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The .243. Why many high end mfgrs offer it....

Re: The .243. Why many high end mfgrs offer it....

What exactly are you asking?
 
Re: The .243. Why many high end mfgrs offer it....

It's a great varmint to light big game round!!
 
Re: The .243. Why many high end mfgrs offer it....

Because with the right barrel it will shoot a very high bc bullet very flat and the 6mm pill is great in the wind I ditched my 308 for one and couldn't be happier
 
Re: The .243. Why many high end mfgrs offer it....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Radar86</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What exactly are you asking? </div></div>

Well, there's the .260 Rem. Very popular. Why .243?
 
Re: The .243. Why many high end mfgrs offer it....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: a_bishop</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Because with the right barrel it will shoot a very high bc bullet very flat and the 6mm pill is great in the wind I ditched my 308 for one and couldn't be happier </div></div>

What barrel and twist are you running?
 
Re: The .243. Why many high end mfgrs offer it....

Something about a 105 Berger Hybrid or 115 DTAC at 3000fps+ with minimal recoil....
 
Re: The .243. Why many high end mfgrs offer it....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: libertyman777</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Radar86</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What exactly are you asking? </div></div>

Well, there's the .260 Rem. Very popular. Why .243? </div></div>

Not popular enough, I wish Remington would get there head out of the sand and make it again, but properly twisted this time. It wouldn’t take a marketing genius to get it to sell. The 243... just got a Remington varmint a couple months back and am running a 105 berger w/ a g1 of .532 at 2930. My 308's can’t touch that, plus it is a very popular varminter and respected deer cartridge many started hunting with.
 
Re: The .243. Why many high end mfgrs offer it....

The .260 is a great pill, but so is the .243 with a little less recoil.

With a twist of 8 or 7.5 it will take it to the dark side (over 1000 yards) some take it to 1400 or 1600 yards regularly.

Factory twists of 9 or 9.25 can handle mid-range with ease and even further if the shooters knows that they're doing and has the right set up (scope, rail, etc).

Factory ammo is abundant (but mostly for hunting) and components are readily available for the hand loading or precision shooters.

And hunters can use the same rifle for varmint and white tail deer by changing the pill used.

It's a great round . and it's a fun round to use.

Until recently (last few years) the .260 was difficult to obtain components for (at least it was for me). Folks could size brass from .308's or .243's to accept the .260.

Things have changed since.
 
Re: The .243. Why many high end mfgrs offer it....

It totally amazes me the "usual suspect" manufacturers don't twist their barrels enough for the excellent bullets available in the smaller calibers. Easy enough to get a 1-10 308 (arguably MORE twist than is really even useable), but a 223 with 1-7.5 or even 1-8? Forget it!

A shame.
 
Re: The .243. Why many high end mfgrs offer it....

.. Also (in the good to know category) the .243 came out in 1955. So it's a well established round. Whereas, the .260 was marketed by Remington sometime in the late 1990's, (but other versions of it were already around). But as a ".260 Remington" it came to market around 1997 or 1998. Someone else can chime in on that as I'm not too sure exactly when it did come out but either way, the .243 has a longer history.

The fact remains that the .243 is an excellent, precision, LR round that many competitors will continue to use it for years.

I remember not too long ago when the 260 debate was going on. Some thought it was a fad. LOL. I think it's proven itself.
 
Re: The .243. Why many high end mfgrs offer it....

Under 300 yards it's a killer, on southern white tails anyway. It is extremely accurate, if you learn to read the wind. No recoil to amount to anything, not to bad of a report, and that's in a sporting rifle weight.

I've an old Win. model 70 for which I would not take anything. I dropped two 90-100 pound does at a measured 315 yards with it one evening with neck shots.

I'm sure as hell not the most knowledgeable guy on this site, but I think the .243 is a superb round.
 
Re: The .243. Why many high end mfgrs offer it....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: a_bishop</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Because with the right barrel it will shoot a very high bc bullet very flat and the 6mm pill is great in the wind I ditched my 308 for one and couldn't be happier </div></div>

AMEN!! That is a HUGE +1 on that one... My Predator, with my reloads, is screamin .4 to .6" 5-shot groups at the moment, and I have just started load recipes with it!! I love the thing!! I just wish I had switched a LONG time ago!!

DK
 
Re: The .243. Why many high end mfgrs offer it....

a 115 Dtac @ 3120 fps out of a .243 is flatter than a 180 vld @ 3000 fps out of a 7wsm at 1000 yards and only has 8 inches more drift

As long as downrange energy isn't critical it is a fantastic cartridge with the right bullets. Also recoil is extremely low.
 
Re: The .243. Why many high end mfgrs offer it....

What kind of barrel life could one expect with a load like this?

Sounds interesting!

BnC
 
Re: The .243. Why many high end mfgrs offer it....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: bangnclang</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What kind of barrel life could one expect with a load like this?

Sounds interesting!

BnC </div></div>

Barrel life is very dependent on the quality of the barrel, the shooters' expectations, and the care and the use of the barrel. But typically:

.243 will provide less than a .260 barrel.
.260 will provide less than a .308 barrel.

If a shooter likes to use hot loads and allows the barrel to get very hot, of course the barrel will not last as long.

Also if the shooter doesn't mind going from .2 MOA (which is frequent with a .243) to say 1.0 MOA they continue to use it and get more "life" of the barrel. Hunters typically accept a wider spread depending on their use / need and hunters typically don't shoot as much as target shooters. Whereas a competitor will likely not accept that drop in performance and make the change much sooner.

There are some conventional wisdom that the life of these are something like. This is just what I picked up and I could be wrong but I'll share what I think is the "party" line.

.243 - 1k to 4k rounds (2k to 3k typical reports).
.260 - much more than the .243 but less than a .308
.308 - 8k to 12k (10k typical reports)

So the combination of these variables (and others) will impact what one experience might be in regard to barrel life.
 
Re: The .243. Why many high end mfgrs offer it....

I realize I didn't answer the specific question concerning the load in discussion but hopefully it provides some landscape of the barrel's life expectations when using say a 115 grain pill running at over 3100 fps, which is pretty fast, thus a hot one.

And not knowing the quality of the barrel, care, atmosphere impact, etc.

Hope this helps.
 
Re: The .243. Why many high end mfgrs offer it....

I am fixing to drink the fast twisted 243 koolaid myself.

Have a 1:7.5 x 31" 6mm barrel arriving tomorrow.. It will be chambered in 243 Win and throated for the 115 dtac, but hopefully will shoot the 105 Amax too. In about 2 weeks I'll be able will tell whether or not it's all it's cracked up to be.
 
Re: The .243. Why many high end mfgrs offer it....

I am just closing in on 400 rounds with my .243 shooting uncoated 115's. I am using H1000 in a fairly moderate load and so far the lands have moved a negligible amount. So I can't comment about barrel life from personal experience.

But, the data I quoted in my earlier post is from George Gardener's RL25 .243 match load. His rifle that shot these loads was for sale awhile back and had 1,600 rounds through it. At this point it was still supposedly shooting good and, according to him, had room for a set back which would add another 1,000 rounds of barrel life. Take what you will from all that.