Apex .243 All Dressed Up...

[BuckDoeHunter]

All dressed up and nowhere to go...so I thought. I looked for my supply of .243 ammo but only found empty cases. I finally found a box and a half under some boxes of .22LR ammo, I was very happy.

I bought the Apex action and stocks from D55 (thanks again!). I had my .243 barrel for sale last year but no one had any interest, at least at that time. A few months later, I had 4 people inquire about it but at that point, I decided to keep it. My original plan was to sell the barrel and put together a .243 on a Remington 700 platform but the covid fiasco put a kabosh on that plan.

I topped the rifle off with a Vortex scope, my first one. Its the CrossFire II, the cheaper chinese glass but I got it for a very, very, good price so I figured why not. Time will tell but so far, I like it.

CVA Apex .243, Vortex 4-12X40 scope, the rifle will be setup for deer hunting and used when the grandkids are old enough, it should work good for them, weighs 8 lbs 12 oz as pictured. The supplied sunshade makes the scope look loooong. The forearm is acutally for a large bore 45-70 barrel but fits good on the .243 barrel, it's floated, just like I do anyway with my CVA's.

 

[D55]

Looks good and rather familiar it was my favorite hunting rifle I ever had and I will miss it. I am dropping off a scout barrel to Hank Sat. to have a DI plug put in and start fresh with another. Hope you and yours get many good years of use out of that rifle. I think the Vortex scopes are good for the $$ and mine has done good for me and tracks flawlessly Viper HS. Keep us posted on how it shoots when you take it for a spin.

 

[BuckDoeHunter]

Will do D55.

Looking forward to your report on the Scout.

 

[HC]

BDH, would you enlighten us how the barrel is floated? Thank you.

 

[BuckDoeHunter]

BDH, would you enlighten us how the barrel is floated? Thank you.

Sure...

It's floated along the edges, the inside edges of the forearm do not touch the barrel. There are two screws which hold the forearm in place so it's not a fully floated barrel like on my Rem 700's.

 

[HC]

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[D55]

BDH
is that how it turned out with the 45-70 forearm or did you have to work on it?

 

[BuckDoeHunter]

No work done, just put it on and tightened the screws.

 

[D55]

Good deal, it looks like it was made for that barrel, well I guess now it is.

 

[bstorric]

Good looking gun. I may have to get one of those for my son. I like the idea of starting out with a single shot break open gun. It’s very easy to tell if it’s loaded or not

 

[snapbang]

I highly recommend the .243 Winchester for anything up to and including deer. I have killed groundhogs by the thousands with 70 grain Speer TNT and probably 25 deer with 100 grain Nosler partitions. Its easy to shoot with little recoil and there is a selection of bullets bar none. Easy for the younger boys and women. I burned out one barrel I shot it so much. Not from high pressure loads either.

Make sure you do a trigger job on it.

 

[BuckDoeHunter]

I highly recommend the .243 Winchester for anything up to and including deer. I have killed groundhogs by the thousands with 70 grain Speer TNT and probably 25 deer with 100 grain Nosler partitions. Its easy to shoot with little recoil and there is a selection of bullets bar none. Easy for the younger boys and women. I burned out one barrel I shot it so much. Not from high pressure loads either.

Make sure you do a trigger job on it.

I agree, It's a very versatile caliber.

The Apex's come with an adjustable trigger, all 3 of mine feel very nice

 

[snapbang]

Yep, nothing like watching a groundhog feed on vegetables with the sun just behind it on the horizon. One well placed shot, a pink mist, a fir ball, and no more Mr. groundhog.

 

[D55]

I know when I was a kid 2 or 3 days ago people that were shooting groundhogs were eating them. I think I remember some of them speaking of 243, 222,223, and 22-250 as what was best for them. I believe they are all effective but the 243 will go for a little bit larger critters better than the others.

 

[snapbang]

the 243 will go for a little bit larger critters better than the others.

Yep, especially with proper bullet choice.

I never ate one and hope I never have to. They are herbavores though and in the hands of a capable chef could be gormay. Just have to give it another name. I call them whistle pigs. Because when you make a good hit little parts go whistling in all directions.

 

[D55]

A friend yrs. ago his mom would bake the young ones in bbq sauce and said it was really good.

 

[shiner200gr]

That's a handsome rifle. How does it shoot off bags?

 

[BuckDoeHunter]

Beautiful morning yesterday to shoot. No wind, sunny, temps in the 30's. The 3rd sighting-in shot is in the bull.

Looks like the barrel needed 3 shots to foul the bore. Shots 4,5, and 6 formed a nice group at 100 yards. That's with Federal Fusion 95 grain ammo.

 

[snapbang]

It looks like your gun is plenty accurate. Outstanding I would say. Do you reload?????

I have found reloading to be a key aspect in the accuracy of my guns. I am a .243 fan and have been reloading it (them) for 40 years. It is so nice to be able to customize a load for the task at hand. With components ( 89 different bulets at Midway) you have so many more adjustments you can make to get accuracy. cheaper shooting also. Just saying.

I know now is a difficult time to start a new aspect of shooting but save your brass and you have a start.

 

[BuckDoeHunter]

I reload for my 45-70 but also want to reload for .243. I have plenty of brass to get started, I just need the other components.