SmallCaliberCentral

I noticed that every now and then you will throw up a pic of or make mention of your 243AI, but I never see it included on your "Adventures with Skippy" which makes me wonder if the ranges you would normally use it for aren't available at the ranches you shoot, or if you don't want to waste all the powder on a little rat.



That looks like a beast of a rifle, so I was just curious to hear if this is your RockChuckin rifle.... or perhaps after you fell in love with the 204 that this is perhaps a "Safe Queen" these days?

I always enjoy seeing pics of your rifles ... and this leads to questions popping into my head about them.

Thanks

Schrutester: Well seeing as you asked.....that rifle was built when I was really into shooting prairie dogs in MT, SD, and Wyoming back in the mid-90's. I still do that on occasion, but when the price of fuel skyrocked, I just didn't go east for dogs as much, and used my 243 Ackley for very long range ground squirrels here at home.

I know you've seen it before, but this was a very good day in Montana using my 243 Ackley on prairie dogs. My wife snapped this as I launched a fat dog off his mound at a lasered 843 yards (Nosler 70 BT @ 3,800 fps over Varget).



As the majority of our squirrel shooting is inside of 400 yards, and you are correct in that I don't want to use that much powder for a squirrel, nor want to abuse the spendy barrel but do not hesitate to do so when the wind is up or a certain customer flips me off way out there from atop his mound, seemingly out of range for the lighter bullets in the small bores we usually have with us. The rifle you refer to is "Loretta", for Long Range Loretta, and she went with me on our most recent Rat Rodeo in N. California, just never got uncased that trip, as my Cooper 223 got all the attention being the new girl in the safe, and as such she performed quite well out past 500 yards.

On our multi-day shoots, I like having a range of calibers available for different conditons, and Loretta is a solid performer at extended ranges. Early in the season I use my 17 Ackley Hornet and 17 Mach IV alot, then my 223's and 204's for most of the season, but Loretta is usually in the background in case a very long shot presents itself.

Some probably think it's silly to give your rifles girl names, but it's easier for me to recognize what's in the hard case in the back of the truck instead of a label with a caliber on it, as I've got multiple rifles in the same caliber, so a girl name it is. Besides, I like girls. These were my choices on the last trip:




You can see why the girl names come in handy.... I've considered selling Loretta to fund another project, just not sure......

So I take it that "Black Death" was named after a not-so-pleasant girl/experience in your life!!! I guess it makes sense to use the wrath of an unpleasant woman to wreak havoc on the defenseless!

As you can probably tell I read this forum a lot... so is that new project the 20 Vartarg that has been mentioned here? Or a new Cooper M21 204 perhaps?

Schrutester wrote:So I take it that "Black Death" was named after a not-so-pleasant girl/experience in your life!!!

No, if she had been THAT bad, she wouldn't have rated being mentioned in the safe! That rifle, my 223 Ackley got named back when she was a 223 M700 VS before she was transformed by Darrell Holland into the 223 Improved she is now. The rifle was all matte blue with a black H-S Precision stock, hence the name. It hammered Skippy and his pals for about five years before I blueprinted the action to build the new rifle.

New Cooper? Dunno, still ponerin' that one. Could be either, but new calibers are always fun to explore, yes?

By the way, "defenseless"??? Have you seen the fangs on these squirrels? (seriously though, you could say we're defending our rancher buddies from crop depredation, as it costs my good friends and alfalfa ranchers in excess of $75K a year! ....sometimes more. )

[quote=By the way, "defenseless"??? Have you seen the fangs on these squirrels? (seriously though, you could say we're defending our rancher buddies from crop depredation, as it costs my good friends and alfalfa ranchers in excess of $75K a year! ....sometimes more. )[/quote]

I hear ya on this one. I have sister-in-laws that think I go out and shoot these little "Disney Character" type squirrels, p-dogs, and rabbits on my own outings with the rifles. Far from it and worth the $$$ saved to the ranchers/farmers by ridding them of the vermin.

I have a friend that takes me to a farm that his buddy dry-farms under contract with the government, and we shoot any jack rabbit that shows its face in the fields. He has shown me some areas where those little buggers have stripped the grass down to the dirt. The farmer wants them dead so we are happy to accommodate him.

My Remmy 788 in .223 puts the hurt on those suckers!



I love these 788's and accurate as all get out! Especially after I had it bedded and floated with the trigger lightened to break like glass.

Bugs Bunny won't survive a hit from this darling!

Good show, sounds like you've got it covered there where you're located. Those 788's were actually used as BR actions for a while, prior to CNC machine centers and precision actions being available for about a grand. Every one I've known that were owned by friends were always very accurate rifles. Remington used the same design for their 22LR bolt guns, the 541 and 580 series; using the same artillery-style bolt lug arrangement, same as Weatherby uses. I've got a 541T HB that shoots bugholes, the most accurate 22LR I own.

Sort of a long way from the 243AI.....sorry, it's your thread, don't want to digress further......

No worries about tangents from the thread topic as the initial question has been answered. Any talk about guns (especially 788's) is interesting to me, so this thread can go where it may.

Rick: I was baffled about the name SPOD for a moment. Just as I was about to ask you, I realized that it stood for Silver Princess Of Death.

Rick,

Do you see any differences between a 243 A/I vs a 6mm Remington A/I? I'm still contemplating a 6mm caliber Varmint cartridge to my arsonal and from what I've read about these two cartridges is ballistics are very similar but barrel wear favors the 6mm Remington because of its longer neck. For that reason I was looking more at that cartridge.

Jim

Jim, can't give you a direct comparison, as I own or have owned the 243 Win, the 243 Ackley, and the 6mm Remmington, but never a 6mmAI.

I chose the 243AI for a number of reasons over the 6AI. Brass availability, more inheriently accurate (shorter powder column), case shape, case volume that offers all the speed I need, and is based on the time-proven .308 Win case. As I never heat up my barrel with long strings, barrel life will not be an issue with this rifle, as it is saved for only the long shots when offered.

As for barrel wear favoring a longer neck, I've never had an issue in that regard with any cartridge I've ever loaded for, so can't comment. I know the theorists claim that, but no one has ever shown me where a longer neck matters to barrel wear, only bullet tension/release/concentricity issues. Proper chambering would influence neck area related erosion issues much more than case length me thinks. If cases in either/both calibers were trimmed properly and all things kept equal, how could it possibly influence barrel wear?

Rick in Oregon wrote:If cases in either/both calibers were trimmed properly and all things kept equal, how could it possibly influence barrel wear?

Rick,

I don't know either. Some of this barrel wear stuff I read (hey, look at the reputation of a 220 Swift) I take with a grain of salt. I do like what the 243/243AI offers if for no other reason the availability of brass and the .308 heritage that comes with it. Like your equipment, the barrel would be used in a varmint environment and I doubt it would see a lot a heat unless it was a very warm day (like it did to my 204's here yesterday). Otherwise, a 6mm or 6mm A/I looks equally appealing but ballistcally though, it seems like a wash.

Jim

Jim....agreed. I think it's more of whatever makes you feel warm and fuzzy than actual field ballistics. The slight edge of course in that regard goes to the 6AI, but I seriously doubt either of us could tell the difference in the field.

One other thing we didn't mention but still matters in the Grand Scheme of Things, is that the 243AI uses a short action, and depending on how it's loaded, the 6AI almost always takes a long action.

Rick in Oregon wrote:One other thing we didn't mention but still matters in the Grand Scheme of Things, is that the 243AI uses a short action, and depending on how it's loaded, the 6AI almost always takes a long action.

Ohhh, yes sir it does. I'm glad you pointed that out because I was figuring the OAL between the two rounds were pretty close and naturally a 6mm would fit in a Rem 700 short action. That may just tip the scales.

Thanks for the tip

Jim