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Here's the rifle I was shooting today:
Savage 243win
Model: 12 VLP DBM
243 WIN 1 in 9.25" twist
26" SS Fluted barrel

My handloads were blown out of the water by some Rem store bought ammo.
All shots were taken within 45 mins time, without anything changed, except the ammo.
Look at the accuracy of the 100gr rounds.
Then look at the 80gr rounds,
then look at my handloaded 70gr rounds.
The order in which they were shot was:
100gr Rem (feeling good about my skills, like "this is easy")
70gr handloads (haka falls back down to earth)
80gr Rem (a little better, but not like the 100gr)

Any comments or recommendations on reloading the next batch? (except recommending the same load)
Thanks, Haka

Buy some hundred grain bullets and try to get the same velocity as the factory stuff, it works. Twist and velocity control the rate of spin that stabilizes the bullet. My .38 lever gun never shot well until I increased the powder charge a little to get the velocity up and make the bullet spin fast enough to stabilize.

What bear said. The barrel twist for that rifle/caliber might just like those 100 grainers more. Not uncommon. I used to have the same issues with .308 "back in the day"

As I remember, the Canadians had a 1-14 twist for a light weight bullet, 145 grain?. We had 1-12 twist for the 168 grain Sierra's as I remember, and the heavies, 180-200 grainers used a 1-10 twist...

You just might have a slow twist....

perazzi wrote:What bear said. The barrel twist for that rifle/caliber might just like those 100 grainers more. Not uncommon. I used to have the same issues with .308 "back in the day"

As I remember, the Canadians had a 1-14 twist for a light weight bullet, 145 grain?. We had 1-12 twist for the 168 grain Sierra's as I remember, and the heavies, 180-200 grainers used a 1-10 twist...

You just might have a slow twist....

He specified a twist of 1 in 9.25, is that not a fairly fast twist? or have I got the numbers mixed. \? 1 in 10 is a faster twist than 1 in 15, am I correct. A;ll I know is that you can spin them too fast or too slow and cause variations, you can even spin them so fast they will disintegrate the jacket from the over rev.

Yes, the 1:10" is a faster twist rate than 1:15". Bullet weight could indeed explain the flight differences, but so could bullet seating with the handloads.

R,
Bullseye

I guess I should listen to OM more often.
Here is a paragraph from a website I found on this subject.
I was under the wrong impression that a 70gr bullet
would be more accurate then a 100gr at 100-200 range. Read this:
243 Winchester Loading Data Hints.
The 243 Winchester most common barrel twist rate is 1 in 10",
but if you have one with a twist rate of 1 in 9" or 1 in 9 1/2"
then you'll find that the 243 will give its best bullet performance
using 100 grain bullets with slower burning powders like I.M.R.4831 powder.
The info is from this website:
http://www.gunnersden.com/index.htm.243winchester.html
It has a lot of info for other calibers too. I also have some 90gr bullets which might shoot well. With the right load, like the 100gr I was shooting this morning, I feel I can keep the .5 moa, it seemed like a magnet was pulling them in. To this point, it was a little discouraging because I could never shoot better then 1.5moa. It is strange how different the results are with different components.
Haka

ps, anybody want to buy some 70gr sierra hpbt ammo?

I knew the twists for the .308, I just didn't know how it translated into .243

Now, I play around with my .38-56 and .40-82, those twists are soooo sloooow...

both designed as express cartridges.

I think I have loaded these rounds a little low. This bothers me, because I double and triple check my load settings. I looked at the Hodgdon reloading site and found this:
70 GR. SPR HP, IMR 4064, COL 2.625", 38.5gr, 3316ft/sec, 42.5gr, 3541ft/sec
Although the bullet is not exactly the same, my load of 36.8gr is just a little low. I don't know how I did this, because the load was double checked by someone else who reloads? Well, I got the brass from the store bought(once shot) ammo and am ready to reload starting at 37gr, then 38gr, 39gr, 40gr, and then 41 gr. About 10rds each, and see how each groups. Problem is, I sold my last box of large rifle primers by mistake. I might be able to get them back though?
Haka

generally the reloading manuals will also tell the barrel length and twist of the gun used to test the loads...