Filled a Hole in my Line-up
 

I have numerous deer rifles, all of which see use almost every season to carry. From .223 (legal here) to .338 caliber. What I did not have was a 6mm. Any 6mm at all. I jumped right over them to .257 and up. So I finally found one I could honestly say I wanted in .243 Winchester, a Zastava Z98. If you recall the old Interarms Mark X (my fav of all time, have one in .30-06) and then the Remington 798's, these are the same rifle. When Interarms folded, then Remington took up the import rights after the fall of the wall and the opening up of the East, and then they dropped that import right.... Well, Zastava continues to produce a fine rifle identical to all the previous lineage and now called the Z98 (must've been easy to stamp a "Z" over all those "7"'s waiting to be imported...)

Stock photo. Actuals when it arrives....
Attachment 2084

Does that Company only have long actions???
 

Is your 243 going to be on a long or short action? Not all Companies bother to build both of them. I think Remington only imported the 798 in long action, 25-06, 270, and 30-06.


Karl

From the stock photo and brochure it's a long action to handle the .30-06 length rounds. Doesn't bother me the small bit of extra weight.

I have a Remington Model 740 in 6mm Remington (aka .244 caliber). Yes, that's .244 and not .243. Remington goofed when manufacturing their original .244 when making it in a lighter 75 or 80 grain bullet. The lighter bullet was not as effective in dropping whitetail here in Texas and by the time Remington could retool and remake the .244 in 100 grain bullet, customers had fallen in love with the .243.

Now the .244 is called the 6mm Remington. It's faster, flatter trajectory and packs a better whallop than the .243. I've had a .243 and ended up giving it to one of my daughters for her children to shoot (after my youngest son grew up and 'graduated' to the .270). I've knocked a 2 yr old doe over with the 6mm and spun another around when trying to shoot a little late in the day and hitting her in the hindquarters. The round passed through leaving a tiny little hole going in and a quarter sized exit wound coming out. I can only imagine the damage done on the inside on its way through.

I'm just glad that I don't have to carry the rifle very far. Solid wood stock and forearm, its a heavy rifle for such a 'small' caliber. But I'm not complaining in the least. The rifle was my grandfather's and he bought it the year I was born. Let's just say that was more than just a couple of years ago.

My $.02 worth.

RR

Reloading data shows very little different in the two, maybe on the edge of 100fps out of 3100 from the muzzle on out (.243 Win 100gr bullet between 2900-3100fps; 6mm Rem 100gr bullet 2900-3250fps). Thats maybe 3% at most, depending on bullet used, and the deer will never know the difference. Since energy qoes as the square of the velocity, the fastest of each shows a ME of (.243 Win) 2133 ft-lbs and (6mm) 2344 ft-lbs for 100-gr bullets. Again, very little difference. The trajectory difference is 0.3" at 100 yards if sighted in at 200 yards, or the same at 250 yards. For a hunter shooting standing, that's insignificant.

Not something I'd brag about, because that bullet performed terrible. The idea is to expand and give up ALL of it's energy into the animal to cause the most damage and a quick death. A bullet that passes thru and keeps on going didn't expand well and carried away all the energy still captured by it's remaining velocity. Maybe your shot caused a kill, maybe it was just lucky.

In truth, these two rounds are virtually identical. Except that the .243 is carried in many more small stores/places with more choices in bullet size than the 6mm Rem, which has been tettering on the death bed for years. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of any 7x57-based cartridge, as I own two and a .257 Roberts. But it didn't seem like your post was meant to add to the conversation.

Comparing the 243 win with the 6mm rem
 

Starting off I don't know either of these from an owners point of view. I have shot a 243 but never the 6mm rem. I do remember from my reloading manuals that the 6mm Rem case has a longer neck and is more reloader friendly than the 243 win. I think that I would rather have the 7x57 mauser or 257 roberts over the 6mm rem when using them on Deer. Just my opinion.

Karl

Don't know about reloader-friendly, but all three are based on the same case, just necked down (.257) and downer (.243) from the .284 parent. It would be good to have a whole line-up based on the same case, but since I have a .308 Win also..... hey, you can never have too many toys!

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...8/IMG_1327.jpg

What scope have you selected for your new toy???
 

Ok, I you need help deciding we have no shortage of suggestions.

Karl

Well, my on-hand options include a Burris Fullfield II 3x9x40, and a Nikon 3x9x40 (or another Nikon 4x but I've rulled that out for this). Or..... I could start shopping. I always hate to have to shop for gun stuff.....

It's a tuff job, but someone has to do it
 

I sometimes wonder if I have more fun setting up the Riflesystem than shooting it.

Karl