243 Varmint Rifle

[searcher]

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........

This is very true - and a lot of the lighter varmint bullets (as short as they are), love to jump, especially the V-Max, in my experience with them. Also, all the lead-free bullets want to jump as well. I have a Ruger factory barrel varmint in .243 that loves the 58 V-Max. I run 41.6 grains of Reloader 22. I once shot a .078" 5-shot group with it. I can't get that out of a few target rifles I have. I have tried seating the bullets out closer to the lands and groups suffered. I absolutely would not even consider a zero-freebore chamber if shooting varmint bullets.

 

[urbanrifleman]

This is very true - and a lot of the lighter varmint bullets (as short as they are), love to jump, especially the V-Max, in my experience with them. Also, all the lead-free bullets want to jump as well. I have a Ruger factory barrel varmint in .243 that loves the 58 V-Max. I run 41.6 grains of Reloader 22. I once shot a .078" 5-shot group with it. I can't get that out of a few target rifles I have. I have tried seating the bullets out closer to the lands and groups suffered. I absolutely would not even consider a zero-freebore chamber if shooting varmint bullets.

That seems correct. I really think that the standard 243 SAMMI is fine for the lightweight bullets.

 

[carpooler]

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

Yep, those are mating pairs, if you only get the male, in a month, she whelps a litter, so you start all over again.

 

[Infrequent Shooter]

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.

Build it. And then post pictures.