.243 Accuracy

[macberran 2]

Yeah I know SS, thats why I bought one. Ran it in did everything by the book though I was getting a wild shot like I was "pulling" it plus the poor patterns. Down the range my friend tried it, and the same. In the end what I found quite by accident was a score just below the crown inside the barrel,not pitting a score it had been back too supplier once already. It had come screw-cut from GMK at new and as it had always fired "off" for the 2nd time I took it back.

Bearing in mind I had history with my case from new and it had only had 150 rnds from new I was hacked off.

Next time when I buy even brand new I will strip it in the shop too check it. That aside the secretary of our rifle club in a later conversation said he'd heard of inaccuracy problems with the 243. Though I've heard a lot off good repports about other calibers

[SNAP SHOT 194]

believe it or not i heard just a while ago of a tikka t3 not grouping the shots either and its just out of the box???????????? .223 calibre

 

seems something is amiss at the minute with tikka.

[weejohn 3]

in my local rfd they are sending back a t3 varmint in .243 for the second time as it doesnt group, he also told me tikka have changed the type of steel they are using for the barrels.

[tikka1955 0]

Had a similar problem with my Tikka Hunter .243 win, from out of the box.

I ran this rifle in methodically with all the care and attention that you do to try to achive the utmost accuracy from your rifle. (we all do this a bit different) but trust me, it had lots of TLC during running in.

Now after firing of some 100+ rounds this rifle would not group any better than a 3'' group at 100 yds.

I went through all the usual prosseses of ellimination to try and find out what was going on, scope mounts, scope, Floating barrel, stock skrews, different ammo types, shooting off a bag, shooting off a bipod, mod on, mod off but the rifle would not group well, the best results had been with R.W.S 100gr SP

with the mod off, grouped at around 1 1/2''.

This turned my attention to the moderator, and on very close inspection of the seating land area (the mod is an end of barrel type not an over barrel type, I found that the barrel and seating land on the mod were not mating properly, the mod had a champher in the bottom outside edge of the seating area, and was not allowing the barrel to seat fully on the full seating area, this now made some sense as to my accuracy problems as a moderator that is not seated fully onto its seating area will upset the harmonics of the barrel when the rifle is fired giving erratic groups, in efect it will rattle rather than oscilate in harmony with the barrel.

A session on the lathe to remove the offending champher, and hey presto sub 1" groups at 100 yds with factory ammo, and sub 1/2" with my fire formed RWS cases, neck sized only, with 41 gr of hodgdon H4350 behind a 95gr Nosler ballistic tip at 3030 fps seated 1.5mm of the lands SWEET.

This was my problem, I hope it my be of some use.

 

PS This rifle is load fussy, it does not like most factory loads that I have tried, unfortunatly some rifles are this way.

[fastrac10 0]

Well just to keep you up to speed on my Sako75. Tried some lighter bullets, Hornady V-Max 58grain and Norma 58grain. Seemed to work and got groups down to about an inch. Was out for a fox the other night and missed! So back at paper targets and poor grouping again. A trip to my gunsmith to see whats going on. I left the gun with him. When I went back he said it was shooting all over the place. So he gave it a once over and found that where the front scope ring fastens to the base the screw was a fraction slack. Some loctite and re-tighten and the gun is shooting half inch groups at 100 yards. With the lighter bullets there was less recoil which helped the grouping to start with, but the main problem was this screw. It had him scratching his head for a while but it's sorted now. Problem now is I've got a lamp shy Fox!!!! But I have a plan to sort that out. Looks like at last my gun is sorted. Many thanks for the help and suggestions you guys gave.

Cheers

Fastrac10

[SNAP SHOT 194]

Glad to hear you got sorted mate,

[mudman 14]

I've got a Tikka M595 in .243, its my first rifle and I've had it for a couple of years now. Put maybe 160 rnds through it and cannot get anything like the groups talked about on most forums. I'm happy enough to hit a beer mat at 100 yards with three consecutive shots and thats with Ballistic tips, with soft points I've occasionally missed the A4 the targets drawn on! It has had a few good clean outs but with no improvement and likewise I've put a wildcat mod onto it again with no great improvement, although it does have other advantages. Next time home I'll give it another good clean, put half a dozen cheap reloads through it to dirty it up then try some grouping with mod on/ off and with some different make/ weight bullets. If that fails I'll give it to my brother to shoot to see if its operator error on my part. If that does not work then off to the rifle smiths for a professional assessment.

[SNAP SHOT 194]

I've got a Tikka M595 in .243, its my first rifle and I've had it for a couple of years now. Put maybe 160 rnds through it and cannot get anything like the groups talked about on most forums. I'm happy enough to hit a beer mat at 100 yards with three consecutive shots and thats with Ballistic tips, with soft points I've occasionally missed the A4 the targets drawn on! It has had a few good clean outs but with no improvement and likewise I've put a wildcat mod onto it again with no great improvement, although it does have other advantages. Next time home I'll give it another good clean, put half a dozen cheap reloads through it to dirty it up then try some grouping with mod on/ off and with some different make/ weight bullets. If that fails I'll give it to my brother to shoot to see if its operator error on my part. If that does not work then off to the rifle smiths for a professional assessment.

 

mudman i shoot a tikka 595 and on a bad day shoot about an inch at 100, nearly alway 1/2 inch, and i'm telling you the truth,

1) did you buy the rifle form new

2) do you ever clean the carbon out, with a good remover

3) how often do you remove copper build up....

4) what weight bullets are you shooting?

 

 

the 595 i have will not shoot 100 grain bullets below 1 1/2 inches so i shoot 95g sst for deer...

and 58g v-max, 70g blitz kings on foxy

 

the 595 is worth good money on the second hand market for the action alone, i'm doing a custom build on mine within the next 2 months,

The action is an excellent one to build on so if your thinking about changing use the action and go down this route,

 

here's a few pic's of the groups shot last year

 

58g v-max with a clear pulled shot top right,

 

 

 

 

 

95g sst's.......

 

 

 

So don't let anyone tell you they don't shoot, i hope you get her sorted.......

 

 

 

forgot to add 5 shot groups at 100 yards....

[mudman 14]

Hi SST, excellent groups you show there, if I could achieve groups half as good I would be over the moon.

 

in response to your questions:

 

I bought the rifle second hand,

 

I use a couple of shooters choice products including a copper remover,

 

I guess I have cleaned the barrel about every 40-50 shots, last time was about 20 shots ago.

 

Currently using Remington 95 grn accutips, I have some 95 grn winchester silvertips, 75 grn accutips and some homeloads to try out.

 

I try not to get too worried by the lack of tight grouping because the set up is killing deer, limiting myself to max 120 yards although most of my shots are about yards (woodland Roe). But for piece of mind and potential for longer range shots it would really be nice to shoot 1" groups at 100m.

[SNAP SHOT 194]

i would recommend a good copper remover, try forrest foam, let it soak in the barrel overnight then see the difference,

do you know how many round the gun had through it when you bought it?

[mudman 14]

No, to be honest I do not know how much work the rifle had had before I bougt it, I got it from a gun shop on. I'll give the barrel a good scrub out and de-copper. I will also get my brother to shoot it (he shoots rifles well) and see if it may be operator error on my part.

[fastrac10 0]

No, to be honest I do not know how much work the rifle had had before I bougt it, I got it from a gun shop on. I'll give the barrel a good scrub out and de-copper. I will also get my brother to shoot it (he shoots rifles well) and see if it may be operator error on my part.

 

What sort of scope are you using?. Could this be at fault, when you alter scope does it move as per click adjustment. I had this trouble with a Hawke scope. I think everything else has been suggested.

Cheers

Fastrac10

[177LANDY 0]

Hi I also have a Sako 75 and achieve excellent groupings with Winchester 95grain ballistic tips and Norma 100 grain also Lapua 100 grain

all three of these will group within 1inch at 100yds,but it hates Federal for some reason cannot get anything under 2inches ??

just an idea to try these,but what works for some does not work for others,but it is frustrating getting it sorted,good luck.

[mudman 14]

What sort of scope are you using?. Could this be at fault, when you alter scope does it move as per click adjustment. I had this trouble with a Hawke scope. I think everything else has been suggested.

 

Zeiss Conquest, 3-9 x 50. Seems to function as required with ref to click adjusment.

 

Like I said previously groups with Ballistic tips are not good, with soft points absolutely appalling.

[yammers5627 0]

From what i was told by a good gunsmith the .243win was developed for varmint hunting really so alot of the heavy bullets wont work. I know of three or four sako's and tikkas that will only shoot light grain bullets. As for the sauer 202 benched and viced at the factory they usually get 15mm 3 shot groups, each rifle does come with a test target but on the ammunition side Sauer load there own. Hope this helps.