanced reloading.

Great for beginning shooting, because the recoil, velocity, and noise are low, the barrel stays cool clean.

Advanced reloading because the loads are not officially published anywhere, and there is danger of overloading, because the powder does not fill the case, and the big flakes can sometimes hang up in a powder measure. If powder hangs up in the powder measure, one load could be light and the next heavy. Each case should be checked to verify the approximate case fill or powder weight. The pressure should be kept lower than rifle powders because Blue Dot is peaky at very high pressures. Blue Dot is dirty in straight wall pistol cases at low pressure, but extremely clean at 35kpsi in bottle necked cartridges.

Blue dot loads for bottle necked rifle cartridges began, I think, with Calhoon evolving from the dirtier 800X ground squirrel loads:
http://www.jamescalhoon.com/tobee2.php
He does not have an internet connection, that web site is hosted a few miles from his house. You have call him on the phone or stop by.

They were made popular by Seafire starting ~2003.
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/2232327/page/1
He is on lots of forums and will respond to email or private message.

If I were loading 243 with Blue Dot it would be based on Quickload:
55 gr 17 gr 25kpsi 2700 fps
55 gr 21 gr 35kpsi 3000 fps

105 gr 14 gr 24kpsi 1900 fps
105 gr 17.5 gr 35kpsi 2150 fps

All in between bullet weight loads could be interpolated.
For those of you in Rio Linda, that means 17 gr Blue Dot will work with any 243 bullet weight.

 

[former naval person]

Re: Light Load for 243 win

Larry: My friends in Alabama have been using the .243 on deer for 30+ years now and have taken in the thousands with it. (They own 700+ acres on the Alabama river bottom). They use the 60 grain Hollow point bullets and don't lose deer. Start him with the 17 grain Blue Dot load, and after a few hundred rounds, load him up some with 3031 for hunting. JMHO

 

[bigwheeler]

Re: Light Load for 243 win

AA 5744 is designed for what you are doing. My kid started out with some old
Sierra 80 spitzers I had loaded over 17.0 grains of 5744. They ran at 1900 fps.
and kicked about like a 223 with 55 grainers. You could load down to 1700 with
an 80 grain. No worries about case fillers and the like.

 

[Jeremybj]

Re: Light Load for 243 win

I did some 55 grain Nosler varmint rounds over 35 grains of Varget, light recoil and was very accurate.