New Rifle Day

[CWLONGSHOT]

I have had two 243's. They worked well enough. I always thought I wanted a 6mm.

I used many Speer 85 g hp's on small Critters. I used two Hornady 100RN and one Speer 90g on deer. Liked the RN best.

Switched to the Grendel not so much to replace the 243 as to get my buddy off my back about how great it was.

I gotta say I do really like it. Its shooting way better then it has a right to!! Only taken a few deer and a coyote in the few years I have owned it. But have been impressed.

I have three bullets shooting well UNDER moa with a FEW powders!! RL15, Benchmark and AR Comp with a 120 Pro Hunter, 120 Gold Dot or a 123 SST. Almost boring @ 100 and down right easy out @ 200.

I could really pretty easy forgo many many other calibers. This one is a miser on powder. Easy on the shoulder. Kills quick and efficiently and offers anything I need here well past ranges I shoot. (0-300)

CW

 

[CZ93X62]

If I wanted to turn an AR-15-series system into a deer-capable critter-gitter, it would be a tough choice between the 6.5 Grendel and 6.8 x 43 SPC. Given the size ranges of most of our muleys, a 223 with better bullets (NosPart 60 grains or Barnes TSX) would work as well. There are definite size cross-overs between "Large Coyote" and "Small Buck" hereabouts. A 243 is plenty of rifle for deer in my areas hunted.

Of course--having said this, I'll step into the deer woods and see a 300# Bull of the Woods next week.

 

[Rick H]

I have killed some decent Michigan Whitetails, and a few Montana Antelope with a 6mm Remington and 95 or 100 gr. spitzers. They have worked just fine. I still feel the 6mm/243 is a minimum for Whitetail. I feel a whole lot better with more bullet especially if I have to take a shot at a less than ideal angle. Our whitetail bucks run 140#+ live weight, sometimes a lot more.
I know that a lot of people take whitetail with .223/5.56 but that is a real stretch for me. I have spent way too much time tracking deer taken with much larger cartridges with less than perfect hits

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

Agreed. I like big bullets and large bores best.

But this Grendel really has been something specail. I built a upper about a year after I bought the Howa Bolt. I sold that AR upper but that Howa aint going anywhere!!

 

[CZ93X62]

That is a DEFINITE KEEPER.

 

[CZ93X62]

OK--today was free of distractions by doctors, work pals, and hunting buddies--a rarity of late. I pulled the Tikka 243 out of the safe and gave it a nice bath inside and out, then got the Sinclair tool out with the modded 243 case and did some Tale Of The Tape (er, calipers) on several of my most-used jacketed and cast bullets.

First order of business with the Sinclair tool was to run a flatbase bullet rump-first into the chamber to gauge throat depth. The leade rises up at about .095" of depth, so these Finnish makers aren't "Going Weatherby" with deep throating like a lot of modern American rifles are now given. Next came a pin gauge which confirmed that depth measurement. The throat accepted the .243" pin, and refused the .244" gauge. Both are 'minus .0002"' pins. We'll see how things measure up after 500 rounds or so of j-word shooting.

The Barnes 6mm Varmint Grenade (6mm Condor Cuddler, Rat Variant) is one long dang bullet. 62 grains, and .978". 1-10" twist rate or faster, right on the box. Alrighty, then. Full leade contact was at OAL of 2.670, +/- .002". Moving on to the 80 grain Barnes TTSX (6mm Condor Cuddler, Deer Edition), full leade contact occurred at 2.720", +/- .002". The TTSX are supposed to get at least .050" of run at the leade, and I haven't heard back from Barnes about the V/G leade clearance specs yet.

I have five other 49-state J-words and a couple castings to run through the Sinclair tool. I might get to those later this evening.

 

[CZ93X62]

Update on loading progress.......

I did the Sinclair bit with a variety of 243 bullets I've had laying around here, and as of today I have 50 each of the RCBS-6mm-95-SP, Barnes Varmint Grenade 62 grains, and 70 grain Nosler BalTip loaded in stair-step fashion. The castings got 12.0-14.0 x 2400, the VG and the BalTip got 43.0-47.0 x WW-760. The two remaining bullets for the 100 remaining cases will the the 55 grain BalTip and the Sierra 85 grain Game King HP. Those might get stuffed tomorrow.

Barnes advised a .020" leade clearance with all of their Varmint Grenade bullet line, and these were so seated (2.650"). The castings got seated to have the front drive band kissing the leade. The Baltips got my "default" leade clearance for jacketed normal bullets of .030" back from the rise-up (2.710").

 

[Ian]

Now you just need a hall pass to the desert. Grab some defunct campaign signs for target backers, throw a moving blanket across the hood and have at it.

 

[CZ93X62]

You know it, Senor. Truck hood, folding table, or maybe a 2-3 day jaunt back to Ridgecrest next week with a collection of rat-strafing war toys and a motel stay. That range site is right nice.

The rest of the stuff ordered for the 348 Winchester arrived today from Graf's--Redding F/L die set and 100 pieces of W-W "shellcases". 86 cents each vs. $1.88 each for Starline. I didn't expect the tools to be gathered that fast, I think this project will go to the back burner for a couple weeks until I get throat specs and maybe a plain-base mould from Accurate. The out-of-state gas-check moulds may be Lymans #350447 and #350482. It's not likely I'll have them in hand until I do a rat trip to NV in Feb-Mar; he thinks he has at least one H&I sizer die on hand as well.

Warning to those considering the 348 Winchester--THERE ARE NO AFFORDABLE COMPONENT BULLETS IN THIS CALIBER--unless you pour them. After perusal of the Swift and Barnes bullet sites, their sticker shock was sufficient to prompt a mould order to Tom. Their pricing is so cold you'll need layered clothing to view the listings. I'll send Tom a note tomorrow after I figure out what I want. The mould will pay for itself after the first 70-80 bullets get cast.

 

[Missionary]

With the availability of PC there is no caliber I would be buying expensive projectiles for. From .243 up to .517 I see not need to.
But if I was in need to shoot matches past 500 yards or big vegee crunchers across valleys then maybe I would reconsider.
But I think I would revert to paper patching first. At a $1+ a pop I can invest a bit more time in what I do enjoy.

 

[CZ93X62]

Yep, Swift--Barnes--and Woodleigh are about all there is in 348 caliber any more. None of those are California-legal to hunt with, either. Rotometals Condor Cuddler Alloy, for the win.

 

[david s]

Hawk Custom Bullets 348 diameter in 165, 180, 200, 250 and 270 grain bullets. I still have a bit less than 100 (2 boxes) of the Barnes 200 grain X Bullets, my last 220 grain Barnes X bullets are loaded. Being copper they would be CA. legal.

 

[david s]

Meant to say that if you want 348 Win sticker shock look at factory round prices.

 

[fiver]

last box I bought was Winchester super-X at 63.00 per 20 rounds.
I still have that [full] box of ammo, I couldn't force myself to even open the box to look at them.

 

[CZ93X62]

Calibers like this are why bullet casting was invented.

 

[Creeker]

Tomme boy,
In our family we had about 11 different rifles in .243 and 6mm. Most of us started out with the 87 gr. Hornady or 90 Speer bullets, but penetration lacked if they contacted bone, and the holes needed trimming. Most of us have settled on the 100 gr bullets at around 2900 Fps, for pass throughs and less fragmentation, less trimming. Mn. and Wi. whitetails.

Tend to agree. I'm using Winchester 100 grain Power Points & so far so good.

 

[david s]

Barnes was a part of the Remington bankruptcy, I think Vista ( ? Speer, Federal, RCBS,CCI) Group wound up with Barnes after everything settled down. I always was surprised that Barnes continued there Original series bullets in limited selection after going the straight copper route. I wonder if the Barnes Originals will survive the transition. I ended up with 3 boxes of 348 Winchester 200 grain Silvertip ammo and one box of Remington 200 grain after a friend saw them at a local yard sale and gave me the heads up. The price was less than the brass would have cost. Use full friends are a gift.

 

[fiver]

somehow Sierra got bought by Remington their prices got jacked up [as predicted] then they shot out the backside of the bankruptcy owning Barnes.
it all happened in like a years time.

 

[david s]

Do you have any idea if Sierra/Barnes is now independent or did they end up as part of a conglomerative?

 

[CZ93X62]

I don't follow it closely, and most of what I do know about it I learn by accident or on this site.

It seems like the 348 Winchester componentry makers are chasing the sames niches that Weatherby pursued--the White Shoe Contingent, as Onceabull so aptly labeled that sub-set. It's time to hit Tom up at Accurate Molds to see what sorts of heresies he will tolerate.