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Old June 22, 2010, 08:53 PM   #1
ropencut
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.243 suggestions wanted

I just bought an older remington 788 chambered in .243 for my 11 year old son. It has the 18" barrel. Iwould like suggestions on loads.
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Old June 22, 2010, 09:00 PM   #2
HuntAndFish
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Here's some...

http://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/Youth%20Loads.pdf
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Old June 23, 2010, 09:50 AM   #3
Irish80prf
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I shoot a Savage .243 and I load for it with really good results. I don't know what the twist rate of your rifle is or what you will be using it for, but here is my load.

38.0 grains H4895
CCI large rifle primers
65 Gr V-Max
C.O.L-2.600"

This is the lightest load suggested on Hodgdon's website and I shoot .46" groups with it at 100 yards. With the low powder charge and the lighter bullet it doesn't have much of a kick at all. I took it prairie dog hunting and shot 50 rounds at one sitting and never felt it in my shoulder. This is a great target round or varmint/predator round not so much for the deer size game even though it would do the job if it had to.
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Old June 23, 2010, 01:55 PM   #4
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With an 18" barrel, try to stay on the fast side of the burn rate chart, for the powders suggested.

I wouldn't use a powder slower than the approximate burn rate of 4064.

IMR 3031 is the classic 'go-to' powder for the .243, and usually does well in shorter barrels. I would start there, if you have some on hand.
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Old June 23, 2010, 10:22 PM   #5
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For deer, I use IMR4831 with 95gr SST's with excellent results in two 243's.
For varmints, I use IMR4064 and 58gr V-max with good results. Aint played much with this load tho.
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Old June 24, 2010, 04:32 AM   #6
Mike / Tx
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AS suggested the Hodgdon loads are a great starting point, especially for a youth learning to shoot and hunt.

I used them for my grandson when he started shooting my .308 at 3.5yrs old.

The great thing about them is you can use the same components from the bottom load in the Youth selection all the way through the top end in the standard load selection.

With my .308 these loads have shown very acceptable accuracy all the way up using two different bullet weights.

Wishing you the best with your son and his new rifle.
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Old June 24, 2010, 08:09 AM   #7
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All great advice. But, mine would be to always use hearing protection. An 18" barrel is just close enough to the ears it can sound like the end of the world, especially if practicing under a covered firing range.
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Old June 24, 2010, 08:28 AM   #8
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90% of flinches are caused by muzzle blast , not recoil !! Hearing protection should go without being said , but I still see people trying to shoot without it . As a rule they aren't good shots . The 788 is an excellent hunting rifle , every one that I have seen was way more accurate than than a rifle costing $139.95 should be . Remington stopped making them because they were cutting into 700 sales pretty good . They were just as , or more accurate than the 700 at about half the price . FYI , Ramline has a synthetic stock for it .
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Old June 24, 2010, 09:04 AM   #9
Irish80prf
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Quote:
The great thing about them is you can use the same components from the bottom load in the Youth selection all the way through the top end in the standard load selection.
I don't know how much truth there is to this, but I've heard that you have to be careful with a .243 and loading it under the minimum charge. I can't remember where I read it but it said that if you load them light it can cause pressure problems that aren't normal in a lot of other calibers. If I was loading a light load I would stick to Hodgdon's data that was listed above or the minimum load on there website. If this is a urban legend let me know.
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Old June 24, 2010, 07:13 PM   #10
ropencut
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.243 suggestions wanted

Thanks everybody for the info. I was actually a little more concerned with loads that would work well in the shorter barrel than loads that my son could handle. He's shot quite a little, .22's of course, his mossberg 20ga.,my 22-250 and my 30-30. He bought some Sierra 85gr HPBT and I have 4064 that I use in my 250 so I'll probably start there.
As far as hearing protectio goes I agre 100%. Thats the rule around our place. Nobody shoots without eye and ear protection(our nearest neighbors are 2 miles away so we shoot right here at the house).
Again thanks for the input.
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Old June 28, 2010, 03:27 PM   #11
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I have my son shooting 10-14 grains of Blue Dot out of a 22" barreled Browning A-Bolt in .243. I typically load 100 grain bullets. This produces a very low recoil (since I watch my son when he is shooting, I can see that the rifle barely moves).

When we go hog hunting, I don't tell him that I have slipped him the full power loads. He thinks they are still his special loads. He never notices that it is a lot louder and that it does recoil a bit with those. He is more worried about seeing a hog on the ground. His excitement level is high enough that he does not notice. Then, the next time we go target practicing, I give him his reduced loads again. He never notices the switch, and he has confidence in shooting his loads.. Maybe one day when he is older, I'll tell him about this and we will laugh about it. He just turned 10 and has a great fear of recoil. I let him shoot my .308 one time when he was 9, and since then, it has been hard just to get him to touch a center-fire rifle. I bought him a .223 to practice with, and in just the last few months, I have gotten him to try the .243 with his reduced loads.
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