I just came into a Parker Hale .243 rifle, and am considering removing the barrel and going to a different caliber. I'm looking for a fast varmint bullet, preferrably 22 cal. Right now I'm leaning towards the classic .220 swift. Any thoughts on this? Of course .243 is good for varmints too, but I want something that makes small holes in the pelts.
Rebarrel options (from a .243)
- Thread starter kell2784
- Start date
- Location
- Hillbilly shack in the boonies
Depends on how much shooting your gonna do, a barrel will be eaten up pretty quick if you shoot aloth at dogs etc. another option is the 22-250 and ai , If only for coyote, 220 is an excellent choice. 
kell2784 said:
Something that makes small holes in the pelt... don't use a varmint bullet then!...
The .220 Swift does not make small holes in the pelts... it makes bloody big holes exiting... varmint bullets by design almost explode when they hit.
The 22-250 cartridge would require no magazine work, just a new barrel, excellent performance and good barrel life compared to a Swift..... I am not sure if the Swift would feed without some work...
SuperCub said:Why rebarrel it? ........... 243 is a great varmint round, and fast.
You'll be able to do quite a bit of .243 shooting for the cost of the new tube.
.
yea why rebarrel it, you already have it in a great varmint caliber. I have a parker-hale .243 and its an excellent shooter. shot many a yote with it, hornady v-max moly 58gr handloads are devistating, but since you want small holes you'll find a 6mm or 5.65mm hole are both pretty tiny
SuperCub said:Why rebarrel it? ........... 243 is a great varmint round, and fast.
You'll be able to do quite a bit of .243 shooting for the cost of the new tube.
.
The old tube has quite a few shots down it. I'm thinking starting out with a brand new barrel and possibly new chamber. A lot of people like the 6mm, and I've read the extensive thread on the comparisons on this forum. The 6mm seems to have longer legs though.
ahh i see, well I have always been interested in 22-243 wildcat round if you're interested in something oddball. Might be a barrel burner though.
too bad your old barrel is on its last legs, 243 is a nice round. in fact ive even shot some yotes with my whitetail load which uses a 90gr soft point and it was very gentle on the pelt
too bad your old barrel is on its last legs, 243 is a nice round. in fact ive even shot some yotes with my whitetail load which uses a 90gr soft point and it was very gentle on the pelt
I know my way around a 243 Parker Hale pretty well. One thing I'd watch is since it has quite the claw extractor you need to be sure you can feed from the mag as is or you have to do some work to the feed rails or get rid of the mag and do a single shot follower.
I'd try hard to get the 243 to shoot. Clean the copper out of the bore and play with the reloads. Use some fmj if you just want a hole or soft point if you want a bit bigger. Stay away from hollow point if you want to save anything.
If you have your heart set on a re barrel do you want fast or do you want as much accuracy as you can? Are needing factory loads a concern?
To stick with the 308 bolt face in a real accurate and fast round I'd go with the 6br or the 22br if you want 22cal. No factory ammo though. I think you'd have to do the single shot follower. Dennis would be the one to talk to on this though.
Mike
I'd try hard to get the 243 to shoot. Clean the copper out of the bore and play with the reloads. Use some fmj if you just want a hole or soft point if you want a bit bigger. Stay away from hollow point if you want to save anything.
If you have your heart set on a re barrel do you want fast or do you want as much accuracy as you can? Are needing factory loads a concern?
To stick with the 308 bolt face in a real accurate and fast round I'd go with the 6br or the 22br if you want 22cal. No factory ammo though. I think you'd have to do the single shot follower. Dennis would be the one to talk to on this though.
Mike
- Location
- Hillbilly shack in the boonies
Use a match bullet, HP.
Whoa! You WANT a varmint bullet. A light one. It'll make a tiny entrance hole and completely disintegrate inside, leaving no exit hole. The 243 is probably packing too much power to hope for complete disintegration inside the critter, but a 22-250 with a 55gr vmax is about the most pelt-friendly combination you can have for 'yotes. The 17rem with VMAX bullets is also popular for this reason.
Some folks used to advocate FMJ's for fur friendliness before the ultra-explosive plastic tipped varmint bullets came out, but an FMJ will leave 2 caliber-sized holes in the pelt instead of just one. Plus, a critter that you can anchor will yield infinitely more fur than one that gets away.
Unless you're shooting really small fur-bearing critters, I think you're better off with ultra-fast, lightweight explosive varmint bullets. For best terminal performance, pair a lightweight explosive bullet with a fast twist (which would be the most fur-friendly, but probably not the most accurate. But do you really need 1/4 MOA performance?)
As far as rebarrel options, the 22-250 (or the AI version) is probably your best bet. Uses the same boltface, and shouldn't require any magazine alterations to feed well. The Swift might be a little bit too long, and the .222 family of cartridges will require bolt-face alterations. The BR family might also be a good choice - a 22BR is similar in performance to the 22-250. These may require some feed system tweaks at they're quite a bit shorter. A 22 Cheetah (Mk I or II) or 22-243 would be the ultimate in 22 performance, potentially 5,000+ fps with a 40 grain bullet, but with limited barrel life no doubt.
Some folks used to advocate FMJ's for fur friendliness before the ultra-explosive plastic tipped varmint bullets came out, but an FMJ will leave 2 caliber-sized holes in the pelt instead of just one. Plus, a critter that you can anchor will yield infinitely more fur than one that gets away.
Unless you're shooting really small fur-bearing critters, I think you're better off with ultra-fast, lightweight explosive varmint bullets. For best terminal performance, pair a lightweight explosive bullet with a fast twist (which would be the most fur-friendly, but probably not the most accurate. But do you really need 1/4 MOA performance?)
As far as rebarrel options, the 22-250 (or the AI version) is probably your best bet. Uses the same boltface, and shouldn't require any magazine alterations to feed well. The Swift might be a little bit too long, and the .222 family of cartridges will require bolt-face alterations. The BR family might also be a good choice - a 22BR is similar in performance to the 22-250. These may require some feed system tweaks at they're quite a bit shorter. A 22 Cheetah (Mk I or II) or 22-243 would be the ultimate in 22 performance, potentially 5,000+ fps with a 40 grain bullet, but with limited barrel life no doubt.
I would probably stay
within the .243 class if rebarreling. The 6BR would be a great cartridge with second to none accuracy and can throw small bullets just about as fast as the 22 cal cartridges with way better barrel life. 22BR is also good but sacrifice a bit in life.
A choice has to be made as to exactly what you want to use it for and go from there. Do you want accuracy? Velocity? for those hits that vaporize ground hogs, or a bit of both?
Gunpro has a good with a .243 or 6mm with VLD bullets and taking them at longer ranges to save pelts. Using varmint bullets I would be careful to not go to light in bullet weight. I just read a article on another forum where a fellow varmint hunter does not like using V-max's as he finds he has gotten a few to many splash hits versus killing hits on coyote sized animals.
Bottom line decide what you want to do, pick a caliber, barrel it according to the twist rate required to stabilize the bullet you want to shoot most frequently and enjoy.
If money is no object then play around with different ideas.
Make sure it also has sufficient punch to make a human kill at the distances you plan on shooting to the furthest.
within the .243 class if rebarreling. The 6BR would be a great cartridge with second to none accuracy and can throw small bullets just about as fast as the 22 cal cartridges with way better barrel life. 22BR is also good but sacrifice a bit in life.
A choice has to be made as to exactly what you want to use it for and go from there. Do you want accuracy? Velocity? for those hits that vaporize ground hogs, or a bit of both?
Gunpro has a good with a .243 or 6mm with VLD bullets and taking them at longer ranges to save pelts. Using varmint bullets I would be careful to not go to light in bullet weight. I just read a article on another forum where a fellow varmint hunter does not like using V-max's as he finds he has gotten a few to many splash hits versus killing hits on coyote sized animals.
Bottom line decide what you want to do, pick a caliber, barrel it according to the twist rate required to stabilize the bullet you want to shoot most frequently and enjoy.
If money is no object then play around with different ideas.
Make sure it also has sufficient punch to make a human kill at the distances you plan on shooting to the furthest.
cycbb486 said:
I once shot a yote with a vmax 243 load when he was facing towards me, by pure chance the bullet hit his lower jaw. I believe a non-varmint type bullet would have continuted to penetrate however the vmax literally exploded blowing the jaw off and the animal was still alive
a quick follow up shot ended that, but still it wasn't the most humane kill.This 22-243 talk has really peaked my interest. Some of the load/velocity numbers are staggering, but I'm sure my barrel would have a short life. Some of the loads given have exceptional accuracy too. It would be fun to try, but barrels aren't too cheap. Here they are:
http://www.accuratereloading.com/22-243.html
http://www.accuratereloading.com/22-243.html
