.243 Ackley Improved

[Pawildman]

Well, I finally got it finished. 26" Lilja barrel...9"twist. Rem. 700 SA. Action trued and lugs lapped. English walnut stock....action and chamber area of barrel solid bedded, rest of barrel free-floated in glass channel.
Sraight 12X Leupold with fine crosshair in Leupold mounts with sunshade.
Barrel and action work by Budd Siverd. All stock, bedding and trigger work done by yours truly.
I set up my dies last night, and am going to start to fireform brass with handloads. I've formed some brass with factory ammo, but want to get started with empty Win. brass.
I'm going to start with 87 gr. V-Max's and see what happens. I have some 85 gr. Sierra HPBT's that used to shoot good in one of my other .243's on hand, and will try them too after I get a brass supply worked up. I think I'm gonna want to move up a bit in bullet weight as things go on, but we'll see.
I was a bit concerned during the first series of single shot/clean breakins. The barrel seemed to be residue fouling a lot. I'm hoping this stops when properly formed brass is used.
Hope the crappy cameraphone picture will come up OK. I can't get my printer to upload 35mm pictures for some reason, and now it won't even download anymore camphone pics. Ain't technology great???

[trailer]

Congrats on that mighty fine looking rifle. Sound like you put allot of work into it with satisfaction. Curious to hear how she shoots but I"™m sure you"™re going to have fun doing so. Now if you can only get a real good picture...

[doubleA]

Good looking stick there Pawildman, something to take some personal pride in for sure. My Cooper 243 Win likes the 95 gr Nosler while my 6mmx284 thrives with a now obsolete Barnes 75 gr X bullet. Yeah, sometimes the fireforming can be a drag. Looking foward to some other pics.

[bugsNbows]

WOW, looks like a real beauty. Congrats.

[jeepkid]

Looks sweet!

What barrel contour? (I think you told me before but I forgot.)

You might also think about trying the 95gr Berger...

[stalkingbear]

Congrats on your new toy! It looks great from what I can see.

[Old/New]

Sweet rig!

[Pawildman]

ORIGINAL: jeepkid

Looks sweet!

What barrel contour? (I think you told me before but I forgot.)

You might also think about trying the 95gr Berger...

..............Thanks, jk.....It's a # 5 contour. As far as bullet weights, you're probably right. I just want to get a bunch of cases formed and see where we go. When I ordered the barrel, I figured on a 9" twist because the Greenhill formula pretty much matched up to what I wanted to shoot...80 to somewhere around 100 gr. bullets depending on their OAL.
I'm gonna use up some old stock to make cases. I'm really hot on wanting to see how this old girl goes.....

[Pawildman]

....Sorry jk...I forgot to ask how yours is doing... I'm very interested to see what you find....

[jeepkid]

ORIGINAL: Pawildman

..............Thanks, jk.....It's a # 5 contour. As far as bullet weights, you're probably right. I just want to get a bunch of cases formed and see where we go. When I ordered the barrel, I figured on a 9" twist because the Greenhill formula pretty much matched up to what I wanted to shoot...80 to somewhere around 100 gr. bullets depending on their OAL.
I'm gonna use up some old stock to make cases. I'm really hot on wanting to see how this old girl goes.....

I have a bunch of 95gr BT's and some 87gr V-Max's that I'm also using to fireform with. I have shot a few full power 105gr Berger's and 115gr Bergers though and they shot under an inch at 100. The 115's stabilized, thats really all I was checking and they were at about 3/4" at 100. I even pulled off a 3-shot 1/2" group at 200yards with a 95gr BT fireform load. I also have Richard Graves (Wildcat bullets) working on some 115's for me, they will have Sierra jackets so they will hold up a little better then the Bergers. The 9" twist should work awesome with the Bergers for you. Keep me updated...I might also be going to shoot it Sunday so I'll take some pics...