A .243 with 1500-2000 rnds

WhelanLad

WhelanLad

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Location
Australia AU
Lookin at buyin myself a .243 for Wild dog hunting strictly, an the occaisonal deer when it pops up.
i wanna go budget of $500- aud. o im in the plastic fantastics and older BSA , parker hales etc, all good.

a dude offered me a Howa .243 for $200 bare, (which sounds real cheap) its 20 years old and rekons done 1500 to 2000 on his guess...

How much life would a .243 have left in it??

i wanna shoot 70-80gr as flat or as far as i can, realistically 300-400m ..mostly up close id assume, bush stalking.


for $200 its almost a dandy donour action to put a new .243 on anyway ay, a blued barrel is $580 aud + fitting...... a new howa is about $800
 
1500 rounds in a 243 is just nicely broken in, unless they have been extremely hot loads. I know of several 243s that are easily hunting-capable rifles after 5000 rounds.

Bevan King had a Parker Hale that had well over 10,000 when he left Australia to come here. His brother-in -law had used it for another 3-4000 rounds when I met him years later. All they used were 100 gr bullets for kangaroo and pigs.

$200 is a gift. :)
Ted
 
Why not? said:
1500 rounds in a 243 is just nicely broken in, unless they have been extremely hot loads. I know of several 243s that are easily hunting-capable rifles after 5000 rounds.

Bevan King had a Parker Hale that had well over 10,000 when he left Australia to come here. His brother-in -law had used it for another 3-4000 rounds when I met him years later. All they used were 100 gr bullets for kangaroo and pigs.

$200 is a gift. :)
Ted
Click to expand...

Copy That Ted, il seriously look into this howa.
 
Picked up some 58 grain 243. Box says 4.5 inches of drop at 300. Pretty impressed with that. Took a yote at 200 the other moring. I was super happy with my new coyote gun. Then I missed one the other night at less than 100 wtf. Time for a new gun !
 
WhelanLad said:
Lookin at buyin myself a .243 for Wild dog hunting strictly, an the occaisonal deer when it pops up.
i wanna go budget of $500- aud. o im in the plastic fantastics and older BSA , parker hales etc, all good.

a dude offered me a Howa .243 for $200 bare, (which sounds real cheap) its 20 years old and rekons done 1500 to 2000 on his guess...

How much life would a .243 have left in it??

i wanna shoot 70-80gr as flat or as far as i can, realistically 300-400m ..mostly up close id assume, bush stalking.


for $200 its almost a dandy donour action to put a new .243 on anyway ay, a blued barrel is $580 aud + fitting...... a new howa is about $800
Click to expand...


You should probably just buy it. It’s a really good price, even if it doesn’t work out for some reason, it’s not a huge loss. And if it does work out, sweet deal!!!!!
 
Good news then Gents, i will follow up on it, i think along those lines too in regards to only being $200........ put some Bases on it, use a QD ring setup an bingo....

let yas know, fyi, hogue blued model.
 
85 grain Sierra BTHP would be my suggestion, unless you need a longer bullet to chase the lands. For the price it seems to me to be a no loss situation as you could recover your money if the barrel proves to be toast.
 
I would say around 2k rounds is when accuracy starts to open up slightly with that calibre. Problem is guys shooting those 55gr burners. It very well could be fine for many more rounds and for $200 it certainly is a deal, but it depends on you and what you want. I would save a bit more cash and buy a gun that is new, where you know it hasnt been dicked with. Or rebarrel right away. Just my opinion...

North
 
I shoot a .243 weatherby vanguard - (a howa by another name) with over 3500 down the tube . With hand loads and me doing my bit , i can still do 1" at 100m .
 
i shot a savage model 12 for my long range gun for years. a well documented 1300 rounds through it and it was toast. bore scope showed no rifling at all for .75 inch. 105s at 2800 its whole life......243s eat throats. honestly most people overestimate there round count. mine were precisely documented.
 
prairie lover said:
i shot a savage model 12 for my long range gun for years. a well documented 1300 rounds through it and it was toast. bore scope showed no rifling at all for .75 inch. 105s at 2800 its whole life......243s eat throats. honestly most people overestimate there round count. mine were precisely documented.
Click to expand...

How toasted were the groups? ;) Seriously, what size were they with that throat?

Not hard to keep track by simply counting boxes of bullets loaded. Really, using up ten boxes of 243 bullets, 1000 rounds, at the range and in the field over the course of a couple of years, is pretty easy shooting. Seven or eight years and suddenly there's been several thousand down the tube.

Now a hundred rounds of 375 H&H, 358Norma Mag, or 9.3X62 takes a while. I did completely wear out one of my first 9.3X62s, however. Put a new barrel on it, and still going strong.

Ted
 
Hey i spoke to the Lad, he mentioned te Bolt release spring is toast, an basically the Bolt can come out with ease......

even so, online here in AU, thats a $15 fix...... when i pull it apart to paint it :D :p

im sold.

it could just very well one day become that elusive .338 federals ive always tossed around in my head
 
What ranges are you wanting to shoot up to?

It seems like a bullet with a good BC in the 95 grain range with a hot load behind it carries energy out quite well when I look at loads and stuff.
 
Why not? said:
How toasted were the groups? ;) Seriously, what size were they with that throat?

Not hard to keep track by simply counting boxes of bullets loaded. Really, using up ten boxes of 243 bullets, 1000 rounds, at the range and in the field over the course of a couple of years, is pretty easy shooting. Seven or eight years and suddenly there's been several thousand down the tube.

Now a hundred rounds of 375 H&H, 358Norma Mag, or 9.3X62 takes a while. I did completely wear out one of my first 9.3X62s, however. Put a new barrel on it, and still going strong.

Ted
Click to expand...

it would hold half to .75 moa groups to 800. past that not so good, i believe due to the 1 in 9.25 twist. 1 in 8 would be better. I got pics somewhere of 5 shout groups one evening at 800 yards that were 4 inches.

at around 800 rounds i checked how far the throat had eroded just by seating my bullet out further. new i started out 20 thou off the lands and had .130 left in the mag. after 800 rounds i could seat to mag length and not touch and it shot well there so i just left it. never did try seating longer to find exactly where the lands were.

at 1200 rounds to the best of my knowledge it still shot well. at 1300 groups were 4 plus feet at 800. 2 feet at 600 but still moa or better at 400. i clean my barrels every 50 rounds.
 
cody c said:
What ranges are you wanting to shoot up to?

It seems like a bullet with a good BC in the 95 grain range with a hot load behind it carries energy out quite well when I look at loads and stuff.
Click to expand...

itll be mostly point an shoot more often than not, though it may wear a bipod an lay down to shoot a dog sitting on a tree line 400m away, i think the 243 is a pearler for this.

We have Covid , border restrictions. of course this rifle is over the Border. itl be potentially 3-6 weeks til i get it.

keen to camo paint it up an ghetto it out, stealthy like. :)


is it difficult to change this bolt release spring? ive not seen a howa in yonks
 
Easiest way to keep track i found was cases of primers . For a lot of years i only used 1 brand in my .243 when the case was empty rip the end off and into the drawer it goes and out comes another case .
 
Why not? said:
1500 rounds in a 243 is just nicely broken in, unless they have been extremely hot loads. I know of several 243s that are easily hunting-capable rifles after 5000 rounds.

Bevan King had a Parker Hale that had well over 10,000 when he left Australia to come here. His brother-in -law had used it for another 3-4000 rounds when I met him years later. All they used were 100 gr bullets for kangaroo and pigs.

$200 is a gift. :)
Ted
Click to expand...

That's a lot of roo meat if even half those rounds connected
 
I would just borescope it first. And then buy it, anyways...barrels are replaceable for a reason :). I took a chance on this $70 borescope and it works great! https://www.amazon.ca/Teslong-Bores...ld=1&keywords=borescope&qid=1597205742&sr=8-9

I woulda never thought that some of my Savage barrels have such terrible bore reamer marks if not for this borescope. Or that my 22 Creedmoor burned the throat so quickly haha.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom