.243 carbine 18 Inch barrel

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.243 carbine 18 Inch barrel

Postby Hunter » Thu Feb 27, 2014 6:54 am

Seeing as my 7mm Rem Mag weighs a ton and is farely bulky for thick bushland I'm starting a new project to make a .243 carbine like chassis.

The plan is for it too be very light, very short, but pack enough punch to drop Fallow deer and pigs (.243 seems the most appropriate).

The .243 I've bought has a 24 inch barrel. I'm planning on cutting the barrel back to 18 inches for the 'carbine' purpose. To my knowledge 18 Inches for a .243 is enough for all the powder to burn before the projectile leaves the barrel.

Does anyone know if 18 inch for a .243 is too short or if I could go shorter?
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Re: .243 carbine 18 Inch barrel

Postby Woodsman » Thu Feb 27, 2014 4:56 pm

Forget where you're from.

Most likely commercially sold .243 rounds are going to be designed for a 24" barrel. You're gonna get some flash out of anything much shorter.

If you hand load, you can adjust this by experimenting with different powder & charge combos.

.243 is kinda small, but I also dislike heavy rifles. They're better for recoil, but humping them is a pain in the tail. Pretty much overkill for anything within typical game hunting distances in my opinion.

Their only real advantage is way out there beyond 800m.

I got rid of my .300 win/mag for the exact same reason.

Make sure you get yourself a good crowning job.
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Re: .243 carbine 18 Inch barrel

Postby Hunter » Fri Feb 28, 2014 4:17 am

I chose the .243 mainly because it's the lightest calibre (that I've found) that drops fallow deer. I was tempted to go with .223 but it just doesn't have enough power behind it for what I'm after. Fairly flat shooting too.

Yeah carrying a rifle thats heavy through thick bushland whilst trying to be quiet and observant is a real pain!! I have no regrets with my 7mm RM, it's weight has given me another excuse to get another bang bang stick!

I will end up loading my own further down the track, you're right about the factory loads being made for the common denominator (24")

I'll keep you posted with the project progess. I may not even cut it back to 18" in the end. I'll see how I like it at 24" first
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Re: .243 carbine 18 Inch barrel

Postby Hitoru » Sat Mar 01, 2014 11:11 pm

Check out .204 Ruger
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.204_Ruger

It's what I now use to hunt deer with great success.
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Re: .243 carbine 18 Inch barrel

Postby diamondcutter13 » Sun Mar 02, 2014 8:25 pm

Dropped a couple does with a borrowed .243 that was cut down for one of my friends sons. It was a Ruger M77 stainless and I can not remember what the actual barrel length was but I would say less than the stock 22". I was shooting 100gr rounds, can't remember what brand.

Good little lightweight gun for pushing bush and climbing up into trees with. Shot flat with no issues but both were only just over 100 meter shots.
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Re: .243 carbine 18 Inch barrel

Postby Hunter » Tue Mar 04, 2014 11:40 am

Hitoru wrote:Check out .204 Ruger
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.204_Ruger

It's what I now use to hunt deer with great success.


.204 is another calibre on my wish list. It's just not as high as the .243 is for me. Nice flat shooting round
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