I have this kind of rifle. It's made from the finnish rifle Lakelander Tap old Cal. is 308. It have new parrel (600mm or 24" and 11" twist cal. 243 win) and the stok is reformed. Scope is Leopold 8x36 and it's attached whit Apel rings. I have to admid that I'm very satisfied for the whole rifle. Caliper(. 243 Win) seems to be wery good for the finnish small game: birds, fox, etc. I have not yet tested it for the deers or another "bigger" game or actually white-tailed deer is the biggest which you are aloved to hunt with this caliber(here). I like to shot also litle further distans (about 400-600 meter) and I'm happy that I can do it in the same rifle which I hunt. Well but I wuold like to hear your opinion and experiens about this caliber. Also I'm interested about reloading data about .243 win or 9.3x62! If you have it please share it! Now I use Lapua 5.8g/90grain fmjbt bullet, vv 160 powder, shells are lapua or sako and primers WLR.

[This message has been edited by Mixu (edited 03-18-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Mixu (edited 03-18-2002).]

Lots of things to address here. Here goes.

I have used the .308 Win caliber extensively on deer sized game, usually with 165 grain bullets. It is quite effective on animals up to elk/moose size, if you place your shot correctly.

The .243 Win is an excellent caliber for small game like you have mentioned. It will effectively kill those animals with less meat/pelt damage than a .308. Many use this caliber on deer in the U.S., but I personally think it a bit undersized unless conditions are absolutely perfect.

N160 is an excellent powder for the 90 grain bullets in the .243. My max load for a 90 grain bullet is 45 grains N160. Start lower than this and work your way up.

I have used the .308 extensivly on African game with no real complaints. We generally shoot 180 grs speer hot cores and they work fine. The .243 is a fun gun and has its place I have used a 6MM rem for rock dassie shooting and it works well. One of my friends maitains the .243 is the best round for impala,springbok, ans swine. He has also shot a few gemsbok with it. I like the .308 as oppossed to the .243 it has worked for me for sometime.

Hey Mixu, The 308Win is one of my favorite calibers. I've had various ones for about 45 years or so. They work well with a wide range of both Powders and Bullets, are generally easy to develop accuracte Loads for, have moderate recoil and are relatively easy on the ears.

I'm in the process of swapping one I've had for a few years in on a new Weatherby Ultra-Lightweight right now. I use various brands of 150gr-165gr bullets to hunt with. I do like both Hornady and Speer Hot-Cor bullets for hunting, Nosler and Sierra for Target shooting and Remington Core-Lokts for general plinking around.

Seems that I've had 243Wins for maybe 30 years. It is also a fine caliber, but occasionally will not provide an Exit on our Southeastern USA Deer. We have a very heavy understory(ground cover) and having an Exit is a real advantage. But, even when there is an Exit, it is so small that sometimes the hole will "plug shut" due to the guts blocking it off. Of course, that can happen with nearly any caliber, but the smaller the Exit is, the more you will experience it.

I've used primarily 75gr, 80gr, 85gr, 90gr, 95gr and 100gr bullets in my 243Wins. My current Deer hunting bullet is the 90gr Speer Hot-Cor and it seems to work as well as the 100gr bullets do. The very best Powder I found for my 243Wins was H450, but it is no longer being made. I've worked up a load using a very long Drop Tube and H1000 that it shoots real well, but that Powder is actually a bit too slow for it. The Short-Cut H4831 might be the ticket, but I've not tried it - yet.

I've found the 243Win to really work well on Coyote size animals. I'm not interested in saving the hides, so a couple of holes through one doesn't matter to me at all.

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Good hunting and clean 1-shot kills, Hot Core

Here in finland most of the moose (or here elk) hunters use .308 but I think that it's litle bit too small for that size of game. I use 9.3x62 and have shot one male elk (meet weight 235kg), and like to use it for that purpose(it's also Lakelander). But back to the original topic. How faar have you shot .243 win? I have few times tryed to shoot about 500 m and managed to get quite "good" hits for me, even under 9" in 5 shots (usually 3 or 4 of the shots are under 9" and the last 2 or 1 have increased total size to the 10-20". I have also shot 5 shots/150 meters/13 mm(about 0.52"). But that is my best result! Thanks for you time and opinions!

[This message has been edited by Mixu (edited 03-18-2002).]

Mixu: The .243 is usually fairly accurate in most guns. I consider it fully adequate for deer-sized game, although I most often use mine for long-range varmints. My heavy-barreled Browning-Sako shoots .25 to .40 inch groups at 100 yards, and I have killed prairie dogs with it at 400.

I loaned my Sako Sporter to a friend last fall who killed a whitetail at 375 yards -- one shot though the heart.