I have an older 700 Remington 243 in need of a new barrel. Just rolling options around now about what direction to go with it and not get stupid expensive on a build. It will be used mostly for varmint hunting,but not gonna rule out deer and prairie maggots. Just looking for some input if anyone has or has had a 243 ai

Had and have a few 243ai, good little round, that being said I shoot mine with 105gr and above bullets

I've had a couple of 243 AIs,Still have one and like it.

That being said, I'd go 6mm Creedmoor if starting from scratch

I like what I have read on the 6mm cm,I can't lie. My problem is that i am an old school s.o.b. and I'm not sure I'm ready to jump on the creedmoor bandwagon yet. Lol. Hell i just gave in and bought a 204 last fall. I like a lot of the old P.O. Ackley rounds and still kick myself for having a stupid moment and selling my m77 tanger 257 ai.

I have 3 of them, like them all.

The 243 AI is a great round but the 6mm creedmoor gives very similar performance with no fire forming and if you choose to load high BC target bullets, the creed is much more likely to allow them to be seated near the lands at magazine length. Just my .02

I played with the 6/250 AI for a while, about the same as the Creed, perhaps a tad more capacity with the 6/250 AI . With the creed, you will stand on the loads with max pressure where the 243 AI will be loping along.

As another smart poster mentioned, there is OAL to take into consideration, so plan ahead. Consider Wyatt's mag boxes, detachable mags for your OAL's.

Of course, your freebore constraints will hamper or help, choose your poison, and I highly recommend the 6x47 Lapua due to magazine constraints and accuracy, IF you are not wanting to get max velocity out of your 105's.

many many better less over bore cartridges out there....

here's one.......brass & dies are a cinch too

https://www.accurateshooter.com/cartridge-guides/6xc/

The proven 6BR is awesome........if you weren't concerned it not being a repeater

https://www.accurateshooter.com/cartridge-guides/6mmbr-loading-for-newbies/

Dang fellers. Lots of good info here. Thanks. I have read more on the 6mm creedmoor the last few days and I am thinking that I may go that direction. Not dead set on anything yet though. Still looking at options.

My situation and thoughts as well.

I've had two barrels chambered to .243 AI, one factory and one after market, and it's a fine round. Both barrels were very accurate, the Pac-Nor custom was and still is capable of putting three shots into the .2's consistently but that's probably as much a testimony to the barrel maker as anything. My sort'a scientific test using the same barrel in .243 and .243 AI showed that rechambering reduced throat erosion by about 10% compared to the parent .243.

However, the 6mm Creedmoor doesn't require fireforming, has excellent brass available, is throated properly and gets the same speeds.






Now having said that, when the current barrel is toast I may just continue to go with the .243 AI because I paid for and still have the reamer and go gauge, but that's just my case. If I didn't, I'd go 6mm CM all the way.

Actually 6 Dasher and 6 BR repeaters are quite popular in PRS style events. Setting one up should not be a problem at all. The info is out there. Good luck.

shot a 6BR for dozens of years.......Savage s/shot........was a 12 twist

have since retired it after 13K ++ rds......1000's upon 1000's of p/dogs died with this rifle

awesome cartridge......long barrel life......modest 30 gr charge

I am going to put a 243 Ackley in the classifieds soon. Shoots great.

Since RIO7 posted this in another thread, I'll post it here, too.

If I'm not mistaken, this was done with a 243 AI. 1000 yds

A regular R700 action may struggle with 6BR and its variants. The plunger ejector isn’t ideal, and I had no end of problems. Approximately 1/2 of all shots ended up with the case still in the ejection port. No amount of fiddling with how hard I pulled the bolt back would fix it. I finally got fed up with it and had the barrel rechambered in 6 Competition Mach. Pretty similar to .243AI.

I did some research, and 6CM shooters are reporting barrel life of 4,000 + rounds when using Retumbo or H1000. I wouldn’t have believed it except a good friend has one with 4,500 rounds on the barrel and it’s still shooting into 3/4”. Not great, but good enough for the local long range matches around here.

It does require fire forming, so that may rule it out for you. I just finished mine recently, so I have no real results except to note that I could push Berger 109’s to 3100fps if I wanted. I selected a slower node to match my Dasher ballistics and hopefully get max barrel life.

Here’s a link to some more info.

https://www.longriflesinc.com/blogs/news/the-ins-outs-of-the-6mm-competition-match

Oldman3, Forgot I had posted that picture, 10 shots at 1000 yrds, Rem-700 action, Wilson 1x8 barrel $ 10.00 gun stock from pawn shop 3.5 x 15 x 44 viper vortex.

At one time or another I have shot or shot with people shooting just about every rifle based on the 6 mm bullet, there's not 10 cents difference in any of them, some use more powder some less, some you have to jump thru hoops to get your brass right, there's nothing hard about forming .243 A.I. brass. The B.S. about burning barrels is just that, the above target was shot with over 4000 rnds down the barrel, 107 SMK, cci 200, 48.4 gr. Retumbo, not a magic for combo!

I know it's not as SEXY sounding 6 br, 6xc, 6 Creed, build and shoot what ever makes you happy that's what I do. Rio7

Certainly no arguing with that target!

Great shooting there Rio!

Found a big stash of 250 savage brass I had put up and forgot about years ago this afternoon
Now I am rethinking some. I have a 700 classic in 250 savage,but have always wanted a 250 ai.
The time may be now to make it happen.

should be easily done. I like mine although I've not bloodied it. Yet.

+1

If .243 AI, be sure you get the right twist.

DF

I have a 700 Rem. chambered for the 243AI. I recently sent it to Truman Wilson to get it rebarreled to the same with a 1in9 4 groove Lilja barrel. I bought the original used and shot it out. Well satisfied with the caliber.

TimK, 6CM you are referring to is the 6 Creed or the 6 competition Match?

It's a good one. I have a couple of them, made for rockchucks and pd's with lighter bullets going fast. The heavy barrel is 13" twist and was real easy to make it shoot, didn't need to fool with it much at all. Preferred load is WW760 and 70TNT from high 3700's to 3858. Shoots in the .2's and .3's, a very nice gun but also very heavy. The other one is much lighter with a 9" twist, and it's much fussier about loads. For varmint shooting I'd stay with the slower twist..

6 Competition Match