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243 AI vs. 250 AI vs. 257 AI

If you were choosing a long range groundhog gun, which cartridge would you choose and why? I've narrowed my choices, but I can't decide.
 
Well, I don't have direct experience w/ any one of those three variants, but here's my $0.02 worth anyway since no one else seems to be answering.

First off, I'm pretty sure any one of the three would be death on varmints, and work very well. For slow paced and infrequent shooting like ground-hogs where barrel life isn't going to be an issue, I'm confident that any 'real' differences would be mostly academic.

That said, if it were me, I'd probably lean towards the .243 AI of those three choices... high quality Lapua .243 brass is readily available, and a better selection of varmint and match bullets exists in 6mm than in .25 caliber last I checked. Depending on what you want to do, that may or may not be an issue for you... all you really need is *one* bullet that will do what you want.

HTH,

Monte
 
Monte,

Thank you for replying. I am leaning heavier towards the 243 AI for the reasons you stated. Lapua brass can't be beat and the 25 caliber bullet selection is lacking. I didn't want to discount the other cartridges since they seem pretty effecient for their bore diameter and I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything.

Brian
 
whelan35,
The .243 A.I. is a great varmint round. A 1:10 barrel will accurately shoot 70, 80, & 87 grn. bullets with appreciable velocities. I know it will shoot heavier bullets as well but I've had such good luck with these weights, I've not had to go any higher. A solid hit on a groundhog from 100 to 500 yds. will put them down for the count.
The .25-06 will deliver more terminal mayhem. There are several good 87 grn. rds. and several 100 to 115 grn. rds. that work well on groundhogs.
 
Hi there have been some other posts asking similar questions and my answer is definately the 243AI with an 8 twist i have shot 55gr BlitzKings out of my 6mm Dasher and it shoots 115gr DTAC's aswell with your 8 twist you can use 105gr A Max bullets that are verry efficent in the wind and explode like a plastic tip bullet the key is you would like a long range rifle so i believe the lighter bullets are a waste of time go with the 243 and fireform out hunting and just adjust your bullet drop with the formed cases you will find verry little accuracy difference between the two loads and you can even shoot lighter bullets if you feel like remember Factory 243's have 9 twist barrels and 55gr bullets work well through them the quality of bullets we have now do not require to have an exact spin as they are verry uniform and ballanced. use Lapua cases a just load them up because they are the best you can get.,

Cheers Bill
Australia
 
John Southwick, whose 6-284 has been featured on this site is getting excellent results with his 22-250 AI, shooting Sierra 80s. It has proven just as accurate in 600-yard varmint matches as the Border 6-284. This would give you a flat-shooting gun with the light pills for the shorter distances, then you could load 75 Amaxs,0.435 BC) or 80 SMKs,0.420 BC) for long range. Fire-forming is easy. The downside is getting the dies made up.

Nice little case though, if you need something with more boiler room than a 22BR or 22 Dasher.

Personally, if you're not in a rush, I might wait for the availability of the 6.5x47 brass, neck that down to 6mm, and run that in lieu of a .243 Ackley.
 
My personal pick would be for the .243AI for the following reasons. The 6mm has it all over the .25 Cal. rounds with the availability issues of good bullets and brass. However, I do feel the same as our esteemed moderator that a 6mm version of the new Lapua 6.5 X 47 case would be very interesting to play with and see how it stacks up against the .243AI! I have used the .243AI as nothing but a varmint rifle, and it has been great in this role for me, other than for the limited barrel life. But that is simply the price one pays for the "Need for Speed". When this rifle will spit a 70gr. Nosler out at just under 3,800fps, with a 24" barrel, that has my attention as a serious long range varmint rifle! If I were to pick a different caliber to use over the 6mm calibers, I would most likely use a 6.5mm since the bullet selection, and brass, are improving. I would seriously consider the 6.5 X 47, the proven 6.5 X 55, the 6.5/284, and possibly the 6.5 WSSM as superior over the .25 Cal. choices.

I do feel that the only time that the 6/284 is superior to the smaller .243AI is with the use of 95gr. bullets, and heavier, with slow burning powders, and barrels longer than 26". I decided to steer away from a fast twist .22-250AI and go with a 6.5" twist .22BR to see if the barrel will last longer than the .22-250AI. It will be interesting to see the results as I get the rifle "on-line" and to see how it compares at long range with the .243AI as well.

Cordially,
Bob Blaine
 
You might want to read the article on Richard's Custom 6Remington AI. He has built a bunch of them and says he prefers the longer neck and extra velocity. I don't remember if he says too much about bbl life on his website, but his experience and success with the 6Rem might be worth looking into. JimDee
 
243 AI IS MY FAVORITE.. GOOD BRASS GOOD BULLETS
I HAVE MANY PICTURES OF MY 243 AI's POSTED

enjoy :)

www.pbase.com/m16800/toys
 
The other reason I vote for the .243 A.I. is the excellent and varied choice of bullets. The .25 cal., while up to the task, is hampered by a limited selection of bullets. The .25 has several 87 grn. bullets, but so does the .243 A.I. with less recoil and powder. I have 100 original Lapua cases that have been re-loaded 'hot' in my .243 A.I. at least 15 times with no cracking or problems at all.
Chino69
 

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