By Mark V. Lonsdale
Growing up hunting, the .243 Winchester was one of the most popular light deer rifles. It was also a popular caliber for long range target competition shooting. The Sierra 107 SMK was the most popular 600 and 1,000 yard competition bullet, and is still a contender to this day. But this was before the 6.5 Creedmoor became the hot new kid on the block.
Robar SR60 built on a Sako action with a 24″ fast twist barrel. Stock is the McMillan M40 hunting and tactical stock. Scope is a Leupold Mark 4 M1 3.5-10x40mm
But be assured, .243 Winchester is still a handy light hunting rifle and long range tack driver. This week I dusted off my trusty Robar SR60 SAKO .243 Win to begin evaluating the Peterson .243 brass and Berger’s 109 Hybrid
Berger 6mm/.243 109 grain Long Range Hybrids loaded into Peterson .243 Win. brass
It is still early days, but the Berger 109 Hybrids are producing consistent sub-MOA groups as I work up a load. In the past I’ve found the sweet spot for the heavier .243 bullets around 2,850 fps. This is also the first time I’ve worked with the Peterson brass, but as expected, it is meeting all my expectations. I’m currently running Peterson brass in .308 Win., 6.5 CM, .338 Lapua, and .375 CheyTac with flawless results, therefore looking forward to their pending release of .300 WinMag cartridges.
Stay tuned for additional results from the .243 Win. testing
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