243 win To 240 weatherby.Can it be done?

[killswithkimber]

I recently had a buddy bring me a 243 win he says he has been thinking about rechambering it to a faster cartrige but in the same caliber . Does anyone have any experiance doing so ? I looked at some numbers quick and a 240 weatherby has the same size bolt face so that might make it easyer but will it fit is a short action ? Would you be better off going to a 6mm rem instead ? Does anyone else have any other idea's??

 

[mbogo3]

You need a 30-06 size LA and a 24"-26 "barrel.Longer is better.Brass and ammo can be hard to find.I'd go with a .243 wildcat on the 06 case in a LA or maybe a .284-6mm would work on the SA? Harold

 

[guntech]

Depending on what make of "short" action it is... the 240 is an 06 length cartridge.

The .243 case is fatter than the 6mm Rem and I believe it is fatter than the 240 as well.

I am pretty sure it could be done to the 243 AI or the 6mm 284.
It isn't worth the expense in my opinion.

Install new new longer barrel...

 

[mbogo3]

If you want more HP maybe a AI .243 or .243 based on the 25 Souper case?If $ doesn't matter....................Harold

 

[gunrunner8]

I do not get it. 243 Win is overbore cartridge to start with. This round will give as much speed, as anyone sane person would wish for. Whenever I read, somebody is fighting for every last 100 fps, to the detriment of gun value, great extra expense, and short barrel longevity, my jaw drops.

 

[billdick]

It won't work without a rebarrel because the 243 case is larger in diameter than the 240. The two cases have the same base but the 240 is belted and that makes the rest of the case body to small. And the others are right a bout the length of the action, it would be just a little on the short side.

 

[dan belisle]

I think a 6mm Rem AI would work, probably have to rethread the shank and shorten the barrel a tad to trip the chamber. - dan

 

[David Henry]

240 Wby

As mentioned by Billdick the 240 wby is a much narrower case body and the 243 win chambered barrel would have to come back by about 1 1/2 inches to clean up the old chamber. Most sporter weight barrels would run out of material for the shank geometry or shoulder support hence this is not allways a practical conversion. David.

 

[Dogleg]

I think the 24-06 Ackley would work as far as the chamber goes, but the short action is still an issue. You could go single shot, and release the bolt to eject loaded rounds.

 

[Suputin]

Go with the .243 Improved, use Lapua brass and moly the bullets and that combination will easily meet .240 Weatherby velocities.

 

[Why not?]

Ask River Rat about his 6mm-284 on Rem 700 short action. 100 gr bullets at 3300+ fps is the answer you are looking for!

Ted

 

[mattimoose]

Yeah, and good norma 6.5-.284 brass will adapt itself well. It will easily give you .240 balistics in an efficient short-action package; and believe-it or not will prolly be cheaper to shoot than the Weatherby!

 

[Dogleg]

Ask River Rat about his 6mm-284 on Rem 700 short action. 100 gr bullets at 3300+ fps is the answer you are looking for!

Ted

Is feeding an issue? I've got a sweet little .243 that shoots well while still managing to bore me.

 

[Camp Cook]

I did this almost 25 years ago when I was young and trusted others to be able to recommend and do a gunsmithing job correctly and when I didn't know any better.

I asked a gunsmith if there was a round he could recommend to speed up the velocity of my 243 Win to a gunsmith in Abbotsford BC (I believe he is in Dawson Creek now) he recommended that I ream the chamber of my 243 to 240 Weatherby.

I didn't check the dimensions of the case just handed him my rifle and $100 later he handed it back...

I was heading out on a hunting trip and hadn't had time to reload any rounds so I had purchased some factory ammo when I got out in the bush I decided to give the new high speed cartridge a try.

When I extracted the fired case the result was the first appr 3/4 of the case was a 243 body and a bit of a shoulder then the remaining length was a 240 Weatherby body/shoulder/neck...

To say I was pissed is an understatement so on th eway back home after the trip I stopped in to have a chat with the gunsmith who said "not my problem"...

Me being young and uniformed at the time ended up leaving and putting the rifle away into a closet where it remained for years until Joe Dlask told me of a buddy of his that had a 6mm-284 reamer and could set the barrel back.

Today this pencil neck would have fixed it by rebarreling the rifle with an equal or better quality barrel at no charge to me and it would hav been his highest priority job.

So now I have a 21" barreled 6mm-284 that I originally loaded with the first 90gr X bullets that Barnes made @ 3500fps and now I shoot 70gr Ballistic tips @ 3600fps and 100gr Partitions @ 3250fps...

Don't believe what others are saying the 6mm-284 is an awesome round and I totally recommend it, with 284 Win brass all I do is resize them in a 6mm-284 resizer die and trim a tiny bit off for length and uniformity.

I like the round so much that I am now looking for a s/s 28" barreled T/C Encore in 243 that I can get rechambered to 6mm-284 with a 1-10" twist I should be able to load 90gr Swift Scirroco's to appr 3700fps or better and it will be used as my long range predator rifle that could double nicely as a deer round.

Other than brass was a bit of a problem when only 284 Win brass was available I have never had an issue with this round and would totally recommend it.

Oh yeah absolutely no feeding issue either...