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Does anyone else have a caliber or rifle they really like (or think they do) but just can't seem to make it work?

Mine seems to be the 243 Winchester. My head says it should be the perfect caliber, I have had a number of rifles chambered for it and never seem to have the success I have had with anything else. Handloading I never seem satisfied and in the field it seems jynxed.

I have had a lot of fun and success with everything else, i.e. 204 to 358 but can't seem to catch a break with the 243.

Anyone else frustated with a caliber or rifle.

Gotta laff... .243 is the chambering that I have had the MOST luck with in the past, both accuracy and hunting results.

The bugger for me is the good ole .30-06. The perfect "all around" chambering ... right ? Have had several (two in the gun case right now as I type). Good rifles, acceptable accuracy. Just never had one that I really "warmed up" to...

All of mine "work".

I've had some that didn't, though. One was an Interarms Whitworth Mauser in .300 Winchester Magnum that had feeding problems. Another was a c.1985 Remington Model 700 Mountain Rifle in .280 Remington that was an utterly craptastic pos. Another was a Marlin 1894 in .218 Bee whose memory has me laughing out loud when I read on the Intermess about how crappy "Remlins" are. I guess I should throw in the Mini-14 for good measure. That was perhaps the most heartbreaking of the lot, shooting patterns rather than groups. Actually, the most heartbreaking was my first Ruger No.1 -a "B" version in .270. It had a barrel with a very rough internal finish, was prone to copper fouling because of it, and a son-of-a-***** to clean. Ruger wasn't much help over that turd for the longest time, either. It took two years of back and forth to get them to straighten it out.

These were all rifle problems, really, and not cartridge problems.

Everything in the gun room now, whether mine or some other member of the household's, works great.

Yep. .243 Winchester. I've never gotten anything while hunting with one. It's the cartridge I'd really love to switch to but its so unlucky for me. Two different hunting seasons I swore off all other chamberings and devoted entirely to the .243 and I didn't fill a single tag. I carried the cartridge a couple times last year but not as much as I would've liked to but I just feel unlucky with it. On the other hand the .30-30 and .30-06 have been my luckiest cartridges.

.270 has been my 'problem child'. Watched my Dad shoot one out and wanted one. I've now had 3 different rifles and none of them were ever something I warmed up to. I'll stick with all the other firearms. Love the 25-06's I have. Even like the 243's and the 30-06. All shoot well, better than I can some days.

One of, if not my luckiest shots was with a .243 on a coyote running on the other side of a tree line. But hadn't had any before or since.

I have a Tikka Hunter in .243 now and it shoots good and will keep working at changing the luck factor, if there really is any such thing. Maybe I should say it just hasn't been as magical as the 25-06 for me.

If the success factor was the same for me as the 22-250 or 25-06 I would not even give it a thought.

Never read much of Jack O'Conner but I would guess the love for the 270 came as much from his success using it as how the 270 actually performs.

The 243 and the 308....I "love" to "hate" them both.

Nothing makes me drop a rifle faster than seeing those stamps on the barrel....I don't care who made them.

I read a lot of JOC growing up and into shooting and hunting.But the first time I used a 270 on a game animal was on an antelope that looked like a dot across a Montana prairie. After the shot,the others ran off in a cloud of dust and when the dust cleared,the dot was in the same place....on the ground. Done the same thing so many times since it's just gotten boring.

I love the 264 Win Mag;have brass and dies hanging around but may never own another. Hard to justify if you have a 7mm magnum of some sort.

I love the 7 Rem mag...but have to admit it's performance in some rifles has been a bit perplexing.After maybe 20 or more of them, I figured out that if you treat them like a wildcat,feed them the right powders, and toss a lot of the manual data,give them some throat instead of jamming bullets way down in the case,they work like they are supposed to.

I always figured the case could use more neck for seating bullets "out",and a bit more volume(not a bunch). So I built a 7mm Mashburn Super with Dober's help. That worked mo' betta!

Oddly enough, for as much as I have hunted, the one 30-06 I've owned for years seems to be the one with the least amount of blood on it, for the time I have owned it. Started life as a 700 BDL SS (synthetic stock). Couldn't make it shoot groups. Stuck it in a HSP and it got a little better. Took a few head of game with it. But I still lacked confidence. Every time I carried one of my 270s afield, stuff died. Started to hand-load for it and finally got it shooting little groups. It now lives in a Mickey Edge with trigger work and weighs just over 7lbs. I've taken game with it, but I seem to reach for something else most of the time. Might see if I can change that this Fall.

None that I hate, many I have no use for.

Hate- I had a Marlin 94 in .44 Mag, back in the early 80's, that was the worst brand-name POS I ever owned. Wouldn't hold 6MOA with any factory load then available and it taught me what the 'Marlin jam' was all about. Totally put me off their pistol caliber lever actions and I've never owned another one.

Love- my remodeled Winchester 670 in 30-06



http://www.thesixgunjournal.net/the-winchester-670-short-rifle-project/

280Rem. I don't hate it, I've just never had any luck with it. It's a RMEF Ruger M77 I won in a raffle many years ago. I've owned it longer than any other CF rifle in my safe and it's the only rifle I own that I've never loaded for because it is so accurate with Winchester Supreme factory ammo. I've just never had the opportunity to take a shot at a game animal with it. The only animal I have ever seen with this rifle in my hand was a running coyote and I almost blew it in half with those 140s.

I can't stand the Winchester 100. I can't stand the 88 because its looks remind me of a 100.

Remington Jam-masters get no love either.

243wssm in a Browning A-Bolt, it shoots great with a lot of the groups going into 3/4 in with any reasonable load. It feeds pretty rough to not at all if the c.o.l is not just right and I missed a very nice buck with it last fall.

The 270 has been my bug-a-boo. I have owned three from various makers and could not make them shoot well. I tried different bullets, powder, shocks and optics. I finally got rid of them and use other stuff.

The 270 is a pretty tractable cartridge. There are well known loads that perform nicely in most rifles tried. Given that you tried several rifles, powders, bullets, and optics and still couldn't get a 270 to shoot, I'm getting the idea you had a bum die set that was inducing bad runout. Could this have been the case?

/06 for me. Have one built by Charley Robertson that shoots very well and probably the best handeling rifle I have, but seem to always grab the 243 or 308 anymore.

It will become a 6.5x55 or 270 this year.

Men buy a Savage No more problems .My 270 put 15 rounds in 1 1/2 group with Winchester Remington an Federals 130 gr.

A 6.5x55 sounds interesting.

I had a 270 that really didn't jive.
it would put three shots touching,then open up to 12 inches with the next two,as well as having other "issues".
For instance,you could barely open the bolt after firing it ,factory loads or mild handloads.
It pissed me off so much,I sold it for $125,about half what I paid for it.
I was happy as hell for days.

Never have had one that did not work, but have had a few that did not work well. MOdel 70 243 that shoots 3" at best, but took many deer. Interarms Mark X with a headspace issue. 9.3X62 CZ that I love.