Long Range - 243, 22-250 or a 260

[trebark]

That is a beautiful rig!! I'm not going to ask what you paid, but can you tell me what the average price is for a MCR build?

Paid about $2400 for the rig + optics.

You can find pricing of MCR rifles on Kevin's website at:

Montour County Rifles

click on 'MCR Custom Rifles'

 

[Precision_Game_85]

Paid about $2400 for the rig + optics.

You can find pricing of MCR rifles on Kevin's website at:

Montour County Rifles

click on 'MCR Custom Rifles'

Thanks!!...Whenever I have enough set back I'm thinking about giving them a call...Looks like they build some top end stuff..Thanks again

 

[Goofycat]

After doing some searching around on here I've come to the conclusion that I'm most interested in either a 243, 22-250 or a 260. I'm still looking for the smallest amount of pelt damage possible, but I need to be able to reach out as much as possible "hunting in wide open country." Can anyone make a recommendation on one or the other? I've heard the 243 and 22-250 eat barrels for breakfast and I'm wondering if that's BS or if they really do chew them up "I don't want to replace match grade barrels once a month." Thanks in advance for all your help as I'm still learning the ropes in the coyote world.

It's BS. Replacing match barrels once a month? Holy Moley....how many rounds do you plan to shoot? If you are after coyotes, if you get off three shots at the animal, it is more than likely two shots over what most people experience. Barrels are ruined by repeatedly shooting them when they are too hot, such as when hunting ground squirrels or a huge town of prairie dogs without letting the barrel cool. Shooting coyotes should not be a problem here, since you may get only a round or two off at a time. I have a match barrel on my .22-250 with over 1,000 rounds through it. I never shoot over 20 rounds at a time without cleaning the barrel and have not seen any appreciable loss of accuracy.

 

[Brute]

I hope to live long enough to shoot out a 243 or 22-250 barrel shooting mostly game. Too much is made of barrel life on a hunting rig. BR rig definitely a consideration, but remember
'shot out" for them would be for all practical purposes unnoticable for most hunters. Buy what you like/need and forget about the tales of barrels shot out in 500-600 rounds.

 

[Precision_Game_85]

It's BS. Replacing match barrels once a month? Holy Moley....how many rounds do you plan to shoot? If you are after coyotes, if you get off three shots at the animal, it is more than likely two shots over what most people experience. Barrels are ruined by repeatedly shooting them when they are too hot, such as when hunting ground squirrels or a huge town of prairie dogs without letting the barrel cool. Shooting coyotes should not be a problem here, since you may get only a round or two off at a time. I have a match barrel on my .22-250 with over 1,000 rounds through it. I never shoot over 20 rounds at a time without cleaning the barrel and have not seen any appreciable loss of accuracy.

haha...no...not once a month..I was just making my point that I don't wanna to burn the thing up...I want to use it for coyote yes, BUT plan on using it for deer, pronghorn, and shooting at a club I found...On animals yes I almost never need more than one round, but I am going to be practicing with the 260 a LOT...Really I brought up the barrel wear between the three calibers so I could see "with a lot of use" the caliber that I could get the most wear out of...Thanks for your reply and sorry I didn't specify that I was using it on more than coyote, but it would be mainly for coyotes...I want to practice a lot with that so I can eventually get a 300 RUM or 338 Edge for the REAL long range work on bigger animals and since I can't afford to shoot those a lot, I wanted something with less recoil and cheaper to use while still being spot on for long range work "out to about 7-800 yrds for me at first."

 

[long450]

The 260 is a good choice, so long as you handload ammo. Not much available in a factory loading. Barrel life is likely 200-300 more rounds through the 260 over the 243. The 243 should be about 200 over hte 22-250. The 22-250 will have the best selection for factory loaded ammo, but the 243 is a close second. Pelt damage can be severe from any of them with the wrong bullet.

Most people that talk about low round count barrel life are people shooting 600 yards and beyond in competitions that require max+ loads to be competitive. They also notice very small increments of lost acvcuracy.

The 6BR is a very good round with excellent barrel life and accuracy! It is almost exclusively a hand load option.

 

[ba19500]

I have been debating the .243 vs. 260 also, and the .243 is more versatile. A 55 gr bullet for flat shooting or a 95 or so for LR. The 260 starts at 85 I think. The 243 has many more bullet choices too.