what to do with Rem 700 in .243

[Matt]

A new Rem 700vls in .243 has caught my eye because I think it is a good deal for the money. The problem is I don't know what I would do with it... leave it a 243, make it another caliber... I don't know what my options would be and am looking for some ideas. Is my first 6mmbr a possibility?

 

[Travelor]

First thing I would do is shoot it and see how it groups. If it does well, the 243 cartridge is a good one although considered a barrel burner.

You can always rebarrel it to a number of cartridges depending on what you want the gun to do. My wife and I have "found" the 6mmBR and just love it for shooting prone CF rifle matches of 600 and 1000 yards. BUT, you will be looking at probably about the cost of what you paid for the gun for a quality rebarreling.

 

[Dans40X]

A switch Bbl project comes to mind-
1:8" twist 22-250
1:8" twist 6mmBR
The 1:9 twist 243
1:8" twist 260
1:10/12 twist 7.62/308

 

[HPMike800]

You say nothing about what discipline you want to shoot. I'm assuming you may not know exactly.

What's the worst that can happen? You end up with a R700SA donor action for a project. Put a good target scope and Bi-pod on it and shoot the barrel out on it in f-class matches. Get shooting, you'll figure out where to take it from there.

Mike

 

[M700]

Exactly Matt. Figure out what you want to do with the rifle first.

Varmint shooting? Some kind of competition? The VLS is a very good factory built varmint rifle. Looks good and generally shoots well. The .243 is an excellent varmint & deer cartridge. More info on the cartridge here:

http://www.6mmbr.com/243Win.html

Regards, Guy

 

[Matt]

I suppose I would have to lean in long range target direction.

 

[OldDoug]

Matt, I bought a used BDL 243 Varmint a couple of years back and shot it on Prairie Dogs in 2006. Really fun. Pulled the barrel off and put on a 3grove PacNor 6mm Rem last year. Took the old barrel and cut it to fit a Yugo 24/47 action and chambered back to 243 as a 23" tube.

If the price is good, don't be afraid of the 243.

 

[j_22250]

After breaking in the barrel a factory remmy 243 should shoot very well... use it as a varmint rifle. I would give it a camo paint job and only clean when accuracy starts to decrease; usually after a box or two. Unfortunatly some factory barrels never really seem break in and copper fouling can be a a real pain. It's not a great idea to use smelly solvents in a coyote rifle either.