Thread: Short barrel .243 tips

Hey team,has anyone chopped and suppressed a 243 ?was performance affected at all?have purchased a Winchester 243 bolt gun for my son,90% bush hunting with the od 250m shot at most,I am able to reload as well so any tips much appreciated bullet/powder/load combos welcome..have owned one in the past but was Standard model 7 and I found the federal blue box ammo worked well but thinking shortening the barrel to probably 16in might need to reload.also can I run my .30 cal suppressor on it?obviously wont be as quiet as a dedicated 243 one but enough to make it ok to shoot over the dog and protect the boys ears a bit as well.
Thanks Jason

In short, yes to all.

You'll lose a lot more velocity with a fast cartridge by docking the barrel back that much.

My Remington Model Seven 243 came with a 18.5" barrel from the factory in 1983. Just about bearable with hearing protection on. Shoots a treat, as most short barrels do.

No issue running a bigger cal mod but keep in mind you'll need to clear the stock if it's an over barrel mod.

Originally Posted by The bomb

Hey team,has anyone chopped and suppressed a 243 ?was performance affected at all?have purchased a Winchester 243 bolt gun for my son,90% bush hunting with the od 250m shot at most,I am able to reload as well so any tips much appreciated bullet/powder/load combos welcome..have owned one in the past but was Standard model 7 and I found the federal blue box ammo worked well but thinking shortening the barrel to probably 16in might need to reload.also can I run my .30 cal suppressor on it?obviously wont be as quiet as a dedicated 243 one but enough to make it ok to shoot over the dog and protect the boys ears a bit as well.
Thanks Jason

I had a 16" 243 mossberg patriot, its been through a couple forum members since.

With 2209 i got 85gr at around 3000fps with no issues. But their barrels are fast. In general you should be able to match factory 22" speed with handloads in a 16" at least though. Was a great little rifle that i regret selling sometimes but its been replaced. I used AR2209

Iv had a couple of 18inch ones and they both seemed to spit 80gr win factory out at 3150
recreates basically a normal lenght rifle with a suppressor

Had a 16inch m7 used 85 tsx at 3000fps +- with imr 3031 accurate as well

Having had a 243 for 40yrs in various rifles I'd suggest 18" as your shortage. Reasoning is you can shoot 100grn partition at good speeds for big deer and tahr without having to much speed loss.

Do it. Mine is 16 I think. Does what it needs to. Definitely suppress it. If using a DPT or similar use a steel baffle.... being a fast overbore case it's pretty brutal in the short barrel.

Twist rate is important though. Probably much more than 2" barrel difference.

1-8 twist in mine puts 80gr and 100gr in pretty much the same poi.

You will need to reload for it. Good quality brass like starline will be a must if you want to get back up to 243 speeds. Mine is 19 inches and I'm using starline brass and it's going good so far, or some small rifle primers brass would be better.

As Preacher mentioned a stainless baffle will help your suppressor life if your going with that short a short barrel. I just shoot factory ammo in mine, and have no idea how much speed I lost (mines a 17 inch barrel). I haven't noticed a difference in killing power at the short ranges I hunt. Id say if you choose a soft projectile you won't have an issue at the ranges you specified. The 95grain sst and 90grain eldx in the hornady factory ammo has worked well for me on deer and both stabilize fine in my 1-10.

Anyone running Barnes bullets in their .243?

I had one at 18", was a flame thrower and real loud. big difference from the 20" it was before I had to take it back due to crown and internal pit.
Personally I would keep the 243 at 20" and if you want a sub 300 mtr rifle pick a larger bore that won't loose as much velocity. 308,338,358, 375??

Ps hot 243's eat barrels. For shooting to 250 mtr even with the 16" barrel I would not get to wound up about recovering the lost velocity. Good old sierra GK 85gr, Berger 87gr, 95gr SST
Z

My dad has an original 18.5" barreled M7 in 243. I cronied the 100gr Fed blue box and it was 2600 fps, I got 100gr SGK handloads doing just shy of 2900 fps using 7828 ssc, but she was a flame thrower and pretty stiff recoil for my elderly dad, so I dropped back to 87gr with H414, and it's much better all round.

Think I have some 100g and 80g federal blue box from years ago,will give them a go once suppressor is fitted.

Originally Posted by The bomb

Think I have some 100g and 80g federal blue box from years ago,will give them a go once suppressor is fitted.

Let us know if you want screenshots of the latest Hornady 243 reloading data

Originally Posted by The bomb

Anyone running Barnes bullets in their .243?

Yes, was running them in my forbes and will use them in kimber also, 85gr tsx in front of some superformance gave over 3100fps in 18.5" barrel. Shot over 30 fallow and a red with it from 0-300 and works very well