FOund a sweet rifle in .243, but wanted to see if its a good gun for smaller big game.
We have a 100 pound (male) subspecies of free ranging Sikas here, and sometimes you have to reach out to them 200-300 yards. They can be pretty tough animals sometimes.
Would this be a good gun caliber for them.
Can you go 300 yards with a .243.
Let me know what you think.
THanks,
W.

I persnaaly don't like the .243, but with good bullets and proper bullet placement, it works for a lot of folks here in Texas.

I prefer a .257 Robert's because it can shoot heavier bullets, 115 to 120 grain bullets, but I just checked and Barnes is offering a 115 grain bullet for the .243.

Also, if you have to go with factory loads, .243 cartridges are easier to find.

300 yards might be a stretch, but I believe you will do alright with it.

I had a Ruger Model 77 in 243 that I used for Pronghorns for a few seasons and I took a few mulies with it too. I didn't care for it too much. It seemed like those little bullets caused an awful lot of meat damage. I traded that off for a Remington Model 700 Classic in 6.5x55 Swedish.

In my opinion either the 25 calibers like Crazy Horse talks about or the 6.5 mm calibers are better choices. You get a heavier bullet with a better sectional density and better ballistic coefficience. Just by going from 6mm which the 243 is to 6.5 mm you can get bullets 60 grs heavier. And believe it or not, it does make a difference.

A lot of folks swear by the 243. So, my take is simply my opinion. Take it or what its worth.

Agree with Crazyhorse. The .243 works, but I have never liked it. Main problem is using the wrong bullet. IMO, the .25 caliber rounds (.257 Roberts, .25-06) work much better withthe 6.5 rounds better yet. I owned a .243 for a while, but just never had a lot of confidence in it as a deer round. I have shot a number of deer and antelope with a .25-06 and never felt undergunned. Your results may vary.

I killed a pile o' deer with mine back in the day....very accurate and no recoil. I don't use it for deer anymore(guess I just like the louder boom of my 300 mag)......but it's gonna be my son's first deer gun eventually.

I like the 243 and it shines when killing 100-150 pound critters. There are so many good bullets that will do fine on that size animal to 300 yards and they are very easy to shoot. Stick to your TSX, Scirrocco, Partitions, Interlocks, or Gamekings 85 grains and up and have fun.

My everyday carry/truck gun is a .243 it kills everything from groundhogs, coyotes, hogs and deer.

90 grain BT's are my favorites but I hear the 90 grain Accubonds are on the way.

The 243 is an excellent round for smaller big game! There has been a pile of deer taken in this country with a 243, why it wouldn't work for your application, I don't know!

How a deer ever knows the difference between 0.014 bullet size and 15 grains beats the hell out of me!

I have used mine to kill everything from rock chucks to elk. I use a Hornady 100 gr SP at 3150. I have shot a PILE of mule deer with mine. Ron

243 with a 105 to 115 grn bullet will do just fine. You will have to do your part and place the shots. 300 yards is do-able but I wouldnt go farther than that.

I started deer hunting with a 250 sav it worked. I normaly use something bigger now.

i cut my elk,deer and antelope "teeth"
with a savage .243,starting at age 14
I killed 7 of each in 7 yrs.
course it was wyoming in the mid 70s
but damn sure a deadly combination...
a kid that "wanted" to be there
and a rifle/cartridge that works

243 is my go-to pronghorn rifle - I've made one shot kills at 400 yds with mine. Contrary to much opinion I've seen, I prefer standard type (read Hornady) bullets to "premiums", I get quicker, cleaner kills.

I have used a .243 with 100gr Partitions to kill anything from P-dogs to Oryx. You should have no problem.

I use cheap 100 grain Winchester bulk packed--drive one of those through the vitals and you then need a sharp knife. Funs over. Works same way with big boomers--bad shot bad results

i use my 243 w/100gr partitions most years to shoot whitetails, some up to 200 lbs. it kills them across 300 yard bean fields just fine. rest assured it will do the job on your 100lb deer.

I've killed one big mule deer and several pronghorn with the .243 Win. I wouldn't hesitate to use it on a Sitka. I'd try 95 grain NBT's and call it a day. Great cartridge IMO for deer and smaller.

However the most dramatic kill I've ever had has been with my .25-06 using 120 grain Sierra HPBT. He flipped so fast that I lost sight of him in the scope. Started looking for where he might have run off to and noticed on leg sticking up behind a deadfall, that looked nearly like the broken branches. Never had a deer go down that hard and fast before.

The .243 doesn't deserve the bad reputation it has. If you use a proper big game bullet it works just fine on deer sized animals. In point of fact, I consider the .243 Win just about ideal for smallish deer and antelope hunting.

I used a .243 and a 95 gr. Federal Fusion bullet to kill a 300 lb. mountain goat at 305 yards. One shot through the shoulder and he fell over before I could get the second shot off. But... I'm a .243 fan.

[quote]The .243 doesn't deserve the bad reputation it has. If you use a proper big game bullet it works just fine on deer sized animals.[/q}

That statement right there is the reason why I developed a dislike for the .243.

The first few folks I was hunting with that were using .243's back in the early 70's would use the varmint bullets that were available at the time, and they would shoot a deer 2 or 3 times to kill it and lose a tremendous amount of meat.

If they made a head or neck shot, the results were amazing, but body shots just were not always that great and the meat destruction was excessive.

With well constructed big game bullets, in my opinion, the difference in performance between the .243/.257 Robert's and 6.5x55 with bullets of 120 grains or less, is negligable.

Any of them will work wonderfully well on deer/pronghorn size animals, and with good shot placement and keeping yardage figured in have accounted for quite a bit of larger game including elk.

I used a .243 from age 11-16. I took several deer, an uncountable number of coyotes, and an uncountable number of pigs with it. I never lost a single one that was hit. One deer and several of the coyotes died at distances in the 300 meter range. With my .270 I have lost a deer. With my .300 win I have lost one bear, an impala, and a waterbuck. Maybe I should pick my old .243 back up.

Hell, my Cousin in law is Inuit and his big gun for Walrus,Polar Bear and Musk Ox is a 243.

For 100 pound deer at 300 yards, the .243 should be great. I have used my .243 on whitetail deer up to 200 pounds and all have died quickly. When I might be taking up to 300 yard shots, however, I do use something larger for deer that large. On 100 pound deer, 300 yards should be no problem for the .243, in my humble opinion.

Although I would not chose the .243 for large antelope at any range, the father of the PH I have hunted with three times in South Africa uses a .243 for all his hunting, including kudu, gemsbok and even eland. That man was an incredible shot. When I took those same animals, I used my .338 Win Mag.

I also saw a lady hunter take a very large white tail buck in Northern Alberta with a single 225 yard shot from a .243. The buck was over 250 pounds. The shot was too far back, but the little .243 went clean through the animal, taking out the liver. The buck ran about 100 yards and piled-up dead. I would still not choose a .243 for deer that large, but the .243 sure worked for her.

Some people get very worked-up about using a .243 on big game. For 100 pound animals, however, the .243 should be very good medicine even out to 300 yards.

I'm another who isn't a big fan of the .243. I've sen 6 deer taken withthe round and one was a bang/flop/DRT but the other 5 ran for a bit before falling. Blood trails were very sparse. Now these were big Nevada Mule Deer. I'm thinking that a .243 with the Hornady interlock loads as hot as you can safely go in the rifle should work just fine on the smaller animals, After, they did kill those bg NV deer. LIke the others though, I would prefer something a bit bigger for my own use, but the .243 will do the job if you do yours.
Paul B.

I am a huge fan of the .243, maybe because I have one that shoots almost every bullet well. With the proper bullets, it has as much or more energy at 300 yards as the 30-30 does at 100 yards. I must admit, though, that 110 yards is the farthest I've taken a whitetail deer with mine, but I'm confident that it would do the job at longer ranges. The .243 has mild recoil, is often very accurate, economical to load for, and ammo is readily available for it almost anywhere.

quote:

The .243 has mild recoil, is often very accurate, economical to load for, and ammo is readily available for it almost anywhere.

And I can assure you that at 300 yards it can be deadly on targets the size of whitetails.

I've used the .243 and similar size cartridges for many years and have no hesitation using it on 200 pound targets......and at some extended distances as well!

Load it up with Barnes 85 grain TSX at 3250fps or the 80 grain TTSX at 3400fps. They kill deer like Thor's Hammer. For the small Sika you mention, they will be a perfect match. DW

Last several deer I have shot have been with .243, but the last one was most unusual. Generally they either drop right there and some run a short distance. This one never ran a step and didn't drop--it just slowly and wobbly walked about 15 yards and stopped. I could see where I hit it and knew things were about over. I walked up to it while it was still on it's feet and was swaying some. I could have kicked it over. A few seconds after I arrived it fell dead. The shot had made mush of both the heart and liver, how it ever took one step is a mystery to me. Exit and entrance holes both small and no meat damage. This was 100 grain Win bulk packed bullet loaded on mild side. This was a Texas 4 pointer probably 125-150 pounder.

quote:

Originally posted by woodsie:
FOund a sweet rifle in .243, but wanted to see if its a good gun for smaller big game.
We have a 100 pound (male) subspecies of free ranging Sikas here, and sometimes you have to reach out to them 200-300 yards. They can be pretty tough animals sometimes.
Would this be a good gun caliber for them.
Can you go 300 yards with a .243.
Let me know what you think.
THanks,
W.

It will do fine for what you plan. I have used mine on quite a few deer & antelope and I would not hesitate to use it again. The deer I took last season was with mine shooting one of the old Barnes 85 gr X with the blue moly coat. One shot through the heart and he was down.

I have shot several antelope well past 300 yards with it so you will be fine there.

I love the .243! Light weight and lights out friggin accurate.
One shot a Stone Sheep at 347 yds. Now he did waver for a bit before he did the sheep roll down the mountain.

If you want bang/flop then get a bang/flop rifle. A .243 isn't a bang/flopper. It's designed to put a hole in something from 0 to 400 yds consistently. It's just going to be a small hole is all.

Dear Woodsie

We have shot many pigs with the 243 works well to about 250 mtrs.

My kids 9 and 11 shot, Bush buck, Impala x2, warthog, duiker, steinbuck x2, spring buck. All with one shot last year in Africa.

I got a red hartbeast 1 shot and a spring buck that took 2 shots.

All with local South African loaded soft points.

It is not what you use but how you use it and know the limits.

Regards Mark

quote:

Originally posted by woodsie:
FOund a sweet rifle in .243, but wanted to see if its a good gun for smaller big game.

A 6mm-284 at longer ranges is just like the 243 up closer...I use 85-grain Noslers in the 6mm, seems to work ok.

We use it on most things over here as it is the smallest "deer legal" calibre for our larger species and so what most people start off with.

A fair number of riflemen here believe it a bit light for Red and Sika stags, on this I agree, but for sub 300 pound everything else it's great with the right bullets and tucked in just behind the shoulder.

You also have Sika deer, Cervus Nippon, over there? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sika_Deer If so then perhaps step up a little on the stags as these have a reputation for being able to carry lead very well and also somewhat belligerent.

The 243 is really popular here in South Africa.

It's probably the most popular Springbuck rifle and in the Eastern Cape for Bushbuck and even Kudu.

I'm building one currently, mainly for use on Springbuck, Mountain Reedbuck, Vaal Rhebuck etc.

The poor reputation comes from matching the wrong bullets, too long range, or too large animals, bad angles and poor shot placement lumped together. Animals like Springbuck kill fairly easily with lightly constructed bullets from say 70gr and heavier. In fact I've shot many with my 300 WM that ran further than with my smaller rifles because the bullets don't expand on the Springbuck and punch pencil sized holes instead of causing more damage.

The fastest results are always the bullets that case more internal damage to heart and lungs. In all calibers in my experience.

It's about matching things correctly and not about "bad calibers".

To answer your question you should be good to go, but as often said elsewhere beyond 250 yards or so you need to be cautious on the larger quarry.

Not a big fan myself but my Dad and brother both use them quite successfully on whitetail +- 150 lbs out to 100+ yds. The right bullet and proper placement at 300 should be no prob.