Parker Hale 243

[Kenneth66]

have one of these with the Varmint barrel . It is a pretty gun , bought it from original owner who was a close lady friend of my wife's . It isn't supposed to be shot much and have no reason to doubt it . I have 3.5-10 vari-x III on it and have tried some other scopes so I'm pretty sure the scope isn't the problem . Have tried 100 gr. SGK , 85 gr. H.P. SGK , and and a SST bullet but can't remember the wieght right now . Have tried IMR 4831 , IMR 4350 , H 4350 , H 414 . Can not get consistant groups , firing three shot groups . Have tried various seating deapths . Some times two of three shots will touch and third goes off some times an inch , sometimes 2 inches or more . Have had an occasional run of two or three acceptable groups and think I might be on to something and then everything just goes down the drain
Anyone here own these rifles and have loads that work in your's ?
Have two other 243's , Rem. and a T/C and my loads for them shoot from slightly under an inch to well under an inch , so I think I got a decent understanding of developing loads , at least to the hunting level .
Ask questions , make suggestions , thanks , Kenneth

 

[snert]

Bedding
barrel/action tension caused by old school bedding in a Walnut stock.
Did I mention bedding?

 

[CJ6]

Bedding
barrel/action tension caused by old school bedding in a Walnut stock.
Did I mention bedding?

^^^^^^^^ This. +1. I had a 1200 Super Safari in 30-06 I picked up in Germany, did pretty much what yours is doing. Bedding it did the trick.

 

[snert]

And if that does not fix it, check the firing pin spring. Weak, tired, inconsistent? Replace is easy.

 

[Ggmac]

Bolt handle hitting stock ?

 

[AckleymanII]

have one of these with the Varmint barrel . It is a pretty gun , bought it from original owner who was a close lady friend of my wife's . It isn't supposed to be shot much and have no reason to doubt it . I have 3.5-10 vari-x III on it and have tried some other scopes so I'm pretty sure the scope isn't the problem . Have tried 100 gr. SGK , 85 gr. H.P. SGK , and and a SST bullet but can't remember the wieght right now . Have tried IMR 4831 , IMR 4350 , H 4350 , H 414 . Can not get consistant groups , firing three shot groups . Have tried various seating deapths . Some times two of three shots will touch and third goes off some times an inch , sometimes 2 inches or more . Have had an occasional run of two or three acceptable groups and think I might be on to something and then everything just goes down the drain
Anyone here own these rifles and have loads that work in your's ?
Have two other 243's , Rem. and a T/C and my loads for them shoot from slightly under an inch to well under an inch , so I think I got a decent understanding of developing loads , at least to the hunting level .
Ask questions , make suggestions , thanks , Kenneth

Some may have mentioned it, but bedding, freefoat, trigger job, touch the lands with the bullets in OAL. Keep the copper out of the barrel.

I shot the barrel out of a 6 Rem Varmint in the parker hale, 1/2" at 200 yards, 85g Sierra BTHP with 38.5g of H4895, Fed 210, back off on this load for the 243.

Also, invest in a wind flag....your eyes will be open wide on the first use!!!

 

[Kenneth66]

Thank you all for your advise . I use wind flags when shooting for extreme accuracy , like in my 6ppc , but haven't found it nessacary for hunting accuracy . If I got a hunting rifle shooting an inch or less groups , I am content with that . But most of them will shoot better than that . Just this Parker has left me scratching my head . A good 243 shouldn't have any problems shooting an inch or less . I'll have to take it down and look at it , it has been in the safe for 8-10 months as I got tired trying to get it to shoot consistent . I can't remeber if it is bedded or not , I'm thinking it is , but of course that doesn't mean it isn't flawed . Would like to make a shooter out of it , and pass it along to my grandson . Matter of fact I'm going out to the shop and dig her out now .
Thank you , Kenneth

 

[uncle-buck]

have one of these with the Varmint barrel . It is a pretty gun , bought it from original owner who was a close lady friend of my wife's . It isn't supposed to be shot much and have no reason to doubt it . I have 3.5-10 vari-x III on it and have tried some other scopes so I'm pretty sure the scope isn't the problem . Have tried 100 gr. SGK , 85 gr. H.P. SGK , and and a SST bullet but can't remember the wieght right now . Have tried IMR 4831 , IMR 4350 , H 4350 , H 414 . Can not get consistant groups , firing three shot groups . Have tried various seating deapths . Some times two of three shots will touch and third goes off some times an inch , sometimes 2 inches or more . Have had an occasional run of two or three acceptable groups and think I might be on to something and then everything just goes down the drain
Anyone here own these rifles and have loads that work in your's ?
Have two other 243's , Rem. and a T/C and my loads for them shoot from slightly under an inch to well under an inch , so I think I got a decent understanding of developing loads , at least to the hunting level .
Ask questions , make suggestions , thanks , Kenneth

Am having the same issue with a Parker Hale 1200 in .243 now. Have had the barrel floated and the action bedded. Thought I had a developed a consistent hunting load with the Sierra 100 grain SPT Pro Hunter bullets.

Were you able to turn yours into a shooter? If so, what did you end up doing to it?

 

[rkittine]

I had a Parker Hall 1200 that I bought brand new in the 70s. No matter what I did to it and what loads I worked up, it was never any better than a MOA shooter at 100 yards. Was in .30-06 and was fine for hunting. In those days I knew very little about what twist, free bore etc. did. What I did find out though was it was a tight or short chamber as I had a lot of National Match Ball Ammo and when I put the first round into the gun, the bolt would barely close and I was afraid to shoot it. When I finally got the bold open and pulled back the projectile stayed in the lands and the case same out spilling powder everywhere. Shot Remington Factory OK and much better with my reloads, but still nothing to brag about.

Bob

 

[2506]

A friend that I ground hog hunted with many years ago had the same rifle. With the barrel free floated and the action glass bedded it was a tack driver. He shot Sierra 60 gr HP with IMR 4320. It would vaporize a ground hog.