No Love for .243 on Cast Boolets, why?

[Krag 1901]

Tried to sell some .243 WIn dies and got no bites? Also not any threads for .243 on the site? I can't believe that you guys aren't shooting 6mms with cast.

I don't shoot my .243 with cast 'cause I have no molds or sizing dies. Despite my .243 having a 1:12 twist which should be good for cast. Also I baby my custom Gilky FN Mauser varmint rifle.

[Winger Ed.]

Just a couple weeks ago, there was a big long, multi page thread on the .243.
The super popular, 'cartridge of the day' is past for the .243, but its still around, and will be.

As far as selling unusual and obsolete dies--- hang in there, and watch S&S for 'Want to Buy' listings.
A couple weeks ago, I sold a gently used set of .300Savage dies there on a deal that originated in a WTB post.

[Lloyd Smale]

probably the wrong forum for 243 love. Its a great round for deer but with jacketed bullets. Not the greatest cast bullet thrower though.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Been working with my Remington 722 in 243 for some months now and developed a load with a 90gn cast boolit. Good accuracy and velocity to 2,800fps.

[GoodOlBoy]

Oh there's love a plenty for pert near any caliber on Cast Boolits. If you have a favorite lil'ol pet caliber, and nobody else seems to be covering it, well then I say it's high time you load some rounds, take some pictures, write a tale (tall or not) about it. You'd be surprised how many folk are lurkin' that won't do the same, but still have love and curiosity for the very thing crawlin' around in yer backbrain!

God Bless

Richard

[GhostHawk]

IMO the .243 is by definition a high speed small diameter round. Which IMO is kind of the opposite of what most here do.

Big slow and massive is almost by definition made for cast boolits, fairly low speeds with lots of momentum. Would go through a Buff the long way and only stops if it hits a major bone.

I had a .243 in my younger days, loaded 60 gr boat tailed hollow points over 30 grains of Dupont 3031. Well over 3500 fps.
Was death to varmints of all kind. Would bust a crow to 400+ yards with very little hold over.
But to make it shoot cast? Be kind of like taking a hot sports car and pulling the engine to put a rechargable weed eater electric motor in it. You would pretty much have to double the bullet weight and cut the speed in half at least.

Not to say it can't be done, because it can. But not much there to talk about IMO. Of course all this is just my opinon. YMMV

[6mm win lee]

That is my post-Africa project. Krag, I have a lot of love for my 6mm rifles, I mean, .236 U. S Navy rifles. But I don't think a 1 in 7 twist will work very well with cast. Gonna try it though just to while away the time.

[Krag 1901]

Been working with my Remington 722 in 243 for some months now and developed a load with a 90gn cast boolit. Good accuracy and velocity to 2,800fps.

Dem's some purdy boolets Wallace! How do they shoot and what twist?

I confess that one of the reasons I don't shoot my .243 much is I'm afraid of burning out the lead and ruining the Beautiful Bob Gilky built rifle. Built on a FN Mauser Supreme action with a 26" medium weight varmint Douglas bbl, and a French Walnut stock with hand carved oak leaf "checkering" It is dear to my heart. Just a beautiful rifle I've had since '69. I've almost always shot it with H-414 to keep from burning out the lead. The best bullet I've found is the 75 gr Sierra Hp. With a max charge of H-414 it puts them right in there time after time.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

There are lots of 243 threads, maybe try typing "243" in the "enhanced by Google" window. Lots and lots of 243 threads.

I've owned several rifles in 243 and have had 3 molds.
The most recent acquired mold is a plain base Loverin (version of the Lyman 245496), I've cast a few samples, but I haven't shot any yet, but am excited to give it a go.

[GregLaROCHE]

I keep thinking about getting a 6mm/.243 mould and getting my 6mm Rems out of moth balls. I once shot them a lot with jacketed bullets. I can’t remember what twist they are.

[Krag 1901]

I keep thinking about getting a 6mm/.243 mould and getting my 6mm Rems out of moth balls. I once shot them a lot with jacketed bullets. I can’t remember what twist they are.

As I recall the .244 Rem was a 1:12" twist but they couldn't handle 100 gr bullets, so Rem came out with the 6mm Rem and a 1:10" twist and they could handle 100 Gr bullets.

[farmbif]

maybe its just me but my ideal round in the 243 is a 100 grain soft point or other hunting bullet loaded to get right around 3000 fps. getting a cast bullet to even attempt to come close to that is a very specialized science. I prefer to stick to loads I easily successfully achieve with cast bullets and rounds like 30-30 and 35 rem are ideal for me to get great loads with cast bullets at about 2000 fps. if any of this makes any sense.

[Lloyd Smale]

As I recall the .244 Rem was a 1:12" twist but they couldn't handle 100 gr bullets, so Rem came out with the 6mm Rem and a 1:10" twist and they could handle 100 Gr bullets.

just the very early 6mms. My 700 was made in 77 and had a 1-9

[richhodg66]

Never owned a .243, but have a couple of 6mms, one of which is still with me. I cast some up and have even sized and lubed them but have yet to load and shoot any. I don't see why this can't be a good thing, yeah, not gonna be a deer gun with cast, but 99% or more of what we shoot is paper anyway, and if it's cheaper and more pleasant to practice with a favorite rifle, it can only be a good thing.

An old 722 in .244 Remington is a bucket list gun for me.

[Lloyd Smale]

yup rick i guess if a guy wants to shoot cast in a 6mm hes better off with the 1-12 the 722s had.

[1hole]

Rifle twist rates aren't made for jacketed vs. cast. Whatever the bullet, the ability to stabilize depends on the bullet length and rpms it needs. Cast or jacketed, the rpms depend on twist rate and velocity. Shorter bullets stabilize at lower rpms, longer bullets need higher spin rates.

Remington engineer Mike Walker designed their 700/721/722 and 40X rifles and the .222 and 6mm cartridges. He gave the .244 a slow twist rate because he expected it would be mostly used as a varmint rig shooting lighter (shorter) bullets; he was mistaken.

Winchester's .243 with 100 gr bullets was/is a great whitetail cartridge and it handles 60 gr. varmint bullets well too; it had a big head start in the market and Remington never caught up with it.

Actually, the .244/6mm is slightly superior to the .243 but its initial slower twist rate caused some early accuracy problems with 100 grain bullets. Even after the .244 twist rate was changed, the .243 was already too far ahead to be caught.

My 50 year old Weatherby Vanguard .243 and Lyman's 85 gr. Loverin bullet loaded "hot" (for cast) has always given me excellent squirrel accuracy. There are no walking wounded squirrels when using hard cast bullets and it's funner to use than a .22 RF.

[Lloyd Smale]

never said it was made for cast. I meant with a slower twist its less likely to strip through the rifling. Shooting cast at rifle velocitys through at fast twist rarely works well.

[richhodg66]

never said it was made for cast. I meant with a slower twist its less likely to strip through the rifling. Shooting cast at rifle velocitys through at fast twist rarely works well.

I'm certainly not the expert on here that some guys are, but I agree that slower twists should be gentler on cast bullets at the velocities we shoot them. The .32 Winchester Special is faulted for the slow twist in many writings it seems, but that also seems to make it an awesome cast caliber.

I'm not a Remington fan, but I like the 7212/722 series of rifles and really want a 722 in both .222 and .244. I remember reading Jim Carmichael saying all the hype about the slow twist in the .244 being no good was BS anyway and that they worked fine for him with 100 grain bullets. Not sure it's even an issue for deer when I think 90 grain bullets of good construction would work fine.

Saw a good 722 in .244 at a gun show a couple of weeks ago, but had already blown the spending money I had om something I wanted more at the time. Another show in the same city next weekend, might just come home with that one if it's there.

[Lloyd Smale]

A buddy had one of the 1-12 6mms in a bdl. It shot 100s just fine too. Now i have a 250 savage model 70 light weight carbine. Why winchester made that handy little deer rifle with a 1-14 is beyond me. Maybe in respect to the 250 savage 99 savages. I know that it wont shoot a 100 for CRAP and is a tack driver with 87s. Same with my buddys 99. Its minute of barn door with 100s but shoots 87s into just under 2 inch. I think the problem with the 1-12 6mms and 100s comes mostly from lame factory ammo and loading ammo and not pushing to top end loads that have enough velocity to stabilize 100s. A 722 in 6mm would be a cool rifle. Heck you can get 6mm 80s and 85s that are decent deer bullets these days even if it wont stabilize a 100.

[grampa243]

I use the RCBS 243-095-SP 243 , 95 Grain Semi-Point Gas Check

shoot it out of a T/C encore prohunter with a 1-8 twist; groups good enough to hunt small game and if i had to i would head shoot a deer.

though i would prefer to use a 30 cal or up on big game.