Michael

[Mike A]

Howdy from Texas.

Howdy Texas. I was in your state this February doing some traveling. Man I would do a lot to go live in the states. My host in Colorado was a proud owner of a 150 guns.

[BBCT]

Thanks for the welcom guys. BBCT I thought as long as you were able to chamber and fire the normal 243 Winchester round in the new chamber it would be fine as long as licensing goes but I must be mistaken then.

Well, it sort of would be OK, but if your licence says .243 Winchester and you have a box of "6mm-something else" ammunition and the rifle is also stamped "6mm-something else", and you get checked in a roadblock on Friday night on your way to a hunt in the middle of nowhere you had better be very good at explaining or you're going to have an uncomfortable weekend in a cell somewhere until the magistrate arrives on Monday morning. Offhand the only 6mm I can think of that can also fire a standard .243 Win cartridge is the .243 Ackley but someone else might know better. You might find a couple of different versions of the .243 Ackley with e.g. slightly different shoulder angles but all of them would also be able to fire the standard .243Win. If your licence states .243 Ackley and you have .243Win ammo that's OK because the Ackley is also capable of firing .243 Win. If your licence states .243Win you may not have .243 Ackley ammo because the .243Win can't fire .243 Ackley ammo. If the .243 Ackley ammo is headstamped .243 Win you'd probably get away with it because the average cop or shooter or gunowner wouldn't be able to tell the difference but that doesn't make it legal. Don't even think of e.g. trying to cross the border to hunt in Namibia unless licence, rifle & ammo all say exactly the same thing.

Do most South African folks just buy a new rifle instead of replacing the barrel? I

I don't think many of us shoot enough to shoot out a barrel in our lifetime. Those that do are typically quite devoted hunters/shooters hence have more than one rifle to keep using while the one is being rebarrelled and are familiar enough with the paperwork & processing not to be daunted by it. Some find it easier or preferable to just sell the rifle with the shot out barrel as is & buy a new one.

Most "modified" chamberings are designed around increasing the performance, hence will have increased case volume to take more powder. These will decrease barrel life even further than the standard version. If you're seriously worried about barrel life but want to stick with .243, try downloading your ammo to a lower performance level. Google something like ".243 reduced loads" but be warned, this very easily gets into quite advanced reloading where the consequences of an error can be catastrophic.

Personally I wouldn't worry - it will take 1500 shots or more to shoot out a .243 barrel. How long would it take you to do this? Once you start losing accuracy just rebarrel it in .243 Win again. If need be, you can even use that info as motivation to buy a second rifle in the same (or another) calibre. ;-)

[Mike A]

Well, it sort of would be OK, but if your licence says .243 Winchester and you have a box of "6mm-something else" ammunition and the rifle is also stamped "6mm-something else", and you get checked in a roadblock on Friday night on your way to a hunt in the middle of nowhere you had better be very good at explaining or you're going to have an uncomfortable weekend in a cell somewhere until the magistrate arrives on Monday morning. Offhand the only 6mm I can think of that can also fire a standard .243 Win cartridge is the .243 Ackley but someone else might know better. You might find a couple of different versions of the .243 Ackley with e.g. slightly different shoulder angles but all of them would also be able to fire the standard .243Win. If your licence states .243 Ackley and you have .243Win ammo that's OK because the Ackley is also capable of firing .243 Win. If your licence states .243Win you may not have .243 Ackley ammo because the .243Win can't fire .243 Ackley ammo. If the .243 Ackley ammo is headstamped .243 Win you'd probably get away with it because the average cop or shooter or gunowner wouldn't be able to tell the difference but that doesn't make it legal. Don't even think of e.g. trying to cross the border to hunt in Namibia unless licence, rifle & ammo all say exactly the same thing. I don't think many of us shoot enough to shoot out a barrel in our lifetime. Those that do are typically quite devoted hunters/shooters hence have more than one rifle to keep using while the one is being rebarrelled and are familiar enough with the paperwork & processing not to be daunted by it. Some find it easier or preferable to just sell the rifle with the shot out barrel as is & buy a new one.Most "modified" chamberings are designed around increasing the performance, hence will have increased case volume to take more powder. These will decrease barrel life even further than the standard version. If you're seriously worried about barrel life but want to stick with .243, try downloading your ammo to a lower performance level. Google something like ".243 reduced loads" but be warned, this very easily gets into quite advanced reloading where the consequences of an error can be catastrophic.Personally I wouldn't worry - it will take 1500 shots or more to shoot out a .243 barrel. How long would it take you to do this? Once you start losing accuracy just rebarrel it in .243 Win again. If need be, you can even use that info as motivation to buy a second rifle in the same (or another) calibre. ;-)

Thanks for all the info, it’s much appreciated. I do a fair bit of shooting and hunting on the farm so barrel life is something of an issue for me. I reload so I can play with reduced loads. I think adding another flat shooting small caliber to my safe would be the best option. A 223 rem with a 24inch barrel would make sense ?

[Draegan]

Since you reload, maybe worth considering 6.5 Creedmoor?

[458Exp]

Have a look at the 6mm SLR (super long range)

Still uses 243 Win brass but with the XC neck and shoulder.

I’m converting my 243 Win to one
More design to push the 100-105gr bullets so it would depend on what twist you new barrel is going to be.