[loader]

If you are a handloader, take a good look at the 243, as bullet technology has made it a better choice for serious varmint shooting at long distances.

For example the Nosler 55 gr BTips in .224 have a BC of .267, while the 55 gr .243s are .276...yup, lower SD and a higher BC, go figure. H380 will drive these 243s over 4000 fps, but better yet, you can duplicate the 22-250 55 gr velocities in the 243 WITH THE SAME AMOUNT OF POWDER used in the 22-250. This means that recoil is THE SAME but pressures drop to les than 45,000 CUP in the 243.

The two cases have identical expansion ratios in bbls of equal length, so there is no advantage to the 22-250 there either.

Since varminting is not a rapid fire exercise, I use the 243 in a 24 inch Encore rifle...I sold my 22-250 bbl and replaced it with a 243 bbl after shooting a friend's 243 Encore. His had the Tamer muzzle brake and felt exactly like a 22 Hornet.

Lore has it that the 22-250 can be more accurate than the 243, but I found no difference at the range...both shot 3/8th MOA 5 shot groups. The reduced 243 loads showed markedly less bbl heating, and stayed on zero better.

Way out yonder the 243 will launch 70 gr BTs at the same velocity as the 22-250 with 55 grainers and the recoil increase is not noticable. For deer, you can go all the way up to the Barnes 115 grainer with a sectional density of .278, right there with the 160 gr 7MM and better than the 180 gr .308.

Serious shooters have set records at 1000 yards with the little 243...that should say something. If you are on a bubget and want to be sure it will drive tacks right out of the box, look seriously at the new Savages with the adjustable trigger. Put the money you save into optics and don't look back.

 

[loader]

Zepplin -

A few years back Savage built a true short action to go with the 110 long action. The 110 long actually was and still is very common at 1000 yd competitions.

Anyway, the short actions are probably the most accurate out of the box bolt rifles under $1200. Sure, you will hear reports of this REmington and That Winchester shooting .25 MOA, and they are probably true, but these are unique rifles that just came out good. The Savages are 1 MOA and under...99% of them.

The secret to making the Savage accurate is the interface between the barrel and receiver in which the barrel screws into the receiver and a large lock nut (really a lock collar) screws down on the outside of the barrel against the face of the receiver. If you count up all the threads involved, you get the longest, strongest, most rigid barrel/receiver interface in the business.

Originally this set up was conceived to cut production costs, because they are so easy to headspace...screw the bbl in intil it stops on a fired case or SAAMI blank, tighten the lock nut and you are done.

Until this year Savages came with poor triggers, and it took a lot of skill to take advantage of the accuracy. Most serious folks dropped in custom triggers. This year Savage has a new fully adjustable trigger based on Glock's safety system. The two part trigger solves the liability problem for too light a pull, and they can now be adjusted down to target weights by the shooter.

I do need to give Remington credit for the 7600 pumps...they do match up in price and accuracy with the Savage bolt guns. This is a case of a very rigid receiver, and the complete free floating of the barrel.

 

[loader]

Zepplin -

Nice shooting! For a serious shooter like you I don't think the Savage has many advantages other than bbl interchangability (all one needs is the spanner wrench for the lock collar). To get tiny groups, you need to put about the same amout of work into a Savage as a Remington. It's more a question of what you get out of the box for a hunting application. For the average varmint shooter, the Savage in 243 will handload to 1/2 MOA pretty quickly, giving 2 inches at 400 yds.