What kind of bullet do i use

[jpasci]

Alright folks, I'm pretty new to this site and very new to long range shooting. I just modified my tikka t3 chambered in .243 as my long range rifle. I want to start reloading for it. Here lies my problem, I don't know shit about what powder or primers or projectiles to use. I have a list of what I can find but, I'd like y'alls personal feedback on what you think works best. I realize each rifle is different too and some rifles might like Bergers and some might like sierras etc. Tell me if I'm headed in the right direction with developing a load for it.

Berger 105gr VLD hunting
Berger 105gr VLD target
Berger 108gr boat tail target
Berger 109gr LR hybrid target
Berger 115gr VLD hunting
Sierra 95gr TMK tipped match king
Sierra 107gr HPBT match king
Nosler 95gr spitz hunting ballistic silver tip
Nosler 95gr spitzer partition
Hornady 95gr set
Hornady 100gr BTSP
Hornady 103gr ELD-X
Hornady 110 A-tip match

With H4831SC powder

Im thinking of either the Berger 109gr or 115gr and Hornady 103gr or 110gr. I know its all just a trial and error but, when money is tight I don't want to spend foolishly on bullets that do me no good.

Thanks for any and all feedback!! Happy Thanksgiving

 

[Davo308]

Lots of options for powder, brass, and primers.

The twist rate and how you define long range will matter for bullet selection.

 

[jpasci]

So I have an xcaliber sendero with a 1-7 5R groove barrel.
Hahaha my definition of long range is anything past 500 yards haha. But, realistically I’d like to compete in a PRS match with this rifle. So with that said, I’d like to be persistent and efficient at 1000yards and less. And my persistent I mean 4-6” grouping at 1000 yards. I know I have a lot of practice ahead of me and a lot of dry firing time in my future.

 

[EN2722]

IMHO, pick a bullet from 103 to 115 Gr that you can find right now, do some load development and shoot it.

Typically, anything that comes in the yellow box (Berger) won’t disappoint you

 

[DMP]

You can NEVER go wrong with a Berger.

 

[vinniedelpino]

A really pointy one.

If you're new Id look at the Barnes Matchburners to start with. No, they're not as consistent as the Bergers, but they're almost half the price and if you're new you may not even know the difference.

If your budget isn't unlimited you're better off shooting 100 rounds per range session of the match burners than 65 rounds of the Bergers in the long run.

And if you're new here, keep in mind that anyone with a budget on this forum is considered "one of the poors" and most of the time you'll be told to go with the most expensive, cost is no object option. If you can afford it, great. If not, pick a bullet you can afford to shoot regularly.

 

[kyzim311]

I would add the 108 Eldm to that list. I have always had good luck with them.

 

[padom]

Whatever shoots best in your rifle. Buy a box of 3 or 4 different bullets and test them. Bergers won't disappoint but let your rifle tell you what it likes

 

[jpasci]

A really pointy one.

If you're new Id look at the Barnes Matchburners to start with. No, they're not as consistent as the Bergers, but they're almost half the price and if you're new you may not even know the difference.

If your budget isn't unlimited you're better off shooting 100 rounds per range session of the match burners than 65 rounds of the Bergers in the long run.

And if you're new here, keep in mind that anyone with a budget on this forum is considered "one of the poors" and most of the time you'll be told to go with the most expensive, cost is no object option. If you can afford it, great. If not, pick a bullet you can afford to shoot regularly.

haha it better be a pointy one!!!! And i guess i'm one of the poors because I'm trying to be cost effective and have other mouths to feed besides my own. If it were you, would you buy say a box of like 5 different bullets and see the different groupings you get out of them? I know I dont have the best brass but, its a mixture of Remington and Winchester brass but, can a guy still get fairly accurate rounds out of them??

 

[vinniedelpino]

haha it better be a pointy one!!!! And i guess i'm one of the poors because I'm trying to be cost effective and have other mouths to feed besides my own. If it were you, would you buy say a box of like 5 different bullets and see the different groupings you get out of them? I know I dont have the best brass but, its a mixture of Remington and Winchester brass but, can a guy still get fairly accurate rounds out of them??

I'd probably start with two bullets, and maybe two powders and go from there. It depends on what you have on hand. If you're starting from scratch, I would pick a decent bullet and a good powder for your application and see how it works. You can always grab other components for your next time out. The cartridge I'm shooting would dictate how anal I'd get about load development. For .223 I'll do a more extensive load development. For something like a 28 nosler I'd stop as soon as I found a load with acceptable accuracy for my application. Generally, when I find a 1/2moa load I'm done regardless of cartridge. No sense burning 1/3 to 1/2 of your barrel trying to drop a tenth. Believe it or not, bench rest level accuracy doesn't matter as much as you'd think if you're shooting steel. precisionrifleblog.com has some good resources about this.

You can get pretty damn accurate with range brass, it just takes a little more work. I'd probably sort the brass though. One of the biggest reasons guys like quality brass like Lapua is because of neck uniformity. Depending on how far you're reaching out and how accurate you need to be I'd pick up a lee collet die and add that to your reloading routine. It definitely won't hurt and it's cheap.

I have a budget too and four kids to feed, so I know what you mean. Bullets like those match burners, well prepped range brass and meticulously loaded rounds matched to your chamber will do everything you need them to do and save you a few bucks. Are they as good as the bergers? No. Will you notice? Not likely unless you're more proficient than most of us.

 

[Jabot]

Don't mix the brass together. Start with one if it doesn't work try the other. Different brass different fill ratios, maybe not a lot but still different.

 

[DocRDS]

Any of the "match" bullets are a good starters. Hornady ELD-M are great cost effective rounds.
Sierras are always a good consistent round. (SMK or TMK)
Bergers are top notch but more pricey. ('target').

Most match bullets can double as hunting rounds too.

You seem to be at the correct weight. pick what is available and go.... Everyone has there favorite powder (and bullet) and it always are the ones out of stock. There are a lot of GOOD powders available, don't sweat it if you choice doesn't match up. Load em and shoot em.

 

[DownhillFromHere]

Keep a log book. Every range trip should have a goal - what are you trying to accomplish that day? OCW test with "x" bullet and "y" powder, positional practice, etc. Every shot should have a purpose. Record conditions and dope; you'll learn that lighting all by itself affects POI / POA even without hour-to-hour changes in temperature, wind, etc.

Keep an accurate round count through your barrel. For practical purposes, your .243 with good match bullets is one of the hot 6mm rounds, and barrel life is relatively short - especially if you jack up the velocity.

 

[jpasci]

I appreciate all the info everyone has told me! I just picked up some hornady 108gr eld-m and Berger 105gr vld targets. Paired with imr 4831 powder. Unfortunately I’m just going to be using all the brass I’ve saved from before, so Remington and Winchester brass. I will definitely keep a log book!! I have a lee press and rcbs dies for now. Now it’s time to get cracking and loading up some rounds to try out!! Speaking of which, when you try new rounds, do you load up 5-10 rounds of the new loads or 20,30 or 40 rounds? I’m going to assume more on the lower end because there will be a variety of loads to see what loads my rifle likes. Again I appreciate all the info, it is greatly appreciated!!!!

 

[EN2722]

I recommend this:

PRS Talk - Casual Loading and Development for PRS

So, a post I just made inspired this. We were talking about how you can get away without much load development in PRS. As well as how performing load development is also not a bad thing or won’t hurt at least. Over time I’ve gone from both extremes to test both sides out. I’ve done a ton of...

www.snipershide.com

I would say, it’s not rocket science and there’s people who love the dark holes that rabbits live in.

consistency is king and being able to replicate it every time is the overall goal

Edit: OP, you picked some known performers for your bullet selection

 

[Scoutabout]

Alright folks, I'm pretty new to this site and very new to long range shooting. I just modified my tikka t3 chambered in .243 as my long range rifle. I want to start reloading for it. Here lies my problem, I don't know shit about what powder or primers or projectiles to use. I have a list of what I can find but, I'd like y'alls personal feedback on what you think works best. I realize each rifle is different too and some rifles might like Bergers and some might like sierras etc. Tell me if I'm headed in the right direction with developing a load for it.

Berger 105gr VLD hunting
Berger 105gr VLD target
Berger 108gr boat tail target
Berger 109gr LR hybrid target
Berger 115gr VLD hunting
Sierra 95gr TMK tipped match king
Sierra 107gr HPBT match king
Nosler 95gr spitz hunting ballistic silver tip
Nosler 95gr spitzer partition
Hornady 95gr set
Hornady 100gr BTSP
Hornady 103gr ELD-X
Hornady 110 A-tip match

With H4831SC powder

Im thinking of either the Berger 109gr or 115gr and Hornady 103gr or 110gr. I know its all just a trial and error but, when money is tight I don't want to spend foolishly on bullets that do me no good.

Thanks for any and all feedback!! Happy Thanksgiving

I started reloading about 2 years ago. I could see pretty drastic differences in .223 components but 6.5 Creedmoor components didn’t produce real big differences for me. I’m not using a chronograph so my data is limited to consistency of my groups. I found the Hornady ELDM’s to be consistent and affordable. They’re hard to find now so you’ll have to go with what you can find and work up a load with that. I‘m working up loads now with Nosler Custom Competition because they were available. I’m using Staball 6.5 because it was available. I’ve had good experience with that powder so it’s a good start for me. Look up the powder burn rate chart to determine good substitutes.

 

[Romeo458]

If it's for paper I look for the highest balistic coefficient and higher weaight, if its for any game hunting the best expanding with a high BC and weaight.

 

[acudaowner]

Id start with which ever brand you can get and buy a couple of them ( a lot ) or a few different ones and find out which shoot best from your gun , find out which gives you the best groups and which you can shoot well enough . Not that I personally buy into the whole my gun likes this or that better out of all the guns we own not a one makes it own personal preference . They shoot what ever they are fed and they shoot well or they go away and so far not a one of them has ever gone away . My shooting changes irregular heart beats , hick ups , itches mussel spasms what ever , the wind changes my guns have not the ability to choose anything . Maybe yours are different I don't know , best of luck finding what ever bullet your looking for .

 

[jpasci]

Thank you again for everyone’s thoughts and suggestions, I greatly appreciate it. Unfortunately for the last 2 years life happened and I wasn’t able to reload anything. The last 2 months I’ve been at the bench trying to reload and come up with a game plan. I reloaded 60 pieces of 243 brass in various loads and charge weights with H4350.

Nosler RDF 115 gr
Barnes Match Burner 112gr
Hornady A-tip 110gr
Hornady ELD-M 108 gr
Hornady BTHP 105 gr
Berger Hybrid Target 105 gr

For each bullet, I reloaded 10 rounds and varied my charge weight between 38.6-41.5 grains depending on what my reloading manual said for that particular round. And went up in .2 grain increments. Some rounds I have multiples of loads I think and hope will be best.

Unfortunately, I’m a big dummy and didn’t realize that I could load a longer OAL than my reloading manual said. So with that being said, the rounds I loaded up are just going to be used for a ladder test for velocity.

After talking with one of my buddies, I realized my mistake with the OAL gauge. I re-measured each bullet with my OAL gauge and came up with these numbers. Does anyone see a possible problem with the numbers I came up with. Also, for future reloading if I reload my .243 and seat the bullets using the ojive, 0.020 off the lands is a good starting point?

 

[kyzim311]

TLDR : 0.020" is at a good starting point. Pair down your bullets, 105 BTHP or 112 match burners are probably the best choice for a beginner.

Full explanation:
0.020" off the lands is a good starting point, and you can seat deeper from there to get the results you want. Just note your OAL is going to vary quite a bit with most non-tipped bullets so the 0.0005" you have listed on some of these is out of place. Measure to ogive, ignore OAL minus magazine limitations. Also, if you have magazine length limitations I would start at max magazine length and load shorter (assuming it is shorter than what you have listed).

You still seem to be casting a very wide net and I think you need to quickly pick one bullet to work on. Since you have them loaded up, I would shoot all of them over a chrono and see what you get for velocity. That will give you some idea of where the max charge for each bullet will be. You can shoot at a target, but with varying charge weights it probably wont give anything conclusive. I will note I would have started with 0.3 or 0.4 grain jumps and only do 5 per bullet, but you can always use these to get a rough zero and get used to shooting the rifle.

After you get some data, I think you need to pair down your bullets you move forward with. How far are you actually going to be able to practice with these regularly? You stated 1000 yards and in, but is 95% of your practice going to be 300 and in? Any of these bullets will make it to 1k easily out of a 243, b. In my mind, the A-tips do not make sense cost wise. If you are a top competitor, they might make sense but even then the 6mm a-tips are way expensive compared to the other offerings. From what I was looking at, the RDF was priced similarly to the Berger. I wouldn't waste my time with them, they are not as good as the Berger's. From there, I could make an argument for any of the remaining bullets. 105 BTHP and match burners are value bullets and probably the best to start with. They are not the best bullet as far as BC is concerned, but they are probably better than your wind reading and shooting skills. The 108 eldm is a bit more, and does give a bit more performance so if your rifle really likes them it wouldn't be a bad pick either just not my choice for a beginner. The Berger is probably what everyone would put their money on to shoot the best. But they are also the most expensive of the remaining bunch, and until you have a lot of trigger time you are probably blowing money for no benefit. You are going to probably burn through this barrel anyhow before your reloading and shooting skills exceed the limitations of the bullets (no offense, but I am years into reloading and I think this can still apply to me). More practice will outweigh the performance gains of a better bullet.

I will also note you need to keep your goals realistic. 5 shot 4-6" groups at 1k is not something most people will be able to do repeatably. There is plenty of information out there on it, but environmentals will open up your groups at that range. 1 mph of wind is about 1.5" with this setup, so a gust in the middle of your group would immediately ruin any chance of a 4-6" group. I think you should set your goal at 100 or 200 yards to be ~1/2 MOA 5 shot groups with a velocity SD of 20 or less. Even 3/4 MOA will do everything you need to do out to 1k. Repeatability of groups way outweighs cherry picking one group to throw online and say "my gun is a 1/4 minute gun". If you can shoot 3x 5 shot groups in a row that are 0.5 MOA or better (or even 3/4 MOA, you are not leaving anything on the table with your ammo.