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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
I think 243 is one of those cals that benefits from longer rather than shorter barrel
Over bore.Quote:
Originally Posted by blip
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.
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In 243?
Meaning? Not a expert in this field as you can tellQuote:
Originally Posted by TeRei
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
You will be burning a lot of powder ($) for not much gain.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tararua243
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 thisQuote:
Originally Posted by Russian 22.
It'll be fine with the right bullet.
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.
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.
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:
Attachment 274204
Attachment 274205
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
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?
If you shorten any rifle, you will lose velocity.
How much that matters depends on your use case.
If your use case is, as you stated, hunting out to 300m.
If you use the right bullet, for example buy Hornady Precision Hunter ammo with the 90gr ELDX, it should do around 2700fps. This will still be doing 2050 fps at 300m. The bullet will expand and will kill deer fine.
So it will work and it does not matter that you have lost some velocity.
The same calculations apply to .270
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
Im thinking it's better to leave the 243 to get better killing power. And just shorten the 270 as am less worried about that rifle. Am only shooting 300-350 max with the 270 so I think 16 inch should be fine. Would factory ammo be okay as I don't reload/ able to develop load.
It sure would good call in going to bigger caliber
As @gimp has pointed out, you can still make a short barrel rifle work for you within its limitations, the main point being knowing what those limitations are. You just might need to be more selective with ammunition selection (i.e under 150m probably doesn't matter so much, but at 300m, you need to be using something known to work at the lower velocities).
And after buying a packet or 2 of the premium ammo, maybe reloading will start to be more appealing! Depends on how much you shoot of course...
90 ELDX is 3150 from a 24” barrel. Losing 9 inches of barrel would probably be 270fps loss. 2850 would be pretty respectable velocity wise. You’ll hit 2000fps at 400 yards which will be plenty of velocity for the bullet to do its thing.
Short barrel 270 is going to bark and blast a lot more than a short 243.
If u want short get a 308
The options are endless but either will work.strongly suggest stainless blast baffle in your DPT suppressor on either option.if thinking of running in suppressed..... Think of all your mates running away with hands over ears when they see you coming.
...or a single shot. Or even shorter, get a single shot, short barreled 308! :thumbsup:Quote:
Originally Posted by TimC
This may help or not!
https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....alibres-83210/
I have a 243 that i shoot with 90 grain projectiles and a 9.3x62 that i shoot with 280grain projectiles. At its most basic i shoot the 243 with light bullets and its shoots comparatively flatter at long distances . But it wrecks the meat especially close up.
So i use the 9.3 for close in shooting out to 150m which travels slower but doesnt wreck the meat at all even 15m away. My thoughts are use the right calibre and bullet for the right shooting you are doing. If you are going hunting for the meat then why use a bullet/calibre intended for longer ranges that will wreck the meat up close ? Either get specific projectiles for those ranges or a different calibre. You wouldnt get a drag strip car and put muddies on it to take off road. You just get an off road vehicle. Same thing as people buying a 7mm remington mag and then using them as close in bush guns.
Eww.
If a 6 ARC will work then there's no reason a case with 15-20gr more powder won't work. Gimp's run the numbers for you and it'll evidently still kill deer fine.
But... I wouldn't want a 243 that short. Enough remaining potential or not, there's more wasted than I'd be willing to accept.
There is going to be a lot of muzzle pressure making it hard on the suppressor. It might not end up as quiet as you want.
I'd try and trade it for a 308, personally.
I ran a 15" 243 for a while in my 20s. A do it all rifle to shoot bailed pigs and the odd deer. Had gunworks put a big maximus suppressor on it and it was quieter than my mates .223 with longer suppressed barrel. I moved it on after roaring a stag to 20m away and having the 90gr projectile ricochet off its skull between its eyes. Ran off bleeding and made me feel horrible. I tracked it for hours until i could no more. Shot the same stag a couple months later.Attachment 274266Attachment 274267
Holee heck- surely the skull was angled which caused the ricochet?
Looking dead straight at me from behind a couple beech trees so yeah quite a bit of angle. I don't like head shots but that was all that was on offer.
2 months later the animal was skinny and the skull was soft at the impact point. I reckon he had one hell of a migraine
Interested to know what the projectile was. Though I guess if the skull is thick enough, and the angle shallow, many projectiles would do the same.Quote:
Originally Posted by TimC
I recall working at the freezing works in my late teens, lucky enough to have a holiday job there, and they had this massive bull come in. Too big to deal with in the normal way, someone shot it with teh captive bolt gun in the head, bounced off the skull, ending in a rather angry bull. One of the guys had 12ga with 00 buckshot in his truck, so tried that. Same result. Ended up dropping it with 2nd shot in back of neck, severed its spine then cut its throat. Dressed out weight was over 700kg. Apparently it has taken the farmer 2 years to get it to the works - kept breaking out of the yards!
but getting off topic now! Must be getting old...
[found it - Google "Chianina" if you think that sounds like bull... :D]
I believe that! bulls give me the shits. Experienced a couple bulls fighting last year, going through fences and smashing a gate. They'd been at it for a couple days. Unreal
Here is some real world data.
https://rifleshooter.com/2016/04/243...h-on-velocity/
As far as factory ammo goes, superformance 95gr sst loads are going bloody fast and kill really well.
I reload 95gr loads for one of my 18" .243s and they are doing 2780 fps and kill deer fine out over 500 yards. So if the superformance lost 400fps off advertised muzzle velocity then it would still be going close to what my rounds are.
With that in mind out to you intended distance of 300 yards it will work perfectly fine. It will still be going quicker than many 6mm arcs.
As far as muzzle blast etc goes. It will be fine. People are running magnum "super pigs". .243 isn't burning a ridiculous amount of powder.
If you already have a suppressor with baffles, such as a dpt, you don't even need to worry about a stainless baffle. Occasionally just rotate the baffles and they will all wear the same.
It will be a nice, low recoiling, handy short to mid range rifle.
Have a 14.75" .243, needs to be suppressed or flame thrower. Also needs stainless first baffle. For 90% of NZ hunting it works. Are there better options, yeah for sure. But it's what I had at the time for very tight bush. Would I get rid of it? Fuck no.
Don't use it much now because loving the .223 but it's all good
YuckQuote:
Originally Posted by Pommy
As gimp said. A short 243 can still do it.
My old blr wasn't getting used so much anymore. I had a short 16" 308 and other rifles for whatever.
I found noone wanted a rifle with a couple thousand round thru it so chopped it. 14.5. And in a long twist. Well bugger me it got more accurate.
Still smashes deer(I use 95gr superformance ssts), and awesome to carry.
I'm back using it almost for everything. It's not superlight but it isn't heavy at 6lb. I like a little weight for a more steady bush shot.
Who'd have thought a rifle I bought 34 years ago would be back as number 1 rifle.
I wouldn't do it to a perfectly good .243. But they make new ones every day.
I do get the feeling my .44-40 becomes more and more relevant, with the lack of emphasis on velocity nowadays. Ironically the .243 the .270 became popular because of their high velocity.
For interests sakes ( i dont shoot one) i tried a .243 in quickload. Hornady 87gr loaded to exactly 3000 fps MV in a 20 inch barrel dropped to 2760 in a 15", and gave 3140 in a 24"
There are cartridges designed for short barrels, the family based on the 7.62x39 are probably the best known
YepQuote:
Originally Posted by Tararua243
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