I had the happy opportunity to help out at the D. U. festival here in Oshkosh on friday.

I somehow managed to get assigned to the Browning tent. Of course they brought 2 of each; .223 and .243 WSSM Browning A-bolt hunters. I also took home about 200 emptys, most were the .223's. I took the opportunity to shoot the .223,(of course). It was dead on, smashed the clay birds at 50 yds. The recoil was more than I thought it would be. BUT not too much by any stretch. Most who tried it said the same thing. But again this is about a 6 pound rifle, throwing a 55 grain bullet at 3850 FPS! A factory loaded 64 grain powerpoint will be offered for the .223. That would be the deer load in that caliber.

The .243 has a little more recoil from what I observed. The loads they were using were the 100 grain power point. They don't have factory loaded shells yet for the .243, so they handloaded some for the show. The factory load will be the 95 grain powerpoint. A 55 grainer will be offered for the .243, at over 4000 fps!

Acording to the reps at the show, the delay has been caused by the factory re-thinking on the barrels. Rumor had it on the internet that these rifle barrels would erode and shoot out in short order. SO they decided to chrome line both calibers. This should mean they will last much longer than if they had gone with plain steel.

Mag capacity is 3 with one in the pipe, makes a four round capacity, just like the WSM's. The flip down floor plate carries the mag up into the rifle from the bottom. The mag snaps in and out easily, making for quick reloads.

Oh the .243 will be shipping to Browning dealers in 3 weeks The .223 will be out in mid october.

Hello Grizz,

I don't know. Browning did confirm that they were chromelining the barrels on the .243WSSM.
Chromelining barrels is used for heat dissipation. I wonder what kind of barrel life these little gems will have. I mean, barrel life is less than great with a normal .243Win. I'm figuring one would be lucky to get 800 rounds out of the .243WSSM. I'm not apt to rush out and buy one, prefering to wait and see some hard evidence. Admittedly the concept for the WSSM's is good,
but often when concepts meet reality, all hell breaks loose. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

Cal, I would bet your estimate of approx. 800 rounds of truly accurate life for the 243 WSSM is pretty close. And even less for the .223 WSSM. Having said that I believe they will make accurate hunting cartridges, not high volume shooters. Having said that I am going to take the 243 WSSM and neck it up to 6.5 to experiment with a as long range competition cartridge. Be interesting to see.

Shoot Safe, Shoot Straight.....RiverRat

I find all this talk about barrel erosion kind of humorous. Case capacity wise, the 223 is very similar to the Swift, and the 243 to the 240 WBY. Why, then, do some treat the old cartridges like "normal", and the WSSM's as barrel eating monsters?

It seems like some are looking for arguments to dislike anything new..... JMO, Dutch.

In general I like large capacity cartridges in a particular bore diameter as one can always load down.

Most of us I am sure welcome new cartridges. It keeps things interesting. Not all survive but many like personal cartridges.

If the design of the WSSM's is still what I looked at last I am a little disapointed in the short necks and I even hoped for the 35 degree shoulder of the WSM's but let's see what happens.

Does anyone have the latest on the twists and barrel lenghts?

Dutch,

I can't speak for others but I hardly consider the .240Weatherby and the .220Swift "normal."
I don't hunt that much anymore, but expend a lot of ammo at the range. I had to purchase two new SS heavy barrel varmint barrels last year. Friend, they aren't cheap, not even close.
I guess it depends on what you want out of a rifle. At this point what I mainly want is a little longevity. Browning isn't chrome lining the barrels in the .243WSSM for nothing. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

Cal, you answered your own question. You don't hunt anymore.

Those of us that hunt and have seen what a 240 Weatherby can do in the field will have a soft spot for the 243WSSM. That 240 is a LONG rifle, shaving an inch or two off that sucker is a good thing.

As far as erosion, I have a 223WSSM with about 150 shots under it's belt. I cannot detect any throat erosion yet (this is in a PacNor match barrel).

So, I figure that barrel is good for say, oh, I don't know, 500 more coyotes? May I live that long.... Dutch.

Dutch, when that barrel wears out on you, it probably will be about as accurate as most factory barrels, so then you can shoot another 800 rounds thru it......

I can already shoot 55 grainers at 4000fps with my .243 Win A-Bolt.

New cartridges are how gun manufacturers survive and it doesn't hurt the industry as a whole either, but I don't need a new cartridge to duplicate what I've already got. -Rod-

If these barrels shoot out in 800 rounds, that's a lot worse than a .220 swift, since mine took about 3500-4500, most at 3900 to 4000 fps.

Anyone happen to have either or both of the Cartridges. I'd like to add them to my collection.

Mustang, email me. Dutch.

Dutch, if a guy had a custom barrel made for the 243WSSM, would it have similar life span verses the Winchester and Browning barrels? I am thinking if I were to go that route, I dont want a 20 inch barrel in the rifle, I would rather have a 24 to 26 inch barrel.

On a side note, was with a customer today that has 2 240 wby mags, a 224 wby mag, and a 270 wby mag. It was quite a thrill to view his reloading setup. He has a Forester press, circa 1977, which doesnt require case holders, and the dies just slide in and out of place on the tightening ring. It looked like a very good press, with flexibility being it's advantage.

This will be an interesting experiment with the WSSM -
- From what I hear, the case neck wall is extremely thick, which is a huge deterrant to the accuracy game. It even appears that Winchester may be using much of the WSM tooling to controls costs in case this goes bust.
- Chrome plating thickness control will likely result in their inability to hold reasonable bore dimensions; think about this.... the rifling techniques for the accuracy game require lapping, but these will not be hand lapped. And then there is the plating thickness variation x2 affecting the bore.
- You are buying a short action with a magnum bolt face. If this experiment does not work out, what do you do with this action. And you think the factory replacement barrels will be cheap?
- The only answer if this round does not live up to expectations.... have a quality barrel fitted to the action, use a tight chamber which allows you to turn the necks to a reasonable thickness, and enjoy the improved accuracy for the short time that the barrel survives.

I think that there are just too many great options available out there to jump into this cartridge at it's introduction. The accuracy that you may be trading for the extra 150 fps is not in the cards for me. It may take a full year plus to understand the pros and cons of this cartridge.

Bob

i got a box of 243 wssm loaded rds $15 dollars shipped power point loads

I have a .223 WSSM in the M70 Coyote. Accurate, YES. Groups under .75", most times way less. I have just over 600 rounds thru mine and no sign of throat erosion. Checked it out with a bore camera. You can burn out the barrel on any caliber if you constantly load to the max. The bug on the old Swift was it was a barrel burner, so was the .22-250 when it first came out. Everyone said the .264 Win. Mag. would burn a barrel out in a matter of a few hundred rounds. Same with the Weatherby cartridges. All of which is NOT true. Back off to reasonable levels and barrels live longer. I don’t push the limits on this cartridge or any other for that matter) but it will beat the old Swift by a good 150 fps.. I find nothing with the WSSM line up. No feeding problems of any kind. Yes the cases are thicker in the neck and through out the total case. To me this is a plus as case trimming is held to a minimum. My only bitch is the shine from that stainless barrel. I got my gunsmith looking into ways of “bluing” it. Lawdog