You read it wrong, thats not a caliber restriction, its a cartridge/weapon type restriction. You can't use a rimfire, but you can use any centerfire. I could use a 17 remington or a 22 hornet if I wanted. I think it would be stupid, but it would be legal. I never knew that until a guy asked me if he could use his AR for deer hunting. I told him probably not, it would either be restricted for the caliber or the action. I looked it up and I was wrong. As long as he doesn't use a high capacity mag it's legal. I told him I wouldn't advise it, but he wouldn't go to jail. I offered to loan him my slug gun or muzzle loader if he wanted instead.

I don't think I really plan to use the 55 grn bullets, I was just impressed at the difference in performance and that all three calibers had the same weight bullet so I could compare them. I will probably go with something heavier, it would give me similar trajectory but more energy. My guess would be most 243's don't have the twist rate to match the light bullets? Am I correct?

Probably be going with the stevens 200, its hard to beat that price for what is basically a 110 series savage with a nylon stock. Like I said I owned one with a wood stock years ago and was very happy with it.

I have a real nice 6.5-20x44 Alaskan Guide varmint scope on my 17 HMR I will probably put on it. Then I might just get a mueller or something for the 17.

It will be a while at any rate, I'm pretty broke at the moment. Maybe by then I will be able to find a used one.

Paul