243 barrel query

pinkyfluff

ok lads postin about a friend of mine who recently bought a remmy 700 243 second hand from a friend had his deer licence al sorted and everything ready for the comin deer season when last saturday he went to zero it and cud nt get it to group changed scope still the same and changed moderator still the same and some more experienced rifle shooters told him it could be the barrel thats worn now he contacted the lad he bought it off and they ve come to conclusion barrel must be worn .my question is what does he do now buy new barrel or would it be cheaper to buy another gun the lad he bought it off is willin to compensate him for what he has paid but still he was unaware the gun was not holdin zero /he rarely used it if ever the gun was second hand when he got it i might add .would it be awful hassle buyin a new barrel or best to buy a new gun and start from scratch
thanks in advance lad he wel depressed as ye can imagine

virminhunter

could try getting it re threaded a crowned or at least get someone to have a look at the crown first to see if theres anything wrong with it

stick shooter

When you say not grouping , how bad ? Has he tried different ammo , Is the crown pitted or damaged ,I know it might sound stupid but does it need a good clean after that he would be as well to find a gun smith with a bore scope to access wear in the barrel .

daithi55

ive a savage accu trigger in .243
had to try about 6 different brands of bullets before
i found one that grouped well for me
tried hornady federal sellier and belliot winchester and i think winchester

the winchester and sellior and bellot fired the best from it some of the others very poor

pinkyfluff

the groups were shockin bad lads and so much he cleaned barrel let it cool down start again and no better he was usin 58grm hornandy and was told by original owner who incidentally owns the gun shop it was left into was best round throught it when he owned it for accuracy yes he said he will have someone look at it to see if prob can be identified /barrel/or threadin/
thanks lads his wel miffed as he was al ready to go so see how he goes with gettin someone to look at it

stick shooter

Best thing he can do is find a good gunsmith with a bore scope to inspect his barrel .

Tackleberrywho

stick shooter wrote: »

Best thing he can do is find a good gunsmith with a bore scope to inspect his barrel .

If the scope shows worn bore, yes.thats your problem.
Also consider barrel may be touching.
Happened a friend recently and a free float sorted it.

A rebarrel starts from ballpark €750 obviously depending on brand.
Try the cheap things like Ammo, barrel float etc first.

Use the.heaviest grain .243s to see is it the super light Varmint ammo that is the issue

Cass

It would need to have shot a fair few rounds to be shot out so either the owner was an avid shooter or the gun was very old. A few things have been pointed out, but to go through them again.

Stock touching barrel.
Remove the stock, and sand it down. Make sure there is no contact between the barrel and stock. You would want at least 1mm or so of a gap. A folded note should slide all the way to the fron of the receiver.

You can do this yourself, but any experienced shooter can help. No need for a gunsmith.

Crown.
Due to poor cleaning, no cleaning, poor storage, wear and tear, etc the crown can become pitted or worn. A recrown is an easy and quick job. A good gunsmith can do it for around €90 and leave you with a target crown.

Worn out barrel.
If the barrel is shot out only a bore scope will determine for sure. There are two options. One is to cut the barrel at the chamber end, and re-chamber the rifle. Its a bit like re-threading a car tyre. Not a perfect solution, but will give you a few thousand more rounds. No part costs only gunsmith labour costs.

The second option is to re-barrel. This is the guaranteed method. You will think you have a new rifle. The crown will be done with this job. You also get to pick twist rate, barrel length, contour, etc. Cheaper than a new rifle by far.

Receiver.
Usually never enough of a problem to cause the results you are describing, but if you got the rifle glass/pillar bedded it would improve the performance of the rifle. You can shoose either the glass bedding or the glass and pillar. Price difference is small, but improvement is good.

Bullets.
A friend bought a .308 a year ago. Second hand. Used the ammo the seller recommended. Could not get the rifle to group. he immediately thought the gun was shot out, the crown was wrecked, barrel was touching, etc.Turned out after i went through a few different types of ammo that the rifle simply didn;t like the ammo. The seller exaggerated his ability, and my mate didn;t want to ask him.


Its great that we are in a time where so many people know so much about firearms. 5+ years ago people couldn't tell you about twist rates, etc. now people are informed, and know whats good or not. However somtimes it can be a problem. Reminds me of the old adage "If you hear hoof sounds, think horse, not Zebra".

Sometimes the most obvious solution is the right one. Bring it to a gun smith. Have him take a look at it. It costs nothing to have a gun looked at and he can show you where the problem lies. You then decide if you want to spend the money or if its worth it to fix the problem depending on cost.

1968eamon

hi, what ammo are you using??? i have remm .243 using remm accutip 95g...bought it new and could not get a group with any other brand. i have them all tested#### change your ammo

mrbrianj

Same as that Eamon. I have a .243 bought new last year, It absolutely hates the big money hornady 95s but loves chewing Fed powershok 100s.

ejg

One of the most sought after items....a shot out remmy with 308 bolt face. I was looking for one for ages, had to use a new action now.
My suggestion as others have said, get a gunsmith to borescope and see
if the barrel is in bad shape. Might just be coppered up to hell and back.
I had a shot out 308 that would not hit a piece of paper at 50m when the barrel was cleaned but after about 20-30 rounds she shot 30mm groups at 100yds.
If your barrel is shot out, look at bergara barrels, cheap and better than factory barrels. Another alternative is to look for take off barrels, gunsmiths often have some lying around. These are new barrels taken off rifles to make custom projects, often not even been fired.
Of course you could also then choose to get a good custom barrel like border, lothar walther or trueflight.

edi