Muzzle blast on a 243 can be quite unpleasant, but this is true for other cartridges as well. A short barrel, 22" or less, slow powder like 4831 and a heavy bullet can lead to a very loud gun. My shooting partner has a short barreled 243 Rem 700, and when he is shooting the slow powder/heavy bullet combination I find it very unpleasant to be at the next bench.
I will usually take a break when he is shooting that gun, yet he has a 26" 300 mag that doesn't bother me at all. (Neither have muzzle brakes)
I have a 17FB that exhibits the same traits with a 26" barrel. With 30 Grain bullets and 8208 powder it has a noticably sharper "crack" than 25 grain V-max with 4198. It is not a defect of the gun, it is powder burn rate to barrel length. If you really want to see muzzle blast, put a 223 or 221 Fireball in one of the old XR-100 bolt action pistols with the ten inch barrels that Remington used to sell.
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