I suppose I will take a stab at it. I just traded mine off, but it is an excellent shooter.
It was the standard contour, which some seem to have problems with, but mine shot very good with Speer 70gr TNT and Nosler 90gr BT and Varget. And as for factory fodder, the Federal Power-Shocks seem to fire great out of almost all NEF 243s.
I'm not real sure about cast through a 243, and I don't seem to remember many posts on it
What barrel contour are you looking at buying?
-Aaron