1 in 9" and 1 in 10" .243?

[doninva]

My new Tikka .243 has a 1 in 10" twist barrel. Most .243 barrels are 1 in 9", I think. Will the Tikka tend to shoot heavy or light bullets better. Thanks, Don

[drdougrx]

A 1 in 10 is the standard...I've had a number of 243s and the 1 in 10 prevails.  I would not worry too  much at all.  My Tikka T3 Hunter puts 90gr nosler ABs in a nickle sized group easily.  Also, I'm not at all interested in shooting bullets lighter than 90gr...preferrably 100gr partitions.  I've taken deer and exotic sheep/goats with 90, 95 and 100gr bullets and 1 in 10 twists and had NO problems with accuracy.

[Catfish]

The faster the twist the heaver the bullets it will stablize. 1 in 10 is the standard twist for the 243 and should shoot bullets up to 85 gr. real well.

[doninva]

Thanks guys, anyone tried the 55 grain bullets in .243. Thinking of working up a load for yotes that will not blow big holes. Thanks, Don

[drdougrx]

Hi Don,

I used to shoot them when I had a Rem VLS.  It's 26" heavy barrel got 3400fps with the 55gr nbt (well at least according to my Oehler Chronograph)...I haven't shot any since I traded the gun (huge and heavy) several years ago.  GL!

[Deerhunter#1]

I always wanted to shoot 100 grain bullets in my 243 because it was to be a deer gun. had 3 handi rifles and a marlin x bolt gun. All had 10 twist rates. I counld't get any of them to shoot better than 2 1/2" at 100 yards with factory or hand loads. I now have a savage with a 9 1/4 twist and i cant feed it a 100 grain bullet be it facory or reload that it doesnt shoot better than 1 moa. so it depends what grain weight you want to shoot. 

[petemi]

My Handi Superlight .243 one in ten twist shoots sub- MOA at 300 yards with the 85 gr. Sierra Gameking over 41.0 gr. RL15 for 3110 fps.  I don't think a deer would complain that it wasn't a hundred grain bullet

Pete