.223 WSSM vs .243 WSSM for Accuracy?

[RonAKA]

I have been considering rebarreling my Remington 700 in a WSSM cartridge. I first considered a 6.5-WSSM, but now I'm starting to think I would enjoy a cartridge with a little less recoil. How would you load these cartridges for accuracy? and how do you think they would compare? And, especially in the .223 can you load down to preserve barrel life without affecting accuracy? It is a long action so COL will not be an issue.

Ron

 

[billmo]

Ron, I have had both the calibers you mentioned. They are both about like any other cartridge as far as method for obtaining accuracy. Load, shoot, measure groups, change one thing at the time and try again until you are happy. You can back off of the hot stuff and help the barrel life out and in my testing I found better accuracy to slow things down a bit. Bill

 

[RonAKA]

Would I be correct in assuming that the heaviest bullets for each give the best long range accuracy? If target range was limited to 100-300 yards would there be an advantage in rifling the barrel for lighter bullets with a lower spin rate? In other words give up the ability to spin the long heavy bullets in favour of more accurate shorter lighter ones for a closer range.

Any suggestions appreciated.

Ron

 

[redrock]

stay away from the wssm's you'll have less stress in your life and probably live longer.

 

[RonAKA]

Thanks for the comments. With respect to barrel burning, I compared a few cartridges the other day by simply dividing the case water volume capacity by the bore area, and then sorted them by this number -- I'm thinking a somewhat crude barrel burning index. Here are the results:

Index - Cartridge
604 - 30-30
752 - 308
794 - 223 Rem
969 - 260 Rem
969 - 6.5-243 WSSM
1102 - 22-250
1143 - .243 WSSM
1165 - 0.243
1230 - .220 Swift
1273 - 25-06
1329 - 300 Weatherby
1358 - 223 WSSM
1499 - 264 WM
1620 - 257 Weatherby
1746 - 30-378

So yes the .223 WSSM is getting up there into legendary 264 WM barrel burning country. However, the .243 WSSM does not look quite so bad -- more middle of the pack.

I was thinking of loading it to about 3100 fps with 68-80 grains, and using a 22", 12:1 twist, and hoping that would not be so hard on barrels and still give me good short to moderate range accuracy. Does that sound reasonable, or am I off in the weeds with my logic? The case would have the room to go much higher in velocity for windy days at extra barrel life cost.

On the neck thickness issue I was planning on turning to around the .268" range or so.

Ron

 

[GermanS1]

Ron, for the bullet weight and velocity range which you've described, a 6BR will more than satisfy you as well as being more accurate and having a much longer useful life. If you get a 1:8" twist barrel, you can shoot anything through a 108 grain bullet, extend your range to 600 yards and just generally have a ball.

On the slightly larger side, the 6XC with a 1:7.5" twist barrel,Norma brass from David Tubb's SSS) is really a great cartridge through 1000 yards with 115 grain Bergers.

Our club has shooters using both of these cartridges in long action rifles, we don't need feeding in NRA matches, though, so I can't comment on how that might work,or not work).

Lapua and Norma 6BR brass and Norma 6XC brass are all so good that it will spoil you for anything else. WSSM brass, on the other hand, is not in that category.

 

[RonAKA]

Thanks again for the respones. I did a search and have been reading the WSSM posts. It appears I have stepped into a bit of a controversial subject, with some saying the cases are garbage, and the cartridge is a barrel burner, and other saying the cases are just fine, and at least the .243 WSSM has no more case volume than the .243 Win and less than the .243 AI.

I understand what the concern is, but based on case volume I'm not so sure that barrel burning is that big an issue with the .243 WSSM, or at least it shouldn't be.

With respect to the brass and thickness in the neck, I believe that issue extends to other cartridges where significant amounts of brass have to be removed with a neck turner. I agree that is a pain, but it does give you a chance to clean up the concentricity. My thoughts were to remove brass from the outside, and not ream the inside. Any disadvantages to that? Is there any reason WSSM brass should be any harder to neck turn than other brass?

On dies, with the reduced neck diameter it would seem that the .223 dies could be honed in the neck to give the die bore of about .264 to give a loaded neck diameter of .268? I'm guessing you would need to remove about.006" from the diameter or .003" from the radius? Or the other alternative is bushing dies.

Again, I appreciate all the comments pro or con,

Ron

 

[RonAKA]

Interesting that I see someone else thinks similar to me on barrel burning potential. Used exactly the same method. Article posted today in 6BR. The real bad actors are not included on this list however.

http://accurateshooter.wordpress.com/2008/05/05/overbore-cartridges-a-working-definition/

Ron

 

[benzy2]

So we all agree if you push those .223 WSSM rounds you will burn through barrel after barrel. You can't got that fast without paying the price. So then you come down to .243 WSSM. In .243 WSSM you gain anywhere from a handful more fps to about 200 fps over a .243 WIN. How bad do you need that speed? I would bet you wouldn't notice the difference in the two. If you want a 6mm and accuracy the two "go to" rounds are 6PPC and 6BR with a handful of other 6mm rounds depending on how far out you want to shoot. In a 100-300 yard gun there are two routes I personally would take. First would be 6PPC/6BR. If you care more about 100 yards then go PPC and if you care more about 300 yards then go BR. These are amazingly accurate rounds with all the potential in the world. They still both are moving well enough to take varmints out quite a ways. If you need factory available ammo then go plain old .243 WIN. It is everywhere. It is a staple round that isn't disappearing. There is AMAZING brass out there compared to the WSSM. I don't get the need for the WSSM. Speed is cool but it doesn't mean much to the average shooter beyond quoting how fast you get them moving. A proper shot placement on a varmint going 100 fps slower is still going to turn it inside out. At the range the WSSM may not be bad but it won't be what either the PPC or BR will be.

If you just can't live without short and fat go PPC/BR. If you think you need the speed a bit more or want to use factory loads pick up the .243 WIN. The WSSM has too many drawbacks to be worth the slight increase in speed and even then it is less than a .243 AI so why not fireform top notch brass instead? Personally unless you are shooting in the open plains with winds blowing hard every day there isn't much value in that slight increase in speed when everything else about the round is a drawback.