Guns & Outdoors Forum

Sent the seller another message and included some pictures. Ebay FAQ suggests I need to wait at least three days before they will consider getting involved. I honestly dont have high hopes for a good conclusion. Past experience has me skeptical of the resolution process.

Response was "sorry just ship back".

No mention of refund or even compensation for my costs to ship back a defective item. I'm waiting for a response as to what he wants to do about refund and paying to ship it back. I do not feel that I should be on the hook for sending back something that was not what was advertised.

Working on a refund with the first barrel. I was looking forward to it since it was a 26" heavy contour barrel. Unfortunately not only was it rusty, but it turned out to be a 10T barrel. Current production heavy 26" barrel .243 is an 8T per Remington's website.

On a more positive note, I found another new take off barrel. It is a stainless 24" barrel with an 8T barrel. I checked it with the cleaning rod method and a bore scope and it is actually 8T. It's shorter and slimmer than I wanted, but it's not rusty and it's an 8T. Is 2" going to make that big of a difference in a .243 barrel??

I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with the current stock or go back to a Remington SPS like it was in before. Current setup in the pictures is new Remington 700 short action (ADL when new), Remington take off stainless barrel, Timney 510-V2 trigger, take off Remington BDL bottom metal, Leupold VX-Freedom 4-12x40, Leupold rings and bases, and Bell and Carlson stock. I'm a little conflicted on the barrel and receiver combination and may look at either blackening the barrel or putting it on a stainless R700 action. Current weight is 7lb 10oz as assembled.

Decided to go with the Bell and Carlson stock. Now I just have to wait till tomorrow to pull it back out of the stock once the two part has cured.

Still not sure how I feel on the two tone. I don't love it, but I don't hate it either.

The two tone looks great! I have a few that way. Quit your bitching!

That sucks on the new barrel. The .243 win is an outstanding cartridge. Looking forward to seeing the end results.

Zee wrote: ↑Sun Jan 28, 2024 2:11 pm The two tone looks great! I have a few that way. Quit your bitching!

I'm leaning toward leaving it. It is kind of growing on me. This rifle may or may not stay a .243 in the long run. It was intended to be a learning experience with changing a R700 barrel before the 6.5-06 prefit arrives. The chamber on this one is tighter than the chamber on my M70 .243 and the chamber on the no good barrel. I have Forster gauges and in their own admission the NO-GO gauge is not the correct dimension based on SAAMI specs, but what they recommend. Both my M70 and the 26" barrel will allow the bolt to close on the Forster NO-GO gauge where as the 24" stainless will not. Not that its really that big of a concern for me since I will probably be neck sizing for the most part. I do have a Forster field guage on the way that I'm going to check the M70 with, but I'm not really concerned about it. Not like it isnt already headed toward a barrel replacement anyways. I need to check my 6.5-06 gauges to see if they are Forster or Manson. I know my reamer is Manson.

12th Man wrote: ↑Sun Jan 28, 2024 2:59 pm That sucks on the new barrel. The .243 win is an outstanding cartridge. Looking forward to seeing the end results.

Depending on if the guy wants me to ship it back or not it may allow for more learning experiences. If he doesnt want it back I'm going to test out some methods for stripping finish and possibly look at attempting black oxide and seeing how it deals with being wet.

I like .243 even though I have only taken game with a .243 once. People around my area say that .243 isnt even good for deer, but my first Scottish hill stag (it was big, but was bigger than whitetail in my area) was taken with a .243 estate rifle. My second hill stag was taken with a .25-06. I cant use a .243 where I nap in the woods during deer season, so thats not really anything i can test on my own at home although Im sure it would be just fine.

Im hoping the barrel is a decent one. I have had a few bummer R700 factory barrels in the past. The 6.5 CM barrel I removed was one of them. I couldnt get it to shoot 129gr bullets acceptably and 140gr bullets were barely acceptable for groups but really down on velocity compared to the book data. I just need to take my time with it and not get it too hot too quick. I wonder how stainless will take the heat compared to chromoly steel??

Don’t tell Z the .243 isn’t adequate for deer.

I know a lot of people that will say it is. These same people also think that if you use a "magnum" it doesnt matter where you hit the deer, it will just drop dead. If I could use a .243 where I nap in the woods I probably would, or a more practical option might be a 6.5 grendel in a CZ 527. Its compact shoots really well and will push a 129gr InterLock to about 2500 fps with the right load. I know what a 129gr InterLock at 2500 fps from a 6.5x55 does to whitetail already.

CPJ 2.0 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 28, 2024 4:34 pm Don’t tell Z the .243 isn’t adequate for deer.

Dammit Jim!! Chiro just dropped two pigs in their tracks Friday night with my .243 Win!! One was over 200 pounds!! A third only ran a few yards spewing blood like a fire hose!!

Hell, the deer he shot with my .308 Win ran further than any of his .243 shot pigs!!

Im a firm believer in shot placement over relying on more bullet to do the job. There is also a point where I feel it isnt enough bullet to get the job done. I personally would prefer to not go smaller than .243 diameter for antelope and bigger game, but I know a lot of people use smaller for deer. I suspect most people that claim .243 wont kill deer either have no clue what they are talking about, dont know what they are doing when taking game, or have used the wrong bullets for the job. Im guessing a lot of "not dead" deer shot with a .243 later died due to poor shot placement. I work with a guy that will use 110gr .300 BO loads for deer, but insists a 100gr .243 load is too weak because its only a .243 and not ".300". Im going to take the .243 with a 100gr at 3000 fps over a .300 BO with a 110gr at 2300-2400fps.

With an 8T barrel I should be able to use the 90gr CX bullets. Hornady does not have any data published for them so it looks like I will have to use GMX load data for now. I should also run it through Quick Load and see if RL-16, RL-22, or RL-26 will do better than what I can find in the Hornady book.

The guy requested the crap barrel back. Just got done sending that off. The lady at the UPS store informed me that it needed to be described as "machine parts" and we had omit the "gun shop" portion from the business address it was going to. Apparently anything that has gun in the business name or part description is returned to the UPS store that took it instead of being sent to its destination. The lady also said that she had a FFL and had to deal with this crap from UPS all the time with parts.

I was a bit more stable on the pigs than the whitetail , three hunters in a 2 person deer stand with 2 spit cups, 3 water bottles, and a full bladder on the shooter, being uncomfortable keeps my edge

Hey, I threw you in the fire at the last minute on your doe.
Here’s the gun. There’s the deer. Shoot her!
You performed well with a less than ideal platform.

Chiro1989 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 30, 2024 1:10 pm I was a bit more stable on the pigs than the whitetail , three hunters in a 2 person deer stand with 2 spit cups, 3 water bottles, and a full bladder on the shooter, being uncomfortable keeps my edge

There should have only been one spit cup. But, your guide is too much of a vagina to quit.

I guess maybe he hasn’t lost his 10 pounds just yet.

CPJ 2.0 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 30, 2024 2:49 pm

Chiro1989 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 30, 2024 1:10 pm I was a bit more stable on the pigs than the whitetail , three hunters in a 2 person deer stand with 2 spit cups, 3 water bottles, and a full bladder on the shooter, being uncomfortable keeps my edge

There should have only been one spit cup. But, your guide is too much of a vagina to quit.

I guess maybe he hasn’t lost his 10 pounds just yet.

I’ve lost 15. Looking for 20.
Or more.

Zee wrote: ↑Tue Jan 30, 2024 3:30 pm

CPJ 2.0 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 30, 2024 2:49 pm

Chiro1989 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 30, 2024 1:10 pm I was a bit more stable on the pigs than the whitetail , three hunters in a 2 person deer stand with 2 spit cups, 3 water bottles, and a full bladder on the shooter, being uncomfortable keeps my edge

There should have only been one spit cup. But, your guide is too much of a vagina to quit.

I guess maybe he hasn’t lost his 10 pounds just yet.

I’ve lost 15. Looking for 20.
Or more.

It’s too close to time when I’ll be there. So don’t quit till after. I don’t want you being (more of) an asshole.

.243 is marginal for hogs and deer. Now, one of those new fangled 6mm cartridges - OH YEA!

6 Creedmoor is far superior to .243 and 6 ARC is just as effective.....

That being said, I wouldn't mind adding either of those to my collection. Maybe a 6mm-06 for good measure as well.

Barrel channel barrel support pads removed, recoil lug bed, and all reassembled. Now I need to find time to load up some test rounds and then get to a range. I'm thinking my earliest chance will be next weekend. This weekend is booked and not enough time after work to get to the local outdoor range during the week. I'm thinking initial test loads will be with a 100gr InterLock before I start working on a load for the 90gr CX. I have plenty of the 100gr to start with. Another possibility would be the 85gr InterBond, but I can't exactly replace those anymore and I don't want to completely give up on the M70 .243 yet.

What are the chances I can get a 100gr to 3100 fps without going too far off the reservation? The M70 was about maxed at 3000 fps with a 22" barrel. I doubt another 2" will get another 100 fps.

I managed a range trip today and did some shooting at 50 yards. I was more concerned about velocity than I was group sizes as my 50 yard and 100 yard groups are usually about the same size. My performance was lacking today.

Factory 95gr SST Superformance ammunition averaged about 3015fps. I'm not upset by that as my 22" M70 .243 was about 100fps slower if I recall correctly.

I took the remaining 7 rounds of my 85gr InterBond load to try out as well. The 7 rounds averaged 3084.1 fps. This is a slight disappointment since in my 22" M70 that same load runs at 3160 fps. I'm not sure if the tighter twist is part of the reason or if it's just a bunch of factors stacking up. The M70 also shoots much tighter groups with this load.

The main loads I wanted to try were using RL-22 with the 100gr InterLock bullet. I was not terribly impressed with performance as velocity spreads got a bit out of hand at the top end. Brass and primers looked okay, but 50 fps swings concern me. These were only 3 shot averages since I just wanted a ball park velocity figure.

43.5gr 2889.6 fps
44.0gr 2973.8 fps
44.4gr 3001.3 fps
44.9 gr 3017.8 fps
45.3gr 3064.8 fps
45.7gr 3078.8 fps

The 44.4 gr load seemed to do the best today. It also had a SD of 6.8 fps, but a sample size of three shots isn't going to provide the most reliable numbers. The top two loads had SDs in the upper 20s.

I did try a couple different loads today. I went with a 100hr InterLock load with H4831SC and 90gr CX with H4350.

The 100gr loads were a mild disappointment with lackluster groups but some decent velocities. I don't know if I want to.keep burning components chasing the 100gr option.

The 90gr CX shows potential. It looks like it wants to perform and velocity exceeded the book data. I may need to play with seating depth some with this bullet. I may also try to push this load a little and see if I can get it to 3400fps. I'm pleased with this bullet and powder combination so far. I have found with some other cartridges in the past that adjusting seating depth/jump made big differences in group size. The limit I have while still maintaining at least 0.020" off the lands is 2.870", and book length is 2.710".

Pen is book velocity and pencil is recorded velocity.

mitdr774 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 30, 2024 5:48 pm 6 Creedmoor is far superior to .243 and 6 ARC is just as effective.....

That being said, I wouldn't mind adding either of those to my collection. Maybe a 6mm-06 for good measure as well.

I was just kidding about the .243 vs 6mm.

It's funny that a lot of folks just gravitate towards whatever the latest marketing buzz and think the older, more established cartridges are inferior.

Now, if it was .243 Creedmoor we'd have a real cartridge!

I was being a bit sarcastic. I don't have anything against the 6 creed other than another new cartridge eats into brass production for the old cartridge.

Loaded to the same pressure, I suspect the .243 will run with the 6 CM no problem. If my memory is correct the book max load for the 6 CM with the 90gr CX is 3300 fps, so technically I have beat 6 CM velocity with my old antiquated .243.

You would have to call it something like a .235 Creedmoor to really get people's attention.

.

I am finding conflicting information about monolithic bullets and how much jump they should have. Barnes states "anywhere between .050” up to .250” or more" in their guidelines, Hornady doesnt really state anything that I can find and didnt respond to my question but I have found claims that Hornady says to start at 0.005" jump, Hammer claims their bullets are not sensitive to seating depth, and thats about all I could find. I have read that jump is beneficial with mono bullets to give them a start before hitting the rifling, but how much is enough? Maybe next round of test loads will be at the Hornady listed OAL of 2.710. This will put me at 0.180" of jump. Previous test loads were 0.090" jump.

Apparently I doubled one of the target pictures before.