100 grain .243 performance

[Mr. BOARMAN]

Greetings my northern internet friends. I am an Aussie and i recently bought some .243 100 gr. remington factory rounds. Can i use these without losing accuracy compared to 80 gr.? Do I have to resight my rifle much if at all? Gun is an ALPINE (Parker Hale). Thanks for your help.[:-]

[akbound]

Hi Mr. BOARMAN,

The only way to know for certain if the load will need rezeroed....is check at the range. You may get lucky and the point of impact will be an acceptable zero....without any scope adjustments. (I once owned a SAKO that shot 85 grain Sierras and was zeroed 2 1/2" high at 100 yards.....for chucks. When we took it to the range to rezero with 100 grain Hornadys (deer load)....it was "dead on" at 100 yards without any adjustment. And because we knew my wife would NOT take a shot past 150 yards....that was her self imposed limit......we did NOT need to rezero the rifle. Sometimes you get lucky.) But I have known rifles to change point of impact a foot or more at 100 yards....by simply changing the bullet.

As far as accuracy.....the same thing applies. You'll have to check to see if your rifle "likes" the Remington load...or not! The SAKO above had a preference for heavier bullets. I had tried much lighter bullets.....(70 or 75 grains if I remember)......and the SAKO shot them more like a "pattern" instead of a group. I went to the 85 grain Sierras....and got groups down to about an inch. I was shocked when I shot the Hornady's.....and the first three holes touched in a group of 3/8". (Medium weight sporter.) The second 3 shot string on the same target.....opened the "six shot group" to 1/2". Hey....you thank your lucky stars when you find one! And yes.....I'd would have preferred to have my "varmint loads" producing better accuracy than my "deer loads".....but you take what you get!

Anyhow....best of luck to you!

Dave

[mainehunt]

Mr. Boarman,

I shoot a .243 for deer hunting in Maine. I have shot a few deer with the 100 grain bullets. In my savage bolt action, It shoots 3 inches (7.62cm) higher with 85 grain bullets, than it does with the 100 grainers.

Hope this helps, Kevin

[JagMagMan]

Since most guns shoot differently with different brands of ammo, it will almost surely shoot different with different bullet weights!
The only sure and responsible way to find out before hunting is to try it out at the range.