I have a Sako in .243W I intend to rebarrel. Currently it wears the original factory 22 inch barrel. Mainly I use this as my varmint rifle shooting bullets from 80 to 100 gns.
In this context is there any advantage in going to a 23 or 24 inch barrel ? Overall weight is not a huge factor as any hiking tends to be relatively short distances.

Are you going back with a 243Win chamber? If you are, you may or may not see any gain in velocity with a longer tube. On paper you might find gains in velocity with a longer barrel but this is not guaranteed. I would advise you to have the barrel cut to a length that you like, or if you want to try a longer barrel you could always have it cut and re-crowned if you decide later that the longer barrel doesn't float your boat.

Yep, staying with a .243W chamber.
What prompted the question of longer barrel length is some reloading manuals show data from 24 inch barrels. Just wondered if this might somehow optimise handloads in general.

quote:

Originally posted by 30.06king:
Yep, staying with a .243W chamber.
What prompted the question of longer barrel length is some reloading manuals show data from 24 inch barrels. Just wondered if this might somehow optimise handloads in general.

Your gains, if any, will not = the cost.
People get hung up on barrel length "to optimize" a certain cartridge.
A new barrel 2" longer may only net 20 to 30 fps, maybe none maybe as high as 50 but in any event not enough to worry about.
If the rifle is accurate I would quit reading the internet blabber about barrel length and enjoy shooting that thing, upgrade your glass or something but a barrel is a waste of time.

quote:

Originally posted by Snellstrom:

quote:

Originally posted by 30.06king:
Yep, staying with a .243W chamber.
What prompted the question of longer barrel length is some reloading manuals show data from 24 inch barrels. Just wondered if this might somehow optimise handloads in general.

Your gains, if any, will not = the cost.
People get hung up on barrel length "to optimize" a certain cartridge.
A new barrel 2" longer may only net 20 to 30 fps, maybe none maybe as high as 50 but in any event not enough to worry about.
If the rifle is accurate I would quit reading the internet blabber about barrel length and enjoy shooting that thing, upgrade your glass or something but a barrel is a waste of time.

X2 roger

Good comments, thanks guys. Appreciated.
The main reason for a new barrel, not originally explained, is to regain lost accuracy potential. I have been trying to develop a new load recently and this isn't working out. It should be much easier than it has been. A couple of my favourite loads no longer shoot well. From previous experience installing a new True Flite barrel is likely to enable working up new, accurate loads in fairly short order. If worthwhile velocity gains are unlikely with a longer tube I would probably stay at 22 inches.
What's the current wisdom on twist rates ? The original barrel is 1 / 10 inch. Is this best or an alternative twist better for 80 to 100 gn bullets ?
Cheers

I always go if I have a choice is a fast for caliber twist

If your Sako has its factory barrel and is a sporter, then it is actually 580mm or almost 23 inches. If you like it the way it is, then you need to have a barrel of duplicate contour and length made.

But before discarding your Sako barrel, which was about as good a barrel as they come, be sure that some other accuracy factor isn't messing up your groups. However, if you have several thousand rounds down the tube then it may be time.

quote:

Originally posted by 30.06king:
Good comments, thanks guys. Appreciated.
The main reason for a new barrel, not originally explained, is to regain lost accuracy potential. I have been trying to develop a new load recently and this isn't working out. It should be much easier than it has been. A couple of my favourite loads no longer shoot well. From previous experience installing a new True Flite barrel is likely to enable working up new, accurate loads in fairly short order. If worthwhile velocity gains are unlikely with a longer tube I would probably stay at 22 inches.
What's the current wisdom on twist rates ? The original barrel is 1 / 10 inch. Is this best or an alternative twist better for 80 to 100 gn bullets ?
Cheers

For shooting about any cup and core bullet from 58 grains to 100 grains 1/10" twist is pretty hard to beat. If you want to extend the range you are shooting by using heavier than 100 grain bullets or if you want to shoot some 100 grain VLD bullets you should probably have a faster twist barrel installed such as 1/8 or even 1/7", but don't plan on shooting the lightweight bullets (55-58 grains) with such a fast twist.

In my lifetime of reading, in the competition rifles which had a weight class, the trend seems to be to shorter, stiffer barrels as more accurate in competition. Same with cartridges. .308 vs. .30/'06. And the amazing .284 wildcats. (My buddy the gunsmith assembled a couple dozen 6mm/.284s and they all shot very well and sold and he knew other basement smiths who had the same experience.) The "long barrel" of yesteryear burned more powder, important when the powder was black and very limited... Today -?? And it gave a longer "sight radius" when glass was unknown. Seems that shallow groove rifling does not have as long a life. .243 has certainly "won its spurs." Best of luck with your decision. Happy Trails.

Guys, thanks again for all the thoughts and comments.
Discussion with my barrel guy yesterday and am going with same barrel length ( 23 inch ), contour and 1/10 twist. Generally shooting cup & core.
Don't really know why the barrel won't shoot now. Probably not much more than 1000 rounds to date. Disappointing considering it's always been a great shooter. Checked action / rings / mounts screws and all quite snug. Accuracy loss has been sudden. Don't think it's the scope itself, an older Leupold which seems almost bullet proof.

Check the crown
pretty strange for a barrel to switch like that, usually a mechanical issue like crown, scope etc.
Unless you burned it up but you would have had to get it pretty hot.

I had a similar issue with a 6mm Rem. Older gun that lost accuracy. I cleaned it with multiple solvents, checked all mounting screws, scope mounts, etc and nothing seemed to work. Spoke with a couple of places about putting on a different barrel. One guy asked if I had tried JB Bore paste. I had not so I got the special jags you can thread a couple of felt type plugs on and worked the barrel over good and bingo...back to great accuracy. I couldn't believe it since I had cleaned the barrel so many times but that stuff made an incredible difference. I'd certainly try it before rebarreling. Also may want to polish the crown. Good luck!

I had missed this!

I have always felt that 10 twist was marginal for great accuracy with 100 grain bullets in the 243. I like an 8 twist for 100 grain boat tails and especially for 105 vlds. I just finished one on a 70 classic action that shoots 105 vlds into tiny groups at a little better than 2950 fps!

243 win, especially for hunting with 100grain bullets should have been 8 twist.

quote:

Originally posted by 30.06king:
I have a Sako in .243W I intend to rebarrel. Currently it wears the original factory 22 inch barrel. Mainly I use this as my varmint rifle shooting bullets from 80 to 100 gns.
In this context is there any advantage in going to a 23 or 24 inch barrel ? Overall weight is not a huge factor as any hiking tends to be relatively short distances.

Been considering this myself with my 243. I have been using 100gn bullets, and its generally OK with them provided they are short - longer boat tails are not so good. Its had plenty of rounds down it over the years. I have looked into the costs etc of rebarreling, but my conclusion is to drop down to 95gn bullets for working up new loads, and possibly have it slightly shortened and recrowned so sharp rifling at the end of the barrel rather than going to whole length of a rebarrel which in the UK costs the best part of £1,000.

If wanting to stay with 24 cal and possibly shoot the newer, longer bullets coming available, you should consider the 6 Creedmoor instead. Your magazine will thank you....

I'll echo what others have said with this hard data.

My bro has a 6.5 creedmoor which wears a 24" Lilja 3g barrel and mine is a 26" 5r tube by Bartlein and with the exact same load of 44 grains of RL-16, his shoots a 130 grain pill at 3000 fps and mine comes in at 2970. (of course I had to go with 44.2 to get to 3000! haha)

Seems counter-intuitive but the LabRadar bears the truth.

More to it than just barrel length.

Note: THESE LOADS ARE SAFE ENOUGH IN OUR RIFLES BUT MAYBE NOT YOURS

Zeke

To make a suggestion: In USA the .243 "caught on" 'cause it could be made/necked down from .308. Not a bad cartridge and widely popular, BUT, in honor of my late buddy the gunsmith... and since you are buying a new steel tube anyway... His father was a 'smith, his grandfather was a 'smith... he ran with some others and when Winchester brought out the .284... It got necked down to 6mm ... he and his friends must have built 100 rifles and they all shot "real good." He told me he would get one assembled, take it out to test fire with just any load, and one of his friends would see it shoot, under and inch, and shove money at him and he would have to build another. You have the powder capacity of the '06 in a shorter case... Sharp shoulder, he advised against light loads for best accuracy. And this is not the one for the greatest of barrel life, ALTHOUGH, he said one friend loaned his rifle out for load development by a major firm and when it came back there was substantial erosion half way up the barrel and he said "new barrel" but took it out to use up his loaded handloads... Accuracy was still under and inch and he skipped the rebarrel... No idea what problems you might be buying in the land down under, but something to think about. LUCK. Happy Trails.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
If your Sako has its factory barrel and is a sporter, then it is actually 580mm or almost 23 inches. If you like it the way it is, then you need to have a barrel of duplicate contour and length made.

But before discarding your Sako barrel, which was about as good a barrel as they come, be sure that some other accuracy factor isn't messing up your groups. However, if you have several thousand rounds down the tube then it may be time.

This. They are around 23".

I would go 1 in 7 or 8 to shoot longer high bc bullets, but if varminting is your purpose 1 in 12 or even 1 in 14 and shoot 70gr.

https://drive.google.com/file/...6q3/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/...unf/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/...JWm/view?usp=sharing

Well, in the end this is what I did. Removed the Sako barrel and replaced it with a True Flite SS barrel, same contour, 1 / 10" twist and close to 1 inch longer. It given a noticeable overall weight increase I suspect due more to extra length alone. The extra weight was there also before I dressed the rifle with a new Swarovski Z3 scope, Sako Optilok rings and a new recoil pad. The original pad had worn smooth on the contact surface and would sometimes slip incrementally on shoulder contact in some positions. I'm not bothered by the weight increase as it will never see use as hill rifle, at least not in my hands.
Top pics show newly configured Sako. Bottom pic shows configuration pre remodeling.
I started from square one to develop a varmint load. It took some time and doing and going through some moments of despair. Tried around 10 powders and 4 projectiles and fired about 300 rounds to find the best of the lot. In the end the most consistent and accurate load was;
Norma brass, Federal 210 Primer, W-760 at 42 gns, Hornady Spire Point 87 gn, COAL at 69.40 mm and MV 3115 fps av.
So far this load is deadly on anything out to 250 yards, as the pics show. I know on paper groups open a bit at 300 yards but I've yet to test this on varmints. I'm not beyond developing another load if better accuracy at 300 yds is called for.

What was your net gain with a new barrel one inch longer.
I mean gain in velocity?
Gain in accuracy?
Barrel more "optimized for the cartridge?

quote:

What was your net gain with a new barrel one inch longer.
I mean gain in velocity?
Gain in accuracy?
Barrel more "optimized for the cartridge?

Snell,
Nett gain...? Fair question and after the trouble and expense, apart from one plus I don't think I have gained anything appreciable. The plus is having a rifle that shoots again after the sudden accuracy loss with the original Sako barrel. The two loads the Sako barrel shot best were with Hornady 95 gn SST and Remington Core-Lokt 100 gn. Not so with this new barrel which is just great, so far, with Hornady Spire Point 87 gn. It sucks with Hornady 95 gn SST and I haven't yet tried any 100 gn bullets. It showed potential with Hornady 58 gn V-Max but I really want to shoot heavier bullets than that.
I honestly don't know if the new barrel is more optimimal for the cartridge / load but as long as I get consistent accuracy I'm happy. There is no velocity gain, so far. My newly worked up load shoots right to where Hornady's book says it will.
One noticeable difference occurred with replacing the scope. I love that old Leupold but to my ageing eye the new Swarovski is brighter and sharper.