If we could avoid the hate retoric I would like to hear some stories about using cartridges of the 243 ilk on medium game. My interest is bullet performance and on game performance. I have some experience with various bullets and have killed deer, antelope and feral hogs with both the 6MM Remington and the 243. Never lost anything hit with either.

I have killed several deer with a .243 in my younger years and had great success with 100 grain Sierras and 90 grain ballistic tips

Todays bullet offerings from Barnes and Nosler Accubonds should make for an even better deer killer

My first 6MM was a model 788 and the only factory load I could get for it at the time were boxed as the 244 Remington and held 80 gr. bullets. Topped with a 4X Weaver I dropped a bunch of deer with it, all hit in the ribs at ranges out to 250 yards. Some of the bullets exited but all provided lots of internal damage, impressive even.

My son shoots a .243 and has taken kudu, pronghorn, reedbok, springbok, whitetailed deer with it.

He shoots 85 gr TSX bullets.

I along with many other deer stalker a in the UK use the 243 on all deer species from small Roe does to large Red Stags. Put a well constructed 100gn 243 bullet just behind the shoulder for a heart / lung shot and they don't go far. I have also used the 25-06, 7x64, 270 and don't really notice much difference.

When people criticise the 243 for deer, it's not the 243 that's the problem, it's the type of bullet and where it is placed that's the problem. A 75gn varmint bullet is designed to blow up on impact. Put that bullet into the shoulder of a red stag and you are going to have a problem.

I received my 243 Win from my father when I was 12-13 years old. It is still my go to gun when hunting whitetail and antelope. I even carried it this year in CO for mule deer, but never was able to make good things happen on a deer of the caliber I was looking for.

A couple years ago I rebarrelled the old gun and switched my load it the 80 grain Barnes TTSX with Ramshot Hunter powder at 3415 fps. I've taken about a dozen deer/antelope with this combination and still looking to catch a bullet. They zip right thru and leave very impressive blood trails if the target makes it very far at all.

I've had more deer/antelope drop within 0-25 yards then make it outside of 25 yards with this jewel of a combination.

I've killed elk,deer,antelope and a couple bear
with a 243.

The .243 is a great little caliber. I have a Sako Forester that's a tack driver and I handload 100 grain Hornady BTSPs with 50 grains of IMR 4064 for antelope and smaller game, but have also taken whitetails with it with no problem. I usually go up to my Ruger M77 in 25-06 for mulies and for antelope if it's real windy in Wyoming where I hunt every year. Some think the .243 is also an elk cartridge, but IMHO unless it's the only rifle you have I would go up to at least a 25 caliber and preferably even bigger for elk, moose, etc.

I've taken deer and antelope with the 243 mostly with the 85 grain Partition.

My son (then 14yo) used a Parker Hale .243 and 100 grain Partitions in Africa to take a list of game up to and including Impala.

As Heym SR20 said, its all about the bullet and placement.

Latest Camel with a quatering away shot that went behind the R forleg and forward into the heart with a 100 Sierra SptBt..(Mind you, I wasn't too happy with him taking that shot)

I have shot red deer with 243 Win in New Zealand and they do kill well MOST of the time. The problem is in thick bush like we have here, where the animal can run 100 meters and drop across a couple of ridges & gullies.

The 243 Win was very popular here in the 1990s and was equal favourite with the 308 Win. But they have both largely been replaced by the 7mm08 in all the gun shops over the last 10 years.

Personally I enjoy carrying large calibers with stout bullets that I'm sure will penetrate to the vitals at any angle, but with that said I've had clients consistently show terrific success with the .243 and 6mm. I've always said I'd much rather have someone shooting a .243 that they shoot really well than a .300 that makes them nervous and flinchy.

Placement is king, penetration is queen... the rest of the garbage we argue about doesn't matter much.

I shoot deer with .243s often enough, and have done so for fifty odd years. I have four of them and use 80grain TTSXs or 85 grain TSXs in them and have never with those bullets felt that they were any less effective on deer than the bgger rounds I use.

I have seen better than 30 inches of penetration out of them and red soup inside the chest is the general outcome.

I have shot a number of large mule deer with my 243 and I shot one spike bull with it. I was hunting with my pack goats and this bull saw my goats. It completely ignored me and was only looking at the goats. I shot him through the ribs at 80 yards with a 100 gr hornady flat base. He ran for about 50 yards and piled up just like he was shot with a mag. Ron

I haven't shot anything big with a 6mm, but it's been plenty good enough on several antelope, most of the time with 85-grain partition bullets. They don't go far, pile up at about the same distance as the ones shot with my friend's 30-06.

Used a 243 on a huge dall ram, couple of caribou, and numerous black tail deer. Worked as well as any caliber. Bullet was a 90 grain Barnes original if memory serves me correctly.

I generally have had adequate penetration with most of the bullets I have used. When I started reloading for the first 6MM I used the 105 grain Speer Hotcors exclusivly with great results. The haters were in full swing back then but I could not understand why as destruction and penetration were just fine. I have never used the partitions or any monometal bullet in the 6MM bore size but have had a great deal of use with the old corelokt, the 95 gr. Ballistic tips, 100 gr. Nosler solid base bullets and the Hornady BTSP. I have also recovered more bullets fired from 243/6MM rounds than heavier rounds but the deer that gave them up were plenty dead. Recently I tested some 70 gr. Nosler BT against some 100 grain Federal Powershok factory loads in gallon water jugs and the 70 grain bullet beat the 100 gr. powershok out in penetration. The Powershok went to pieces, the Nosler bullet lost it's core but the solid base an the rest of the jacket made it into 1 more jug than the powershok. One could argue neither was all that good but in my experience any bullet that makes it thru 2 gallon jugs of water penetrates well enough for a lot of deer and antelope hunting. The powershok stayed in the second jug, the Ballistic Tip was in the third. Shot at 100 yards.

quote:

Originally posted by Palidun:
Recently I tested some 70 gr. Nosler BT against some 100 grain Federal Powershok factory loads in gallon water jugs and the 70 grain bullet beat the 100 gr. powershok out in penetration. The Powershok went to pieces, the Nosler bullet lost it's core but the solid base an the rest of the jacket made it into 1 more jug than the powershok. One could argue neither was all that good but in my experience any bullet that makes it thru 2 gallon jugs of water penetrates well enough for a lot of deer and antelope hunting. The powershok stayed in the second jug, the Ballistic Tip was in the third. Shot at 100 yards.

I've shot thru as many as 6 milk jugs filled with water and still haven't caught an 80 grain Barnes TTSX with my load at 100 yards. This was with 4 half gallon jugs up front and 2 - 1 gallon jugs on the backside.

I tired it again recently with 6 - 1 gallon jugs, but the bullet exited out the side of the 4th milk jug. I'll try it again when I get a chance.

quote:

Originally posted by Code4:
My son (then 14yo) used a Parker Hale .243 and 100 grain Partitions in Africa to take a list of game up to and including Impala.

As Heym SR20 said, its all about the bullet and placement.

Latest Camel with a quatering away shot that went behind the R forleg and forward into the heart with a 100 Sierra SptBt..(Mind you, I wasn't too happy with him taking that shot)

Nuff Said

Quartering away is a nice shot for a light rifle round. Ribs in, Vitals out. No shoulder to have to break. Quartering towards, you have to break some bone usually.
Anecdotal only but I had a hunting buddy who killed many, many big mule deer and last count 17 or so Elk with a 243 and the 87 grain Sierra HP bullet. I don't know why it worked other than he shot it like a laser but he broke bone and killed game. Last I heard, his wife was still killing game with it.

Hornady do a 95gr SST which when I had a .243 thought was the best bullet out there

I put this doe antelope on the ground in about 2 steps as she was about to go under the fence to the neighbor's property.

I had to anchor her with the fear she would make it under the fence.

The TTSX broke both shoulders on it's way to parts unknown. Shot distance was 228 yards.

It might seem strange to some but when you are hunting brushy ranch property with plenty of cows on it limited penetration is a good thing. I will someday try some of the Monometal bullets though. probably test the Partition first.

quote:

Originally posted by Palidun:
It might seem strange to some but when you are hunting brushy ranch property with plenty of cows on it limited penetration is a good thing. I will someday try some of the Monometal bullets though. probably test the Partition first.

Completely understandable!

Here in WA the minimum caliber is the 243. I've always considered it too small for deer sized game, but its extensive use here has changed that opinion. I track wounded game with a blood tracking hound, and I've never had a 243 shot deer that required tracking. Lots of other calibers for sure, but never the 243. Certainly not definitive but enough to make me a believer.