Best powder for 95 grain SST in 243

F

folsoh

New member
I tried using IMR 4064 all the way up and down the powder recommendations using a hornady 95 grain SST bullet. I could not not get it to group at all. The best was in the 2 to 3 inch group at 100 yards.

I can grab this rifle a weatherby 243 and a cheap box of hornday whitetail 100 grain soft point and shot sub moa all day with it. So I know its not the scope or the rifle. I am using good new brass and I have prepped it very well also federal match primers.

I have about 300 rounds of the SST bullets that I would like to shoot at a low or medium velocity to let my 9 year old son deer hunt with.

I am seeking any power recommendations you might have for a 95 grain SST bullet in 243. My go to powder is usually IMR 4064 as this is the first time I could not get it to work. I dont like stocking alot of powders but I have several pounds of H1000, W748, IMR 4198, CFE BLackout all of which im sure are not right for a 243.

I have a small amount of H4895 that I could try. Any input please????
 
.243 w/95gr bullet, IMR4350, H4350, IMR4831, H4831, plus a bunch of other powders with a slower burn rate than 4064. I shoot IMR4831 with an 85 gr bullet. I once had a fair load with 4064 and an 80 gr bullet.
 
Based on Hodgdon's data, 4064 should produce very good pressure and velocity consistency. Do you have a choronograph that can confirm you are getting good velocity consistency from it? If not, something simple, like seating your primers more firmly, may help.

Otherwise, It sounds like the loads you tested are producing too short a barrel time in your gun to do well or else you tested load increments large enough to skip over a sweet spot. I would check out Dan Newberry's OCW method as a possibility and stick to increments of 0.3 grains when searching for a winner. If you have a chronograph, you can also look for velocity flat spots among charge increments (a short load range within which increasing a charge weight does not change velocity) and test loads in the middle of those.

You can try H4895 to see if a different powder in the 4064 burn rate range does better on barrel time. After that, the next slower powder that looks good in Hodgdon's data is the IMR4451, one of the newer Enduron powders from IMR. It is close to the burn rate of IMR4350. A little slower still is IMR 4831.
 
Hope you find the right combination, I just bought 200 of the hornady 95g sst, for my newly rebarreled rem 700 243, with a Shaw 26 inch heavy barrel. I had purchased some Black Hills Gold factory rounds with the same bullet a while back and took them out the first day with the new barrel. My reloads, berger 105g bullets with 38g imr 4350 shot sub moa, but to my surprise these Black Hills Gold, were awesome, I had 5 rounds in the same hole at 100 yds, and have since shot them 2 more times, they were either in same hole or at least touching. So next im going to do my best to duplicate those, I know they wont give me their recipe, but I have chronoed them and measured total round weight, Coal, and BTO, I'm probably going to take one round apart and see if I can tell which powder they are using, although I know that is not an easy thing to do, but at least I can see the fill rate. Cant wait to start trying this probably using H4350 or H4831sc. I will post back if I get excellent results.
 
I have used the exact same bullet with both RL19 and IMR 4831. Both powders loaded about 1 grain below max produced 5 shot one hole groups at 100 yds. The rifle is nothing special, a Ruger American I picked up at a pawn shop. Try either of the powders and I think you will like it.
 
The OP wants a low to mid range load for his 9-year old son, the slow powders most recommended above simply will not give him that. That looong bullet may not allow the ogive to be close enough to the lands, or it may just not be completely stable. Some guns like the SSTs, some don’t. My Contender pistols usually do, my Weatherby and Savage rifles did not. The WW bullets are short and who knows what powder they use, likely a pretty slow one.

Try the H4895, but you may end up with a different bullet. Try a lighter one to help him get used to the recoil.
 
folsoh said:
I tried using IMR 4064 all the way up and down the powder recommendations using a hornady 95 grain SST bullet. I could not not get it to group at all. The best was in the 2 to 3 inch group at 100 yards.

I can grab this rifle a weatherby 243 and a cheap box of hornday whitetail 100 grain soft point and shot sub moa all day with it. So I know its not the scope or the rifle. I am using good new brass and I have prepped it very well also federal match primers.

I have about 300 rounds of the SST bullets that I would like to shoot at a low or medium velocity to let my 9 year old son deer hunt with.

I am seeking any power recommendations you might have for a 95 grain SST bullet in 243. My go to powder is usually IMR 4064 as this is the first time I could not get it to work. I dont like stocking alot of powders but I have several pounds of H1000, W748, IMR 4198, CFE BLackout all of which im sure are not right for a 243.

I have a small amount of H4895 that I could try. Any input please????
Click to expand...
Supreme 780 is accurate in my .243.
 
Thanks std7mag, ive never used any Alliant powder higher numbered than RL16, I always thought they might be too slow, but I am seeing several load datas for RL26, interesting, I definitely need to give it a try, thanks again.
 
TX Nimrod,

Ahhh, we did not have that gem of information before.
With that info i would probably recommend something in the 4350 range.
H414,H4350,IMR4350, IMR4451, RL17.
I know the OP said he likes IMR, just throwing a couple of others out there for consideration.
Note i did not add RL16 to the list. I've found velocities to be ok, acceptablle accuracy, but really disliked the recoil impulse. More a slap than a push back.


The 95gr SST is not what i would consider "looong". Lol Best results for me have been seating 0.020" off the lands. Same with Ballistic Tips. And accross all weight ranges.
 
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I recently purchased a box of 95gr. SST for my Savage in6mm creedmoor. Although I haven't had time to load them yet.

I have recently discovered that the twist is a big factor with bullet choice.
Idealy a 1:7 twist or even a 1:8 will stabilize the bullet best. That might be your issue. Nosler .243 95gr. Partition should work well in 1:8 or even 1:9 twist.

let us know how it comes out.
 
My 243 absolutely loves 95 grain SST's over 40.3 grains of IMR 4831 and a CCI or Winchester primer. I consistently get .4-.5" groups in the rifle that I worked up this load for and I get under 1" groups in each of the 243's I've tried it in.
 
My best powder's with the 243 have been W760/H414 and IMR 4350. 4064 is a powder that I do like in the 308 but I'm not so sure it may be a bit fast in a 243. There are other powder's I like in 308 and some I've tried in 43. H335 would be one and BLC/2 another. But I haven't kept using them, must be a reason and I don't remember what it was. I would think RL 19 and Varget might work really well too. But the only way your gonna find out is to try them. When I look for a powder, I generally choose one that gives me the top velocities. If the powder is to fast, seem's you can't reach them and to slow, ya can't get it in the case. But in either case in your rifle they just may give you accuracy you want and that's what it's all about isn't it?

I might add one more thing, there really isn't a best powder for much of anything. There's those that work and those that don't. Find out by trying them.
 
Consistent 2 to 3 inch groups at 100 yards is good enough for deer. One hole groups are not necessary. In this case your rifle just doesn't like the load. My rifle(1 in 9.125 twist. Nearly all .243's are rifled for deer bullets anyway.) isn't up to one hole groups at the best of times.
However, I've been using IMR4350 with 90 grain bullets for eons. Doesn't mean your rifle will like it though.
The Hornady 100 grain SP ammo runs at 2960 FPS MV. (Max loads of IMR4064 and 4350 run around 3,000 FPS.)
Look for a powder that gives you ~ 2960 FPS. H4350 Start loads run 2,917 FPS out of a 1 in 10 24" barrel. Keeping in mind that velocities are not as important as accuracy. Your results will always be a bit different than book values because book values are averages and reflect conditions on the day of the tests only.
"...may not allow the ogive to be close enough to the lands..." There's no need for any bullet to do that. The whole off-the-lands thing is a load tweaking technique not a 'must do' thing.
 
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