243 wssm barrel length?

[half]

Hi,
I am building a 243 wssm. The blank could finish to about 30 inches if I want. My question is what length is going to be the most accurate? Specs are, model 10 savage, krieger barrel, 8 twist, I plan on shooting mostly 85 and 105 bullets. Thanks for any information.

 

[fredhorace77]

in my opinion any barrel length would be fine...do u plan on carrying it for a hunting gun or just bench shooting only. Benchrest 100yrd. and 200yrd. shooters often shot a 21.5" barrel...but all depends on what u plan on doing with it and what u want it to do...nice thing about always going longer barrel is you can always have it set back later if throat wears or you could always chop off more of the barrel if you decide to for reasons of length or accuracy later..

 

[Nomad47]

Half, I recently sold my 243 WSSM with 30" Kreiger 8 twist stainless light varmint contour barrel in a Winchester model 70 action. I only shot the 105 AMax bullets with 4000-MR powder, 3250 MV.
Accuracy was excellent - it killed several groundhogs over 700 yards last summer.

Because of the thick necks on the wssm brass you would be wise to turn necks. I didn't but I annealed every firing and used bushing dies, which helped to get neck tension more uniform and bullet release more consistent.

 

[half]

Thanks for the replies. This will be my coyote gun, and it will have a suppressor. I would like to cut it at 24 to 26, I just don't want to give up accuracy.

 

[fredhorace77]

personaly id go with a 22" or 24" simply because when u add the suppressor your going to gain back 4-6inches depending on the brand of suppressor you by. you should have accuracy at any of those barrel lengths especially using a quailty blank to start with.

My main coyote gun is a 17" sporter taper hart with a suppressor...i love that thing..i finish out being just shy of a 22" barrel overall length. Plus its light weight which i really need seeings as i have to walk long distances to get away from the pickup truck in my area. btw i use a .223. Almost all of my shots are within 200yrds.

 

[4xforfun]

There is a reason that the short range BR guys use 20- 21 inch tubes.....shorter tubes are stiffer..thus eaiser to tune and more accurate. The 1000 yard guys need SPEED to help negate some of the effects of wind. The help they get in the wind department outweighs the negitive effect that the loss of accuracy the extra tube length causes.

As far as speed...I would think that the 243 WSSM will crank em out there with almost any length tube. If 1500 yard shots aren't my main goal...pure accuracy and carryability are.....22 inches...plus the supresor..you would be golden.

Just my .02.
Tod