Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 20" 243.

Anyone ever cut a 243 to 20"? Or is 22" as far as one should go on the short side?

Cut for balance on the rifle. I have, and like, a couple of .243's at 22".


R.

I have a Savage youth model with a 20" barrel. Balances the shorter stock nicely. As loud as a cannon.

My chrony says 90 grain Federal "deer thugs" (WalMart special) average 2975 fps; my accuracy load of 95 grain NBT and IMR4350 averages 2965; 55 grain NBT with the Nosler suggested starting load of Varget clocked 3450 fps.

I have a Howa with a 20" barrel, and as previously mentioned, LOUD.

But it kills just dandy.

I have a Model 70 Lightweight carbine in .243. It has almost perfect balance and is probably my favorite gun.

Edited to add that I haven't noticed a noise difference with the short barrel.

Did I mention how nice it balances?

When the Model 700 came out it had a 20" in all calibers. Due to the complaints about lost velocity, two(?) years later they went to 22" barrels for all standard chamberings.

I have two VERY early '06 carbines and although really handy, they are LOUD!

Cool. I was hoping the velocity would hang in there. Karamoja seems to bear that out. It's not that I have to cut mine down or anything. I'm thinking about trimming my Mountain Guide down some more in weight. Have Karl work the bolt over. Maybe take 2" off the barrel. Talley lightweights. 6X leupold. (It wears a 4X-12X VXII right now). A Remington Ti would be the ultimate,but this one is here and it's paid for,lol. Maybe someday I'll have the opportunity AND the money at the same time,and pick up a Ti.

I want to say you will lose about 35 to 40 fps per inch, not a huge loss at all.

With the 20" tube I'm running, I still get 2900+ with 100 grain bullets and reasonable pressure. Use IMR7828 or MRP.

I have a load with H4350 that goes just over 2800 fps with 100 grain Hornadys, but the deer don't die no slower.

I really like my little .243, and use it a lot out of treestands. The McSwirley I have on it was done in what I intended as a Harley-Davidson theme. My daughter said it looked Hallowweenish and called it "The Great Pumpkin"

The name stuck.

I'm currently using 7828 with the 100gr bullets and really like the results. I too have a good 4350 recipe. Both "H" and IMR. It is a hard little round to hate. That's a snazzy McSwirly you have there. I love those orange and black babies. How does she shoot?

It shoots sub-moa with several loads, the best being the H4350/Hornady load at an average of .606". I'm sure as I shoot it more, that may change, probably open up some. I think I had a string of "lucky groups".

The Sierra/7828 load is going .75ish, which in the field is statistically insignificant especially in light of the fact that most of my shots are at less than 100 yards.

I managed to get a bunch of Sierra Pro-hunters, but I'm not as warm&fuzzy about it as the Hornady. It may be that I have experience with the Hornady's terminal performance and trust it, along with this preconceived notion of the Sierra's reputed softness. Next step in coming to a conclusion is to burn fur, which I'm gonna try next Saturday.

The Hornady 100 grain flatbase is simply unavailable right now, but the Pro-hunters are.

I have used the 85 grain TSX in the field, and no flies on it, but I'm just trying different loads.

you don't have to take my word for it, of course, but I've had zero issues with the .257 100 g prohunters killing deer at 2800-2900 fps in my 250 sav. i wouldnt hesitate to use the .243 100 g flavor either

Nuttin' wrong with that Vic. Sounds like a joy to work with. My M700 mountain runs right along the same lines. I've not tried the TSX in it yet,but plab to. I do have the big end of a box of 95gr XLC flat base on the shelf. I guess I just don't see any reason to get attached to a discontinued bullet. So I haven't gotten too far with them.

That's what I'd do. I'd rather have a bit of weight forward actually, they hang better and are easier to stay lined up.
My Sako L579 is 23" and perfect for me.

Why would you want to shorten it anyway?

I hope they do perform good. You know how it is when you hear things. But, until I've actually tried them, I won't know, and I want to be objective about it.

The TSX was everything I'd heard about it. I intentionally went after bones. "Hhhhaaaaa", says the bullet, "I will still fly all the way through without excessive damage".

I kept one of the 700 SPS 20" youth models propped up around here for several years. It was chambered in 243, and accounted for 5 or 6 whitetails with various bullets, including 85 grain TSX's, 90 grain Speer HotCor's, 95 grain Ballistic tips and even the lowly 100 grain Corelokt.

Oh, Coyotes didn't like that rifle either. It was a killer.

I have a .243 Savage Lightweight Hunter with a 20" barrel. Barnes Vortex 80gr TTSX factory loads kick up 3287fps and Remington green box 100gr Corelokts go 2870fps.

Currently have two .243's. One cut down to 21" to balance a rifle, and one with a Rem M7 20" factory barrel. Wear hearing protection when practicing. Never notice any noise issue when shooting at game. Handloads with Varget run 2900+ FPS with 95gr NPT's and 3500 FPS with 55gr NBT's.

Both the muzzle blast and muzzle flash are accentuated with shorter barrels. I have 243s with barrels from 18.5", a Ruger 77 RSI, to 26", a Remington 700 parts gun, and shoot the 22" Marlin XS7 and 24" Remington 700 CDL-SF parts gun more than any other.

If you're interested in a 20" 243 barrel, I have a matte finished 20" Remington 700 ADL barrel that you can have for $65. This barrel is factory d&t for open sights, but the sights were removed before the rifle came to me.

Jeff

My main two 243s have 20" barrels--the only drawback is the noise level. They shoot great and don't lose that much over a 22".

On the other hand, I would not cut a mountain rifle down to 20", as you will lose the balance. They are perfect the way they are. If you need to lose more weight on the MR, go aluminum bolt shroud and Rifle Basix aluminum trigger. Then put a flipflop recoil pad on.