Anyone out there have any data for varget,h-414,or h-380 for these bullets in .243? A guy I know just bought a new BLR in .243 and wants to make a somewhat universal load for both varmints and deer. He brought be a box of the 87s to load up for him, but i do not have that listing in my manuals.

Thanks.

Looks like I might just have to buy a newer Hornady Manual. But I was thinking if I used loading data for 85gr bullets and back the powder charge off a few grains I should be ok. Or is this a bad practice to use?

Bad practice.
Start with the load for the next heavier bullet and work from there. That way there is no guess work involved and at worst, you end up with a starting load a bit slower than you intended.~AMMOe

PS: Bullet makers are the least desirable source for powder data. Try the powder makers. This site has 90 grain loads for the powders you are looking for. They should do you fine.
http://www.hodgdon.com/

The 87gr. V-Max is a varmint bullet. Hornady also makes 87gr. bullets for medium-size game: a spire point (#2240) and a hollow point (#2242).

https://www.hornady.com/shop/?ps_session=3f...d4d0d4cc83092f4

If you shoot a deer with the V-Max and hit bone it will probably make an ugly mess. You can get the V-Max bullet and one of the game bullets, and then look for loads that will shoot to the same point of aim for both bullets.

The powders that are listed are not in the new Hornady manual for the 87gr., 243-caliber bullets, but you can contact Hodgdon and Hornady directly and ask for load data.

I agree on the v-max being a varmint bullet. Initially I had mentioned to him that the hornady 85gr Interbonds would be a good choice for deer and they would also shoot somewhat flat for varmints. He said that Scheels didnt have any when he was there. So I looked in the Cabelas Shooting 2009 catalog and they didnt have them even listed for the 6mm. But the Hornady website has them listed and I was pretty sure I had seen some at a local gun shop. But anyway he ended up bringing me these 87s v-maxs.

I like to shoot 95gr Nosler BTs out of of my .243 for deer and the deer definatly dont have a problem dieing when they are hit. So I'll just try to trade him some bullets loaded with the 95s for a few of the 87s just so I can have another bullet weight I can play around with.

In an old Remington 788, I used the 87gr V-Max. I started with 35.0 grs of Varget and worked up 1/2 gr at a time. 36.5gr was the most accurate but even 37.0 grouped under 1/2 inch @ 100yd. I tried two or three different bullets in the 85gr range and they grouped very well with this amount of Varget. More importantly they shoot to the same point-of-aim. One of the best was the 85gr Game King from Sierra. This bullet will make whitetails sick. By the way the B.C. on the Game King bullet is over .4

Next, just for fun, I backed off the powder and worked up again using the Barns "X" 85gr bullet at 36.5gr it worked also. This load grouped way under minute-of-white tail. I can set the powder measure at 36.5gr of Varget and top it off with any of these three bullets. When a second Rem. 788 showed up I tried these loads and they worked so well it took the fun out of re-loading for it.

A friend has a Savage in 243 and his works best with 37.0gr of Varget. Note, we started low and worked up also. His kids practice with the Sierra Game King and hunt deer with the Barns "X". They never have to change the scope.

No whitetail has ever complained that these weren't loaded hot enough. However, a mother ground hog felt that the 87 V-Max was over kill for her off spring. So I tried it on her. It worked very well indeed.

At least with Hornady, they make it easy to pick bullets. If it has a cannelure on it, it's a game bullet (deer+). If there's no cannelure, it's a varmint/target bullet. That helps a lot when using their bullets, but it doesn't help much when using another maker's slugs.