I am new here and think this is a great forum, and am also new to reloading. I have a Remington 700 ADL in .243 Win that LOVES 55 gr. Winchester Supreme Ballistic Silvertips. It averages .625" @100 yds. I use it for woodchuck and coyote in Ohio. There is seldom a need for a shot greater than 250 yds.
I have two (stupid) questions. Is there a difference between the 55 gr. BST (produced by Combined Technologies, a Nosler/Winchester collaboration)and the 55gr Nosler BT that are readily available(and cheaper) besides the "Lubolox" coating?
Has anyone figured out Winchester's "recipe" for their factory load? At .625" I cant think of a better starting point to customize a load for my rifle.

Winchester is like all the other cartridge makers out there. None of them use the canister powders to load their ammo commercially. They have batches blended for that particular run. You can come pretty close to duplicate their loads velocity but you will never duplicate the powder that they use. Get a chronograph ($100) and get a realistic idea of the velocity that they get and then load some of your own to the same velocity with the next to the slowest burning powder listed in the manuals. I would bet you get the same accuracy or better. You 243 should be able to print .25" groups at 100 yards, .5" at 200 yards and .75" at 300 yards.
You have a great gun and a near perfect cartridge so all you need is to learn to shoot small groups.
I typically shoot 5/8" groups with my old 03-A3 at 100 yards and my 358 Win shoots groups into sub caliber groups all the time - with pistol bullets!
Have fun with your gun and keep shooting - you are doing better than I ever did with factory ammo. A well tuned reload will cut your groups in half.

Thanks for the advice Paul. I did some additional research and came up with some great data from both Nosler and Hodgdon (My reloading kit came with the Speer manual, and Loadbooks USA has a limited amount of info). I'll be experimenting with different powders soon, Varget and H4895 seem to produce consistent results for others.

Any advice on chronographs to purchase? Any features I should be looking for? I'd like to keep it <$150(US) but have not a clue what to look for. Help here would also be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to the Forum.

Sounds like you have a real shooter in the .243. The ammo makers usually do not tell us what powders they use in factory cartridges. My powder preference for the .243 has been IMR4350. Take care...
Joe

Thanks Joe,

This may be a topic for a new thread, but was anyone else surprised by the countless combinations of powder/bullets/cases/primers when they first started loading? I thought I would look in a load book to find the bullet velocity I wanted, cross that with the desired bullet performance, and *PRESTO* a pre-printed "allreadyfiguredout" formula would be waiting for me. MAN, I'm gonna have fun shootin this summer, and the Ol'Lady cant say anything, after all "We're saving money by reloading ammo"...

hunterjoe21 wrote:

Thanks for the advice Paul. I did some additional research and came up with some great data from both Nosler and Hodgdon (My reloading kit came with the Speer manual, and Loadbooks USA has a limited amount of info). I'll be experimenting with different powders soon, Varget and H4895 seem to produce consistent results for others. Any advice on chronographs to purchase? Any features I should be looking for? I'd like to keep it <$150(US) but have not a clue what to look for. Help here would also be greatly appreciated.

Hunterjoe21,
I have two and I can say that for the money you can't beet the Pact product. The screens are downrange and you can add an extension to the cables if you need to. (I asked the techs at Pact and then tried it to check the accuracy) I like my screens set at 5 yards from the muzzle. It makes it easy to figure true muzzle velocity. Get the diffusers and the best model you can afford. I bought a model one to check it against my Oehler and found that it was just as accurate and did all the computations for me. You need to have high, average and low velocity and mean average or standard deviation. That will give you just about all that you need from any chronograph. You can get printer or computer connections for a little more money and that is nice but you are going to be keeping your records anyway so a range book is a good thing.
There are cheeper chronographs but get one that the brains are separate from the screens. I think everyone who has ever owned a "Chrony" (brandname) has fired a bullet into the unit and had to replace it. If you have to buy two then they aren't cheap anymore. Pact has great support - I needed it when my battery failed after three years - and their product is beyong reproach. I have never said a bad thing about it and never heard anyone say a bad thing about them.
Shop around - see what is available for how much and get one that fits your needs. Never buy less than you might need - you end up buying a second, better unit - but make sure that you get what you pay for.
Paul

These fellas have pointed you in the right direction. I think with alittle tinkering you can squeeze more than your getting out of that 700 243.
And dont limit your self to 55gr bullets, try several. You might be supprised.