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Old January 9, 2013, 06:48 PM   #1
tsillik
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244 remington ammo question

Was looking at one of my dads old deer rifles, says it is a 244 rem. Can you use 243 ammo in this,or do you have to have the 244 ammo? Terry
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Old January 9, 2013, 07:23 PM   #2
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NO NO NO AND ABSOLUTELY NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6mm Remington is compatable(mostly) with the .244. Some 244's had a barrel twist that was not conducive to top accuracy with bullets over 90 grains.
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Old January 9, 2013, 07:28 PM   #3
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.244 Remington is the same as 6mm Remington, they just changed the name, any 6mm Remington ammo will function safely in it. Do not use .243 Winchester in it.
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Old January 9, 2013, 07:34 PM   #4
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Thanks! Exactly what i wanted to know.
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Old January 9, 2013, 08:08 PM   #5
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Having been a fan of the 6 MM for 30 years Mobuck is right on. For the 244 I found that 70’s work best.
The longest shot on Ground hogs I have ever taken was with a 6mm at 340 yards.
What is the Rifle?
If you want to read a little history on the 244 and 6mm here is a good place.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6_mm_Remington
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Old January 9, 2013, 08:42 PM   #6
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It's a model 722 Remington.
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Old January 9, 2013, 09:08 PM   #7
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You have an awesome little varmint gun there. I have a model 700 "varmint special" in 6mm remington and I shoot 100 grainers through it and it does great on deer. But like the above posts say, although the .244 shoots the same exact round as the 6mm, it will not stabilize the longer and heavier bullets well. That kind of hinders it vs. a 6mm for deer size game. 6mm has a 1:9 barrel twist and I believe the .244 is like 1:12. Thats really the only difference in the two. If you dont handload, you can find factory 80 grain 6mm ammo pretty easily. That should shoot pretty well in the .244. Had remington originally come out with the .244 with a 1:9 barrel, we might be having to answer the question; whats a .243 Winchester?
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Old January 9, 2013, 09:22 PM   #8
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Different "Parent" cartridges -

The 243 Win was originally a .308 Win/7.62mm NATO (7.62X51 mm) brass case necked down to .243/.244.

The .244 Rem/6 mm Rem was originally a 7X57 mm Mauser brass case necked down to .243/.244

The difference is mostly in length, i.e. 51mm vs.57mm. OF course, the two different cases have different tapers to the body of the case.

So - NO, not interchangeable ammo, at all.

The only thing they have in common is the case head diameter, and the diameter of the neck (.243/.244).

Your dad's rifle, having its caliber stated as ".244 Rem" (stamped on the barrel at the factory) has a slow rate of twist in the rifling in the barrel, and will not stabilize the heavier bullet weights. The .243 Win has always had a faster rate of twist, which made it accurate with all bullet weights. Remington realized their mistake after a few years, and changed the rate of twist to the same as Winchester rifles, and re-named their rifles to "6 mm Remington".

Your dad's rifle, since it has a greater case capacity than a .243 Win, can be handloaded to about 100 fps higher muzzle velocity than a .243 Win, if you load the same bullet weight as the .243 Win.
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Old January 9, 2013, 09:40 PM   #9
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Quote:
Remington realized their mistake after a few years, and changed the rate of twist to the same as Winchester rifles, and re-named their rifles to "6 mm Remington".
The stuff I've read sez 6mm Rem rifles were initially offered w/ a 1:9, twist, while the .243 is generally 1:10 ...... the Original .244 Rem rifles used 1:12, IIRC.

Since your barrel is stamped .244 REM, it'd probably be the slower 1:12 .... but you could just measure it yourself: you just need a .243/6mm bore brush on a cleaning rod and a sharpie ..... put the brush in the bore and mark 12:00 position back at the handle, and mark the rod at the reciever ring. Push the rod in until it makes one full revoloution (the rod will turn due to the rifling as it is pushed in....stop pushing when the mark by the handle gets back to 12:00 position ...... make another mark on the rod at the reciver ring. (Note: do NOT ever change directions with a bore brush while the brush is in the bore.) Push the brush on through the muzzle, remove. Withdraw the rods and measure the distance between the two marks- that would be 1 turn in X".
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Old January 10, 2013, 05:44 AM   #10
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You could always just re-barrel it with a 1:9 and then it really would be a 6mm remington. Would only be worth doing if your going to deer hunt with it. For varmints your just as well to keep what youve got. Might even get a tad more velocity out of the smaller bullets with that slower twist.
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Old January 10, 2013, 08:18 AM   #11
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I used to load for 3 different 6mm/244 rifles. Considering the numerous good quality game bullets in the 80-90 grain range available now, I wouldn't feel the need to load 100 grain for any game for which the .24 caliber is suitable.
The best shooting deer/antelope loads I found used the Hornady 87 or Nosler 90 grain bullets.
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Old January 10, 2013, 10:55 AM   #12
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+1, Mobuck.

With all the controlled expansion bullets out there that will stay together @ 3K+ f/sec, rebarelling just to hunt deer would be a poor use of funds, unless you wanted to shoot at longer ranges ..... then maybe go with a 1:7 to handle 105's and 115's ..... this will lower velocities/raise pressures with the light varmit bullets a bit ....but TANSAAFL.
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Old January 10, 2013, 12:50 PM   #13
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I am not going to do any hunting with it, just wanted to know about the ammo. terry
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Old January 10, 2013, 06:41 PM   #14
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Just scanned the prior replies, so may have missed what I'm going to write. No difference between the 244 or 6mm remington cartridge. Your 244 Remington rifle has a slower twist rate in the rifleing than a Remington rifle stamped 6mm Remington. What this means for you and your ammo selection, is that you need to shoot lower grain (weight) bullets in your .244 for accuracy reasons. The .244 Remington was designed for shooting varmint sized critters, therefore smaller/lighter bullets used. Folks that reloaded, tried using heavier bullets to use cartridge for deer hunting, for example. Unfortunately, the heavier bullets proved to be fairly inaccurate in a .244 Remington. This problem caused the .244 to be an unpopular cartridge and its main competitor was the .243 Win which could shoot more accurately the heavier bullets due to it having a faster twist rate. Remington to correct its problem, will rename the 244 to 6mm Remington and Remingtons rifles will be made with a faster twist rate and barrels of these rifles stamped with 6mm Rem. Basically, its thought that Remington messed up by marketing its 244 rifles as only varmit rifles and making them with a slow twist rate. Actually, the .244/6mm remiington is a fine cartridge that has a slight edge ballistically on the .243 Win. However, today, no one makes a rifle for a 6mm Remington, but darn near all rifle maker sell a .243 Win.
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Old January 10, 2013, 06:45 PM   #15
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Just scanned the prior replies, so may have missed what I'm going to write. No difference between the 244 or 6mm remington cartridge. Your 244 Remington rifle has a slower twist rate in the rifleing than a Remington rifle stamped 6mm Remington. What this means for you and your ammo selection, is that you need to shoot lower grain (weight) bullets in your .244 for accuracy reasons. The .244 Remington was designed for shooting varmint sized critters, therefore smaller/lighter bullets used. Folks that reloaded, tried using heavier bullets to use cartridge for deer hunting, for example. Unfortunately, the heavier bullets proved to be fairly inaccurate in a .244 Remington. This problem caused the .244 to be an unpopular cartridge and its main competitor was the .243 Win which could shoot more accurately the heavier bullets due to it having a faster twist rate. Remington to correct its problem, will rename the 244 to 6mm Remington and Remingtons rifles will be made with a faster twist rate and barrels of these rifles stamped with 6mm Rem. Basically, its thought that Remington messed up by marketing its 244 rifles as only varmit rifles and making them with a slow twist rate. Actually, the .244/6mm remiington is a fine cartridge that has a slight edge ballistically on the .243 Win. However, today, no one makes a rifle for a 6mm Remington, but darn near all rifle maker sell a .243 Win.

Here is your problem. Only ammo today that you can probably find is 6mm Remington and it has the heavier bullets. You may not like the accuracy of your wonderful 722 Rifle with them.
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Old January 10, 2013, 07:05 PM   #16
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Major, I believe that the 244 was essentially a necked down 257 Roberts.
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Old January 11, 2013, 12:51 AM   #17
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The 257 Roberts is a 7x57 necked down to .25 cal and the .244/6mm Rem is a 7x57 necked down to 6mm. That's it, so yes you can neck down .257 brass if you had to. I didn't think there was a shortage of 6mm brass. I know Remington has an 80 grain factory load for the 6mm so that would be a good place to start for the non reloader.
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Old January 11, 2013, 12:52 PM   #18
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Federal offers 80 and 85gr loads that should work in your slower twist. If you reload the good news is your twist is more tolerant of light fast loads. "Photon torpedo" loads out of a 9" twist can be an education in copper removal. Don't think twice about taking it for a walk in the woods. If 100's were never invented the 6mm/243 would still be a first class deer round.
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