AnotherAZWriter, I'm not saying anything about someone elses shooting ability. And as you've pointed out yours is good. Usually these smaller, lighter rifles are not for experienced people. Surely you'd agree the .300 SAUM is no beginners round in a carbine size rifle.

The point is the .243 is on the minimum side for deer and anything that contributes to a missplaced shot is trouble. The small short barreled rifles, as I said before, are harder to shoot for inexperienced shooters.

That I don't favor the Rem is an opinion for disagreement, that the .243 is a bit small and requires perfect shot placement is less arguable. And if you really want to try out the new shooters do better with a little longer barrel, try it. I've got proof of my belief living with me!

I'm not on this board to start crap but I do try to give people my honest opinion and relate things to experiences. The real question was about the .243, I think thats been hashed pretty well. The rest Of this was to inspire some thought about the choice of rifle.
Nate

Let me start off by saying I have never killed a deer with a 6mm. However, I knew many people who hunted very happily with 6mms growing up in PA including several family members. Most were .243 Wins, some were 6mm Rems. I don't remember the 6mms losing any more deer than people using 06s, .308s, .30-30s and the like. I'm not talking they only took standing shots with everything perfect nor am I saying that I've seen a lot of lost deer. In a lot of cases, the deer were driven or alarmed and on the move. When poorly hit with large cals, I have not noticed them being any easier to find when poorly shot with 6mms. In theory, the larger cals should give a better blood trail on a gut/poor shot, but maybe I have just not seen enough gut shot deer for the averages to work out in their favor.

Further, it always seemed to me when somebody shoots something with a 6mm and get no blood trail or the animal runs 100 yards before it falls, it's because the 6mm is inadequate. When the same thing happens with a .30-06 (or any larger cal), it's just that was one tough deer or it was an anomoly.

Now, my point is not that a .243 is the end of all of deer calibers, I'm just saying that it is a fine deer caliber. Maybe on very large deer there would be a difference, but I certainly didn't see it on PA whitetails.

-Lou

I think most here have agreed it will work.

The dissagreement is over how well. Given that many start out with this as a "starter" rifle when in fact it requires more care in it's proper use is strange to me. As I said earlier it recoils very little but there are other low recoiling options that will work better when the bullet isn't placed exactly right. A bigger hole made by a slower bullet will be plenty deadly. The lowly .30-30 Win has been slaying 'em for a lot longer than most people remember. It works!

There are a lot of others that have low recoil and good performance in a common package. Combine these attributes to a stock that fits and a young / inexperienced hunter will become quite confident in their rifle and it's ability.

Many good suggestions have been made. Of them,
1. leaving the smaller bore rifles to a seasoned hunter isn't bad advice!
2.Mild mannered mid-bores are good medicine!
3. No matter what you believe, someone believes you're full of it!

Leo,
I think the .243 is perfectly adquate for deer. This picture is my first muley buck. I hit him @ about 300-350 yards and he went down in his tracks (neck shot). Like the other poster have said, You have to know the .243's limitations. I think it is wise to limit your shots to about 300 yards and use a premium bullet.







Here is a buck antelope I took last saturday. Yup, I used the .243. The range was about 150 yards and he went down where he stood.

i have been following this forum and finally decided to get registered. re. 243 on deer size game i can only mirror what previous posters have said. it is adequate. most of the deer and black bear ihave taken do not show the reaction to the shot as some larger calibers and travel aways before dropping. not usually a problem unless like a nice 8pt montana buck it stopped in 7 or 8 ft. of water in the tounge river. however i still would use my 6mm rem. without too much worry. i have used mostly the 95 nosler partition and b.t.

Welcome aboard buffalobreath. You will enjoy it around here.