Cant decide 243 or 6.5

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yotehunter243

New member
Going to order a BSF barrel for an AR-10. I cant decide between the 243 or 6.5. For me its 6 one was half dozen the other. They only offer the 243 in 18 or 20" and the Creed. From 18-24". Rifle will be suppressed so 20 or 22" is where I'm looking to stay with mostly coyotes with thermals on the menu but occasionally a deer. What would you guys recommend?
 
I am a fan of the Creedmor but I have nothing against the .243 so I won't be much help. It really is preference. If you have .243's and are comfortable with them there's nothing wrong with sticking to them. But if you want to expand and experience different cartridges, the 6.5 is a good one to play with.
 
I vote .243 its been around for years and will be around long after you and I are gone. I can load my 243 to be fairly fur friendly but have yet to find a friendly round for my buddies 6.5
 
Originally Posted By: ToddNEI vote .243 its been around for years and will be around long after you and I are gone. I can load my 243 to be fairly fur friendly but have yet to find a friendly round for my buddies 6.5

X2.. Nailed it!
 
I think one of the big advantages the Creedmoor has is they have some really good shooting factory ammo available for it.
 
If I were hunting deer with it most of the time I’d lean towards the slower 6.5 with heavier bullets...and I wouldn’t want it in an AR configuration for deer hunting. I’d rather want it in a bolt or pump action. I use mine for coyotes so I went 243 with a 22” barrel. I wanted the flattest caliber so I loaded up some 55 grain nosler ballistic tips. I’ll brake out my chrony to see if I brake the 4K barrier with my 22” barrel. I’m not worried about burning my barrel out as the only rapid firing will be at follow up shot at running stragglers and i clean my barrel after every shooting session and in between every dozen shots or so. Both calibers are overkill imo so there is no wrong answer. 6.5 is the new kid on the block and has all the hype and is just a renamed 260 Remington that never caught on. I’d rather have a faster, flatter caliber so the 243 gets my vote. The 6 mm PPC and 243’s were winning matches since the late 70’s and still are winning. I’m sure the 6.5 bucks the wind better at longer ranges but in most hunting scenarios you’ll never know the drift difference between the two. I have a stock heavy barrel 26” barreled Remington 243 with an hs prescion stock that shoots three shots in the same hole at a hundred yards off the bench and an old 67’ 600 that glass bedded that will shoot .3” groups. So I favor the accuracy of the 243 from past experience and I have brass laying around to boot.

 
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Originally Posted By: yotehunter243Thanks for the replies. I spent most of the day yesterday looking at barrels and very few 243 choices compared to 308 and creedmoor.

I liked that you were looking at the useage and therefore the construction/configuration of the gun as well as the caliber.

There are a LOT of offerings in the Creedmoor and .308's.

I run a 16in, fluted, stainless .308 on my PTG-10 because I run a pretty heavy suppressor. But short barrels do not equate to short performance, contrary to what some on the interweb might believe. We have gone out to 1000 yards with our 16in .308's just fine.

The Creedmoor will flatten out a bit more than the .308 and there is no doubting the accuracy of the Creedmoor.

Again, not throwing stones at the venerable .243 but there is no denying the accuracy of the 6.5
 
Laser to 400 yards is what I would be thinking. I would make sure that I can get a barrel of the proper twist to handle the coyote weight bullets which would be 55 to 70 grain. You're over yonder shooting Creedmoors seem to come with twists a bit tight for hot rodding light pills I would guess.
 
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A 243 using 55 grain bullets will shoot flatter and faster than any 6.5 creedmore out to 400 yards. If you load them yourself most books claim 4250 FPS with a 24” barrel. With 70 grains NBT out of my 26” barrel 243 at 3650 FPS it shoots up and down about 1.8” to 340/360 yards if I remembered correctly. I would think 55 grainers would be close to shooting pretty flat to 400. The issue is I found is I had to load the bullets deep as they are very short to make sure they seat. I havent shot them yet for accuracy testing but I’m sure they will be fine. The flattest production calibers out there the last I checked...decades ago, lol, were the 17 rem, 243, and 257 Weatherby. I’m sure there are some modern marvels out there to rival them now but if it’s not broke don’t fix it.

Don’t know about other shooters here but I want a gun that shoots flat enough that I can just aim and shoot on a fast action hunting scenario and not have to worry about holding over or under. 99.9% of your shots you’ll never have to worry about it using light bullets a 243 as most your coyotes, called or not, will be under 4 football fields.lol

All I know is my 70 grain load hits them like a hammer of Thor and will blow huge holes in and out if bone is hit. I’m sure the 6.5 will do the same if not more. You’ll have more energy with the 6.5 at longer ranges but will have to adjust for hold over more with the 6.5. To each his own.
 
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I killed a few deer last year 70gr Nosler BTs from a 6DTI at 3150fps and they performed just like an accubond (if I had to guess from exits). My buddy also killed 5 with the same bullet out of his 243 and none of them took a step. That 70gr bullets is a work horse for sure.
 
You said "mostly coyotes", and based on that, I would go with the 243. Most Creeds are throated long for the longer/heavier 6.5 bullets. Plus Creedmoor twist rates are usually faster to accommodate these longer heavier pills.......bullets that I would consider anything but great coyote bullets. I love the 70 NBTs for coyotes. If you don't care about saving fur, then either one is a great choice. Mostly coyotes, and saving fur? I'd go with the 243.
 
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243, because the lighter bullets will perform better on 25 pound coyotes than heavier 6.5 bullets that are designed for big game.

Originally Posted By: yotehunter243I killed a few deer last year 70gr Nosler BTs from a 6DTI Do you have a 6DTI already? My 22" 6DTI is ballistically 92% of my 24" 243 Winchester with the same bullets (55gr and 80gr). Moving up to the AR10 platform (bigger, heavier, more expensive) in 243 to gain 8% ballistic performance doesn't make sense to me. Reasonable and probable hunting distances are way under 300 yards. Especially at night (you mentioned thermal optics). There's only a tiny advantage in a 243 vs 6DTI under 300 yards for drop and wind drift, and at night you won't be able to tell the difference anyways.

Also, I don't know where you hunt at night, I'd be cautious about shooting larger solid big hunting bullets out into the dark where a miss or even a solid hit could penetrate and then ricochet off the ground and hit something unintended in the background. That danger is mitigated by smaller lighter 55-70gr varmint type bullets that are designed to quickly fragment in coyote sized animals vs a 140gr big game bullet mushrooming and passing right on thru to who knows were.
 
Originally Posted By: DiRTY DOG243, because the lighter bullets will perform better on 25 pound coyotes than heavier 6.5 bullets that are designed for big game.

Originally Posted By: yotehunter243I killed a few deer last year 70gr Nosler BTs from a 6DTI Do you have a 6DTI already? My 22" 6DTI is ballistically 92% of my 24" 243 Winchester with the same bullets (55gr and 80gr). Moving up to the AR10 platform (bigger, heavier, more expensive) in 243 to gain 8% ballistic performance doesn't make sense to me. Reasonable and probable hunting distances are way under 300 yards. Especially at night (you mentioned thermal optics). There's only a tiny advantage in a 243 vs 6DRI under 300 yards for drop and wind drift, and at night you won't be able to tell the difference anyways.

Also, I don't know where you hunt at night, I'd be cautious about shooting larger solid big hunting bullets out into the dark where a miss or even a solid hit could penetrate and then ricochet off the ground and hit something unintended in the background. That danger is mitigated by smaller lighter 55-70gr varmint type bullets that are designed to quickly fragment in coyote sized animals vs a 140gr big game bullet mushrooming and passing right on thru to who knows were.

Great info and thanks. I sold by DTI barrel this week. I'm getting away from having to rely on reloading due to the fact I just dont have that kind of spare time with a 5yr old and 7yr old and I hunt atleast 12 nights a month. I'll hunt until crops get to tall to see and then start again the end of August when the first fields come out. Going with the AR10 and weight doesnt concern me to much, with carbon barrel and handguard.
 
Bigger and heavier yes, more expensive, not really. I paid $200 for an A5 completely assembled lower from Areo prescion and $449 for a complete AR stoner 22” heavy barreled upper chambered in 243 from midway. $650 for a 99% completed rifle. It’s a buyers market right now. I wouldn’t sell any of my AR stuff it it were me till the next election.lol All the greedy retailers have been dumping all their ARs and parts for peanuts that they hoarded and tried to get rich and gouge everyone since the Obama days.

Here’s my price point rig that I’m sure will be worth $2500 like when we went through the Obama scare hikes. It’ll eventually happen we get a liberal president again. I believe most people were smart enough to hoard and buy enough that they think they’re going to get rich off of them but there won’t I don’t believe there will ever be a big push and demand next time through with all the hoarding going on like 22LR ammo. IMO The market now is and has been saturated enough and I think everybody that probably wanted one has bought enough to satisfy themselves. Retailers will try and jack the price up and get stuck with them again when it happens all over again in the future. A Never ending cycle. People want what they can’t can’t have....just psychology 101, so there will always be a select market of people that will pay through the nose again so keep your parts and your guns boys and girls .lol

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Give this some time, I think one of the guys from NE shoots a 243 WSSM. I forget which one, but he posts pretty frequently on here.
 


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