OT..single shot varmit rifle

mnjoe

Member
I"m used to hunting with muzzleloaders...Only gives me one shot. Looking to add a single shot for coyote hunting. I have a 22 magnum punp and auto..thinking about .243. What"s a good setup? Thanks
 
One option is the Thompson-Center Encore rifle, which uses interchangeable barrels.

I have a T-C Contender G-2 rifle with a custom .17 Remington Fireball barrel from Match Grade Machine. But the Contender isn't strong enough for hot cartridges like .243, hence the Encore.

<a href="http://s804.photobucket.com/albums/yy327/mark_in_michigan/firearms/?action=view&current=tc_contender.jpg" target="_blank">
tc_contender.jpg" border="0" alt="TC Contender Rifle
</a>
 
Never have really liked a true single shot rifle my self. But a bolt action that is another story and many good rifles in the 243 or even more popular is the 223/556. Ya understand the smoke pole hunting my 50 cal is loaded right now since it is that season here in Missouri but I also carry a 44mag for back up which this year is legal last year I carried a 45 Navy Colt black powder hand gun for back up. I like to be able to have a follow up shot just in case I need one
 
I had a H&R Handy Rifle in 243 with a heavy barrel. It shot well. I wish I hadnt traded it. I wouldnt be afraid to buy another one. You can buy other barrels in other calibers for the Handy Rifle. However, mine did not have the fit and finish of a TC. But it was quite functional.
 
Most all the single shots require the gun to be lifted off the bags to reload, needless to say thats a pain in the butt and kills accuracy. Alot of others are more set up as kids guns, they just dont fit an adult very well. If you are going for a single shot to keep your head in the same mindset as a muzzleloader, just get a Remington 700 with one of these http://www.midwayusa.com/product/34...ngle-shot-follower-remington-700-short-action You will be very happy with that setup.
 

I have an H&R Handirifle or whatever it's called now, in 223. It is very accurate. Gunsmiths tell me the trigger pull can't be improved, so check that oout if you look at one. Mine has a good trigger pull. Oh, it's a heavy barrel.

KEH
 
KEH I have a handirifle in a 223 with a heavy barrel and I had a guy rework my trigger and it has a good trigger pull now.

Bob
 
I have two of the Ruger#1 Heavy Barrels. A .223 for high volume prairie dog shooting. the 223 doesn't heat the barrel likw a 22.250
The other is 25-06 Close to .243 but more deadly on yotes and goats. (Antelope) That particular rifle is Known as a "Liberty" model made only in 1976 with special wood and barrel markings. I rarely use it and hoping to find a home for it somehow.
I
 
I vote for the NEF/H&R Handi Rifle too. Have one in .223 with heavy barrel. Shoots far better than it ought to for the price. Want to pick up one in .243, as we already have gun of that caliber, (and reload for), and love the way NEF shoots, handles.
 
That would be a real rare and valuable Colt. A .45 would be the only one in the world as Colt and Grissom both made only .36 Calibre back during the Civil War and later. The modern repros came in .36 or .44.
 
Reason I called it a 45 is the fact it uses a round ball that is .451 so figured that would be a 45 not a 44 but have not looked at the gun in a long time to see what it says. But yes it is in fact a 44 not a 45 just looked at it to be 100% sure
 
mnjoe: one thing to be careful of--while for the most part the NEF handi-rifles are excellent guns for the money, one of their few poor choices is their .243 with a light "youth" barrel, as this combination has known accuracy issues due to the combination of a light barrel and a relatively hot cartridge causing the barrel to heat rapidly and thus cause shot-to-shot repeatability problems. Still, if you"re typically only shooting one or two shots at a time with sufficient cool-down time in between, it"s not usually an issue, but longer strings (even just shooting 3-shot groups to test load development or sight in) can cause problems. I have one, and it"s been relegated to a meadow gun for deer or woodchuck hunting, where 1 or 2 longish shots at once is all it"s apt to see. It"s been great in this role, but handload development was a frustrating process, to say the least, and this rifle does not shoot my favorite .243 reloading bullet (Sierra 85-grain boat-tail hollowpoints) well at all, though it shoots 100-grainers just fine. If you go the NEF route, look for a heavier barrel and this problem should go away, or just buy any of the other excellent guns out there, as the .243 is available on many platforms and is an excellent dual-use (varmints and deer-sized game) cartridge.
 
Here is a .36 cal 1851 Navy made by Colt, not repro.
I'm looking for just an Italian made .44 proably Walker for the power, to use as MZ backup as you are doing.
a93702.jpg
 
As a lefty shooter I just roll the Ruger #1 90 degrees to load. I bought a RH Rem 700 heavy barrel BDL specifically because as a lefty, you shoot, open the bolt with your right hand, load from the right and shoot again. I am right handed from birth but shooting left now because of severe sight loss (MD) in right eye. I can really crank that RH rifle left handed on a bech. Off hand whole nother ball game.
Oddly enough I am a much better rifle shot left handed than I ever was right. Go figure?
 
I have 3 diffrent ones I use, 1 is a Remington 700bdl 243 that works great except in brush, In wich case I grab my Stevens single shot 44 mag rifle and it just plows through whatevers there and makes the kill. Most of the time when I walk the fields I grab my old Enfield 303. Bolt action 10 in the clip and a flip sight and its dead on. Cheep to buy and ammo,s not to bad to buy. Its not the choice of most people but it gets the job done. Just an idea. Bandit
 
I have shot a heavy barrelled NEF handi-rifle in 243, for several years. It is my go to gun. By choice, I have several others to choose from.
 
The one I have is an Italian made one and has some fancy engraving on the cylinder
 
Definitely look into a Thompson-Center Encore.

Excellent accuracy right out of the box with interchangable barrels in a wide choice of calibers.
 
the .451 ball is the old standard for the .44 army revolver. the .44 refers to the bore size of barrel. Cylinder is slightly larger to hold ball with slight interference- the forcing cone of barrel is rifling lapped down to allow ball to get into barrel without shaving too much and jamming next round. .36 barrels used .375 nominal balls to .380-- that is one reason the term .38 caliber came about for the .358 bores- the "Ball" was .38 "caliber/size" and early cartridge conversions used a case and bullet same size-think of .22 rimfires. Your use of term .45 is a accepted - but secondary use- form indicating the size of "ball" used. I used to use the .454 in Remington replica, the Cap and Ball Ruger old Army gets .457 balls or bullets- there was some variation in old civil war pistols- machining slop varied- and a lot of replicas were made with a slightly out of spec master to be copied, different manufacturing process- the cast steel frames instead of machined iron frames example- and Spanish, Italian, german replicas sometimes used the modern barrel rifling as their equipment was set up for on modern guns. The old S&W .38 cartridge with a 363/365 bullet is closest to what most of civil war barrels had.
 

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