Both my youth model .243s have short barrels. 16.5” on a Ruger Compact and 18” on a Remington. My kids have been stacking big game with them for years exclusively with the 85 TSX. Hits hard, kills fast, doesn’t recoil much.
The ruger gets them going @ 2880 and the Remington at just over 3000.
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Most game has been inside 200 but they have taken some at 275-300 and performance was good.
I am sure the 80 would perform similarly if not better as the tipped version probably opens a little easier.
Nice pics of some good looking youngsters enjoying the great MT outdoors! Hopefully you'll post some pics of them with birds from Freezeout after this coming weekend.
