243 handi propblems

[jbirdwell]

new to forum,Thanks in advance for any advice. I have a 243 handi with a 20" barrell I have pure heck with this rifle, trying to get it to shoot 1/2 way desent. 1st I had a head space problem.Repaired that. Now I have good lockup with proper head spacing, thanks to the information in FAQ section. I also did a trigger job . pull is 3.1 pounds down from about 7 pounds and very crisp.(good info in th FAQ). I do reload and have tried 3 kinds of 100gn bullets ,sierra game king , hornady inerbond , and noiler bt. All grouped more than 2 1/2" @ 100yds, 2 1/2 the best. Changed the scope three times. Finally bought a nnew Bushnell 3X9X50 banner. (good scope for the money. I own 3 on small cal. rifles). I'm now reloading sierra 80gn ssp with 42.5gn IMR 4350 behind it with a little better accuracy. (about 2" group). It still strings at least 2 of a 5 shot group, way out to 3". Im going to reload some hornady 65gn v max and see what happens. I think varget 42 gn is recomended for 70gn bullets but should work for 65gn. Thhis rifle was to be used to take hogs, coyotes and ride on a rack of a four wheeler. But it does not seem that this will happen if I cant get it to shoot any better than what it does. I do own a 280 in a handi and it shoot excelent.(under 1" with 140gn sierra game king annd rl 19 behind that). The 280 Loves flat base bullets. Any thoughts or suggestions. If I can't get it shoot it's going away.                                                                                                                                                                                                   THANKS FOR ANY HELP                                                                                                                                                                                                           Jim

[bigjeepman]

First ... welcome to GBO's forums. In time, you will find that this is a great place with a great bunch of people. I seriously believe this website is the best of the best because of two things ... #1 the members and staff  ... none better and enough said ... #2 ... the diversity of the forums ... there is surely something here for everybody and there is a lot here for me. With that said, I want to say I am surely not the technical type that can help very much if your Handi itself is the problem. There are literally dozens and dozens of members that can do more for you in a minute than I can in a year. I will ask a few questions to get this rolling along toward a possible solution to better accuracy. I coyote hunt with a .243 and I think it is a good choice. I do not save pelts so I am not so particular about bullet selection as some might be.

1. What kind of scope rings are you using?
2. Why is your .243 barrel only 20"? Was it cut down?
3. Does it make any difference what bullet or bullets you use?
4. What kind of front rest are you using when you test loads?
5. Have you read the FAQ and Help sticky at the top of this section? Have you tried the O ring?

[stimpylu32]

Jim

Welcome to GBO and the strange world of superlites , the 20" 243 barrel is one of the biggest headaches that H&R has made , i just got one 2nd. hand and am just starting to work up loads . my best group so far has been 1 1/4 at 100 yards , this was 3 shots .

The problem is that they heat up VERY fast and the point of aim will shift all over the place , which explains why your groups are the size that they are .

I have found that they work best if you shoot no more than 3 shots and let the barrel cool for about 10 min. or so then shoot 3 more , my best groups have been with speer 100 gr. flat base bullets over a min. charge of H-4895 .

These barrels can be made to shoot well from what i have heard , but it will take some time to find the right load and the timing of shots to keep them cool . hope this helps . 

stimpy

[bigjeepman]

My apologies ... I told you others could help more than me as I am not familiar with the superlites at all. That is another whole ball game from what I have read in this forum.

[stimpylu32]

My apologies 

Whats this about jeep , you did good , had i not gotten a superlite i would have asked the same ??s , these can and are a royal pain if you want a out of the box shooter , which is why i love the handi's - i love to tinker with guns .

Once you get a load that will shoot a good 2 or 3 shot group you will be happy , just remember these are not the guns to run a 100 rounds a day through , if you want that , get a 223 Bull Barrel and shoot away .

stimpy

[coop2564]

I have same barrel and its the 2nd one.  It will not shoot any better than 3 '' avg group at 100yds using 100 gr or the 95 gr fusion, I've spent a fortune on shells.  It will shoot the 85gr gameking welll but its to light for me for hog and deer.  So that barrel I've just setup for varmits. I tryed all the stickys as well. Good Luck!

[dk17hmr]

I jsut found an awesome load for my 24" 243, who knows what this will do for you though.  Tried 70gr Nosler Ballistic tips, 100gr Pointed soft points but finally got this:

43.5 grs of Varget capped with a Hornady 58gr moly V-max in Federal cases with Winchester Primers OAL of 2.650",  off the bench for 3 shots is less then .5", it makes a very small clover leaf.  Velocity should be 3600 +.  I wouldnt have a problem killing a deer with this load, with a high neck/dome or heart shot, the bullet would do some nasty things to one.  My dad said he wants to borrow it when he heads west for antalope this year.

I have heard good things about the Combined Technology bullets out a regular 243, maybe you would want to try those

[jbirdwell]

Firstlet me say thanks to all that repliedand tried to help. next let me say that Bigjeepman is exactly correct with what he said about this site. I'm  not very computer literate as everybody can tell from my spelling and Icould skin and quarter a deer faster than I can type this reply but Ihave been reading in some of the forums and your right ,this site is great. next I cant remember who made the rings but there not real cheap. I thinik around 25.00$ or so, maybe Bsquare or something like that. the originals were very cheap.I thought that the rings and scopes that I used might have been the problem but when installed new stuff the same problem continued.This rifle seems to like flat base bullets better 80 to 100gr range but still will not stableize them.I use a sand bag and rest the foreend behind the foreend screw.This did help some. I have read the  FAQ which has helped alot. Simpy , I also owned a 223 bull barrel handi . Traded it for a savage 223 bull. Dumbest thing i ever did. Used the 223 handi to shoot the heads of of turkey in west Texas, with the cheapest amo i could find. sure miss that rifle. Thanks DK for the load data,I'll try that if these 65gn's dont work. Any way ,I gotta go ponder about what next to do about this no shooting son of a gun. Maybe get a new barrel in 223 bull or  308. (I have dies for a 308).                                                                                                                                        Thanks again for your help and support.                                                               Jim                                                                               

[bigjeepman]

Jim ...

stimpylu32 set me straight so I will take it upon myself to do the same for you ... do not apologize for your computer skills ... it just doesn't matter enough to even mention your spelling. Besides, I think the skills you obviously have are pretty cool ... I'm not too slick at skinning anything other than filleting fish. I have a .223 bb Handi that I just refuse to lose. I refinished the stock recently and now I kind of have a "need" for another Handi in maybe 45/70 or the .45 colt. I have lots of load data for the .243 with Sierra 60gr HP, 70gr and 80gr Nosler BT, and 85gr Sierra HPBT that is at your disposal if you need it.

Good shooting ...

[Hunternz]

Howdy, I have the .243 superlite and it is the best rifle I have ever had, for the bush and mountains, it takes some work to get it to shoot but shoot it does now, 3 shot groups under an inch,
Yep done the trigger, polished the bore, bedded the plastic forend to and around the stud.
Remington Brass, ADI 2217 powder, Winchester large rifle primers and Hornady SST 95 gr to just of rifling, leave the barrrel dirty when hunting as if I clean the barrel the first shot will usually shoot 2" high at a 100m, will always get flyers after third shot at the range, barrel gettting to warm, no worries with a  H&R hunting rifle, one shot one kill.
In the future I have got this maybe slightly crazy idea of epoxying (high temp rated) a graphite sleeve (from a broken fishing rod with the same taper as the barrel) over the barrel so more rigid and cool quicker, with out much weight gain. Use a dremel to cut a groove in the sleeve for the stud.
     

[dodd3]

Hunternz  is that a tar in the pic or a  chamois bit hard to see in your pic .
bernie

[Hunternz]

Its a Tahr nanny, here is the Chamois shot on the same trip,
Regards Howard.

[snuffer#1]

With stringing of shots, you might need to change your powder. Some handis are finicky about the powders
                                                               thomas