Hey guys, I'm knew to the page and was wanting to ask some questions on 243 win reloading for coyotes. Hoping some of the experienced hunters can help me out. I've got a bergara 243 win with a 1 and 10 twist and 22 inch barrel. I just recently found two fairly accurate loads with 39.5 and 41 grains varget pushing the Berger 68 grain match bullet. At 100 yards the 39.5 grain load was about the size of a dime then at 200 yds the group opened up to 2.5 inches. I'll be using this rifle in mostly calling scenarios but was wanting to find a bullet/load combination accurate up to 400 yds or so. Anyone had any experience shooting the 68 grain Berger for coyotes and what kind of effective range were they good for.
243 reloading for coyotes
- Thread starter B14bsb
- Start date
Bowhunt
Active member
Welcome aboard! 70 grain Nosler ballistic tips are the best bullet i have found. My rifle is a 1 in 9.25" twist 22" long. Tiny little bug holes at 100 yards and several 1/2" groups at 300 yards. Milk jugs at 500 yards are a lot of fun and not much challenge on a still day. I've heard that the 87 grain Vmax is fantastic also but have had no need to try them. I have no experience with the Bergers but i would think you would want one of their hunting bullets instead of the match.
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Better yote hunters than me swear by the 80 Sierra blitzkings. Im going to do some OCW tests Saturday pm with them. Run with the bergers for a season and see how it goes. My 1-12 shoots the 70 grain TNT's great. For some reason I am always chasing my tail for something else. I think I have a type of accuracy/ballistic-sickness. It's like having Kate Upton at the house, but you still look at the checker girl at the 7-11!
Rhett Steele
New member
Originally Posted By: 243kimber Better yote hunters than me swear by the 80 Sierra blitzkings. Im going to do some OCW tests Saturday pm with them. Run with the bergers for a season and see how it goes. My 1-12 shoots the 70 grain TNT's great. For some reason I am always chasing my tail for something else. I think I have a type of accuracy/ballistic-sickness. It's like having Kate Upton at the house, but you still look at the checker girl at the 7-11!
I shoot the 80 gr blitzkings with 37.5 gr of imr4895. Very accurate but he!! on fur.
I shoot the 80 gr blitzkings with 37.5 gr of imr4895. Very accurate but he!! on fur.
Thanks for the good info guys. I'm going to try some more tweaking with the 68 Berger. Try a few more powders and maybe even a little COAL work to the load. My 100 yard groups were great but the 200 yard groups opened up to 2.5 inches or less. Guess I'm just after a tighter shooting load than that, hunting in Nebraska offers some long shots on occasion. The 70 grain bullets look promising, and I thought about the 69 high BC bergers to if the 68 grain won't produce tight groups at 300 yds. Any powder recommendations from the experienced guys? If I'm looking for accuracy at 300 yds, is the 68 grain match going to work or do I need to try a higher BC bullet? Thanks guys.
All my loads with the 68 Berger are made up with varget so far. Tried doing some experimenting with the COAL of the 39.5 grain load, but I don't think the 68 grain bullet is long enough to find the lands. Berger gives a COAL of 2.71 and hodgmons doesn't have one for a 68 grain bullet. Thought about experimenting with hodgmons load data between the 65 grain and 70 grain. If I try a longer COAL of around 2.75 or less, you guys think this will tighten up the 200 yd grouping or is that no enough to make a difference? Thanks for the replies!
Tstorm1
New member
A week or so ago another thread was started here...do a search for 243 Tikka and see what comes up. There was some good load info there. I have a Tikka 243 with a 1:10 twist barrel and likes to be seated far back...about 0.040. For varmint/predator...Varget at 41.0gr with 75gr Speer HP. My profile pic is a 5 shot group with this load at 100 yards.
What kind of cases are you using? How far are you pushing your shoulders back? Also how many times have you shot that load that shot great at 100 yards at 200 yards maybe it was just a bad day on the trigger. What primers are you using? Is your gun clean or dirty maybe really heavy copper fouling? There is a lot of varables that could change me into play here. What about your scope make sure that's good and tight. How long have you been shooting are your u new to this? I say give that gun a good cleaning make sure you don't have any cooper fouling and make up 10 of them that shot good before and try them at 100 and 200 again.
B14, welcome to the board!
68g bergers are a great coyote bullet!
Try going up on your powder charge some, .5g for three shots.
If the 68's fall apart, then try a 80g Sierra Blitz Boat tail with 40-41.5g of IMR 4064 with a fed 210 primer with Winchester or Lapua brass, this load works in many 243's, start off at 39.5g and shoot three shot groups increasing your load .5g at a time. Best accuracy will be right at a max load for the rifle more than likely. Varget did not work with this load like IMR 4064 did, and the velocity is very good, accuracy even better.
68g bergers are a great coyote bullet!
Try going up on your powder charge some, .5g for three shots.
If the 68's fall apart, then try a 80g Sierra Blitz Boat tail with 40-41.5g of IMR 4064 with a fed 210 primer with Winchester or Lapua brass, this load works in many 243's, start off at 39.5g and shoot three shot groups increasing your load .5g at a time. Best accuracy will be right at a max load for the rifle more than likely. Varget did not work with this load like IMR 4064 did, and the velocity is very good, accuracy even better.
hunter243sgk
New member
You picked a great caliber to use. There is several bullets that will do what you want. I have gotten my best accuracy with the 80g nbts. But i also got good enough accuracy for hunting with the 87g v-max.As others have said any of the nbts or vmaxs in this caliber will work great. Just find out which one your barrel likes the best and run with it. Also that 80g blitz bullet has a great reputation but i havent tryed it myself. Good luck!!
i have been working up a load for my Tikka 243 (now threaded and suppressed). Yesterday I went to the range twice. I shot 65 gr v-max with 41.8 gr of Varget, 2.625 COL, @3600 ft/sec. 1st group of 3 was 1.103, 2 group was .367, 3rd group was .543. I also tried a group @ 42.5 gr. these grouped @ .550, did flatten the primers and looked to be hard on brass.
I also tried 70 gr Noslers with 41.8 gr of Varget, 2.690 COL, 3568 ft/sec, group measured .356. now I need to try both 65 and 70 @ 200 and 400 yards.
I am also looking for something that will shoot 400 yards without having to make a lot of adjustments to take the shot. It is not often I get a shot like that, but I hunt a few spots where the coyotes are educated and will hang up @ that distance.
Good luck B14bsb, and remember to work your way up to max load!
I also tried 70 gr Noslers with 41.8 gr of Varget, 2.690 COL, 3568 ft/sec, group measured .356. now I need to try both 65 and 70 @ 200 and 400 yards.
I am also looking for something that will shoot 400 yards without having to make a lot of adjustments to take the shot. It is not often I get a shot like that, but I hunt a few spots where the coyotes are educated and will hang up @ that distance.
Good luck B14bsb, and remember to work your way up to max load!
Well to start with the variables, I broke in my barrel and cleaned copper deposits down as much as possible. My starting five loads with the 68 grain Berger consisted of 37.5,38.5,39.5,40.5, and 41 grains varget at 100 yards. If I could figure out how to get a pic up I would show my groups at 100 yards. I shot five rounds per load then cleaned my barrel before shooting next load. 39.5 grains varget shot a group the size of a dime, three rounds went in the same hole in the paper. 41 grains at 100 yards showed a fairly tight group also, three bullets cloverleafed in the five rounds. The size of the group total was about a quarter.
I then loaded up five rounds each of the 39.5 and 41 grain load for testing at 200 yards. Both groups opened up around 2.5 inches. I tested the same loads again only under a Fowled barrel and got a little tighter groups.
Yesterday I tested 39 grains and 41.5 grains with bergers coal of 2.71 at two hundred yards. These groups were slightly tighter yet around 2 inches or less. I also tested a 39.5 grain load at a 2.73 coal to see if it would make a difference and it didn't change the group size much. The 41.5 and 39 grain loads tightened to 2 inch or less. What's got me puzzled is that there isn't much size difference in the 39 and 41.5 grain group size. Atleast not enough to choose one over the other. I think I'm going to load ten rounds up again and shoot um at 100,200,and maybe 300. See what happens I guess.
Another question I've been thinking about is comparing to other manufactures load info. I've been going off Berger for powder and coal. I believe Barnes has a 68 grain bullet with some load data, theirs is seated deeper. Should I try some test loads with Barnes coal and that will change the amount of powder to.
One question I do have is, more testing will give the answer I'm sure, would you guys choose the 39 grain load or the close to max 41.5 grain load since they group so close together.
For a few that asked Im shooting a bergara b14 hunter,22 in barrel,1 and 10 twist 243 win. I broke in the barrel with Montana extreme products and I have a 3.5-10x50 vortex scope with Talley medium base rings. I've done all my testing in the prone position over bags on the calmest days nebraska can offer.
If the three hundred yard groups are all over the paper I'll switch to a heavier bullet and start the process over. I was wanting the 68 grain match to work for pelt damage reasons mostly. Thanks for the info guys.
I then loaded up five rounds each of the 39.5 and 41 grain load for testing at 200 yards. Both groups opened up around 2.5 inches. I tested the same loads again only under a Fowled barrel and got a little tighter groups.
Yesterday I tested 39 grains and 41.5 grains with bergers coal of 2.71 at two hundred yards. These groups were slightly tighter yet around 2 inches or less. I also tested a 39.5 grain load at a 2.73 coal to see if it would make a difference and it didn't change the group size much. The 41.5 and 39 grain loads tightened to 2 inch or less. What's got me puzzled is that there isn't much size difference in the 39 and 41.5 grain group size. Atleast not enough to choose one over the other. I think I'm going to load ten rounds up again and shoot um at 100,200,and maybe 300. See what happens I guess.
Another question I've been thinking about is comparing to other manufactures load info. I've been going off Berger for powder and coal. I believe Barnes has a 68 grain bullet with some load data, theirs is seated deeper. Should I try some test loads with Barnes coal and that will change the amount of powder to.
One question I do have is, more testing will give the answer I'm sure, would you guys choose the 39 grain load or the close to max 41.5 grain load since they group so close together.
For a few that asked Im shooting a bergara b14 hunter,22 in barrel,1 and 10 twist 243 win. I broke in the barrel with Montana extreme products and I have a 3.5-10x50 vortex scope with Talley medium base rings. I've done all my testing in the prone position over bags on the calmest days nebraska can offer.
If the three hundred yard groups are all over the paper I'll switch to a heavier bullet and start the process over. I was wanting the 68 grain match to work for pelt damage reasons mostly. Thanks for the info guys.
Bowhunt
Active member
The loads sound pretty good. Just keep in mind that the 10X scope you are using is not the best magnification to be shooting tiny little groups at 200 and further. The limited magnification may be the cause of your groups growing. You ask which we would choose because there doesn't seem to be much accuracy difference between the 2 powder charges. That's easy.....check the velocity of both loads. Choose the highest velocity. If there is not a significant increase in velocity, then I would choose the one that uses less powder.
What size of scope would you recommend, most of my shots are within 200 yards but I'm wanting to be able to shoot past 300 if a coyote hangs up on the hill side. You guys have any opinions on vortex optics. This was the first vortex I've been around. Kinda have a thing for Zeiss, they've never done me wrong. Do you guys like to zero at 200 yards? I'm going to test these loads this weekend again and see what results I come up with as far as group size and velocity. After all this load work is finished I'm going to have a hard time waiting until fall comes to try a 68 grain out on a dog. Anxious to see what kind of damage it will do.
I am loading 87gr Berger Hunting VLDs for my .243. It is a factory 700 SPS that I had cut to 20" and threaded. Dropped it in an H&S Precision stock, lug bedded and worked the trigger to 2.5lbs. The 87gr VLDs over 40gr of Hodgdon Hybrid 100V is a winner! I tried several loads with Varget, which all did ok. With the Hybrid 100V, the groups were outstanding! Three shot groups were all under 1/2" at 100yds.
hunter243sgk
New member
Originally Posted By: abcdefgI am loading 87gr Berger Hunting VLDs for my .243. It is a factory 700 SPS that I had cut to 20" and threaded. Dropped it in an H&S Precision stock, lug bedded and worked the trigger to 2.5lbs. The 87gr VLDs over 40gr of Hodgdon Hybrid 100V is a winner! I tried several loads with Varget, which all did ok. With the Hybrid 100V, the groups were outstanding! Three shot groups were all under 1/2" at 100yds. I have had very good results with that powder using 80g-105g bullets. It is becoming my go to powder for testing these days.