First want to thank Frank for creating such a great place to come for like minded shooters. I am new to long range precision and would like to use build off of a .243 Remington 700 older rifle I have. What are some recommendations to get my feet wet? Would I be able to use this action as a donor action? As far as use I would like to learn load development and shoot steel out to 800-1000 yards. Also use rifle for varmint and coyote hunting. Thanks in advance!
- Thread starter Pill-Chucker
- Start date
Here's my 2 cents.
Put the .243 in a nice stock or chassis. Use good quality ammo and see how she shoots. If she doesn't then you can always true up the action and replace barrel. If you wanna use one bullet for everything you wanna do..try the 87 Hornady bthp. 1000 yard competition have been won with it..but its been quite a while
You can push it up around that 34-3500 fps range for excellent ballistics. Or if you want to use two different projectiles..use the 65g Hornady v-max and push it to 3800ish for varmints.(55-58g might not like the fast twist..some do some don't)...and then use the 95g classic bergers or 90g eld-x for however far you wanna shoot. Over 100grains and good chance your twist wont stabilize them. You can do a lot with a .243....don't overthink it..dont throw the barrel away to get a 6mm Gay Tiger just yet.
Just get out and shoot!
In fact get a decent scope with decent turrets and good scope rings and a good bipod and take your 243 to a class. You will save lots of time and money in the long run.
Put the .243 in a nice stock or chassis. Use good quality ammo and see how she shoots. If she doesn't then you can always true up the action and replace barrel. If you wanna use one bullet for everything you wanna do..try the 87 Hornady bthp. 1000 yard competition have been won with it..but its been quite a while
You can push it up around that 34-3500 fps range for excellent ballistics. Or if you want to use two different projectiles..use the 65g Hornady v-max and push it to 3800ish for varmints.(55-58g might not like the fast twist..some do some don't)...and then use the 95g classic bergers or 90g eld-x for however far you wanna shoot. Over 100grains and good chance your twist wont stabilize them. You can do a lot with a .243....don't overthink it..dont throw the barrel away to get a 6mm Gay Tiger just yet.Just get out and shoot!
In fact get a decent scope with decent turrets and good scope rings and a good bipod and take your 243 to a class. You will save lots of time and money in the long run.
Yes, the action will work fine, as will the cartridge. Sky’s the limit really.
That is an amazing round, what twist is your barrel?
Older factory remingtons700 in .243 had between 1:9.125 and 1:9.5 is what I found out when researching a while back. But just in case somethings funky.. @Pill-Chucker should measure that too when you can.
Not sure to be honest. I will have to look. Do you recommend I work on my skills and accuracy as is before upgrading chassis and barrel?
If replacing the barrel, just do the correct twist, which is 7.5-8 for most people. No need to wait on the modifications imo. Build what you want, then train with that.
Once the rifle is finished, it’s gonna be a tackdriver. You can rule out equipment issues all at once. Misses will be your fault, not the gun’s. Better way to train imo.
Do you reload now? Will you be reloading down the road once the rifle is finished?
If you're replacing the barrel theres ZERO reason to stick with 243 unless you just have a crap load of quality brass already laying around or want to run H1000. I use to run 243 and torched out many barrels but after going 6 Creed I'd never go back.
I do not currently reload I was planning to down the road.
All the more reason to go 6 creed. Quite a few factory match loads for it from numerous companies and more being added as it gains popularity. For 243 you can only get match ammo from custom companies and good luck with that.
243 now is what 260 was many years ago.
A cartridge with lots of potential that’s hamstrung by factory barrel twist and factory ammo.
There’s very little reason to go the 243 route now far long distance target shooting unless you reload.
Easy route for you if you want to stay with 6mm,,,,get a 6mm Creedmoor Remage barrel with correct twist and start shooting factory ammo till you start reloading and/or want to start upgrading.
A cartridge with lots of potential that’s hamstrung by factory barrel twist and factory ammo.
There’s very little reason to go the 243 route now far long distance target shooting unless you reload.
Easy route for you if you want to stay with 6mm,,,,get a 6mm Creedmoor Remage barrel with correct twist and start shooting factory ammo till you start reloading and/or want to start upgrading.
243 is fine, mine go about 1800-2500rds. Alot of guys shooting 6creed are frying the barrels at 1200-1400rds, trying to run 3100fps. The 6 creed doesnt gave the case capacity to run that hard. Well it does, but at the cost of 65000+psi, which kills barrels. 243 can live a long life at 3100 with 52000psi chamber pressure. 
243 factory barrel with 87 grain Hornady will do it. If rebarreling, I'd chamber in something else. It burns lots of powder, can be finicky on load development, no good factory LR ammo, and the case is longer than necessary, thus creating potential OAL problems in magazines. Just my .02
My son shoots a 243 with a 1:8 twist barrel and it is an absolute hammer out to 1000 yards. To be honest I think I like it better than my 6.5. The only real drawback I see with it is barrel life. For starting out in precision shooting it is an excellent choice. There is a reason 6mm is such a popular caliber with the PRS crowd. If you have a 1:9 or 1:9.5 barrel I don’t know how that will do with the heavy bullets. My sons shoots 105’s great with the 1:8 barrel but most of the time he shoots Hornady 87 BTHP or Vmax. If you can get it to stabilize the heavies we have had really good performance with Hornady 105’s and either RL17 or H4350. For the 87’s we have been using Varget but you can squeeze a little more velocity out of the round with a few of the other powder choices. The Varget was just so darn accurate we stuck with it. We also didn’t want to load super hot ammo for both recoil and barrel life. Have fun and try not to fall too far down the rabbit hole.
Edit. I did notice you said you will not be reloading right away. A company called Blackwater Precision makes good match ammo but it is going to be really expensive for you to shoot. If you do want to stick with 243 you will want to start reloading sooner rather than later. Once you have your brass your cost per round will go from about $1.50 per round down to less than $0.50 per round depending on your bullet.
Edit. I did notice you said you will not be reloading right away. A company called Blackwater Precision makes good match ammo but it is going to be really expensive for you to shoot. If you do want to stick with 243 you will want to start reloading sooner rather than later. Once you have your brass your cost per round will go from about $1.50 per round down to less than $0.50 per round depending on your bullet.
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First off I'm a wierdo that likes to reload almost as much as shoot.... If I wasnt though there would be only one cartridge I would shoot and that would be 6.5 Creedmoor. Trying to find long distance match grade .243 is like pissing in the wind. If you reloaded I would say stay with .243 the fact you dont and the cheap ass price of quality 6.5 creed tells me I would rebarrel in that until I got the urge to reload. If you want the stay 6mm then the 6Creed is your only real option that is somewhat economical.
Rebarrel into 6.5 CM. Lasts longer than 6mm stuff. Welcome to the money pit and tons of fun.
Just my .02, and you may already have this in your plans, but the best money you can spend right now is for two or three classes before spending anything on a stock or chassis. (Assuming you have an appropriate scope for the rifle.)
What I thought I needed to do to my rifle before training and what I actually learned I needed through experience were miles apart.
Plus, every dollar you don't need to put toward a chassis is a dollar you can put toward a suppressor.
I don't know wtf I did wrong, but my Criterion 243 1:8 went to shit at 700ish rounds. After that it was a scattergun. 105's, and 95smk's. I shot another 50 rounds and just had to give it up. I would have been ok with moa. There was no "its on its way out" type of deal....it just stopped shooting in the middle of a session and there was no load development that would bring it back. This is the only experience I've had with a barrel doing this so abruptly....so I've not ventured back into the hot-rodded 6mm's. Also, I felt like I constantly needed to trim my brass with .243 Win moreso than anything else I shoot(.223, .308, 6.5 creed, 6.5x47)
wow. If your 243 groups look like that...what the heck do your 6BR groups look Like? (assuming by your name)
243 is a great cartridge, especially if you are going to reload (you can get good brass while everybody else fights over the 6.5 and 6mm CM). I agree you should put the rifle in a chassis and get a long range scope to get you started. Burn that barrel down and then you can decide what you want to do... 6.5CM, 6CM, 243AI, 7-08, whatever turns you on. Jump in with both feet and LEARN by sending bullets down the barrel at long range. As was stated before, welcome to the money pit, it only gets deeper from here!
You dont always have to put them in chassis's......this has rung steel at 1200.
I don't know if you have already done this, but I would be talking to Criterion about that barrel. I went with them over Shilen because of some reports of great customer service. I'm sure Shilen makes good barrels and also has good customer service, but I saw some posts where Criterion had gone above and beyond. Some of the issues were lemon barrels and some were shooter or reloading errors that they helped people through. I even remember a post about a 308 barrel that was replaced because it quit shooting after around 2500 rounds.
I replaced it with a 6.5x47 and just moved on.....maybe I’ll revisit a 6mm somewhere down the road.
I had a remage criterion 8 twist 243. I ran 105h and 107smk @ 3120fps. I had 2500 rds on it before I lost 120fps, but it still shot sub 3/4 moa when I pulled it. It was ran decently hard, but no match use.
That was a great group, normally that rifle is in lo .2s off a bipod. My 6br shoots like this, better when it's on a pedestal rest.
True, freebore does make a bearing. Bullet design does too, also. 107smk and 112 barnes are more forgiving to jump, and bearing surface is closer to tip. Especially compared to a 110smk...
