I have a 22-243 built on a rem 700 with a 28inch shilen 1:8 twist barrel. i want to shoot 80-90gr bullets at about 3500fps. does anyone have any idea what kind of barrel life i can expect? and also, what are your favorite bullets in this weight range? do any of the manufacturers make varmint bullets in this weight range? TIA

I do not own a 22/243, but until 6 months ago, I owned a .224 Clark (64.0 grains, which is slightly bigger than 22/243) which after 12 years use, had about 1500 shots, .250 inches of throat erosion, with velocity down about 90 - 100 fps.

It has been stated before many times but the key to any .224 Centrefire from 22/250 and larger, is to avoid firing shots rapidly, as the barrel heats up very quick.

Sierra and Nosler make 80 grain HPBT's, JLK and Berger make 80 grain VLD's. JLK also make a 90 grain VLD, but most agree that a 1 in 8 pitch struggles to stabilise the bullet, so a 1 in 7.7 or 1 in 7 would be better if you want to use this bullet.

North West Custom Projectiles make an 85 grain bullet, but I have not heard any reports from people who have used them.

I have decided that next time that I build up a .224 Clark I will use a long M700 action, as I found that with the medium length action, as the throat erosion reached about .125 inches, and the loaded length exceeded 2.9 inches, it would no longer feed reliably through the magazine. Luckily the 69 grain Sierra HPBT I was using would group between .5 and .7 moa with a .150 jump to the lands. Good luck with your project, Brian.

Bullshooter,

Have a 22/6mm Remington wildcat - similar to the 224 Clark - built on a long Remington 700 action and a McMillan stock. Has a 28-inch barrel with a 14-inch twist. The heaviest bullet used is the Hornady 60 SHP. Mine has seen about twenty years of use in the prairie dog and ground squirrel fields without a deteriation in accuracy. Don't have an actual count as to number of rounds and it has shared duties with several other varmint guns.

Tempted to build another one with a fast twist for the 80 grainers.

Hammer