Any one know who is chambering rifles in this caliber besides win and browning? I'm looking for a medium weight rifle with a 24" tube. Does savage offer it yet? I don't really want to spend a ton of money. How about Tikka? Thanks for the info.

Right now they're the only two I know of. You may have to wait a year or two before others pick it up.

Bob257

Sako has recently announced a new action for the WSM's. This action would be adaptable to the WSSM's also. Since Sako and Tikka are now co-produced, it would seem likely that Tikka will also offer some WSM chamberings. Whether they perceive enough demand for the rather oddball WSSM's to chamber them is another question.



After all, what you get from the .243 WSSM is .243 Winchester performance in a .243 Winchester-length action with two less rounds in the magazine and brass and ammunition that is twice as expensive. Given those parameters, would you bet the cost of tooling up to build that caliber against the questionable sales potential?

Stonecreek is right on both counts, the 243wssm is nothing more than a marketing gimic. If you handload for the 243 Win you can get equally impressive results and burn your barrel out just as fast. The wssm may have a slight edge in accuarcy but it would be slight. Also right that Win and Browning are the only to out that are chambering for it.

From what I undestand, you still cannot get the 243WSSM in either the Browning or Winshester either. I asked my dealer last week about them and he said they are still not available. Talk about hype, they come out with all this hype about the guns and then it takes a couple years to get to market. My feelings are that if they don't have them ready to go they shouldn't promote them. I'm so sick of seeing things about them now that I no longer have any interst in them. I'll stick to the old tried and true cartridges, at least I know if I want a 300WM or 243 or 308 I can go to my local dealer and buy one.

Virgin Valley is chambering barrels for Encores in all the WSSM and RSAUM calibers and has sold some already.

http://www.virginvalleyguns.com/

$bob$

I have only found the 243 wssm in the winchester super shadow super short. And that was within the last month.

Not sure about the Winchester but I looked at a Browning just last week at Sportsmans Warehouse in Boise ID in 243wssm. They also had a 223wssm on the rack. I think that the 223wssm is going to be a barrel burner and the 243wssm is basically no better than the reg 243. So you would be better off just to get the 243 Win anyway. Its kinda like the big 4x4 fourwheelers some day we will be looking at a "1200cc sabertooth tiger" (which is stupid, 500-600cc's is more than enough power for most people to kill themself with) all in the name of one upmanship. Don't fall for the marketing gimics just my .02

bearcat,

Question. How many rounds does it take for a cartridge to be considered a "barrel burner"? Lawdog

Lawdog,

Not all rounds that have the capacity to be "barrel burners" are. There are alot of people that have 220 Swifts that don't push the round to it's limits that have got good barrel life out of their rifles. But most don't do that they load for the max fps, which there is nothing wrong with if you don't mind the barrel damage. I don't think that there is a set number of rounds that you could say makes a round a "barrel burner" BUT their is a limit to how fast you can push a 22 caliber bullet down a tube with out causeing accelerated wear, would you not agree?? Look at the 30-378 or the 300 Peagasus, both rounds showed conciderable throat errosion after 50-100 rounds. Granted most people won't put more than a 100 rounds down a rifle of that size in 20 years, but some will. 22-250's, 220 swifts can both be very hard on barrels if you push them. And the 223wssm is suppose to be just as fast if not faster. So I would say that the "new" round will probably toast a barrel in say between 1000-1500 rounds, maybe less. I don't know, I'm not an expert on barrel life, but common sense dictates a few facts of life. Maybe someone with more knowledge on the subject could post more accurate numbers.