So been thinking about a solution to my weekly 600 yd situation. What my thought are is I basically have 3 calibers to sucessfully shoot 600 yds. I have my 300WM which is sort of overkill (and very expensive) unless there is a stiff dense wind. I also have to be conservitive in the warm days as the 300WM quickly gets the barrel very hot which beats the crap out of the throat. Next I have my .308 which is undoubtely ideal but it starts getting expensive shooting those 30 cal match bullets and the felt recoil. I shoot about 25-30 rounds during my 30 min relay. Then I have my 223 AR's (I have my 20" match service rifle, and my 24" Varmint. Both shoot excellent provided there is no wind. I can shoot heavy 80 gr bullets from the 20" but that rifle is set up for sling only. My 24" is set up for bipod but I can only shoot 69 gr bullets accurately as the barrel is a 1-9" twist. So this has left me with the question of what would be a good midrange caliber , mild recoil and economical ? After a few months of research I decided to pass on the 6.5CM and I went with the .243 Win. I actually found by total accident a R700 "demo" .243 Varmint for $520 from my LGS. Looks to be never fired. The barrel is the heavy contour with a 1-9-1/8" twist so looks like I can shoot up to the 107's gr sucessfully. I have a ton of R700 SA parts so I put together my fav setup using a B&C Tactical A5 stock and my Sightron SIII 8-32x scope. Already scored 300 pcs of o/f brass for $60 and got a set of dies. I am already stocked with H1000 , 4350 , 4064 , and RL22 which seem to be the preferred powders. Seems the .243 is a surperb and little known caliber that is well respected as a "do all" . I will be launching 105 gr bullets at about 2900 fps. Looking foward to working up some loads !