rufous
Well-Known Member
My gunsmith recently rebarreled my long range varmint rifle. It was originally a 243 Winchester Ruger Model 77 Mark II Target Rifle. I wore that barrel out a few years ago and rebarreled it with an Olympic Arms (they installed it also) barrel also in 243. That barrel was a 1:10 twist and it shot very well (sub 0.5 MOA out to 700 yards on calm days) with the 87 Hornady VMAX. Then I had it rebarreled a couple years ago to 6-284 using a Pac-Nor barrel. It started out promising but went to pot quickly. I do not know why. It did seem to do best with the Hornady 105 AMAX though. I sent it back but they and the gunsmith I used at that time said that I had ruined it with moly. I kept getting fliers. I finally got it rebarreled again by a different gunsmith (thanks Jack!!) with a Lothar Walther barrel chambered to 243 Winchester with a 1:8 twist. It is shooting very well with the 105 AMAX. I started with the Sierra 107 and then tried the Berger 105VLD but was not getting the consistency that I wanted. Then I decided to try the AMAX. It is being very accurate and consistent. I have shot three 3 shot groups with its favored load (I have only tried 2 powders with the AMAX, Ramshot Magnum and H1000 and only one seating depth- into the lands by 0.020"). Favored load has given me 1 group of 0.24" and two groups of 0.3". I shot this load at 300 yards and got 5 shots in 0.67"! I shot this at 600 yards and got 5 in 3.5" but 4 of those were in 2". They are moly coated and velocity is right at 3000 fps. Give the Walther barrel and AMAX bullets a try. Please do not take this as a slam against Pac-Nor or Sierra or Berger, it is just that I am having great success with the Walther barrel and Hornady AMAX bullets. Rufous.
