243 ai

[geauxtigers]

Just wondering how people felt about this round. I am going to buy a savage varmint gun in 243 and going to ream it out to a 243 ai. Just wondering if anyone had a 243 AI and what they thought of it.

Thanks Taylor

 

[LewisH]

I have a 243AI on a 40X action that's been my favorite varmint rifle for several years. It has a slower twist barrel (1-12, I think) so it only shoots 75gr and below bullets well...which is fine with me.

Seems like these days everyone is getting 1-8 twist barrels in 6mm so they can shoot the heavier bullets for longer ranges. That's up to you.

 

[geauxtigers]

Ok thank you. For now i am just going to buy a savage and ream it. I think the barrel twist is one and 9.25. I hope it will shoot the 105 bergers or 100 grainers. Want to be able to shoot the heavier bulets.

Taylor

 

[LewisH]

Tiger, my memory isn't what it used to be, so I just retrieved my 243AI from the safe, and actually looked at it.

It is, in fact, a standard 1-10 twist Kreiger 26" SS barrel, and my favorite load is a Nosler 70gr BT/46gr/H414. The 1-10 barrel is designed to stabilize bullets up to 100gr.

As I said above, it's popular nowadays to use 1-8 twist barrels to stabilize the 105-115 gr longer range bullets.

 

[geauxtigers]

ok cool but I am buying the savage and all they are coming in is the 1 and 9.25. Trying not to rebarrel yet unless I have too. But if I have too I am going to want to stabalize the bigger bullets. If anything I am going to get a shilen drop in barrel. Anyway thanks for your help. If have anymore load data would love to hear it.

Thanks Taylor

 

[jerrschmitt]

I shot a standerd .243 for 50 years before discovering the Ackley by accident. I bought a used .243 at a gun show that the dealer knew nothing about except he thought it was a .243 and it didn't have a safety. It had a 28 inch Shilen barrel with a Vias brake and a Shilen 2 oz trigger. I bought it for the price of the action intending to rebarrel it to 6BR. A week or so later I put a scope on it and after firing it, realized it was a .243 Ackley. I loaded up some 70 Nosler BT's for fire forming and got the following group.

It has become my favorite .243 ever.

 

[geauxtigers]

That was a great find. It looks like it shoots great. I am trying to decide if i want to go ahead and rebarrel or not. How far have you stretched it out to. I am looking at shooting the 95 gr bullets. I want something that is fairly easy to go shoot. Thank you for showing me the pics. I was reading about a 6 mm rem ai but think i am going to stick with the 243 ai.

Thanks Taylor

 

[jerrschmitt]

I took it prairie dog shooting last month and had no problem making hits at 600 yards with 75 VMAX's. The nice thing about the .243 AI is that the cases don't stretch like the regular .243. I just wish this had a faster twist barrel.

 

[B23]

For what it's worth IMHO if you are going to go to that much trouble why not just turn it into a 6-284. You will get better performance and won't have to fire form cases which in turn will most likely extend your barrel life.

For me, the gain would be to little so since you are going to have it all apart why not make the step up to the 6-284 and save yourself the time and money fire forming. Just a thought.