Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Sporter 243 A.I. Revisited

Agreed. 3500 with 80s would be pushin' it hard!

It's easy enough to just run a couple of AICS 5-round mags, which don't weigh near as much. I only use 10-rounders when shooting from prone or off bags.

Is it possible to remove the reinforement plate on the 5 rounders and get to 2.95" OAL or so? AFAIK, the type 2 10 round mags are the only mags designed for the longer OAL? Pardon my ignorance, I have a 223 AI with AI mags, but haven't really been around the .473 bf mags.

Yessir, it is possible.

Nice! Thanks. The longer OAL would be about the only reason I would personally run AICS mags on a sporter weight hunting rifle. The 5 rounders are much more appealing for such an application. It would be really nice if they made a flush fitting 3 round mag.

Yeah, that and the reliable feeding compared to the factory BDL problems that sometimes pop up. Your numbers are pretty much bang on. With the plate removed, the max OAL in my AICS mags is 2.990-2.995", depending on which mag you measure. Knock off 0.020" for reliable feeding, and you end up with a max usable OAL of around 2.970".

Thanks Jordan. The feeding issue is why I went with the AICS mags on my heavy 223 AI. Those centerfeed mags feed 75 Amaxs smooth as can be.

So lets say I just bought a new Stiller Predator action and 6mm Brux blank. Which bottom metal (or none -- ADL) should I be looking at? I'm not opposed to use something that affords longer OAL. I can have the chamber throated to my liking, but I don't want to rob case space either.

After the first barrel is burnt, I may want to jump to 260 or 7-08. Kinda looking post 243AI too. You never know....but now is the time to consider options.

Oh man... custom actions and everything. In case you didn't notice... this thread is for beater rifles, not nice ones

What's the length on those Predator boxes? 2.85"ish? I'll be the dissenter and say that I really like ADL setups (105 at 2.8" puts the base of the bullet in a pretty nice spot), but in all fairness, I have never run a really nice DBM like the one Jordan is using.

I bought a 700 ADL that was going to be the project. Then I stumbled across the predator. The action doesn't come with a box, just the cut out. They do offer options, but I don't know if I want to use theirs.

I like the ADL set up too. That's why I'm asking. I've never used a nice DBM either and wonder if something could make it more better!

I'm with ya Tanner, I'm all about ADLs (BDLs don't bother me too badly) for a hunting gun. DBMs freak me out a little, I really would hate to try to chamber a round on a hunt and find my magazine missing. Those babies aren't cheap, either.

Side note: We had a guy lose his factory 700 DBM magazine on a hunt. He didn't have a spare. Had to backtrack and fortunately found it at the last glassing spot. Dumb.

My old .280 had the factory DBM and it always kinda' freaked me out. I considered glassing it in, but it never really gave me real trouble. Much happier running a blind-mag 7RM now, however.

I know it's been discussed ad nauseum, but what is everybody's final verdict on a Wyatt's box in a SA 700 BDL setup?

I'm digging the one I've got in an ADL.

If money and availability were no concern, then I'd be tempted to try out the APA bottom metal. A lot of guys really like the design of that unit, and it will take AICS or AW mags.

If you're running the 105AM, then an OAL of about 2.820" puts the base of the bullet's bearing surface right at the base of the .243AI's case neck, so a mag box that measures 2.840" would be plenty.

Without having the 140gr Berger VLD or Hybrid in my hands, it looks like, based on calculations, an OAL of 2.977" would put the base of the bearing surface of the 140 VLD at the base of the neck on the .260 Rem. That means that if you're using AICS mags, you'll want to remove the reinforcing plate in order to get enough space for that 2.977" OAL. You'd have to throat accordingly, of course.

ADL isn't a bad way to roll for a hunting rifle, but it's nice to have the M5-style BM and AICS mags for a rifle that is used for both hunting and a lot of steel/paper.

Tanner-can't recall for sure what it was but it seems to me that SU35 had some issues with the Wyatts on a short action.

Dober

Took a little tweaking of the magazine spring, but once I got that done, my Stiller/Wyatt combo feeds as well as any factory 700 I have ever had. Edited to add that, IIRC, the internal length is 2.995", pretty nice with VLDs...

John

80 TTSX and 105 A-Maxes shoot to the same POI... I'm lovin' it.



First load of 95 Bergers went into about .6", too...

Looks like its going good! I bet that 80gr TTSX is 3500fps. That dog will hunt...

I have no idea of tellin' how fast the 80's are going. I'm really anxious to run it over a chrony.

Looks like from my 500 yard drops, the 105s are going right at 3150.

My old 3-9 is kind of lacking, optically. Might need to upgrade that.

I get 3350ish from 44.5grs of '17 in a standard 243 (24"). I bet you're pushing better than 3500...