Found it in a pawnshop over the weekend.



Once I picked up and played with it, I had to have it. Very good shape, both wood and steel, just a couple of scratches on the bottom of the floor plate. It's been shot some, but well cared for. There's some jacket fouling visible on the lands just inside the bore, but the bore is otherwise clean, with no sign of nicks at the crown.

It's missing the rear sight, but ... it's had a trigger job that is fantastic. Light and crisp. It would be hard to ask for better. Don't know if it's the original Ruger trigger or an aftermarket, but I'd easily pay someone $100 to have this trigger job done for me.

$630 plus tax. I don't know what the national market is for something this nice, but you just don't see Ruger RSIs in my part of Indiana other than rarely. You just don't.

This is my first .243 Winchester. I believe it's a 10" twist. Any advice as to what a short .243, twisted 10, might like in bullets and powder?

95 NBT, 80 TTSX, 80 GMX via 4350

That right there sounds promising.

BTW, nice looking little rifle.

A gal I used to work with has a Ruger compact .243 (16 1/2" barrel). Her husband tried a few powders in the 4350 burn rate and the accuracy wasn't good. I suggested trying IMR4064 and it worked like a charm. I load 100gr Remington Corelokts with H4350.

mine liked 95 gr NBT bullets.
the rear sight was removed because the scope has to be held back behind it,at least mine did,the rings are too low to allow use of a 40mm scope.

i have its twin in 308. nice little guns. i feel i should be wearing lederhosen when i hunt with it.

I have an older tang safety model 243. I use ww760 and 100 gr core lokt in it. Ive only shot one deer with it but it was DRT at about 200 yds. The Leupold 2-7 variables are scaled just right for the 77rsi.

I've got one in .250 savage. mine was a shooter right out of the box, and they sure are handy.

85-85 grains for deer , 55-70 grain bullets for coyotes. what are you shooting at?? a 2.5-8 leup with a dot on top.

Very nice! Let us know how it shoots.

Very nice rifle. The first really good rifle I ever bought was a tang safety RSI .308. I really wish I would have had sense enough to keep it.

Don't forget the 85gr Partition.

I like my RSI much

I'm not a real fan of the .243 chambering (mine is a .308) but I'd agree that you'd be hard pressed to find a better handling rifle than the Ruger Mannlicher carbine. You're going to love it.

I swapped into the same years ago for my middle son's first deer rifle. We use the 95 gr Partition. It came nicely bedded with a very good trigger as well. I did nothing to it but load the Partition over IMR-4350 and it grouped very well. Great little rifle. I have one in 7x57 myself.

Ed, Scott: I was thinking about one of the Partitions for deer and hog. Maybe one of the lighter Ballistic Tips or V-Maxes for feral-type critters.

I don't think I'll be shooting it this weekend, but I will be ordering components and scrubbing out the bore with copper solvent and a little J-B Compound.

I've got a 2.5x Leupold in Ruger mounts that I'll take off another rifle. I've half a mind to put a NECG peep on the rear and a big old white bead up front, but that's for next year, maybe. I will definitely report back on shooting results.

Good score!! It's almost a rarity to see any type of used rifle in Indiana that isn't a companies flagship economy model.

I was going to suggest the Sierra 85 gr HPBT as it would probably hold up decently at the slightly lower velocities from that 18" barrel, but the 85 Partition would be even more better.

I read Mule Deer's and Ingwe's posts about that gun shop in Helena where they find fantastic classic rifles for play money, and then I think about the pickings here in Central Indiana.

Steelhead's right. This is hell.

If they change the rules allowing us to use rifles for deer, I think that will change. There's never really been a market for centerfire rifles here in Indiana. That said, I still agree with Steelhead. I'm trying my bestest to convince my better half that life would be better in either ID, WY, or MT. So far I'm not too convincing it seems...

rem141r - " i feel i should be wearing lederhosen when i hunt with it. "...how true that is. Have several 'full stocks' in CZ550, CZ452 and Ruger 10/22 persuasions. You catch yourself sayin' 'Ja' to a few things and of naming your dog 'Jaeger'.
They tend to draw one's attention at the range. Homesteader.

I lived in Ft Wayne for 5 months and couldn't believe how slim and over priced the market was. But on the other hand, I had just returned from Alaska and before that, I was in the Dakotas. Guess I had it too good before.

Went online to order some Winchester .243 brass. None to be found at Midway, Natchez or Midsouth. No Remington, either.

Almost no Winchester or Remington brass in any rifle caliber. WTF?

Slightly off topic, but does anybody know if there's enough meat in the barrel of a .308 to rebore to .358?

I would load Scott's mentioned slug as a do-all and be done with it. Buy the Pro Shop blems and don't fuss with your rifle.

My mentioned 7x57 now sits in a "drilled" Ultralight stock (and pad) that goes about the same weight as an Edge (26 oz) and wears an NECG peep with their Sourdough front. A tidy little package.

I very much like that NECG setup, although I go back and forth between the sourdough and the white bead.

edited to add: Did you have to file the front sight down any?

Tjm pm sent your way.

Yes I did as I have on other rifles. They come tall for good reason.