243 Varmint Rifle

[G Love]

If guy wanted to build a 243 WIN specifically for varmint hunting (13.5 to shoot 55-70 grain varmint bullets, fast) what freebore would be the ticket to keep those bullets from having to jump a mile? .030, .050?

 

[Bill Norris]

If guy wanted to build a 243 WIN specifically for varmint hunting (13.5 to shoot 55-70 grain varmint bullets, fast) what freebore would be the ticket to keep those bullets from having to jump a mile? .030, .050?

.030 would give you more bullet in the case. Those lighter weights are short.

 

[STOMP442]

Plus the shorter one will allow you to chase the lands and get a little longer barrel life.

 

[G Love]

.030 would give you more bullet in the case. Those lighter weights are short.

I know it. I loaded a 700VS 243 for a buddy with 55 NBT's, factory throat 9.125 twist. When I say tried everything, I mean tried EVERYTHING. The only 55 load that shot was 4075fps and barely seated in the neck and still had to jump a mile. It was a good, terminal .5 load but it left a case full of 4064 in the mag well. It wouldn't shoot 70's worth a dang. Wound up shooting 87VLD's out of it. He didn't get the speed demon he wanted out of it but he's certainly not complaining. The 87's are hammers and very accurate at 3150.

 

[Bill Norris]

I know it. I loaded a 700VS 243 for a buddy with 55 NBT's, factory throat 9.125 twist. When I say tried everything, I mean tried EVERYTHING. The only 55 load that shot was 4075fps and barely seated in the neck and still had to jump a mile. It was a good, terminal .5 load but it left a case full of 4064 in the mag well. It wouldn't shoot 70's worth a dang. Wound up shooting 87VLD's out of it. He didn't get the speed demon he wanted out of it but he's certainly not complaining. The 87's are hammers and very accurate at 3150.

Personally, if it were me and the light-weights were all I intended to load for it I would go with zero free bore.

 

[C.E.Smith043]

Personally, if it were me and the light-weights were all I intended to load for it I would go with zero free bore.

This^^^^

 

[Idaho-Lefty]

@ G Love,..
IF "Building" a Rifle,.. WHY NOT,.. a 6 GT, 6 BRA or,.. 6 XC ??
All 3, ARE much easier on Barrels than, the .243 Win !
Agree with, the Short, Free bore !
Spec the Barrel Twist for, 65- 70 grain bullets to, the Fabulous,.. 87 gr. Berger, H-VLD's !!
1-10 to, maybe, a 1-12 twist ??

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

He wants to shoot light bullets fast at varmint, 243 with a 0 free bore and light bullets like the 55gr Noslers are spectacular on Varmints. Brass is cheap and cheerful if you lose a couple in the fields and they will feed perfectly out of anything unlike allot of the smaller "improved" cases.

 

[G Love]

@ G Love,..
IF "Building" a Rifle,.. WHY NOT,.. a 6 GT, 6 BRA or,.. 6 XC ??
All 3, ARE much easier on Barrels than, the .243 Win !
Agree with, the Short, Free bore !
Spec the Barrel Twist for, 65- 70 grain bullets to, the Fabulous,.. 87 gr. Berger, H-VLD's !!
1-10 to, maybe, a 1-12 twist ??

Well, I already have some of those lol. I have a ton of 55's and 70's that were intended for another rifle that I never did. I have rifles that shoot midweight 6mm Bergers, 87's, 88's. And a 6X47 for 108 Elite Hunters. I have the parts for a 6BRA and 1000 80 grain Bart's. I've just always wanted a 13.5 243 with a short fb for varmint bullets. 20.5" Krieger with an HS Precision stock and dbm to be specific. One of those rifles that gets stuck in your head that may only make sense to you lol.

 

[75vmax]

0. But I would go 12 twist.

 

[rickt300]

I say he should have tried a faster power and loaded the bullet even with the base of the neck. I know a heck of a lot of jump but it was the only thing that made my Savage 243 shoot the 55 gr. Ballistic Tip or 58 gr. VMax worth a darn. IMR 3031 and BLC2 worked for me.

 

[Webster]

If guy wanted to build a 243 WIN specifically for varmint hunting (13.5 to shoot 55-70 grain varmint bullets, fast) what freebore would be the ticket to keep those bullets from having to jump a mile? .030, .050?

I got a .030" freebore in my 6BR because the gunsmith had the reamer and I didn't want to buy a new one. 14 twist shooting 58-65 gr bullets. no problem. If I did it again I would try to get a 12 twist 0.010" freebore. The 12 TW should still shoot the light bullets and give better accuracy for 70-75 gr bullets.

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

Friend of mine does Varminting for a living, he says the only thing better than a long barrel fast twist 243Win is a 243AI

 

[urbanrifleman]

I just received a bunch of 12 twist blanks for Prefit nut barrels. They really shoot. I have hv Prefit and lv Prefit.

 

[Bill Norris]

Friend of mine does Varminting for a living, he says the only thing better than a long barrel fast twist 243Win is a 243AI

I have to agree with him. The 243AI is a bad boy no doubt. Getting ready to try mine out @ 1000 yds. with Tubbs 115 gr. DTAC TBN w/NR. At 100 yds. I'm loving what I see.

 

[badgerman48]

Hello Mr. G. Love,
Have you seen the bullet jump research done by Mark Gordon? It is a very large sample with excellent data documentation. You can find the article in the reference section of the Precision Rifle Blog. It challenges some of the most widely held beliefs regarding "short" jump being the best to use. For example I have a Weatherby Predator Master in 243 that typically has . 100 - . 065 " jump and it shoots 1/2 MOA and this rifle is twenty years old. I normally use 95 gr Nosler purple tips,[ Ballistic Tips], with old fashion RL-19. Any way as I am sure you know free bore is just one of many factors affecting accuracy. I thought this article might interest you........

 

[ZenArchery]

Just destroyed a fat 300lbs hog with the 87 Absolute Hammer running 3420 FPS out of 20” barrel. Coyotes are on the January hit list.

 

[troupe]

Friend of mine does Varminting for a living, he says the only thing better than a long barrel fast twist 243Win is a 243AI

You are very good with your thermal, that appears to be a lot of fun. Great video. What brand of thermal if you don't mind saying. Mine is a Pulsar.

 

[K22]

Hello Mr. G. Love,
Have you seen the bullet jump research done by Mark Gordon? It is a very large sample with excellent data documentation. You can find the article in the reference section of the Precision Rifle Blog. It challenges some of the most widely held beliefs regarding "short" jump being the best to use. For example I have a Weatherby Predator Master in 243 that typically has . 100 - . 065 " jump and it shoots 1/2 MOA and this rifle is twenty years old. I normally use 95 gr Nosler purple tips,[ Ballistic Tips], with old fashion RL-19. Any way as I am sure you know free bore is just one of many factors affecting accuracy. I thought this article might interest you........

Remington's are notorious for their long free bore. Yet, mine have always shoot extremely well once the bedding issue was addressed and the barrel free floated on sporter weight models with the cheap synthetic stock. My Varmint models with the bedding block shot 1/2 moa with tuned reloads.

Sierra published an article years ago on the subject of seating depth. Their testing revealed that some rifle/bullet combinations shot better groups with longer jump to the lands. This also has been my experience with some rifle/bullet combinations. The only way to know is to test.

However, if you are a hunter, I would be caution of seating too close to the lands because of the sometimes-large variation in ogives in hunting bullets that might result in getting a bullet stuck in the lands or creating an over pressure situation.

 

[Speedy]

I know it. I loaded a 700VS 243 for a buddy with 55 NBT's, factory throat 9.125 twist. When I say tried everything, I mean tried EVERYTHING. The only 55 load that shot was 4075fps and barely seated in the neck and still had to jump a mile. It was a good, terminal .5 load but it left a case full of 4064 in the mag well. It wouldn't shoot 70's worth a dang. Wound up shooting 87VLD's out of it. He didn't get the speed demon he wanted out of it but he's certainly not complaining. The 87's are hammers and very accurate at 3150.

Same experience with a 700vls wanted to use 70 grain ballistic tips, couldn’t get it to shoot them, tried the Berger 87gr vld’s, they shot crazy tight for me