Steve Bowers -custom 243 light hunter

I don’t know about you but I am a sucker for a big heavy varmint rifle with bull barrel, similarly huge stocks and some unfeasibly large optics to top it off. But as the years march on it is becoming more appealing to look for a walking rifle rather than an artillery piece! Steve Bowers, custom rifle builder from Cheltenham had one such request from a client who wanted as light weight a stalking rifle that was possible but would not compromise on the accuracy and integrity of the piece. Steve set to it and sourced some of the parts but redesigned a barrel to produce excellent accuracy yet shave pounds off the final weight.

BUILD SPEC

Usually one starts with the action and barrel but with this build because he wanted the lightest possible weight he opted to source a new feather weight stock too. Enter the McMillan Edge Ultra Light, perfect. This build blends weight saving with new technology in materials to actually increase strength. The Edge uses a 100% graphite/resin based stock design, borrowed from the aerospace industry to provide a lighter yet stiffer end product than the more accepted fibre glass or wood equivalent!

This means that the Edge is three times stronger than wood but you lose 50% of the weight yet because it is stiffer it enhances accuracy, win win. Our model was a slim classic design inletted for a right hand Remington 700 action in magazine configuration. The forend will accept up to a factory magnum barrel contour but we wanted a custom tube similar to a #3 Douglas or smaller. It also comes standard with aluminium pillars, a 1/2” Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad and two sling studs The whole finished stock weighs in at 22-26 ounces and it is also rated up to 300 Win Mag. Impressive!

Colour or finish was unimportant as it was to be completely covered with a Hydro graphic skin of Real tree camo including the scope and mounts and moderator.

 

GETTING THE CHOP

Inletted for a Rem 700 this stock will also accept any of the aftermarket Remmy clones and that is what we used. A Stiller Industries TAC 30 action is a superb precision design built to bench rest quality and made from stainless steel. This model had a cut away for a magazine, in this case an H S Precision floor plate and detachable box. The bolt is fluted and there is a tactical bolt knob for a better more sure footed grip on the bolt operation.

The Tac 30 has a one-piece 20 MOA (down bubble) Picatinny scope rail and to finish off is a Timney trigger unit. Now the tricky bit, the action could have been re-machined here and there to reduce a bit more weight but it was deemed impractical so the barrel was the next item to have the chop!

Steve can profile a barrel to any length or shape you like so with the client wanting a scoped rifle not weighing more than 6.5 lbs; the tube had to be a real slim Jim! Trouble is slim barrels can become whippy on firing and heat up quickly which will destroy accuracy.

 

SLIM YET STIFF

Therefore Steve devised a slim yet stiff barrel profile that was 22” long but heavily scalloped along its length to save weight. Just in front of the receiver ring the diameter reduces in width very quickly to 0.75” from 1.25”. Then continues with a slender taper to 0.532” two inches behind the muzzle. Because a sound moderator was to be fitted there would be literally no shoulder for a mod to tighten up against so Steve solved this with a steep stepped shoulder behind the muzzle thread of 14x1 mm; problem solved!

The barrel itself was a Walther stainless steel match grade unit with a 1 in 10 rifling twist rate and 6 groove rifling profile. The sound moderator fitted was a lightweight A-Tec model that suited this rifle a treat. Scope wise a Zeiss 2.5-10x50mm HT scope along with Leupold Q/R rings finished off the impressive build spec.

 

LOAD UP

The .243 Win can handle a range of bullet weights from 55 to 115-grains, which is a wide spectrum of possible end usage and within that range the bullet construction even with the same weight can vary enormously. However not every 55, 75, 85 90, 95 or 100-grain bullet performs the same. The customer wanted 70 -85 grain weights and either Ballistic Tips or similar.

Therefore reloads in this weight range were worked up and some factory ammo also tested, just in case. Reloder RL15 and Vit N160 were the powders of choice with Norma brass being specified and all loads had Federal 205 primers. (see table)

 

IN THE FIELD

Big improvements in velocity were achieved with the reloads but I would caution you to take care as these were quite hot yet safe in this rifle. Reduce by 10% to 20% on the starting load if you feel like seeing what they can do in your rifle!

What was instantly obvious was even with a shorter barrel at 22”, velocities were good, on a standard .243 Win with the same length tube you would be struggling to get those figure as it’s a very velocity-sensitive calibre. However, the reason why this custom turned in such good figures was the choice of that precision Walther barrel has a close tolerance bore and the chamber reamer Steve uses is similarly ground to a precise fit. The Tac 30 action is also a strong design so combined this .243 really performed.

Only a few loads were developed as the client want 70 -85gr bullets although some factory loads were also shot for comparison if he needed them. 43-grains of Reloder RL 15 powder proved to be perfect with a velocity of 3588 fps/ 2002 ft/lbs which is very good for a 22” barrel. This gave a deviation of 14 fps over 10-shots which is very consistent with 0.25 MOA accuracy at 100 yards. Maximum cartridge overall length (COL) was 2.754” with the best accuracy actually coming with the bullet seated 50 thou off the lands at 2.704”.

 

CHANGING UP

Some heavier 85-grain bullets such as Sierra Game Kings and Hornady Interbonds proved accurate at less than 0.5” at 100 yards. Best was 38-grains of RL15 for 3205 fps/1939 ft/lbs and 0.45”, 3-shot groups, that will do nicely!

During the testing I was not aware or conscious of any heat build up during shooting and to be honest I was amazed despite the slim profile the barrel did heat up but shots did not start to string until more than ten rounds had been fired, which was really good. Truth is this sort of gun is not intended for a high rate of fire and as a stalker in the right hands it should be a see it, shoot it and it’s down proposition!

 

CONCLUSIONS

I am always doubtful when lightweight and accuracy are mentioned in the same breath but in this case a little know how and a lot of precision skill manifested into a really nice, well handling and light stalking rifle. It shoots very well and can group three shots where you aim them without any heat build up causing a problem - perfect. Rifles like this cost and take time but then again they are not the run of the mill rifle but as the years march on a lightweight one shot on the button rifle seems more and more appealing.

CONTACTS:
Steve Bowers Custom Gunsmith , 01242 863005
Zeiss Scopes, 01223 401500
Hydrographics (coatings), 01904 778188
Lothar Walther Barrels; www.lothar-walther.de
Jackson Rifles McMillan stocks and A-Tec moderators, 01644 470223