.243 Winchester

[Tikka06]

My 10 year old son is hunting with a Ruger American compact in 243. I converted it to the AICS mags just so I had one less type of mag around. It’s pretty accurate with factory and handloads, around 1MOA. He kills stuff with it and likes it. I have no experience with the savage. I would recommend it and would buy it again. No remorse from us at all.

 

[mtmuley]

Savage assembles those actions from boxes of parts, sending the group of parts that work well enough together out the door. They wear and then go clunk, developing feeding issues.

Thank you. mtmuley

 

[longbow51]

My Winchester Featherweight .243 is now on its third generation of hunters who got their first buck with it (and many more). One shot per deer. It's an awful cartridge.

 

[DFS]

243 is probably my favorite gun to shoot. And it’s a savage. It always hits where I aim.

 

[Redman]

Mostly deer and pronghorn

Well then that is a great round and one I have killed many whitetails and prong horn with. I was just thinking if you ever wanted a round that would be used for bigger game. A 7mm08 is a great round for bigger animals!

 

[std7mag]

Savage assembles those actions from boxes of parts, sending the group of parts that work well enough together out the door. They wear and then go clunk, developing feeding issues.

Wow!!

I'm going to have to tell my 1980's Savage 110s that they aren't supposed to feed or shoot as well as they do!!!

 

[std7mag]

I'm trying to decide on a new rifle for the kids. I'm currently thinking of getting a Ruger American Go Wild or the Savage 110 Trail Hunter. I have more experience with Savage vs. Ruger and know that Savage is typically accurate but can also be picky. Seems like the vast majority of reviews on the Ruger Americans rave about how accurate they are with just about anything they are fed. What do you all think?
On a side note do you know what the barrel length is on the Ruger American Go Wild not including the muzzle break?

Thanks in advance

Define, "can also be picky"...

I've had a certain bullet prove to be picky. Much as i really wanted it to shoot well.
Went from touching the lands to 0.120" off and couldn't get them to group in 3 different rifle manufacturers.

 

[howl]

A difference between 243 and 223 is grown men with little 223 experiences have more confidence in bigger numbers.

I added the s because it's funny.

 

[cahunter805]

243 is a great choice. There are plenty of great bullets to choose from in today’s market also.
I use the 88gr hammer hunters in mine and they work awesome on game.

 

[mtmuley]

243 is a great choice. There are plenty of great bullets to choose from in today’s market also.
I use the 88gr hammer hunters in mine and they work awesome on game.

I'm shooting 80 grain Hammer Hunters. I do have a box of 70 grain I haven't loaded yet. Probably will load the 75 grain HHT just for fun. mtmuley

 

[Deleted member 48080]

~80 grain copper bullets at .243 speed is a match made in heaven. My wife and I both have shot a bunch of deer with it with fantastic results.

@Two7D - I would try hard to find a combo with a short LOP that can be extended as the kids grow.

 

[Dan-06]

My cousin’s wife uses a Winchester model 70 .243 with 100 grain power points. She has a 352 elk and a 168 white tail along with the other dozens of animals. It’s a little small for me but her results don’t lie. Plus she’s a crack shot .

 

[noharleyyet]

Accurate .243 and 22-250 are too much fun to operate...

 

[6mm Remington]

Mostly for reloaders but if you find a used 6mm Remington it's sure a sweet cartridge. Faster than the 243 and seem to have a bit better case life than the 243 according to my father who loaded for both. I've only loaded for the 6mm Remington. It's been an easy cartridge to find accurate loads for also. I haven't taken a 352 B&C elk like that one lady but I have killed a spike bull with it and it did fine.

If you go with the 243 it's a fine cartridge also. Load good bullets in it and it will kill just fine. The 95 and 100 gr. Partition are tried and trued as is the 90 gr. Accubond, and the 90 gr. E-tip. My son shot his first elk one shot at 350 yards using his 6mm Remington and 90 gr. E-tips on a large cow elk. She staggered about 20 yards and went down.

 

[Elkmagnet]

I traveled a similar thought process as you when I started looking for a rifle for my sons. I originally wanted a savage 110 action in 243 or 6.5 creedmoor. I ultimately ended up with a ruger american predator in 6mm creedmoor. I went with the ruger because it was threaded and the 6mm with a silencer is an absolute dream for a kid to shoot. I had an awesome HT member send me a compact stock he had laying around and it now wears a leupold vx3 and a silencer. I have killed a bunch of coyotes with it also my wife has a few big game animals with it.
The ruger is 1/2 moa accurate. I don't like the performance we got with 95 lrx on a nice mule deer buck so next year it will be shooting hammers or accubonds.

 

[Elkmagnet]

Savage assembles those actions from boxes of parts, sending the group of parts that work well enough together out the door.

Word is that most custom makes do this with great success. I'd bet that most top quality guns, scopes and ammo are also built the same way.

 

[Dan-06]

Does anyone have any experience with that 6arc? I have the 6.5 Grendel in an ar platform. I might try to buy a new barrel. Any thoughts?

 

[VAspeedgoat]

Just telling you what I did but might not be everyone's cup of tea. I went with a 7-08 and a .308 as my kids first guns. Then I had them shoot reduced recoil loads to equal .243 recoil with a bigger bellet. I much prefer handloads with a ballistic tip or hornadys reduced ammo. I tried Remington but had terrible luck with a Corlock bullet and low velocities. I'm sure someone will take exception with the Corlock comment but again just my experience.

Then as the kids got older I just changed the loads. I also once tried full strength ammo and it shot with the reduced loads. I never did it but I have friends who would exchange the shells when they were hunting and practicing. Just a thought.

 

[howl]

Word is that most custom makes do this with great success. I'd bet that most top quality guns, scopes and ammo are also built the same way.

Are you suggesting most custom rifle makers assemble rifles from boxes of parts of varying dimensions with no fitting, trying multiples of the same part to see which ones happen to fit well enough together instead of fitting them together?

 

[Elkmagnet]

Are you suggesting most custom rifle makers assemble rifles from boxes of parts of varying dimensions with no fitting, trying multiples of the same part to see which ones happen to fit well enough together instead of fitting them together?

I was joking but if you insist.
If on a custom 700 the maker finds the extractor to be loose in the bolt do you not think the maker would first try another extractor from the box in front of him or do you think he will just throw the bolt in the scrap bin?
Everything is basically a box of parts put together. Due to tolerance stacking some combinations of parts are out of spec when put together and need either machined or the combination needs rejected. The individual parts can both be within spec and may mate perfectly with another part. It's the combination of the two tolerances that is the problem.
Savage choosing to try and assemble parts who's tolerances compliment each other does not mean that they don't reject or machine parts that are out of spec.

Can you explain to me why you feel machining two parts down to fit a tolerance spec is different than having 5 of each part and putting the two that fall within spec together?
The design along with the range of specifications and the adherence to them is what makes a safe, accurate and reliable machining.