A-max bullets

[whyohe]

i was looking to get some reloading components for my dad who shoots a 243 win. i seen these A-max in 105 grn and on the box it said 1:9 twist. any one have any experiance with these? would they be good for hunting or are the jusy a target bullet. a guy at local gun shop recomended the 95 grn SSTs. he said he takes shoulder shots and no problems?

my dads gun is a 1:9.25 twist. is that close enough? what you think?

[billc]

Load From A Disk program calculated optimum twist for the 6mm:

95 gr SST 2900 to 3200 fps 9 inches 3300 fps 10 inches.

For the 105 A-Max 2800 to 3400 fps is 8 inches.

While this program is pretty conservative it looks like it would be hard to push the 105 fast enough in the 1:9 barrel. If I had a .243 with a 1:9 twist I would probably start load development with the 95 grain bullet.

[whyohe]

thanks!

[tcmech]

I have loaded 100gr sierra bullets for my savage 243 for a while now. Accuracy is excellent with all of the bullets I have loaded from the 85gr spbt to the 100gr pro hunter bullets. I would not hesitate to take a shoulder shot with them if that was all that was offered.

I'm sure that the a-max or sst either one would be fine.

I don't have any notes here from the 85gr bullets.

I do have some notes from yesterday for the sierra 100gr spt pro hunter bullets.

Shooting hand loads with 36.5gr of IMR 4064 I had 2918fps average with a standard deviation of 38.

Shooting hand loads with 41gr of RL22 I had 2659fps with a standard deviation of 20.

Both groups would give a 5 shot groups in the 1.25 to 1.5 range if I did my part.

[wilmsmeyer]

Whyohe,

I have no experience with these A-max bullets. What are the goals? Long range retained speed or just a solid hunting bullet?

A great bullet that stays "light" yet should be awesome on whitetails is the 85 gr Nosler Partition. I have loaded this bullet to 3,100 fps I think (Can't find my notes). I helped Ozark get this bullet going in his gun and I think his daughter shot a deer with it this year.

BC is around .32 which is decent for hunting ranges.

Luckily with a .243 there are no real issues with recoil in any load that works.

My testing is with a 1:10 twist rem 700 Bull barrel with 26 inch barrel.

[whyohe]

tcmech thanks for the load info.

wilms looking for a good accurate hunting load. my dad likes the nosler ballistic tips. he does not take shoulder shots if can avoid it. he does behind shoulder heart lung shot. i was considering noslers combine tech. i have shot these in my 06 an did great but you get twice the bullet for less money with the hornady. i know the A-max is a newer bullet and wondered if any one shot them and what was result. he has 2 cans of IMR 4350 he wanted to use. i think this is a decent powder but probably not the beast.