243 continues to impress

[sniperjwt]

You ever have one of those guns that just shoots and for no apparent reason and it probably shouldn’t. This is one of those guns. It is a Savage Axis heavy barrel 243. I took the original stock off of it and cut it for my son to use on his gun so I have the heavy barrel in a sporter barrel stock and it just shoots. There is no reason why it should but it does. I have shot many many groups like this with this gun. It’s not a fluke, this is the norm. Using H4350 and the 95g Classic Hunter.

 

[Bully]

Impossible.
Everyone knows that you need to spend more money on a whiz-bang caliber to get results like that.
(sarcasm)
Good shooting.

 

[birdog]

nice, thanks for taking the time to post the video

 

[Kurz]

I have shot many many groups like this with this gun. It’s not a fluke, this is the norm.

Good job on the load, shooting and the contrary method of having the barrel touch the channel.

Everyone should know that for every rule there is at least one exception to that rule. The internet provides an excellent forum for making such exceptions known and open for discussion. We all want to appear to above the norm and capable of producing the exceptions to those rules. We become special in the eyes of our peers.

In this video though, it's acknowledged that this is unusual for a low cost rifle with the barrel touching, to provide such a good platform for shooting excellent groups. The author doesn't claim exceptional talent or make the blanket statement of saying that all of these rifles will perform up to this level. His analysis of the rifle and the performance is very pragmatic and down to Earth.

It just goes to prove that there are still exceptions.

 

[jimmymac]

Excellent accuracy. That's a good video. If it shoots like that in the wrong stock, how did it do in the original stock?

 

[Rodney]

Nice group, but I’m not too surprised. Bought an axis in 223 and it shoots really well also. For an inexpensive rifle, it can punch above it’s weight if you take the time and test hand loads to find a load it likes. I am a little surprised the stock fitment is not giving you issues, but sometimes that’s how it goes. Once I knew my rifle was a shooter, I splurged and got an MDT LSS chassis and the groups got even better. Haven’t shot 500 yards yet but 1.5” at 300 is the norm and .5” at 100 if there is no breeze. For someone on a tight budget the axis can be a good starter platform to learn fundamentals on. Thanks for sharing the video. I love to hear testimonials of this rifles potential.

 

[fyrewall]

We have (2) .243's

Mrs. Fyrewall shoots one, it is a Rem 700, it has a fancy fiddle back thumb hole maple stock and a 27 inch Lilja 1-8 twist barrel. A Vortex 6.5-20X50 scope with common ordinary rotary dovetail mount is used.

The other one is a Ruger M77 SA MKII with a 1-8 twist, 26 inch McGowen barrel, it has a 6-18X40 Leupold VX 2.

We would not have spent as much money on rifles with calibers that were not as good as the .243 W - it continues to be one of the most popular calibers for any number of good reasons. The 20 degree shoulder and short neck are no big deal. Right now we are into 87 VMax bullets & PP 4000MR.

 

[DLH_]

3 shots at 100 yards. I too have a lot of luck with the 87gr V-Max. Behind a heavy charge of H-4831Sc with a CCI-Br2 in Sako brass. Half MOA or better out to 500. Fantastic cartridge.

 

[nonnieselman]

Ive had very good luck with a Stevens 200 in 243.
87 grain Berger Hunting bullet with Winchester brass and IMR4350 Shot amazing for a factory rifle i bought from a pawn shop for $150.
Got to shooting crows on the farm and hit a few in a row at 525 yards. Ended up loading Sierra Gameking 85gr HPBT for my buddys GF to hunt with and he sent me a picture of a 3 shot group she did the first time out and he wanted to buy it.

 

[K22]

One of my all time favorite cartridges, the 243, despite all the stuff I read on this site about barrel wear. I currently have four 243's and have own probably over a dozen since the late 60's. It was my first center fire rifle.

I learned very early on that IMR 4350 and bullets over 85 grains go together like pizza and beer.

I have seen some impressive groups fired at the range with some of these 'low end' rifles with tailored hand loads. For the average hunter these can work quite well. Example, I saw a guy shoot a sub moa group, 5 shots, off the bench at 100 yards with a Ruger Predator 223 Rem rifle using hand loads, Sierra 65 grain bullets with Varget.

The nice thing about the 243 is that it is a true multi purpose cartridge which can be used quite successfully for deer, predators and varmints. Bullet selection and shot placement being important for deer.

 

[bloc]

. . . SNIP . . .
The nice thing about the 243 is that it is a true multi purpose cartridge which can be used quite successfully for deer, predators and varmints. Bullet selection and shot placement being important for deer.

Yeah. Winchester outfoxed Remington.

The .244 Rem and the .243 Win. came out at about the same time. The .243 had a 1:10 twist favoring heavier bullets (up to 100 gr., sometimes more) and was marketed as a deer/varmint cartridge.

The .244 had a 1:12 twist favoring lighter bullets (usually <95 gr.) and was sold as a varmint/deer cartridge.

The .244 had a slight, but not terribly significant, case volume advantage.

The .243 won that marketing battle: buyers evidently favored "deer/varmint" over "varmint/deer".

Remington responded to the trend towards "deer/varmint" by changing their twist to 1:10 and renamed their .244 cartridge. It became the 6mm Rem. There was no diffrence between the .244 and the 6mm case or loading data . . . just the twist of the barrel. They were hoping to compete favorably with Win.

But by that time, the .243 market share was insurrmountable and the 6mm Rem/.244 was pretty much a gonner.

 

[Bbear]

I'm another that has a relatively low-cost rifle (and scope) combo that seems to shoot above expectations. Also with IMR4350 and a 90 gr Ab. Weatherby Vanguard with a sub-$200 scope on it prints some tight groups. The picture is of 4 shots at 500 yards.

That's a business card I'm holding next to it.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

View attachment 1032204
3 shots at 100 yards. I too have a lot of luck with the 87gr V-Max. Behind a heavy charge of H-4831Sc with a CCI-Br2 in Sako brass. Half MOA or better out to 500. Fantastic cartridge.

But you missed the entire target!!
Great group btw.

 

[Downhill]

I declare my favorite cartridge as the 260 Remington. Oddly enough I own more 243 Winchesters than anything else. If I have not expressly planned to shoot a certain rifle I will always take out a 243. It is just hard to beat a 243.