No love for the .243?

[Rooster308]

+1 for 243 fan!
do it all round for local hunt, deer, yotes, and prairie dogs all on same day with same rifle. What a kick!

 

[PredatorSlayer]

I was in a hunting lease and 243 was popular, we also found dead deer in the woods and had late night tracking patrties.

I shot my biggest deer - 300# muley w 243. Still think it is a minimal catridge and prefer bullet weights over 150 gr.

Likely a product of poor bullet selection and or shot placement. I have always said if I could only keep one gun to hunt everything from moose to coyotes it would be a 6mm CM shooting 108gr eldms.

 

[Rich M]

Likely a product of poor bullet selection and or shot placement. I have always said if I could only keep one gun to hunt everything from moose to coyotes it would be a 6mm CM shooting 108gr eldms.

Bullets. Stadard old cup and core vs the newer more designed bullets.

We really are in a new age w bullet design and construction.

 

[Aviator]

I’ve got a mid eighties tang safety Ruger 77V in .243 I love to shoot coyotes with. Shot one last night as a matter of fact.

 

[Zerk]

Is it performance or just what is trendy?

You could argue anything in the vitals will kill a deer, we hunt them with bows and handguns.

I got a medium barrel 243 been shooting 58s.

Maybe I need more practice, but I am not sure I can keep it on target any better for follow up than my 300 win mag I shoot in Tshirt.

Now my old 30-06s with no recoil pad, I can see why people went smaller they are worse than braked 300 with factory recoil pad.

But I suspect grab any 6 or6.5 and for most it will do what they want.

 

[TNKnoxville]

This thread made me take out my Winchester Model 70 243. It's an older model, not pre 64 but old. It shoots great. Haven't shot it in years. My son killed several deer with it. Going to put a new scope on it and get it ready for a deer gun.

 

[TNKnoxville]

Just checked the SS# 1987

 

[KenLee]

This thread made me take out my Winchester Model 70 243. It's an older model, not pre 64 but old. It shoots great. Haven't shot it in years. My son killed several deer with it. Going to put a new scope on it and get it ready for a deer gun.

Knock em out!

 

[Dented]

A Ruger No1 in 243 with a fixed 6x scope, that's a toy on my wish list!

 

[KenLee]

A Ruger No1 in 243 with a fixed 6x scope, that's a toy on my wish list!

Shoot it b4 you buy it. They are all over the spectrum on accuracy

 

[6mm Remington]

A Ruger No1 in 243 with a fixed 6x scope, that's a toy on my wish list!

I have two Ruger 1B's in 6mm Remington & 30-06. They both shoot great!!

The 30-06 3 shot 3 5/8" group is at 500 yards. 4x Leupold scope!

400 yards with 6mm Remington 6x42mm Leupold scope.

 

[Mikey_B79]

I picked up a Rem 700 last year, an old SPS Youth model that had been in stock at a local dealer for a long time and just never moved. As I was planning on letting my kids use it, the .243 Winchester chambering suited perfectly. My avatar is currently some prepped Federal brass for my .243 and as thing usually do around me, it's slowly accumulated parts over the past 10 months or so.

Currently it's sitting in a July 4th sale Grayboe Outlander I picked up on the cheap. I bought a Triggertech Special for another SPS (a Tactical in .223) which freed up a TT Primary that made its way into this rifle. Talleys and a Burris FFIV 2.5-10 rounded out the package so far.

Shoots alright for the whitetails in my area!

 

[MallardSX2]

I’m not gonna say I don’t own a couple of them, but a 243 is not the gun I would choose to shoot a deer with.

Also seen those late night tracking parties and a severe lack of blood.

Not my cup of tea for deer.

 

[CBB1]

Serious question, what do you think accounts for the no blood track jobs? The reason I ask is because I’ve been on a few myself that my son has shot over the past couple of years. Shooting federal power shock 100gr and hornady SST 95 gr. Not bad shots and all deer recovered within 100 yards but little to no blood. All shots were 40-80 yards.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Vern400]

Someone told me once that a 22 magnum was the best deer cartridge ever. Really. I don't agree with that.

Someone told me once the 223 was the best deer cartridge ever. Really. I don't agree with that either.

A 243 is getting into the reasonable range but there are still some cautions. Cup and core bullets tend to come apart at high velocity, and have led to lots of bloodless tracking attempts. 243s are handed to a lot of new shooters that frankly botch a shot on occasion, or frequently.

In Open country things are different. But if you're like me hunting in heavy brush, along creeks and swamps, you know a deer running 20 yards is easily lost. News flash: dead deer SINK in water. I found one buck by pure luck. I walked into his antlers with my leg crossing a creek.
As for shot placement, it's a little harder to get a great shot angle when you're shooting through 4 ft shooting Lanes you cut with a pair of clippers.

When I have guests come to hunt, I would hand them a 6.5 or a 7.62 shooting a very aggressive bullet that goes in like a pencil and comes out like a baseball. We have tracked a few deer and it's a whole lot easier tracking a gut shot deer if he's basically eviscerated.

If you know what you're going to see, and they're going to be milling around and a food plot, or slipping through relatively open timber, good for you.

When I go deer hunting, I don't always know if I'm going to see deer, a pack of feral dogs, coyote, or a 250 lb black boar. Given the fact that I have NEVER ONCE felt or remembered any recoil when I shot an animal, I make sure to take enough gun.

If that's a 243 for you fine. I'm with ya! It's a superb cartridge. It just doesn't have the flexibility to take anything, anywhere. If you come to the lowcountry down my way and a 20-yard run means you lose an animal you might consider bringing a Bone crusher. It would be a shame to let pride lose a 130 inch buck in a swamp thicket a log skidder couldn't make it through, a short run away.

And here's where I'll get the hate messages. If you make a solid hit in the vitals, and you are unable to retrieve the animal, there is very high chance it died. To be completely honest and respectable, might ought to fill out that tag. That's how we ought to be thinking if integrity still matters in this world.

There's no point in this message where I disrespected the 243 Win. Use it where it's meant to be used.

 

[Steve300xcw]

Well that should stir pot lol

 

[justin davis]

6mm /.243 hunting success on Big Game

I'm thinking these must be Hornady 108 ELDM's, does that seem correct? https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1020522878?pid=701304&utm_medium=email&utm_source=service&utm_campaign=order-confirmation&utm_content=product-description-link

rokslide.com

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

My wife still kills a couple deer with a Tikka .243 every year. Great cartridge.

 

[Steve300xcw]

First few deer I killed were with muzzleloaders. You wanna see some impressive bullet performance. Shoot something around 100yrds with a .40cal patched round ball LOL

Got into the .223's for a bit, and for the longest time the biggest rifle I owned was a .243. Compared to everything else that thing might as well been a howitzer I own a pile of rifles now, but that 243 is still the one that gets hunted the most

Serious question, what do you think accounts for the no blood track jobs?

I think it really depends on the bullet and where it is placed. That said, with the exception of one rodeo. I have yet to need a blood trail.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Someone told me once that a 22 magnum was the best deer cartridge ever. Really. I don't agree with that.

Someone told me once the 223 was the best deer cartridge ever. Really. I don't agree with that either.

A 243 is getting into the reasonable range but there are still some cautions. Cup and core bullets tend to come apart at high velocity, and have led to lots of bloodless tracking attempts. 243s are handed to a lot of new shooters that frankly botch a shot on occasion, or frequently.

In Open country things are different. But if you're like me hunting in heavy brush, along creeks and swamps, you know a deer running 20 yards is easily lost. News flash: dead deer SINK in water. I found one buck by pure luck. I walked into his antlers with my leg crossing a creek.
As for shot placement, it's a little harder to get a great shot angle when you're shooting through 4 ft shooting Lanes you cut with a pair of clippers.

When I have guests come to hunt, I would hand them a 6.5 or a 7.62 shooting a very aggressive bullet that goes in like a pencil and comes out like a baseball. We have tracked a few deer and it's a whole lot easier tracking a gut shot deer if he's basically eviscerated.

If you know what you're going to see, and they're going to be milling around and a food plot, or slipping through relatively open timber, good for you.

When I go deer hunting, I don't always know if I'm going to see deer, a pack of feral dogs, coyote, or a 250 lb black boar. Given the fact that I have NEVER ONCE felt or remembered any recoil when I shot an animal, I make sure to take enough gun.

If that's a 243 for you fine. I'm with ya! It's a superb cartridge. It just doesn't have the flexibility to take anything, anywhere. If you come to the lowcountry down my way and a 20-yard run means you lose an animal you might consider bringing a Bone crusher. It would be a shame to let pride lose a 130 inch buck in a swamp thicket a log skidder couldn't make it through, a short run away.

And here's where I'll get the hate messages. If you make a solid hit in the vitals, and you are unable to retrieve the animal, there is very high chance it died. To be completely honest and respectable, might ought to fill out that tag. That's how we ought to be thinking if integrity still matters in this world.

There's no point in this message where I disrespected the 243 Win. Use it where it's meant to be used.

TLDR?