Thread: BSA 243

Next on the list is

Rings- strip and Duracote
Trigger remove polish and see about lightening.
Stock, Ill lightly recut the chequering , give a sand up and re oil, maybe a new red buttpad one day.
The action is bedded and barrel channel was relieved heavily decades ago.


Still deciding whether I Duracote the metalwork........ would be nice to have it blued, but, coting will be better in the wet, cheaper and easier.
Douglas prem Barrel seems to my buggered eyes to have a bit of pitting, but it'll still kill deers.

Weighs 3.2 from memory with the small scope on it, which is now going to another forumer @longshot

Ill post more updates as I go.

Originally Posted by gundoc

The early BSA triggers were 3 lever, and the later model 2 lever. The relationship of the parts is critical and great care must be taken during disassembly to note the correct position of the bent wire spring. Remove the trigger assembly from the rifle (screw and cross pin) taking care not to lose the ejector coil spring when the trigger is withdrawn from the action. The upper tubular pin can be removed with a correct sized punch and a bench block. This will allow the sear and bent wire spring to be removed, taking care to note the exact position of the spring. The bottom pin allows removal of the trigger and small coil spring. The remaining pin allows removal of the third lever (if present). Clean and lightly oil all components and check for rust patches inside the housing plates. With a very fine Arkansas stone you can polish the mating surfaces, taking care to maintain the proper angles and not round off any edges. Reassemble in the reverse order. Some trigger weight adjustment is possible with the small screw in the trigger. Other adjustment requires some skill to safely adjust the sear bent angle with a the stone.

Thankyou mate that's awesome. I can adjust the adj screw but that's probably where Id leave it.
Might be a job for Alan Carr up here or similar.

if it still shoots well,it would seem to be shame to rebarrel it...... the beauty of this as it is,is in it being semi origonal...if accuracy is gone,well then fair enough but I cant see point in trying to fix what aint broke if that makes sence??

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

if it still shoots well,it would seem to be shame to rebarrel it...... the beauty of this as it is,is in it being semi origonal...if accuracy is gone,well then fair enough but I cant see point in trying to fix what aint broke if that makes sence??

100% and not wanting to spend 800$ or more on a tube for no gain

I bought a near new BSA .243 Majestic when I was working at West Arm, Manapouri in 1967, the only .243 I have ever owned. I shot three deer in the first week, all chest shot in the bush at about 40-80 metres range, and never recovered one! The blood trails petered out in the wet bush fairly quickly. I promptly sold it on and got my father to put my old .30/06 Garand and a couple of packets of ammo on the Road Services bus for me (different attitudes in those days!). I never had a problem after that, and still use a .30/06 today. I had a hunting mate who swore by the .243 but he lost about 50% of the animals he shot. There is no doubt they would have died but a long way from where they were shot! The .243 was developed for shooting ground hogs and that it is the best use for it in my opinion!

Originally Posted by gundoc

I bought a near new BSA .243 Majestic when I was working at West Arm, Manapouri in 1967, the only .243 I have ever owned. I shot three deer in the first week, all chest shot in the bush at about 40-80 metres range, and never recovered one! The blood trails petered out in the wet bush fairly quickly. I promptly sold it on and got my father to put my old .30/06 Garand and a couple of packets of ammo on the Road Services bus for me (different attitudes in those days!). I never had a problem after that, and still use a .30/06 today. I had a hunting mate who swore by the .243 but he lost about 50% of the animals he shot. There is no doubt they would have died but a long way from where they were shot! The .243 was developed for shooting ground hogs and that it is the best use for it in my opinion!

hmmmm Ground hogs, you mean Labour MPs? bahahahahha just a little New Years joke.

Originally Posted by gundoc

I bought a near new BSA .243 Majestic when I was working at West Arm, Manapouri in 1967, the only .243 I have ever owned. I shot three deer in the first week, all chest shot in the bush at about 40-80 metres range, and never recovered one! The blood trails petered out in the wet bush fairly quickly. I promptly sold it on and got my father to put my old .30/06 Garand and a couple of packets of ammo on the Road Services bus for me (different attitudes in those days!). I never had a problem after that, and still use a .30/06 today. I had a hunting mate who swore by the .243 but he lost about 50% of the animals he shot. There is no doubt they would have died but a long way from where they were shot! The .243 was developed for shooting ground hogs and that it is the best use for it in my opinion!

yeah I hear ya- I have a 300wsm for the far things- cos I believe in bigger holes in things- and a 308 for close big things, and this one hopefully for Sika inside 100. Projectiles available now days would be worlds different to the 2 types available in 67 though?

Originally Posted by ANTSMAN

yeah I hear ya- I have a 300wsm for the far things- cos I believe in bigger holes in things- and a 308 for close big things, and this one hopefully for Sika inside 100. Projectiles available now days would be worlds different to the 2 types available in 67 though?

Yes, I am sure the projectiles were the problem. I was shooting factory Norma 100 grain ammo which had the tri-clad steel soft points and I am sure they were just zipping through with minimal expansion. My .30/06 ammo was Winchester 150 grain silvertips which gave much better expansion.

Never lost a deer yet with my .243 but have had a couple unrecovered with the.308. Strange world.

funny thing with the .243/EBRG if you talk to the old pros who used them....MOST of them will tell you same thing,use bog std 100grn pills and shoot for shoulder bones.....without hitting bone the projectiles dont expand/transpher energy as well.....they are nearly all super accurate so would seem head/neck be best option but the old hands say otherwise.....
there was large following using 87grn hornadies for sika etc.... lighter/faster and more expandy.... these days the list of choices is endless..... once I tried barnes in .223 the thought came to mind how wicked they would be in EBRG in the lighter weights... something 70ish grns fair honking along would be a mean sort of deer slaying pill one would think.

Probably wouldn't hurt to finish that other project before those nails get to rusty

Those 87 gr Hornady soft points were excellent wallaby killers in my Abolt.

Anyone remember this article? Had some good info about .243 projectiles

I surely do...and the why not the .308 done by Graham Henry about the same time.....

Whatdya mean? Them nails good for another 10 years outside




QUOTE=Bos;1265915]Probably wouldn't hurt to finish that other project before those nails get to rusty [/QUOTE]