You boys are a bad influence. Been studyin' up on things .243, putting together a wish list. Shared same with Chad Dixon ala LongRifles. The basis is a 700 SPS SS, tossin' some things away and saving others. Here's what Chad had to say in regards to punching the factory spout to AI--


"One thing:

Chambering a barrel to an Ackley is no problem for us. We build a lot of them. With a factory barrel it can be a little tricky however. Often a Remington doesn’t leave much unturned cylinder just ahead of the recoil lug. This can make it near impossible to grab onto when attempting to do chamber work. The other issue lies with the cartridge itself. Turning the parent cartridge to an AI requires that the shoulder of the barrel be pushed forward about .0625” (1/16th) Contrary to popular belief you can't just cram the AI reamer behind the parent case and have it turn out right. In order to get a good fireform the neck/shoulder junction of the parent case MUST bite into the neck/shoulder junction of the AI chamber. The AI is intentionally a pinch shorter at this intersection just for this reason. This equates to around .004” of crush. Ignoring this creates a condition that invites stretching of the parent case during fire forming because there is no assurance the head of the case is firmly seated against the bolt face. It will lead to premature case failure around the web region.

So long as we have around a 1/4” of straight cylinder we’ll be ok. If your barrel has an aggressive taper beginning at the recoil lug it won’t work. We’ll need to get you a new barrel."


Thought this wisdom was worth sharing. Could be the reason why some here 'bouts are having fire forming case failures....

Was told the same thing regarding the rem sporter barrel having no shank by Redneck on the fire when he built my last 243AI. But, he did punch it, and it shot like a mother...

I can only hope.... *grin*

Chunk or flyweight build(s)?

Just a CM 243 barreled action (sporter contour) that I had him pull apart. I bought a SS sporter contour off the fire, had him punch that and screw it back together. Worked out well, and I probably shouldn't have sold it, but I happened onto a deal on a couple SS ADLs in 243, so tripped the CM one..

I want to go stainless action on mine. I have cm action, and stainless bbl. That action/bolt will be rusted up by the end of the hunt.

Headspace stumps alotta folks,with sizing dies causing nearly as much woe as a seating die.

If you can fuck up:

1) Kiss
2) Find pressure
3) Rock on

There ain't much hope...................(grin)

True dat. Thought Chad's "contrary to popular belief" words were worth sharing. Kinda hard to rein in the results of a rogue reamer at the reloading press....

Santa's gonna have a list from me for this project. Heard tell some of his helpers have been shopping already....

My factory rechamberd AI is apparently suffering from the machine setup woes mentioned in the first post. Crush fit and headspace are spot on but the chamber ended up slightly out of round due to the apparent lack of barrel shank during it's stint on the lathe. Brass is about to separate at the head after 3 firings. The pisser is that it shoots like a laser. I guess a new tube is gonna be coming soon. I'm wondering if it'll be worth it to go 8" to let the 115's spin true.

I've never hated the regular 243 as much as some apparently.

I've never loved trimming brass as much as some apparently though it does give an excuse to stay in the house.