Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Loooonng Range 'Chuck' - cartridge choices? Help please!

6BR........

especially with the bullets you suggested. low recoil, accuracy and extended barrel life...

or the 243 in either guise with the above mentioned fast twist and 105 moly's.. that has got to be one of the sexiest cartridges on the planet loaded with those 105's

woofer

Stubbleduck, I'm in about the same boat you are. I want to learn to shoot longrange and I have a .243. My plan is to shoot the .243 till the barrel pukes, then rebarrel to something for longer range. From all my reading the .243 is good to 600 easily. Why burn out an expensive barrel learning to shoot, provided that your present rifle has the accuracy to shoot further than you can?

Dave.

LR Chuck

It seems you want to stick with a 243 bore size and that's a very good choice. I have a standard 243 with a 30" Hart barrel and a 8" twist to handle the bigger bullets such as the 115gr Tubbs.
I also have an improved 6mm and a 6mm/284 that I shoot 1000 yard matches with. Both have 30" barrels and the 6mm Imp (heavy gun) has given me ten shot 6" groups on an occasion or two at Williamsport. I know for a fact the 243 with the Tubbs bullets will penitrate a 5" diameter bowling pin at 1000 yards with no problems.
There's no 22 cal bullet that will give you the BC of the heavy 6mms which as you know will buck the wind better at extended range.
Even my 22/284 (30" barrel 8 twist) with the 80 gr bullets will not do what the 6mm (243) will do using the heavy bullets.
With a rig using the 243 or 6mm Imp case, a longer barrel and an 8 twist, your capable of reaching out to 1000 yards and beyond if you want to.
You may say you want a rifle for LR shooting at 400, 500, or 600 yards but in reality once you reach that range you "will" want to go further.
IMHO---stick with the 6mm you'll be glad you did. The Remington action will work fine with the 243, 6mm imp or the 6/284.

Later and good luck with your decision.
Darryl

Certainly nothing wrong with a fast twist 243. I'd be curious as to the whomp factor those high BC target bullets have on critters at extended range. Penetration doesn't impress me and a woodchuck with a mediocre hole through it that makes it back to the hole don't count in my book. I'd also guess the .224 A-max has a higher BC than those 80's you were shooting in your 22/284.
Of course you can shoot the 105 gr. a-max in the a 243 about 300 fps. slower than the 22-250 will push a 75 A-max. Both calibers will benefit from a longer barrel velocity wise. Nah, on balance give me a 22-250,make mine an AI, pushing 75's at 3300 without having to lean on it, particularly in a longer barrel, and I'll take the moderate recoil/maximum red mist and dial in the dope..
Blue print wise with weight not an issue Mcmillan A5, Krieger twisted 1 in 8, 24" Remington varmint contour, 22-250AI. FWIW.

Last 3 years I've been using a 257 Roberts built on a M77 Mk 1 LA, standard twist Lilja 24" stainless barrel, McMillan 'R' stock, and the B&C BG reticle in a 2.5-8x Vari-X III. I load the 110 grain AccuBond. I haven't poked anything much past 425 yards mostly due to opportunity and terrain.

Thank you Gentlemen, ALL OF YOU! ......

Everyone has had some serious and well-experienced comments to make.

Thanks! I appreciate your posts.



The rifle/action I have is a 20" bbl'd action from a Youth Model I picked up for the donor action, so presently it isn't much good for intense grouping and ballistics.

I'm pretty green at LR 'chuck or vermin sniping, but I've gleaned most of what I think I know from a book called "The Accurate Varmint Rifle," (Boyd Mace) that I think is well written. Its about shooting in the Western states, and goes into a fair amount of detail regarding cartridges - conventional and wildcats, actions, barrels, stocks (designs), mounts, and quite a bit about optics and improving optics, but also reloading - especially when trying to thread a needle at extended ranges.

Mace's book is not a rag about all the favorite shooting buds and their exploits. It really does spend a lot of time explaining how to get started shooting vermin at ranges beyond the average shooters' abilities. And its from Mace's critiques of the cartridges I listed that I came up with the bullet weights first mentioned.

Of course several of you make good points for examining and choosing heavier VLD-type bullets for the distances I want to aspire to - that you already know what you're doing.

I appreciate also that several of you like the .224 Cheetah's or .22-250's abilities (gotta be some Swift lovers in there too I'd hope ). And I was glad to see mention of the PPC-rounds, the Weatherby .240 and even the hotrods built on the .284 case.

I'll probably stay with the .243 caliber, but what books or magazines could I study to further design a working LR-chuck rig?

Plus while it's indeed possible I might become interested in 1000yd shooting, for now I'll concentrate on rockchucks and jackrabbits and prairie dogs.

Thanks all. And Merry Christmas to everyone.

StubbleDuck;

I'd say a conversation with dogzapper and BoydHeaton will likely gain you far more than any book.

The recipe is a top notch barrel installed by a smith that knows what he is doing, bedded into a good stock with a good trigger. When thinking cartridge/bullet think more impact velocity than muzzle velocity. They are far from the same, light started fast vs. high BC started slower, and swap around quicker than you think.
Here is one of my long range chuck rigs. It is a 223 WSSM with a 1 in 8 , fluted #5 Krieger, 26" long in a mcmillan Sako Varmint hunter stock, RifleBasix trigger. It also wears a Luepold LR 4.5-14x40 LR now. The Mcmillan Remington Varmint stock is very similar. It is a great rifle to shoot prone or off the bench but not the easiest offhand.


As my style is to walk out of sight to various points where I can shoot very far, I often have offhand opportunities and wanted something lighter while not giving up long range capabilities.
This 22-250AI is my stab at that and I love this rifle. Mcmillan Classic Edge stock, SA 700, Krieger #2 twisted 1 in 8, 22" long. Tuned older style Remington trigger. 3.5-10x40. Haven't gone over 800 yards with either yet but within 500-800 yards I have great confidence in these rigs and many kills.

Dang, gotta start spelling Mcmillen wrong too so as not to get those annoying highlights.

Stubble-for some time now I've been a student of long range chuckin as well. Not so much the last couple of years but there was a while there where I really got after them.

Best year was 457 of them if I recall right.

I found this to be true for me and my way of going about business.

Inside of 400 there isn't much challenge to it, more of an execution unless I was sitting and or offhand.

I also found out quickly which round would anchor a chuck out past 350 or so consistently and which wouldn't. I like things to be decisive and dramatic and not just putting the old chucks to sleep.

I did not work with one 22 centerfire that I would use again today for the taking of chucks in the 400 and out range. I also did not work with any of the quick twist big 22's with the 80's and such either.

To my way of thinking rounds for serious work on chucks and yotes begin with the 6's and go on up. Rounds I've used a lot are the 243, 240 Page, 6mm, 6/06, 25/06, 6.5/06, 270, 7 RM, 7 Mashburn Super, 300 Win and Wby and the 340 Wby.

I really liked the 6's thru the big 7's as they were a bit more user friendly than the bigger cases if one was gonna shoot 50-100 rounds in a day. (when we got bored and couldn't find a chuck we'd beat up on rocks).

That said, I'd encourage you to look at the 243 AI, 6/284, 7/08AI and the 284. I've not had super luck in getting a 284 based round to feed in a manner which I feel is acceptable for a hunt rifle but for chucks I could do with them just fine.

With the 6's I'd try to run the 95 NBT if you used a 10 twist. However I'd most likely do a 243 AI with a quick twist and shoot the 105 AM or the Sierra or Bergers. With the 7's I'd try either the 140 NBT and or the 130 SMK. Probably so very good Berger out there to give a go as well.

If you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask, if I can give you thoughts I'll sure try.

This is a very very fun and enlightening world that you're stepping into.

Dober

99.9% of our GroundHog hunting is done with a Factory Savage M12BVSS in 243 Win shooting 105 A-Max's.Here is a little vid of shots between 250 and 990 yards...Don't feel there is a need for anything bigger than that inside a grand
Click here to watch trent-video-final-0002-54

Dober

I like the way you think 7mm Mashburn the big .300s, 340!!! Them chucks look like they could be right down dangerous don�t need them charging you�

Right now doing another big 33 my next build after that is going to be a 6mm-06 AI

Larry

JoeCo0l-I didn't mention the 416 Taylor and Rigby nor did I mention the 375's we used. A mans gotta protect himself properly right!

I always kind of thought that chucks truly wanted to be gymnists....<g>

Dober

Stubble-one more thought would be a 257 Roberts Ai with a quick twist in it.

Dober

Just use Mickey or McSwirley, as appropriate....

As for a 'smith that knows his schit re: long range shooting and amazing accuracy, here's one: http://spencerriflebarrels.com/

Check his "Virginia Hog Rifle" (as in groundhogs). That, in .243AI, would be wicked on anything.

I'd also go for either a bigger 22 with the VLD's as FVA has shown, a big 6 of some sort--probably 6AI, and the smallest bullet i'd use would be the 87 V-Max up to and including the new 117 DTAC.

I have a 243AI with a 20 inch Douglas bbl (1:12 twist) fat as a truck axle that shoots 75gr A-Max's to a laser-ranged 700yds inside 1/2 MOA all day long. McMillan A-2 stock. Love it! The only downside I've found is that this is the only bullet that will shoot little-bitty groups.

The 6's, 6.5's, and 7's would be my top caliber choices.

6x.284 with a 1-14" twist.

Friend o' mine, gun shop owner type, had a 6x.284 reamer built so the neck would just clear 6.5x.284 Lapua brass necked down w/o having to neck turn. Size, load, and go. Beautiful stuff. Anyway, to start with the idea was quick twists and VLDs for longer range shooting but it turned out that combination ran into pressure problems without gaining more than about 50 fps over the .243 AI using the same bullets. It wasn't 'til they got the idea to use that reamer for chambering slow twist barrels for lighter bullets that things got interesting. In his gun he clocked the 60 grain Sierras at right on 4400 fps and was still getting 5-7 reloads per case.

I wanted a bit higher BC than the 60 grain Sierra, but still pretty decent velocity. I mostly shot the 70 grain ballistic tip at about 3850. I experimented with the 58, 65, and 75 grain VMAX as well. Liked the 65, not quite as accurate as the Nosler, but for modest range, wow. Actually, wow all the way around.

So, anyway, I think 6x.284 is a great cartridge, dies and brass are easy to get, etc. The only challenge is that the load data that's out there is mostly for a 1-10 twist and really doesn't unleash the potential of the cartridge when matched to a 1-14 twist.

Tom