• Watch Out for Scammers!

    We've now added a color code for all accounts. Orange accounts are new members, Blue are full members, and Green are Supporters. If you get a message about a sale from an orange account, make sure you pay attention before sending any money!

Opinions on 22-243 caliber

GSPKurt

III
Full Member
Minuteman
May 19, 2009
327
3
Trenton, FL.
I would like to get your input on the 22-243 caliber. I don't know what I'll use it for except paper punching or if I ever go varmint hunting. Just sounds like an interesting round. I have a Win. M70 currently chambered in 7Mag, and might rebarrel it or sell it and buy a new action.

Thanks in advance for your input, as usual!
 
its more of a varmint focused round since varmint hunters/ predator hunters like speed, so thats why cartridges like 22br, 20br, 22-250, 22-243, 6-284 are made. People like crazy speeds. (if you want to see a crazy cartridge look up 22 eargasplitten loudnboomer its a 378 weatherby necked down to 22) I would rather get a long barrel life 223 just to punch paper than a short barrel life 22-243. 243 is already hard on barrels so imagine even more.
 
Hi , I have a 22-243 Middlestead and it's nothing like as over bore as the last thread says . Mine is on a Bat action , A5 & a 30 inch Krieger which is twisted 1-7.7 .
I had it to shoot 80g Berger VLD's until I tried the 90g by chance and they shot so well even though Berger say the twist needs to be faster .
The 90g VLD's average 3,200 ft/sec and will not disappoint you as I've had kills on crows out to 1,220 yards and played out to 1,840 yards ( 71 MOA )
Remember this starts life as a 243 so there's a limit to any myth , mine has had 670 rounds to date and if I could only keep one rifle then this would be it .
This is an out and out long range varmint calibre and NOT a paper puncher or comp gun . When I had mine built I prepped 300 cases and had the gunsmith chamber me an old barrel so I could fire form all the cases before I put the new barrel back on . Don't anyone do this as I am now convinced that it would be just as good with fire forming loads . Three days of 100 rounds a day , glowing barrel and the worlds biggest headache , never again !
As with any calibre that gives you an edge there is always a trade off with barrel life , The candle that burns twice as bright burns for half as long !
I saw a message drawn on an American A10 during the Iraq war which I changed and is so apt for the 22-243 on varmints
' The Lord Giveth & The Middlestead Taketh Away '
 
My .22-243Win. between shots at a coyote silhouette steel plate on the far hillside. 75Amax @ 3500 gets to 900+ in a hurry!
Spring2013032_zps1c327888.jpg

Its built on a Seven action, and I prefer to not fireform, hence the decision to stay with the vanilla version...
 
I am doing a regular 22-243, not the middlestead. That way I can just neck down and be done. Should shoot just as well "forming" as it does afterward. Time will tell though.

I'm also going the other direction with it. It's a 1-14 twist 26" tube. I hope to be pushing the nosler 40gr up around that 4600-4800 range. :)

mustgofaster.jpg
 
Keep me posted on your rifle as I'd be amazed if 4,600 to 4,800 ft/sec was possible out of that case with a 40g'er .
The Middlestead option would give you a little more case taking the shoulder out to a 30 degree .
 
I thought this was a really interesting idea and think the 22-6slr would be perfect for this application.

let us know how it goes.
 
You won't regret it orkan , I'm a big fan of the Middlestead as you can see .


I like this... Now this makes me want one of these 22-243 middlestead... Also you should of melonited the whole thing and see if it increases barrel life.
 
From what I read prior to getting into this, the middlestead didn't bring that much more velocity over a regular 22-243. Am I wrong on that? Did you run a 22-243 before your middlestead?
 
I love mine in the plain Jane 22-243
Just neck down, load, shoot
Shooting 75 Amax at about 3550
 
My .22-243Win. between shots at a coyote silhouette steel plate on the far hillside. 75Amax @ 3500 gets to 900+ in a hurry!
Spring2013032_zps1c327888.jpg

Its built on a Seven action, and I prefer to not fireform, hence the decision to stay with the vanilla version...


Thanks Kevin for the load data, it was spot on in my rifle too
 
I haven't run anything other than the 30 degree Middlestead , I know there is a 40 degree but I can't comment on the option of your 22-243 .
My comment on getting those velocities you where after was based on my experience with my 220 swift which I run fast at 4050 ft/sec using 52g A-max . The Middlestead twisted for light bullets would probably only have 100 ft/sec gain over my swift so getting to 4800 ft/sec on 12g less of bullet weight seemed unlikely .
 
I haven't run anything other than the 30 degree Middlestead , I know there is a 40 degree but I can't comment on the option of your 22-243 .
My comment on getting those velocities you where after was based on my experience with my 220 swift which I run fast at 4050 ft/sec using 52g A-max . The Middlestead twisted for light bullets would probably only have 100 ft/sec gain over my swift so getting to 4800 ft/sec on 12g less of bullet weight seemed unlikely .

That was my thought initially, however, upon doing some reading on what people were getting from their 22-243win's, I figured 4600 would be easily attainable. There are guys claiming 4900 with 35's... Yet how easily I forget that every rifle shoots at least 100fps faster on the internet. ;)

The truth will be known very soon, as I just received a picture of my new barrel from TS Customs. :)
 
Ahh?........Anyone else notice the original caliber of the gun? Apparently not, as the OP would need more than just a rebarrel.

IMHO, forget the .22-243 with that action. It will cost you more to do the work and buy the necessary parts versus buying a new gun.
 
Last edited:
Just a fast twist .22-250

A while back I took an action off a worn out Rem 700 SPS Tac .223. I ordered a PT&G spiral fluted bolt .308 bolt face and took to one of my custom rifle builders (Dixie Precision Rifles/DPR). I spec'd out a .22-250 build using the following:

Rem 700 action
PT&G Fluted Bolt
Badger bolt knob
Brux 1-8" twist MTU 26" barrel
DPR Recoil Lug
McMillan A5A stock
Surgeon bottom metal/DBM
Jewel HVR trigger
Badger USMC 6/4 rings
Badger rail
USO 3.2-17x44 GEN II XR

I had the rifle chambered to shoot the 80gr AMAX and damn does it shoot them. MV 3287, roughly 7.0 mils to 1,000. Now, this rifle is not as fast as some on this thread but I have shot some amazing groups at 1,000 with it. Although I have not tried the 90gr Bergers yet due to an 8 twist barrel, when this barrel burns out I have a Chanlynn 1-7" twist to replace it.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    93 KB · Views: 67
  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    92 KB · Views: 30
jtrax , try the 90's as my Middlestead was set up for the 80's with a 1 in 7.7 Krieger and the 90's work so well i'd never go back to the 80g !
 
Ahh?........Anyone else notice the original caliber of the gun? Apparently not, as the OP would need more than just a rebarrel.

IMHO, forget the .22-243 with that action. It will cost you more to do the work and buy the necessary parts versus buying a new gun.

Maybe you didn't read this part of his post?
I have a Win. M70 currently chambered in 7Mag, and might rebarrel it or sell it and buy a new action.

Logical conclusion is the bold text, no?

FWIW, my donor was originally a 300RSAUM. Got a one pc. .473" bolt from PT&G, and #3 Krieger 1:7.7" tube...done!
I wouldn't recommend a Seven action if you want to run a fast twist w/ 80gr+ boolits. Just not enough room in the magbox of a Seven to run them efficiently. 75s or less, and the boolits won't infringe too much on case capacity.
In my Seven, the 75s still shoot plenty flat @ 3500 with no pressure. Can get to 950yds on the 1st turn of the Premier LT (6mils/turn), and the scoped rifle weighs barely 9lbs. Give & take...
 
My intension was to chamber a 22-284mm after my barrel gives up but the Middlestead has been so impressive that i don't want to give the calibre up . I've had these dies 18 months and can't ever see me using them !

 
Curious as to what the real difference is between this and Doing a fast twist 22-250? Case capacity has to be close no?
 
I can't imagine there's a lot in the capacity issue and I think the 22-250 would also be a good choice where as in search of flatter trajectories and higher BC's maybe the 22-284 , 220 Jaybird & 224 Clark would possibly be over bore to the extent of damaging jackets .
But what fun in trying !
 
I've never understood why 22-250 wasn't a 1/7 or so twist and 80-90 gr pills not used to begin with.
 
... because not everyone wants to turn their 22-250 into another slow cartridge with rainbow trajectory that you can get with a dozen other non-wildcat's. :) I very much enjoy my 3800fps 22-250 with half-mil holds on coyotes at 300yds and 1.1 mil holds at 400yds. My goal with this 22-243 is to turn that into half mil holds at 400yds. Don't know if I'll get there, but I'm going to try.
 
Maybe you didn't read this part of his post?


Logical conclusion is the bold text, no?

FWIW, my donor was originally a 300RSAUM. Got a one pc. .473" bolt from PT&G, and #3 Krieger 1:7.7" tube...done!
I wouldn't recommend a Seven action if you want to run a fast twist w/ 80gr+ boolits. Just not enough room in the magbox of a Seven to run them efficiently. 75s or less, and the boolits won't infringe too much on case capacity.
In my Seven, the 75s still shoot plenty flat @ 3500 with no pressure. Can get to 950yds on the 1st turn of the Premier LT (6mils/turn), and the scoped rifle weighs barely 9lbs. Give & take...

Nope, read his post absolutely clear. Selling a used 7mm Mag will in no way cover the up front costs of buying a new custom rifle in a non standard cartridge, cause that is essentially what he will need.

Hey if you have money to waste, have at it.

It you want a .22 caliber bullet that hauls ass and is standardized, .220 Swift.
 
I think there's a place for both but their uses would be totally different . Out to 400 yards on foxes or coyotes then slow twist option is the way to go but IMHO the 22-243 wouldn't give me much of an advantage over my swift and my 6mm WSM would be far better .
If however you want to shoot things out to a mile with a 22 cal then the fast twists in the 22-250 , 22-243 & Middlestead are superb .
I haven't done the figures but as a rule when you use a lighter 30g' ers at higher velocity what you'll gain in flatter elevations you lose in wind age !
Just to give you an insight into our gun laws here in the UK , If you said you wanted a 7mm to shoot crows or rabbits at long range they would laugh at you and dismiss it without further thought so for us guys here that live for the long range challenge heavier 22 & 6mm calibers can help us .
 
Last edited:
Nope, read his post absolutely clear. Selling a used 7mm Mag will in no way cover the up front costs of buying a new custom rifle in a non standard cartridge, cause that is essentially what he will need.

Hey if you have money to waste, have at it.

It you want a .22 caliber bullet that hauls ass and is standardized, .220 Swift.

You are so off on a tangent, I don't know where to begin.
The OP asked about a .22-243, not how to fund building one.
He didn't mention the Swift, or the desire for a standardized .22 centerfire.
He asked about a .22-243, to which you've added ZERO experience to the thread.

Maybe quit while you're behind, or add something tangible that might address the OP's specific questions about the .22-243?
You've seen some users sharing their experiences to address the OP's question. So, unless you have some real experience popping primers with said .22-243, quit shitting up the man's thread with drivel...
 
I went the plain Jane 22-243 for a couple of reasons
Mainly I wanted to shoot the 75-80 bullets fast and I felt this was the best way to accomplish that for my intended purposes
I have a few "case preparation labor intensive" wildcats as it is, so I was wanting something with a simple neck down
Neck down some Lapua brass, load, shoot, grin!!!!

I have found mine to be extremely accurate with the 75 Amax bullets
The current one I have is a heavy rig, which is what I wanted
However, I liked it so much, I"m having a lighter one built in 2014

Fun, fun, fun round
 
Heading over to TS Customs this morning to have my Forster 22-250 micrometer seating die sleeve reamed out to 22-243. So hopefully I'll have some results soon!

Anyone have any suggested start loads for 40gr'ers with varget? How about 50gr'ers? I've got an idea where to be, but I'd love some input from those that have experience with the cartridge. Remember, we're talkin 22-243win in a 1-14. (not middlestead)
 
I'll start necking down the 30mm brass for the 22 bullets :) maybe take me a couple hours for 1 brass but its worth the 8,000fps with a 50gr bullet. I'll blow the shoulder forward on it to a 40 degree shoulder, and I'll call it the Eargasplitten Loundenboomer V2.0
 
Last edited:
I understand that this thread might not be to everyones liking but sure as hell floats my boat .

Two different rounds built for two different purposes and they each do it very well , The 22-243 Middlestead & 220 Swift

 
Initial results are promising. Certainly not as fast as I was hoping for, but considerably faster than the 22-250 I'm upgrading from.

I loaded up an ocw with 52SMK's at 2.160" to ogive and found a nice spot at 42.5gr of varget. No idea how fast they are going, as I could not get my PVM-21 chronograph to pick them up at all. That was very disappointing. I think they are somewhere around 4100 though, given my drop to 300yds from 100yd zero. I'll have to push the distance out to really get a feel for it, or else get the damn chrono to pick them up somehow. She shoots though!

Here's a 300yd group.
IMG_1050.JPG


My finger isn't much of a reference, but that staple is! I'm thinking this will turn out to be a good coyote smasher.
 
Great group at 300 yds , if you have 52g A-Max's they would work well on foxes or coyotes at these speeds . I do think that 4,100 ft/sec is close to max without going into pressures .
Chrono not working will be nothing to do with the velocity but probably just decided to throw a wobbly .
Keep us posted .
 
It's really irritating! That chrono hasn't ever not worked with anything before... and for the money paid, that's what I expect. I'll try it again and see if it will pick them up. I fired some 22lr through it just to test if it was working, and it picked them up just fine.

I've got some 52 amax and a whole pile of other .224 bullets... however I don't expect I'll get any more velocity out of them. My goal with this project was .3 mil drop to 300yds. I'm roughly .45 mil to 300 with this current combo... so if I could find a way to scrape another 75-100fps out of it, I'd be there. I don't see any way that can happen though. With it shooting this well, I'll probably leave things right where they are. No sense wasting barrel life when it's behaving so well right off the start. Especially with virgin, untrimmed, 243win brass necked down with a bushing.
 
Agreed , If it's not broke don't try to fix it ! My 6mm WSM is 0.3 Mil at 300 yards but that a 55g Nosler Bal Tip doing 4,530 ft/sec av . The idea of the A-max was to give a more distructive option yet still keep a good BC .
 
This was another round that works very well and is easy to load for and not as hard on barrels or cases , 20BR which i ran 40g V-max's at 4,050 ft/sec & 50g Berger's at 3,800 ft/sec . The only reason for not having it anymore was that out to 500 yards give or take it was the same as my Swift and if was going out further i'd reach for the Middlestead so it was never used .

 
Agreed , If it's not broke don't try to fix it ! My 6mm WSM is 0.3 Mil at 300 yards but that a 55g Nosler Bal Tip doing 4,530 ft/sec av . The idea of the A-max was to give a more distructive option yet still keep a good BC .
I may have to talk to you about that 6WSM. That's an idea I've had for a long time now, but never got around to doing. That velocity and accuracy is exactly what I'm looking for in a coyote stomper!
 
orkan , I hope you can find the happiness you are seeking the the Midddlested!
I have some 'old school' coyote hunter friends who have done the slow twist .224 hot rod route with Middlesteds & full .22-243AIs pushing light-mid range bullets. They have since gone back to their long barreled .22-250AIs, as a more efficient way to launch 50-60grainers for coyotes. The 250AI burns ~15% less powder per shot and only gives up about 100fps or so on the top end. Just plain better powder economics for them...

However, when running the larger case capacity .224s to push 75gr+ boolits, that extra powder charge behind them really becomes evident downrange. They don't shoot as flat as a slower twisted midweight boolit out to 300, but they more than make up for it in windbucking. And once ya hit about 400, the heavies are actually shooting flatter, still drifting way less and hitting harder...

Gotta give props for chasing the speed though! Hope ya light the chrono up!
 
orkan , I was going to do it in 22 WSM using the 55g bullet until i found out that the 6mm 55g bullet had a slightly better BC ( don't ask me how that works ) and there would be less necking down and forming as a result so it seemed to be the way to go and it works so well . I did expect there to be a trade off in accuracy but no such thing .
I can see the point of there being more efficient ways of killing a fox or coyote and it will be no more dead if the bullet is travelling 300 ft/sec faster BUT ...... Where does that end as why bother doing the Ackley as that will be no more dead than if you used a 22-250 . The only reason you ever need for doing these wildcats is that you want to !
 
I can see the point of there being more efficient ways of killing a fox or coyote and it will be no more dead if the bullet is travelling 300 ft/sec faster BUT ...... Where does that end as why bother doing the Ackley as that will be no more dead than if you used a 22-250 . The only reason you ever need for doing these wildcats is that you want to !
One flaw with that logic: You need to hit them first!

1) I live in South Dakota, and our dogs are TOUGH when they've got their winter coat on. Speed kills. Ask lazeroni! ;)
2) My typical shots on a set are from 50yds to 400yds. Most are in that 100-150yd range.
3 ...and most important) I call in doubles quite a lot, and when I drop dog #1, the second coyote lights a rocket. Running coyotes are easier to hit with a faster bullet. Period.
4 ...and also very important) I hunt the farmland in eastern SD, as well as the rolling rough cuts in western SD. When I go west, it gets really hard to judge distance. The flatter trajectory I have, the more hits I achieve. I noticed this when I went from a .223 to a 22-250. I killed more coyotes because I hit more coyotes, and it didn't seem to matter where I hit them with the 22-250, I recovered them. Bang-flop, even on bad hits on running dogs. With a .223, I was lethal on dogs out to about 250-300yds. With my 22-250, I stretched that to 350-400yds. Didn't much matter what activity they were engaged in at the time the shot broke either.

Well my thought is, more speed Scotty!!!!! I don't view my barrels as houses, that I want to keep until I die. I view my barrels as tires on my truck. So I'm not afraid of what the speed will do to my kit. I WANT what the speed will do to my quarry. :)
 
Last edited:
If that's what works for you then fine , Most of my foxes are shot within the 150-300 yards and if conditions are right and the fox will sit i'll take them past 400 but i don't shoot at running quarry and certainly not at these distances . As for distances we use rangefinders on anything that my scope is telling me is past 250 yards with the Swift and 300 yards with the 6 WSM . We have guy's over here that say ' you haven't got time to do all that ' as though all of a sudden the fox has turned into the FBI's most wanted . Life would be dull if we were all the same but to me if i haven't got the time i don't take the shot as IMHO it's not speed that kills it's where you shoot them .
 
Blackbrush , I wanted to see if i could get 4,500 ft/sec from a 55g bullet as my swift was sending the 52gers out past 4,000 ft/sec , so 55g bullets in a 243 case would fall well short .