Several shooting sessions allowed us to thoroughly test the shotgun Sako A / 7 Roughtech, optics Steiner Nighthunter Xtreme 3-15 × 56 along with three varieties of Sako original cartridges in .243 Win. set up with three different loads.
The advertising wording Sako cartridges in Sako weapons it was already in vogue in the mid-60s and we remember good-yielding loads for current calibers such as the .270 Win. or the .222 Rem. as well as for more sophisticated systems such as the .222 Rem. Mag. Or the .264 Win. Mag. Subsequently, the diffusion of these original cartridges had waned and in practice they were not found in the armories. The impetus resulting from the entry of the Finnish company into the Beretta Holding a few years ago also touched the cartridge compartment and today the black and yellow boxes make a fine show of themselves from the shelves of the armories: between calibers and loadings with specific bullets we pass the biblical number of twelve dozen with a beneficial insistence on those consolidated cartridges use where a suitable variety of bullets draws the attention of connoisseurs, convincing them to focus on the one they consider to be of specific interest for their own hunting. There .243 Win. was born in the mid 50s with a lot of understanding Yankee of a multifunctional cartridge: the magic of the ballistic system conjugated to barrels with a rather short rifling pitch grants a high intrinsic precision with bullet weight between 70 and 105 grs and this propensity has shown it as a solid evolution of the usual choices of the varmint then as a replacement for the .222 Rem with greater operational arm, together expanding the hunting possibilities up to the most classic of the North American wilds, the white-tailed deer. Here this American 6 mm was successfully used in the 60s by many skilled walkers for chamois hunting, when the 250 m was a limit set by wisdom and sportsmanship; we have still recently verified the effects with suitable 85 grs bullets and collapsed heads on the spot. Now the .243 Win. it is mainly the prerogative of roe deer hunting, but if you have the possibility to measure well the point where to send the small bullet, the junction of the neck for example, you will see surprising results even on fairly sized wild boars.
The three Sako productions
The range sent to us by the manufacturer is rightly varied, ranging over three different types and weights of bullets: we start with the 5,2 g (80 grs) Barnes TTSX Powerhead, then with the technical update to meet the obligations of use of free bullets. lead. Barnes boasts a very qualified experience in this sector with its copper monolithics even if the opinions of the users do not always agree on the deadlyness.
In the present, therefore in the tests with the A / 7, these bullets proved to be of remarkable precision with the flickering of a single shot on a flight of five fired at 100 m, when the two pairs around the center are the result of the shooter's posture. We continue with the 5,8 g (90 grs) Gamehead SP, a classic one Softpoints with uncovered lead tip and very classic weight for the caliber: we notice a certain resistance in the closure of the bolt that does not affect the accuracy and constancy of shooting. At 100 m the five-shot group is very good with the vertical dispersion given by our multifocal glasses and the hot barrel, the latter factor which has little effect even when firing in rapid succession, i.e. extracting the cartridge case, observing calmly along the length of the barrel. result, and reloading.
To finish, here is the 6,5 g (100 grs) Deerhead Bonded SP therefore with jacket and core welded to maintain mass while crossing hard obstacles: a ball for game of a certain weight and with considerable resistance for which it reveals a strong penetration without dispersion of fragments. This cartridge also requires a little more effort in closing the bolt and very slight marks can be seen on the casing, indicating a very reduced relationship between the position of the bullet and the start of the rifling. The accuracy and above all the consistency are very interesting: on the combination of 100 and 200 m it is the best of the three.
Another favorable note to finish: the powders used dirty the barrel very little, making it easier to clean.