Thread: Reloading Winchester 243 cartridges

Wondering about the wisdom of reloading these non brass cartridges.

They're Winchester. No bad signs from the first few but the reloads aren't that great and the bolts been sticky.

Just giving me cause to doubt the wisdom ...

Looks like brass?
Nickel coated?

The cases are ok they are only nickel plated, just start at a lower powder charge and work the load up in small increments,
You don't state what the load is so it is hard to give advice, I've had 4 .243's over the years and I don't have much luck
with them, one thing I have found they don't shoot the best with 100 grain projectiles I've had the best accuracy with 85 to 90 grain
and powder in the 2209 burning range. Robert.

Mine loved targex 95g and 2208
And 100gr core locked.

2208 is a bit fast really but got good speed and accuracy.

The loads weren't all that hot :
Sierra blitz king 55gn
42,42.5,43,43.5 gn ADI AR2208

And ... They didn't get anywhere near the speeds they should between 2800 and 3100 fps.

Originally Posted by shooternz

The cases are ok they are only nickel plated, just start at a lower powder charge and work the load up in small increments,
You don't state what the load is so it is hard to give advice, I've had 4 .243's over the years and I don't have much luck
with them, one thing I have found they don't shoot the best with 100 grain projectiles I've had the best accuracy with 85 to 90 grain
and powder in the 2209 burning range. Robert.

Pretty standard 1:10 barrel twist result. The 95 Targex is available in two variants for fast or slow test barrels. W760 should work well, and I have found slower powders are fine 22013SC, 2217 (if you can get enough in). I use RL22 and N165 in my 243AI.
I don't like the nickel cases. Very hard to size so I would guess neck tension would be hard to keep consistent? Cant really see it making a big difference with hunting rounds though.

Ive used Nickel with 243 for hunting. Seemed ok apart from the nickel can flake off and I don’t like the idea of it being in my dies.
Other wise, no problems. I would use them until the first sign of flaking, then biff them.
My best powder for 80-100 grn has been N550. Although W760/H414 was good enough with 80 & 87 grn.

I found 80gn targex are magic with 2208 in a 1 in ten twist
38gn 2208
2.720 coal
3070 fps
try that it worked well for me.

Nothing to do with 243, but I reloaded Nickel Winchester cases for my 270wsm for a start and got 9 firings out of it before I started to split necks and so on.

They are definitely harder to FL resize compared to 'normal' brass

There is a dude on TMe hunter1 in CHCH who sells new delivered 223 WIN for $65.Done the ropes in 243. Best powders are 2209 and 2213SC. Used to be great fan of 87GR Hornady then 85gr Sierra but now using both 80 and 85 gr Barnes. Yes they are more expensive than the rest but you only 1 per animal. All deer are dead.A brutal projectile on big stags.

Get Nick Harvey's First Edition. We go 1/2 gr under his maxi as the sweet spot area i.e he lists the 87gr 2209 @ 45gr . We ran the 87gr Hornady @ 43gr. Used to have a 75 Sako S/S which could clover leaf this pill at 100m with 42gr but we sold it because of the weight.It was a tremendous shooter of 75gr Hornady [2213 SC] on goats between 300/400m across a big gully. Red mist all day as they came out into the sun and across the face.Great practice for the roar.

My 95gr targex rbbt ld load was lapua 243 brass pmc lr primer 37gr 2208 for 3100fps
it shot best at 35gr(better than I can shoot) but still shot under half moa consistently for 3 shot groups at 37gr so may as well boot it up the arse for max energy(game, not much of a target shooter)

Was safe safe in my rifle work up etc.

I never tryed Barnes in it but its no secret Im a Fan as a close range big game projectile.

Originally Posted by kiwi39

The loads weren't all that hot :
Sierra blitz king 55gn
42,42.5,43,43.5 gn ADI AR2208

And ... They didn't get anywhere near the speeds they should between 2800 and 3100 fps.

Was there any resistance on closing the bolt? I havent reloaded nickel coated brass myself but above comments and other threads indicate the brass is quite hard, this could have it "springing back" more than soft brass on sizing.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Was there any resistance on closing the bolt? I havent reloaded nickel coated brass myself but above comments and other threads indicate the brass is quite hard, this could have it "springing back" more than soft brass on sizing.

No, the 243 has always been an easy close - quite the opposite of the 223 ...

Any marking on case head?
Flattened primers?