.243 Win advice

C

cmdc

New member
I have a Remington 7600 243 that has a 22" barrel, and a 1:9.125 twist, that I plan to use for hunting pigs, etc., in FL. I want to get a bolt gun in the same caliber, and have been looking at Tikka, among others. The Tikka has a 1:10 twist. I know the the faster twist will stabilize heavier bullets, which I want to use on pigs. How well does the 1:10 do with heavier bullets? Also, what would be an optimal barrel length for shooting varmints and deer/antelope at longer ranges?

Thanks
 
Generally, that 1:9.25 twist will stabilize bullets up to 100 grains, and the 105 grain A-Max is designed to stabilize in a 1:9 barrel. I drive 100 grain Hornadys to 3000 fps with a max load of RL22, and they seem to do well on the smallish whitetail deer we have in these parts.
 
Differences in barrel length do not appreciably effect a firearms effective distance. A 24" barrel might be 100-150fps faster than an 18" barrel and two different guns with identical barrel lengths firing identical ammo could be that much different.

A 1:9.125 will stabilize a typical 105gr. The 1:10 might be marginal for the 105gr but would stabilize 95 easily.
 
These are 100 grainers out if a 1:10 twist...
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I generally run 95g SSTs out of it though and have good accuracy with those as well.
 
Find a faster twist rifle than that Tikka, I believe it's a fine rifle however the twist is not optimum.
9.25 twist will shine with 100 grain bullets and bullet makers have some fine bullets for pigs and deer on the market.... I use Sierra Gamekings, because they work efficiently, and are less money than say Barnes, Berger, Hornady, Nosler....

You are from near me, do you use the MDC range at Lake City?
 
The 243 came out in a 1/10 twist designed to use 100gr bullets.

I have read that when people turned their nose up at remingtons 244 with its 1/12 twist they came back with the 1/9.25 in the 6mm and that twist was a snub for all the people (gunwriters) who caused so much trouble over the 1/12 twist that shot 90gr bullets just fine.

I suspect that if a 90gr bullet won't kill the beast you are shooting at then a 100-105gr bullet won't do it either. And I bet the 1/12 twist would shoot the old 100-105gr round nose bullets from hornady and speer just fine since they are a shorter length than the same weight spitzers.
 
A 1:9.125 will stabilize a typical 105gr. The 1:10 might be marginal for the 105gr but would stabilize 95 easily.
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As long as you're using a hunting bullet in a 105 grain the 1:10 twist will stabilize it. A VLD or long BT match bullet you'll have a hard time with a 1:10 twist.
 
taylorce1 said:
As long as you're using a hunting bullet in a 105 grain the 1:10 twist will stabilize it. A VLD or long BT match bullet you'll have a hard time with a 1:10 twist.
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Entirely possible. Barnes lists their 80/85gr data with a 1:10 twist. I talked it over with them before I chose my .243AI barrel. Those bullets are about the same length as a typical 105g and Barnes is adamant that 1:10 will stabilize them even though the stability calculators all disagree.

The calculators tend to be pessimistic with smaller diameter bullets so it's hard to know without trying.
 
Taylorce1 i was coming back here to amend my prior post to say the same thing. I was thinking of hunting bullets and had completely forgot about the long, low drag bullets. The OP mentioned hunting pigs and hunting bullets was what I was thinking.

I just checked speer bullets and they don't even list the 105gr spitzers. They don't even show a 100gr flat base, just the boat tail bullet. Thats a shame. I have shot several boxes of those over the years.
 
I was thinking the 105 Speer as well when I posted. I hadn't realized they had discontinued the bullet. I killed my first deer with Federal factory loads and the 105 Speer bullet.
 
The 1:10 has been a Winchester standard twist for many years. I never heard anyone complain about accuracy with 100 grain spitzer bullets.

My barrel maker recommended 1:9 twist, but I probably would have been very happy with 1:10.
 
Thanks, guys. So the consensus is that the 1:10 will do OK with hunting bullets but not so well with high BC bullets? I plan to hunt primarily with both rifles, but I'm sure I'll shoot some paper, too.

To Hooligan 1, I have not shot at the Lake City range. I spend most of my time in FL.

I know that Browning also uses the 1:10 twist in their .243s, and Savage uses a 1:9.25. I don't know how much difference there would be between the 1:9.25 and the 1:9.125 that Remington uses. I'm guessing not much.
 
You don't need VLD bullets unless you're shooting way, way out there.

Flat base bullets tend to be more accurate out to about 300 yards anyway.
 
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