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Old February 22, 2013, 08:03 PM   #26
kraigwy
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This kind of performance will be hard for many to believe
Nope, not one bit. I've seen some dern good 1000 yard scores fired with 243s.

My wife's M-70 does quite well to 1200 yards using Berger 87 grainers.
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Old February 22, 2013, 09:40 PM   #27
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I've been scheming for a .243 lately so this has been an informative thread.

I noticed from Ruger's spec sheet, it has a 1:9 barrel, whereas I seem to recall Remington and Weatherby Vanguard have 1:10. Any thoughts on that?
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Old February 22, 2013, 09:45 PM   #28
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Thanks Dan. It is encouraging to know the American will shoot an A-max. It has been my experience that it takes a good quality barrel to get accuracy out of the A-max.
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Old February 23, 2013, 12:51 AM   #29
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I don't know what Weatherby's twist is, but Remington's has been--for years now--1:9 1/4 twist. Most Remingtons I know of will shoot the 105 AMAX too... I think Hornady designed the bullet that way, so you wouldn't need a custom twist to stabilize it.

Reynolds... it is encouraging to me also that these guns will shoot the 105's, and I agree it is indicative of a pretty decent barrel, that it will stabilize that bullet and shoot it well. Of course such a long bullet tends to turn in better MOA results at 200 yards and beyond, potentially not being 100 percent stable at 100 yards.

And the 87 VMAX is a great long range bullet too... with a BC of .400, and potential velocity from the .243 Winchester of 3200 to 3300 fps (easily), it's a pretty flat shooting bullet.

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Old February 23, 2013, 11:18 AM   #30
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Possums in the daytime?
Either something scared them out/disturbed them...or the "R" word comes to mind.
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Old February 23, 2013, 07:34 PM   #31
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Another possum came out at 140 yards today during our long range practice shoot... around 1pm... the guy on the line got permission to dispatch it. Not sure what's going on with the things, but yes, rabies seems like one possibility...
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Old February 26, 2013, 04:38 PM   #32
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i wonder how a 308 would stand....
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Old February 26, 2013, 07:53 PM   #33
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Its not unusual to see possums in the daytime. There is one that lives around my barn somewhere and I see him during the day all the time and have done so for the last couple of years. If he were rabid, he would be dead by now.
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Old March 1, 2013, 07:52 AM   #34
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We worked the trigger on my son's .243 RAR.

It would dial down to just over 3 pounds... a bit heavy for accuracy work.

So I removed the single pin that holds the trigger itself into the trigger housing... easily lifted out the tension spring (a coil spring)... clipped off two coils... a dab of lithium grease on the ledge... and the whole thing went back together in about 5 minutes.

Trigger is now at a super nice 2 pounds...

This trigger will be very easy to work on for those who tend to tinker. (I know I know... smokin' out the self appointed mall cops, but somebody's gotta do it).

Dan
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Old March 1, 2013, 10:14 AM   #35
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Dan thanks for that tip, very easy to do and made a big difference. Removing that spring completely gets the trigger down to what feels like less than a pound. Too light for me, but good to know.
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Old March 1, 2013, 07:49 PM   #36
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'Tis good to read that a Ruger rifle did so well at a longer range.

After Ruger's dismal performance in the 20 Palma rifles they built for the 1992 US Palma Team, maybe they did something to end up with better barrels in them. Those Palma rifles had Green Mountain brand barrels in them; half with 4 grooves and half with 6. They were called "tub" guns. They shot wash tub size groups at long range with ammo that shot "saucer" size groups at long range in members own rifles.
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Old March 1, 2013, 09:46 PM   #37
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Wow, what a ringing endorsement from our resident expert marksman! How's that for a punch in the --ts???!! Go SAVAGE!!!!!!!!!
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Old March 1, 2013, 10:14 PM   #38
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Bart, I have a Ruger 6PPC that is not even sub minute, much less production match ready. I gave up on it. Will eventually re-barrel it. I think it is going to be ironical if Ruger's $350 American outshoots their Cadillac rifle.

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Old March 2, 2013, 12:35 AM   #39
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Thanks dan that is good to know . I will not be doing that cus my RAR will be my walking , hicking , hunting rifle and I will have it set at 4lbs-ish . 2lbs seems a little light for a camp gun but it's great on the new Savage
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Old March 2, 2013, 08:19 AM   #40
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While such performances from the .243 case do happen, the frequency thereof is typically short lived. David Tubb was probably the first to use the .243 Win. round in high power match rifle competition and did very well with it. But as both he and Barrett (Boots) Obermeyer (barrel maker extraordinaire) told me, it starts loosing accuracy very quickly at about 1500 rounds. Its overbore capactiy powder charges coupled with max (and sometimes +P loads) eats away the leade in a hurry. But it's got twice the super accurate barrel life of its half millimeter larger bigger-case cousin, the 6.5x.284 having about 750 rounds before going south.

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Old March 2, 2013, 03:35 PM   #41
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Well for most of us regular "joes", a .243 winchester is the Right choice for a super farm type rifle for yotes at any range, and deer up to 3-500 yds (with proper bullets). I like the fact that George Gardner like to use this caliber in his competition shooting, and he probably is one of The best rifle builders there is, and he's winning matches with the .243 win....
I have been so hung up on loading 100 grain bullets so we can take deer, that I have overlooked lighter, probably more accurate bullets fo my rifle.
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Old March 2, 2013, 07:30 PM   #42
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I agree Hooligan. The .243 is a great all around rifle. I dont think I have ever loaded anything but 90 and 95's in .243.
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Old March 30, 2013, 01:29 PM   #43
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This is all I use now! I inherited an old Rem 600 Mohawk .243 with a (assumedly) cheap Tasco scope from my uncle...1970's model. He had old Winchester white box stuff (100 gr) with it. They shot about 1" groups, which is great but I decided to try Fusions. Laying prone in the back field, 100yds (laser ranged) with my old army ruck as support I clover-leafed 3 shots...all touching. Done! Full penetration on a big MO doe (170 lbs+) through ribs and she went down in 30 yds. Blew a coyotes heart out at 200. They hit where I aim EVERY time and kill clean!
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Old March 30, 2013, 10:07 PM   #44
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I'm so getting a RAR. Huge ruger fan anyway.
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Old March 30, 2013, 10:34 PM   #45
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I love the RAR and want one myself but the Fusion ammo used to produce the groups shown by the OP deserves just as much of the credit. It, just like the RAR, is easily the best in it's price range and will outshoot some much more expensive stuff. IMO this rifle/ammo combo is the ultimate budget-minded combination.
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Old March 31, 2013, 04:37 AM   #46
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That Fusion ammo is very good... but the .243 stuff in Fusion is now moly coated, which in my opinion you don't want. And add to that the fact that Fusion in .243 is pretty much non-existent right now.

I did break open a fusion .243 95 grain load. Volumetric and 10x magnification comparisons show the powder to be good old W760 (H414). FWIW...

By way of update... we had a guy at our long range practice shoot yesterday shooting a .243 Ruger American... using Berger 95's and IMR 4350 and he had a Redfield Revolution scope mounted.

He worked the steel all the way out to 1030 yards with that gun, and actually shot better than many of the guys with heavy barreled rifles. And interestingly, the Redfield scope had enough elevation (32 MOA in this case) to dial out to 1030 yards--without an elevated scope base...

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Old March 31, 2013, 07:41 AM   #47
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Yea I was at a gun show the other day, and while there was plenty of .243 fusion ammo, it was ALL moly coated. Can you not even buy the non-coated ammo anymore? I dont think you can even buy the bullets as a component to duplicate the factory load. The fusion bullets are very similar to a speer deepcurl but the deepcurl is a flat base and the fusion is a boat-tail. And the deepcurl is only offered as an 80 or 90 gr. I have some Win 760 powder, may start having to experiment with other 95 gr boat-tails.


Sure wish Federal would start selling the Fusion bullets as a component. They perform great on deer and have even done surprisingly well on the varmints I've shot with them.
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Old March 31, 2013, 04:44 PM   #48
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Newberry
I did break open a fusion .243 95 grain load. Volumetric and 10x magnification comparisons show the powder to be good old W760 (H414). FWIW...
That surprises me. With Federal and Alliant both owned by the same outfit (ATK), I'd have figured that Federal was using Alliant powder in their ammo.

Alliant has been selling some ball powder lately, the Power-Pro powders are a sort of squished ball powder. It turns in real good velocity in the .308 and ought to be a fine powder for the .243 as well.
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Old March 31, 2013, 08:15 PM   #49
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I love Moly. Why dont you like them Dan? The only drawback I could imagine would be performance loss in a short barrel. I get better velocity from my long barrels.
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Old March 31, 2013, 08:47 PM   #50
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The only thing I don't like about moly is the mess in the bore. Makes for more frequent, tougher cleanings. As for accuracy, I can't tell a difference but that's just me. Don't own a chrony so I can't say about velocity
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