.243 change

JMT

Active Member
ok folks. I want to change to a 6mm with more barrel life. Ill stick with 6mm because i will use it for small deer but mainly its my fox rifle so it must through 58 gr accurate ,fast and hopefully 80gr good. oh yes I use the .308 for deer so thats not an issue.Any ideas?
 
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n of themot used all the barrel life yet, but understand ill only get about 2000 shots, cn the other 6mm but want to know if any ones got any experience
 
n of themot used all the barrel life yet, but understand ill only get about 2000 shots, cn the other 6mm but want to know if any ones got any experience

Dunno who told you such rubbish. The life of a barrel is varied by it's usage and care and/or abuse.

Oh yes the .243 Winchester is a cartridge and not a calibre. In calibre it's .24 or 6mm.

My old stalking mentor had a Mannlicher Schoenauer re-barreled from 6.5x54MS to .243 Winchester in the late 1960's or early 1970's and he used it almost daily and it will still place Federal premium ammunition into a nice tight group. God only knows how many rounds have passed down the bore since the re-barrel and conversion. Conversion as the magazine spool had to be altered for the .243 cartridge.
 
n of themot used all the barrel life yet, but understand ill only get about 2000 shots, cn the other 6mm but want to know if any ones got any experience

sure, if you send 2000 60gr pills out at 3800-4000fps

shoot normal loads with matched powder burn rates and any decent quality barrel, good cleaning regime etc etc.....and it should last 2, 3x your quote
 
my ruger no1v in 6mm rem is a 1985 vintage and will shoot MOA all day (pity I cant).:oops:
Sinbad
 
Varmint loads to tend to result in fairly short barrel life in the 243 - i think 2000 is about the point where you start to notice accuracy deteriorating when you use one as a varminter. The guys who use them for punching paper often talk about barrels going around the 1500 round mark, but they are running very hot loads and really obsess with the minutiae of precision. But in a long range varmint gun like a 243, a small loss in accuracy rapidly becomes significant. Deer hunting accuracy will be maintained for thousands more rounds. You can stretch barrel life by using more mild loads and using heavier bullets moving more slowly - it is light bullets being pushed fast that kills 243 barrels young.

If i wanted a 6mm for small deer and varmints, i'd be thinking 6XC, now that Norma has standardised it. The 6mmBR and improved versions thereof would also have to be considered, but can be difficult to get feeding reliably.
 
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Well actually it's the throat wear and short bullets are more effected by this than longer ones it seems. There was a BR shooter who used the benches on the British Sporting Rifle Clubs Running Deer Range at Bisley and once the groups on his BR rifle started opening up he pulled the barrel chopped off about 1" re-threaded and re-chambered and got his precision back. He would do this twice then re-chamber it for 6mm Remington or .243 Winchester and fit it to a stalking rifle for a friend or client.

Of course the barrel having a straight profile with no taper helped on his BR set up.
 
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