243 Winchester Loading Data

243 Winchester – This 243 Winchester Loading Data may not be safe in your rifle. Use at you own risk.  Be safe and begin with lower charges of powder.

Best loads found so far for 70 gn bullets: IMR 4895 and CFE 223. See the chart below. Velocities run from 3300-3450 FPS with mild pressure.

Winchester 6.5 Staball Powder For 243 Winchester

5/2/2022 – Tested my first loads using Winchester 6.5 Staball powder with mixed results. Results are listed in table below. The first load tested used Sierra 70 bullets with 48.0 grains of Staball with a CCI Magnum primer. The second load used a 95gn Hornady SST with 41.0 grains of Staball with CCI Magnum primer. These loads have low pressure and are a couple of grains below Hodgdon’s max loads (photo below).

I only loaded 5 rounds of each, but both loads had a flyer that really opened up the group, from 1″ to over 2″ when I included the flyer. I do not experience this problem with my other loads for 243 so my first impression is that this is a powder issue. For both loads it put 4 shots into groups of about an inch and then one shot flying off to left or right. I only had magnum primers and it may do better with standard primers. The velocity is really high for loads two full grains below max. Zero pressure signs and very good velocity. I am almost two grains below Hodgdon’s max and getting over 2900 fps with the 95 SST’s and almost 3500 fps with the 70’s. If I can get the flyers under control, this will be a great powder.

Winchester Model 70 Featherweight rifle with near max loads of IMR4831 behind 95 gn Nostler Ballistic Tips produced over 3200 fps and  1” groups with no visible signs of excessive pressure.

More Reloading Data for different calibers.

Introduced in 1955 the .243 Winchester is based on the 7.62×51 military (.308 Winchester) case necked down to .243” (6mm). The balance of light recoil and versatility as both a varmint and big game cartridge quickly led to the .243 becoming one of the most popular rifle chamberings in the world.

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Performance

The .243 offers adequate killing power for medium game like deer with light recoil. Less recoil with adequate power levels can help any hunter to shoot more accurately. The 243 is great for any shooter but especially suited for young hunters . For such hunters, larger calibers like the 30’06 cartridges are simply too much and the .243 is one of the best caliber choices. 

Loaded with controlled expanding bullets in the 95-100 grain weights, the .243 has ample power to penetrate hogs or deer, but care must be used to choose the right bullet. Recommed bullets for the 243 for deer are 95 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip or Accubond. The Nostler Partition, the Hornady 95 grain SST or Barnes TSX bullets.

For best results for Coyotes, you will get the best results with bullets in the 58-70 grain bullets made for varmint hunting. Notables are the Hornady 70 VMax and the Nosler 70 grain Varmageddon .

Bullet Drop and 10mph Wind Drift with 200 yd Zero for
70gn Nosler BT @ 3350 fps and 95gn Hornady SST @2950.