New rifle, any advice ???

[fox fire]

 Finally broke down and got me a new one, what would be the smart thing to do?     Give the barrel a serious cleanin, would lapping the bore be over kill?   what do you do to your new rifles???       
 
  Just wunderin what a serious rifle man does to get a great start for a new one.

[skarke]

Man, you are gonna get a PILE of opinions here.  RE lapping the bore: I really think that, unless you have a CLEAR copper fouling problem, that you will do much more harm than good.  If you are going to lap, easy does it.  A little flitz followed by some JB should be all that you need, AFTER you have identified some sort of problem.

If you rifle shoots well, then I beseech thee to leave it be.

When you say to yourself, "man, that's a lot of copper for just a few shots", clean it thoroughly, then take a tight fitting jag, start with flitz, 10 times back and forth.  Follow with JB, same procedure.  Last wipe the bore totally clean.

Shoot, see what you get.

The mere act of shooting the darn thing "laps" the barrel.  Don't wear it out prematurely by unnecessary activity.

Last, discover Wipe Out foaming cleaner (not other brands).  The stuff is miraculous.

[fox fire]

Thanx for the input,  this is my first new rifle in years and just wunderin the best first step.
  I figured the lappin was to much, I've read post about some one lapping to some what smooth out the ruff stuff ( I guess microscopic burrs ).
  Probably give it a good cleanin to remove any reside left over from the factory, thats the usual with me, I was just curious if ther mite be something better that a more experienced shooter new done.   

[gunnut69]

I usually clean well and then shoot and clean as normal for about a hundred rounds. This gives me the once fired brass I like to use working up a load and smooths the bore a bit. Cleaning a couple of times during this process will give an idea of the care taken with the barrels manufacture. Usually that will give all the smoothing needed.. Remember the first rule--if it ainlt broke, don't fix it.. congratulations on the new rifle..

[fox fire]

 Just shoot, clean, enjoy, repeat, gotcha.     Later on I'm gonna try some reloading, one of the reasons I bought the .243 over the 25-06 was I already had 2 boxes of shells and a set of dies, and the balistics were about the same, so for coyote and deer it'll work just fine I think.

[gunnut69]

The 243 is a fine deer rifle and nearly perfect for coyotes if a bit hard on pelts. I use a sierra 75 flat base bullet in a 244 or the 243 and it is devatating. For deer sized animals I would spring for a Nosler Partition. They are pricier but the 243 lacks a bit in penetration at closer ranges especially and the Partition will solve that problem while keeping the devastating impact of the 243.. Was my choice for a first rifle and for both my kids.. Took a lot of fine deer with the 243.. Good luck..

[fox fire]

 The reloadin thang is new to me, gotta friend with a press and experience so I should be ok, I just gotta do some home work on what type of bullets to try, I dont have a clue.

[gunnut69]

Well the 243 was made so effective by the introduction of modern bullets. The single core bullets, thos using a simple cup of gilding metal and core of lead, will fail is they are driven fast enough into a dense enough target. A heavy bone can cause such a blowup and the ensuing lack of penetration will lead to loses of deer sized animals. Smaller varmit sized critters such as coyotes are simply too shattered to go very far. The 95-100 grain Partitions use a jacket that has two compartments for the lead cores. the front compartment is fairly soft and readily expands even at the lower velocities at longer ranges. The advantage is the rear core. The wall or partition that creates the 2 compartments stops expansion of the front core and the remainder of the slug becomes a flat pointed solid. They generally retain around 60-65% of their original weight. I shot a fairly large buck running at around 100-125 yards, thru the on side hip at the top of a bounce. The bullet shattered the right rear(onside) hip traveled under the spine length of the body from roght hip to left shoulder. It clipped off a rib, penetrated the shoulder blade and stopped just under the hide of the left shoulder. The animal gave no indication of being hit but I knew where the crosswires were when the rifle fired. I circled completely around and approached ffom another direction. The deer was spotted and I nearly fired again but noticed the unnatural position. He was dead and had traveled around 100 yards or so. There was no blood trail as there was no exit.. He was dead and recovered but too much good luck was used up.. For that type shooting I would reccommend a larger round.. Almost any other reasonable shot results is lightening bolt like kills. The 75 grain single core HP's (I prefer Sierra) are very accurate and a violent impact can help keep the massive damage inside avoiding huge holes in the skin. Still if the crush cavity touches the hide the damage will be pretty bad. Of course they 'yotes dies really sudden!! Good lcuk with the 243, you'll like it!
Jerry

[roper]

Finally broke down and got me a new one, what would be the smart thing to do?     Give the barrel a serious cleanin, would lapping the bore be over kill?   what do you do to your new rifles???       
 
  Just wunderin what a serious rifle man does to get a great start for a new one.

I normaly clean after each shot for the first ten rd that smooths out the reamer marks and from there clean normally.  I've never lapped a bore and I use GM top engine cleaner then Sweet's for copper works in my rifles. 

Lots of good bullets for the 243 from Berger to the solid copper.  At one time Sierra was in Calif and we use to buy 2nds 6mm 100gr and I killed lots of deer with that bullet in the 243.  My first antelope when moved to Co used a 243 with standard bullet and when I started loading for the 243 back in 1965 those partition weren't all that accurate.

I've also had good luck with Hornady 87gr SP use that in  the 243/243AI/6RemAI along with 100gr BTSP.  I drive those 87 Hornady pretty close to 3700fps in the 243AI works for antelope also use the 95gr solid base BT for antelope in the 6RemAI.  I use 80/85 gr bullets in the above rifles for varmit shooting.  Well good luck you'll like the 243

[fox fire]

Thanx for the input gents, great food for thought.

[Swampman]

Give the bore a light cleaning and then just shoot it.  No need to do anything else.  The 100 grain Remington Core-Lokts can't be beat for deer.