Kent Goldings
.357 mag
A few months back, I upgraded the stock of my Savage Axis 2 223 from a Boyd's Lightweight Thumb-hole to a Boyd's AT-ONE thumb-hole. At that time, it entered my mind to build a new sporting rifle around the former stock. I chose the 243 Winchester because of the versatility of that caliber. I bought a Savage Axis 2 Youth with a 20 inch sporter barrel and donated the barreled action to the build. I swapped the factory scope bases for a 20 MOA rail and mounted a Nikon Prostaff P3 6-18x40 AO BDC scope I had on hand.
I took it to Sheepdog Warrior to break its virginity. I used a couple of boxes of Federal Fusion 95 gr. that the LGS had. The muzzle velocity was about 2830 fps, which is about 100 fps less than the box advertised. This was not unexpected with the shorter barrel.
The Good:
After a bit of in-letting in the barrel channel, I was able to get the barrel free floated. The 243 is every bit as accurate as the 223 before it. I was able to consistently hit targets at much longer ranges than would be considered ethical hunting for a 243 shooting 95 grain bullets.
The Bad:
Although it is a more than adequate for hunting. The Nikon Prostaff P3 is not ideal for long-distance shooting because of a rather limited number of elevation adjustments. I'm also not a huge fan of BDC reticle for this application. The glass does not seem as sharp at higher magnifications as other Nikon scopes at the higher price point. I forget how much this scope cost, but it wasn't more than $300. Still, it is more than adequate for hunting and I have a long standing policy not to spend more on a glass than was spent on the host firearm.
The barrel twist rate (1:9) may be inadequate for bullets heavier than 100 gr. I have some 6 mm 108 gr Hornady ELDM bullets to test that theory. Nevertheless, This rifle will not rival other 6 mm calibers in shooting long range.
Although the recoil was gentle, there was still enough make it a more difficult to spot bullet impacts. I'll probably put a brake on it.
I took it to Sheepdog Warrior to break its virginity. I used a couple of boxes of Federal Fusion 95 gr. that the LGS had. The muzzle velocity was about 2830 fps, which is about 100 fps less than the box advertised. This was not unexpected with the shorter barrel.
The Good:
After a bit of in-letting in the barrel channel, I was able to get the barrel free floated. The 243 is every bit as accurate as the 223 before it. I was able to consistently hit targets at much longer ranges than would be considered ethical hunting for a 243 shooting 95 grain bullets.
The Bad:
Although it is a more than adequate for hunting. The Nikon Prostaff P3 is not ideal for long-distance shooting because of a rather limited number of elevation adjustments. I'm also not a huge fan of BDC reticle for this application. The glass does not seem as sharp at higher magnifications as other Nikon scopes at the higher price point. I forget how much this scope cost, but it wasn't more than $300. Still, it is more than adequate for hunting and I have a long standing policy not to spend more on a glass than was spent on the host firearm.
The barrel twist rate (1:9) may be inadequate for bullets heavier than 100 gr. I have some 6 mm 108 gr Hornady ELDM bullets to test that theory. Nevertheless, This rifle will not rival other 6 mm calibers in shooting long range.
Although the recoil was gentle, there was still enough make it a more difficult to spot bullet impacts. I'll probably put a brake on it.
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