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Thread: 15 inch 243.

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  1. #1
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    15 inch 243.

    Hi all

    I am thinking of purchasing a new suppressor for my tikka t3 243 and shortening it up as short as possible, make it a good short bush gun, butting suppressor right up to stock. Suppressor will most likely be hardy compact, and planning to shorten to 15-16 inch.

    Will this still have decent range with factory ammo. Only usually shooting to 250-300m max. Interested to hear peoples thoughts and experience.

    Cheers

  2. #2
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    I think 243 is one of those cals that benefits from longer rather than shorter barrel

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by blip View Post
    I think 243 is one of those cals that benefits from longer rather than shorter barrel
    Over bore.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by TeRei View Post
    Over bore.
    Meaning? Not a expert in this field as you can tell

  5. #5
    Member hunter Al.7mm08's Avatar
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    Mate of mine has a 16inch tikka with dpt can for bush stalking. Havent chrono'd it , but it still drops deer and has shot steel out to 500m.

    Sent from my SM-G556B using Tapatalk
    Tararua243 likes this.

  6. #6
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    In 243?

  7. #7
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    I run a tikka 7mm08 in 15inch and love it can push to 400m . I'm not sure I'd go quite so short on a 243 . If you want 15 inch I'd be looking at 7mm08 0r 308 but that's just me .

    I believe 243 would be fine to 250m especially if you place shots
    Tararua243 likes this.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tararua243 View Post
    Hi all

    I am thinking of purchasing a new suppressor for my tikka t3 243 and shortening it up as short as possible, make it a good short bush gun, butting suppressor right up to stock. Suppressor will most likely be hardy compact, and planning to shorten to 15-16 inch.

    Will this still have decent range with factory ammo. Only usually shooting to 250-300m max. Interested to hear peoples thoughts and experience.

    Cheers
    You will be burning a lot of powder ($) for not much gain.

    if you believe the box you get 3100 FPS from a 95 grain deer load from a 24" barrel.

    a 20" barrel is better. If you want as short as possible go for a larger bore
    Marty Henry and Tararua243 like this.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Russian 22. View Post
    You will be burning a lot of powder ($) for not much gain.

    if you believe the box you get 3100 FPS from a 95 grain deer load from a 24" barrel.

    a 20" barrel is better. If you want as short as possible go for a larger bore
    Fully agree with this
    Tararua243 likes this.

  10. #10
    By Popular Demand gimp's Avatar
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    It'll be fine with the right bullet.
    199p, Micky Duck, S.E.G and 3 others like this.

  11. #11
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    243 was on my list but went 6.5 Grendel at 16 inch. I think 6.5 Grendel or 6arc would be good options for those distances.

    I went the howa mini, carbon stock, with gun works suppressor and vortex 1-6 venom. all up ready to shoot its 3.05kg. super handy and will still go to 300-400 well plus burns a lot less powder.
    Tararua243 and Grendel like this.

  12. #12
    bjp
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    It will probably look spectacular at night, I imagine the muzzle flash could be impressive! If using factory ammo you might find velocity drop off might be more than you think, I don't know much about 243 but expect it might run a slower powder than say 308, being an overbore cartridge (google it for more details, but basically small bore with large cartridge. I expect why the 243 seems to be so effective is due to the high velocity, loose that and you may as well carry a 223 or similar, no? Going from say 20" to 15" you are likely to loose around 250 fps (rule of thumb is 25 fps per 1" I believe) but it could be more, especially with factory ammo. Reloading would probably allow you to achieve better results with a short barrel.

    FYI, I believe the 6mm ARC was developed for AR-15 platform, so probably ideal for a 15-16" barrel. If you can find some load data for that, it might give you an idea what to expect with shorter barrel 243? Bear in mind most reloading data and velocities on packet is based on 24" test barrels, but there might be some USA write-ups on shorter barrels that you can compare with that would give you an idea.
    Tararua243 likes this.

  13. #13
    bjp
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    just remembered, you can probably compare loads on the Hodgdon reloading website for rifle (24") and pistol (15") to get an idea of what performance to expect...

    https://hodgdonreloading.com/rldc/?t=1

    Example:
    Name:  2025-05-02 07_24_09-Reloading Data Center – Hodgdon Reloading Data Center.png
Views: 188
Size:  73.2 KB
    Name:  2025-05-02 07_26_32-Reloading Data Center – Hodgdon Reloading Data Center1.png
Views: 180
Size:  71.5 KB

    If you want to get all scientific, you can do a bit of research to figure out what the effective range of the ammo in your shortened rifle might be. For the ammo you are using, you can punch the numbers into a ballistics calculator

    https://shooterscalculator.com/balli...tory-chart.php

    then for the projectiles you are using to get an idea of what velocities they work effectively at. Some expand at lower velocities than others. Here might be a place to start:

    https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Kno...inchester.html
    Last edited by bjp; Yesterday at 08:36 AM.

  14. #14
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    So understand from the general feedback its not the greatest of ideas. And thought it would be the case.

    How about shortening a 270 to around the 16-16.5 inch mark?
    Micky Duck likes this.

  15. #15
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    Again 270 will work just like 243 in the resurch I did there are just better calibers to cut down but that dosent mean that 243 or 270 won't or can't work for what your after
    Tararua243 likes this.

 

 

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