Dissapointed with mod. 70 Extreme Weather 243
Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 10:38 pmBought a model 70 Extreme Weather 243 for my son.
Mounted a Bushnell Elite 6500 2.5-16x42 in Leupold rings.
Last year a few months prior to hunting season went through $$$ worth of factory loads including high dollar Nosler custom ammo/Hornady ammo in search for off the shelf ammo.
Figured its a 243, how hard can it be to find a decent load. My hope was for a load with a 95 grain Nosler partition.
100 grain bullets shoot shotgun patterns with this gun. 4-5"
I expected 1" or maybe even 1 1/2 inch groups. Turns out that is an unobtainable goal with this rifle.
I have disassembled, loctited & re torqued every screw - no difference.
The only load we found it will shoot reasonable groups with are the Hornady Custom Lite ammunition reduced recoil loads with 87 gr SST MV 2800 (approx).
I think it is unreasonable to have a gun that will only shoot one load.
Seems to shoot the lighter bullets (coyote loads) better than 90 grain or heavier.
Groups with 90 grain open up to 3" (or worse) at 100 yards.
I am very disappointed with it and shelved it after last season until now when I realized how close hunting season is and I need to find a fix.
Would return it to the factory but I usually can figure out or fix whatever it is myself.
First change will be the Leupold mounts, the scopes are ok but the mounts are garbage. Changing to Talley.
The scope - though it is a "Bushnell" is actually pretty nice- I will try a different scope to mark that off the list of contributing factors but it will shoot lower weight bullets - my reasoning for not changing the scope first.
Next step is to work up loads for it.
If that doesn't work out I will consider re-barreling it.
Thoughts?
Mounted a Bushnell Elite 6500 2.5-16x42 in Leupold rings.
Last year a few months prior to hunting season went through $$$ worth of factory loads including high dollar Nosler custom ammo/Hornady ammo in search for off the shelf ammo.
Figured its a 243, how hard can it be to find a decent load. My hope was for a load with a 95 grain Nosler partition.
100 grain bullets shoot shotgun patterns with this gun. 4-5"
I expected 1" or maybe even 1 1/2 inch groups. Turns out that is an unobtainable goal with this rifle.
I have disassembled, loctited & re torqued every screw - no difference.
The only load we found it will shoot reasonable groups with are the Hornady Custom Lite ammunition reduced recoil loads with 87 gr SST MV 2800 (approx).
I think it is unreasonable to have a gun that will only shoot one load.
Seems to shoot the lighter bullets (coyote loads) better than 90 grain or heavier.
Groups with 90 grain open up to 3" (or worse) at 100 yards.
I am very disappointed with it and shelved it after last season until now when I realized how close hunting season is and I need to find a fix.
Would return it to the factory but I usually can figure out or fix whatever it is myself.
First change will be the Leupold mounts, the scopes are ok but the mounts are garbage. Changing to Talley.
The scope - though it is a "Bushnell" is actually pretty nice- I will try a different scope to mark that off the list of contributing factors but it will shoot lower weight bullets - my reasoning for not changing the scope first.
Next step is to work up loads for it.
If that doesn't work out I will consider re-barreling it.
Thoughts?