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.243 Win is my favorite coyote caliber. I load 58 gr Hornady VMAX bullets. Prefer a .308 for deer but a guy in our deer shack uses one for him and his kids; I think it killed 3 deer this year. | |||
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Pop bought this in about 1960. He bagged 2 whitetail deer with it then retired it to woodchuck hunting.  | |||
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I once made a quartering lung shot on a small mule deer about 70 yds away. The deer at first showed no signs of being hit. Then it stopped and laid down. I started to shoot again but the deer laid its head down. I walked up to the deer and it got back on its feet and started to wobble off. I decided to put it out of its misery when it collapsed. A postmortem showed the bullet slipped between the ribs, punctured both lungs, clipped the heart, and slipped between the ribs once again and exited. 4 small holes. The bullet and cartridge was one that had killed deer, elk, wild boar, and a black bear with great results; mostly one shot kills. The point? Sometimes weird stuff happens. BTW I was shooting a WBY .7 mm Mag using WBY 154gr PSPs. BH63 Hunting buff is better than sex! | |||
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I've never been a fan of the .243. I always figured it a little on the small side. I took one in a trade and soon got rid of it. A couple months ago my local gunshop had a new Mossberg Patriot youth in .243 for $215. I couldn't pass that up. It should make a good coyote gun or deer rifle for my kids. It is hella accurate and I'm impressed with these Patriots for a budget gun, I like them better than the Ruger American. They still have another .243 for the same price and a 7mag for $265. I'm still thinking about the 7mag, but it only has a 22" barrel. For the price point I'm going to stock up on these Mossy's. Who else makes a .375 Ruger for $300? | |||
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Pink mist! And chunkage!  | |||
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Now! The above post is a practical way of judging any chambering! I have taken around 40 large west Texas, and New Mexico mule deer bucks with various rifles chambered for 243 win with 100 gr bullets @ just under 3000 fps and Though it may sound like an outright lie, not one took a step after the bullet hit them just behind the front leg blowing the heart and lungs to mush. In my experience the deer, when hit, simply jerks all four legs up against it's belly and drops to the ground like the earth was snatched out from under them. I think most of the people who cuss the 243 rifle are simply repeating crap that someone else who has not used a properly loaded 243 win rifle either, and My experience says they are simply wrong except for the rare instance reported above which IMO will not happen in only one chambering, and only rarely any chambering. …………………………………………………...  ....Mac >>>===(x)===> MacD37, ...and DUGABOY1 DRSS Charter member "If I die today, I've had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"~ME 1982 Hands of Old Elmer Keith  | |||
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+1 on using 100 grain bullets! They work well on deer, hogs and such. Our Ruger 77 .243 is a tack driver. The wife of a Colorado elk outfitter told me she used the 100 grain bullets on elk; she just shoots them in the head- she definitely qualified as a rifleman! The lighter weight bullets are good for varmints at long ranges. NRA Life Benefactor Member, DRSS, DWWC, Whittington Center,Android Reloading Ballistics App at http://www.xplat.net/ | |||
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My reasoning? To get my wife hunting, she can shoot her .243 well and it is very accurate, light recoil and it gives her confidence and an 80 gr TTSX will kill (and has) any deer, pig or coyote she chooses to shoot. Karl Evans | |||
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I've killed Two Mule deer and one bull Elk with the 243 Winchester. The rifle was a Rem 700 ADL (80's model). I used Remington 100gr Cor-lokt ammo and with the Elk and one Mule deer they were single shots. The Elk wasn't really large but he was maybe 2 years old. He was between 100yds and 150ish. At the shot he staggered a few steps like a drunken sailor and then collapsed. The one Mule deer that took one shot dropped in his tracks. Both of them had their lungs and hearts turned to jelly. Both of them were feeding and not aware I was in the area. The one Mule deer I shot that required a follow up shot was alert and amped up and at the shot he took off. He was under 100yds on the first shot. He stopped about 200ish yards and looked back at me. I shot him again and he trotted off and fell over. The first shot he was extremely quartering away from me and I hit his liver and took out part of his lung. The second shot double lunged him. I think he lost a lot of blood from the liver shot but combine the less than ideal hit with fact he was alert and jumpy and he was going to bolt regardless of where he was hit. | |||
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Think of it as a shorter-distance version of the 6mm-284. Jack Hooker's son carried a 243 on guided elk hunts (he was one of the guides). TomP Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right, when wrong to be put right. Carl Schurz (1829 - 1906) | |||
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I always wonder where people are attempting shooting animals when they profess to not being able to kill all of their deer with a .243. Especially little whitetail deer. I have never had anything but a straight drop from a .243. None take a step, and that it virtually the case with all cartridges I have used, except very slow numbers like the .44-40. I am aiming for a shoulder shot or a high shoulder shot. I went out with an American from Mississippi, and he shot a deer with a .270 and it ran off quite a ways before it fell over. He had shot it low behind the shoulder, a rear lung shot. he seems happy and satisfied with what happned, normal to him. I would have shot it somewhere else. Americans always seem to go for lung shots, as far as I can tell from reading the internet. Maybe that's why the animals run so much. I can't think of an deer I have come across, big or little, that I couldn't kill outright with a .243 if pressed, so these .243 "failures" just baffle me. And I plain disbelieve stories of pigs that are bullet proof to a .243, (or himmlayan tahr either, which is sometimes claimed around here) | |||
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One poster mentioned "so his wife would hunt". Well, that's my reasoning as well. That and my wife is left handed and when I came across a decent old Savage 110 bolt rifle, left handed and in 243 I bought it for her. That was....30+ years ago. She's killed between 15 and 20 deer with that rifle and none went any farther than about 30 yards. Some fell in their tracks, some didn't. The internals have always been mush. I think that little rifle is more destructive than my 270, back when I used a 270 and jacketed bullets. To qualify things a bit, where we hunt shots are short. 100 yards would be a fairly long shot. I would guess her deer to have been taken between 40 and 75 yards. Lastly, my wife only hunts deer, shooting is not a hobby of hers. Consequently she has always used a rest of some type and is very particular to wait until she has a broadside shot. She knows her limitations and stays within them...and if she pulls the trigger it's a pretty safe bet I have a deer to clean. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me". John 14:6 | |||
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I have a friend who has hunted with a .243 Sako since the mid 1960's and has killed literally tons of deer with it. He standardized on the Hornady 100 gr. SP early because another brand didn't meet his expectations. I was hunting with him in Texas a few years ago when he made a bad hit on a buck and he could not get in another shot. We searched for a long time but, could never recover it. He was sure he must have hit too high above the lung cavity and below the backbone. Next year his SIL killed a buck in the same area that had a wound just above the lungs and just below the backbone. Other than this incident, I can't remember but one other episode where he didn't get the animal. I've never owned a .243 because I always thought the .250-3000 was a better round.  | |||
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Joe Dean, I did not gather that you were implying that the deer that got away was the fault of the .243. We'll never know, but my guess would be that the results would have been the same with a 250-3000 or even a .300 magnum. | |||
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I've killed a bunch of deer with a 6mm Rem....basically same thing as a 243. For years used 100 gr nosler partitions. Swapped this year to 85 gr Sierra BTHP. These are not varmint hollow points. Killed three between 110 yards and 315 yards. Two dropped in their tracks and 1 went 12 steps. Two pass thrus and one against hide. My most accurate load is with H414 powder. | |||
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I agree the 243 will kill deer, as will the 222 and 22-250, even elk, but if you keep shooting the 243 chances are it will fail under the best of circumstances sooner or later..I know it failed on me several times and I shot a hell of a lot of deer with it, Finn Aagard told me of the same experience...To each his own, Im not the caliber cop, just my personal opinion..I prefer to be a tad over gunned than undergunned, these days.. I used a number of light calibers on deer and even elk, but it was in a different time and placef, conditions were different also..I started out life with a 25-35 win carbine, shot deer and elk, never lost one, but today I use a 30-06 with 200 gr. Noslers and a .338 win on elk..I dislike long drawn out tracking jobs at my age. I think bullet choice over rides caliber by a mile, the right bullet that performs on the game being hunted is the answer IMO..It may not be perfect under all circumstances, but it'll do. Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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I agree! one other thing may have been the bullet hitting an unseen twig on the way to the deer, and exploded the bullet, leaving the deer un-touched all together. My favorite powder is 4831 loaded to max, with 100 gr Hornady bullets, and it has never let me down in about 40 years of hunting mule deer and antelope in west Texas& New Mexico. I have several rifle chambered for 243 but my favorite one is a 1968 MCA Mannlicher rifle with rotary magazine not the Styer Mannlicher . ………………………………………………………... ....Mac >>>===(x)===> MacD37, ...and DUGABOY1 DRSS Charter member "If I die today, I've had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"~ME 1982 Hands of Old Elmer Keith | |||
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Not really a "fan" of any cartridge as it is always about putting a good bullet in the right spot. I have center fire cartridges calibers from 222 to 470 NE and like all of them. I built a load ages ago for my 243's using a 95 Gr Nosler partition @ 3100-3150 FPS pending the rifle. I typically have not had the need to shoot beyond 300 yrs. but have never lost a deer that I shot to my hand loaded 243's. I pick my shots carefully. 80% dropped where they stood. I just laugh at these stories about "tough pigs" I have no idea where they are fabricated?? I own some property near a river bottom in E. Texas and we have a very good crop of pigs. They are NOT hard to kill. I would feel comfortable shooting any north american feral pig with a 243. I would shoot any warthog or bush pig in Africa with a 243. Pick your shots. | |||
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Because it is a girl cartridge? Seriously, my wife has killed a lot of whitetail with a .243 as that is what she first started shooting. Everything she has shot dropped immediately. But then again I would not have been surprised if the "death sprint" would have occurred. It happens. I have shot deer with more than one of my "howitzers" as she calls them and watched them do the 10-100yd sprint before dropping. Safe shooting. | |||
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Latest. Now I gotta get to the range.  | |||
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Not a big .243 fan, but they work well enough on varmints and small deer at close to medium ranges using 90 or 100 grain bullets. My little gun is a .257 Roberts. | |||
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Something else that bothers me a bit is more 243 have blown up than any other caliber..I read that someplace, then when I asked a couple of gunsmiths they said it was fact..Had something to do with throat erosion with certain weight bullets..It might be worth checking out if your a .243 owner.. I used one a lot and so did many of my hunters on my ranch and it killed very well indeed, but on occasion they failed on Mule deer and Coues with solid hits, none that I recall were lost but there were some long tracking jobs and think goodness for a good dog..To each his own, but I think even a 22-250 is a better option, and that might stir up some opposition!! My favorite is my 257 Ackley and 250-3000, probably more opposition on the 250-3000, but it is a better deer gun..  Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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As a new 243 owner (finally bought that Sako L579 I wanted in 1971) I thought I'd offer my advice, after all of my one year's experience with it... It seems to me that we tend to say, "The .243 did this or that," when what we mean is that "the bullet did this or that." I'd like to know what bullets you folks were using - the ones that turned the deer's lungs into jelly, especially, but also the ones that failed. When I was young and poor I bought the $8 ammo on sale, but it was for a 270 and worked fine on small whitetails. Now? I'll probably spend a little money on a couple of boxes of Nosler Ballistic Tip 95 gr, until it proves it won't shoot for me or won't put down a deer fast. If it works it'll last a few years and I won't have to go back to the store for more for awhile. | |||
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Ray- would you mind sharing what you were using when the bullet failed? If possible, more details on how it failed. Its just my opinion, but anything that shoots 3000 ft/sec+ deserves a premium bullet. "though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression." ---Thomas Jefferson | |||
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Sort of what MacD37 said. A lot of IMR 4831 and a 95-100 gr. bullet. I like a 95 gr Nolser partition. Not sure i were recovered one from a whitetail. | |||
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Have had .243s and Rem 6mms since 1973, I will agree that some of those with light bullets were not the best. BUT, using Nosler partitions and other tough bullets, I've never lost a white tail or mule deer. Luck? Maybe. Care in shooting? Probably. .395 Family Member DRSS, po' boy member Political correctness is nothing but liberal enforced censorship | |||
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I’ve never owned a 243 but after recently having rotator cuff surgery and being told I cannot shoot a hard kicking rifle until 2020, I’m seriously thinking of getting my first 243. Typically, my light rifle is a 270 or 264 Win Mag, while my other ‘go-to’ rifle is a 338 Win Mag. My doc says those all kick too much for a still recovering shoulder re-build. So, I’ll probably get a model 70 super grade in stainless and shoot 100 grain bullets, either Nosler Partitions or Accubonds, through it. I’m looking forward to seeing how the 243 does. | |||
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I own two 243 win rifles a 742 rem which is awesome fun to shoot and will shoot tiny groups.The other is a ruger 77 tang safety .I shot about 20 deer mostly little does with them . I lost two huge bucks with the 243 and it's been parked for deer forever after that .I like the 260 rem way better for deer and hogs than the 243 .I wish they had 260 rifles when I was growing up very awesone caliber. I use my 243s to train kids to shoot then let them shoot the 260 rem and hunt with it . | |||
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Best bullet was the 85 grain Sierra HP on red deer. But the 95 BT works well and garden variety factory Winchester 100 grain power points too. I would like to see the deer that would walk away from a .243 in any place that it wouldn't from a .30/06. Put money on it even. Absolute killer on little whitetail, fallow, and the biggest red stag. It has to be a cultural thing this American doubt about the killing ability of the .243. Over here we have a similar misconception - but its about the .270. People think it pencils through and deer always run, and they get lost. Too much penetration or something. Not sure, but its a "thing". | |||
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I HAD a very nice little Browning A-Bolt Hunter in 243. Sweet little rifle that handled like a dream and shot extremely well. I shot crows and coyotes with it then followed Ray’s motto and traded it off for something shiny. My one 243 I have now is a 30” bbl’d FN SPR I built for groundhogs. 87gr Vmax has accounted for quite a few along with long range prairie dogs. Never used it on deer as I always had something bigger/more suitable IMO. When I shopped around for a deer rifle for my wife I chose a micro hunter abolt (left hand) in 7mm-08. My daughter has a 250 savage and her latest is a 6.5 Creedmoor. My reasoning for the 243, accurate long range varmint caliber (primarily), and medium game rifle if needed, but I’ve chosen .257 to 7mm calibers more often for deer, especially if it was a dedicated deer rifle. That said, I never discounted it as a suitable medium game rifle, I just thought there were more ideal choices. Shoot straight, shoot often. Matt | |||
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Even if I could accept, as valid, that distance traveled after a killing shot bore no relation to caliber or energy there's still the fact that animals do not drop some predictable distance from where they received a killing shot. The death sprint is not predictable, CNS hits aside. Whether that's important depends on terrain and cover, ie., whether I might benefit from a blood trail. The .243 and .22 CFs may be reliable killers but they do not reliably leave a blood trail. If anything, they're pretty reliable about not leaving a blood trail. When they do leak, it's mostly just exhaled pink mist. I'd much rather use even a .30-30 out back. | |||
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Lemme guess... you use to use .22s and .243s but learned that they don’t “reliably leave a blood trail” and now through wisdom you don’t use them? Or are just speculating? I am back from a long Hiatus... or whatever. Take care. smallfry | |||
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No need to guess. I used them. And no offense toward small-bore users intended. If I lived in open country I'd still use them. Cuz .224s and .243s kill stuff just fine. My concern isn't about killing power, but I repeat myself. | |||
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Bugle: regarding your behind the shoulder shot on the hog. A hog's vitals are further forward than a deer. A classic behind the shoulder shot on a hog will likely miss, or just clip, the lungs and result in a long tracking job. | |||
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There is no need for a blood trail if he drops on his belly when hit at 2900-3000fps in the heart/lung with a 100 gr Hornady soft point from a .243 cartridge. Blood trails are only useful for hits in mostly muscle hits, where spine or heart/lung areas are missed! …………………………………………………………..Mac ....Mac >>>===(x)===> MacD37, ...and DUGABOY1 DRSS Charter member "If I die today, I've had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"~ME 1982 Hands of Old Elmer Keith | |||
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There's no need for a blood trail if they drop at the shot. But deer do not always drop at the shot given properly placed meat-sparing heart/lung hits with a .243, .22CF, .300 Win, or .375. They don't even drop at the shot most of the time following such hits. Possibly half the time. Distances covered vary. The question is whether the animal can be watched for most/all of the sprint. | |||
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[QUOTE]But deer do not always drop at the shot given properly placed meat-sparing heart/lung hits with a .243, .22CF, .300 Win, or .375. [/UNQUOTE] Absolutely true! Nothing with a bullet is going to be 100%, no matter the size or makeup of the bullet, or diameter of that bullet. The fact that you are correct in the quote above, especially the quote in bold print. As you say this can happen with any cartridge and that is my point the properly place bullet from a .243 is no less lethal than a .375 H&H placed in the boiler-room. Placed in meat, like I and you have said there is a need for a blood trail. I hunt with every chambering from .22lr, to .577NE, and placement is accentual to instant anchoring any animal from jack rabbit to elephant and to avoid the need for a blood trail. In 76 years of hunting, from the age if six yrs I can only remember two occasion I have had to follow up a blood trail to collect an animal, one I shot, was a mule-deer that was shot with a 7MM mag, and we never got him, the other was a black bear in Canada shot by my hunting partner and that one we lost as well. …………………………………………... ....Mac >>>===(x)===> MacD37, ...and DUGABOY1 DRSS Charter member "If I die today, I've had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"~ME 1982 Hands of Old Elmer Keith | |||
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I am not talking about shoulder/spine/neck/CNS punching. Yes, those placements will drop animals - "instant anchoring" as you put it - often, if not usually. Such placement disrupts locomotion and, sometimes, spinal integrity. But such placement is also very much "in meat". I prefer not to get into the shoulders and spine. So I am speaking of heart/lung shots that actually spare meat. Animals like deer can run upwards of 100-150 yds after such hits, perfectly executed. 40-50 yds is just an average distance traveled according to the findings of the SC DNR study. My own experience suggests just a bit less than that as an average distance after heart/lung only shots. Perhaps we disagree because you prefer to disrupt locomotion via shoulder/spine/meat shots. Perhaps, too, you do not hunt thick cover so that a 100-150 yd run won't complicate retrieval. Last try: I want a wound of sufficient size to reliably leave a blood trail, whether proven necessary or not by hindsight. | |||
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I was never a fan of the .243W thinking it must be overrated, until I bought an old Parker Hale Mauser 98 in .243W for my son. Had it re-barreled with a Lothar walther barrel and HOW WRONG I WAS. He took all manner of game with it in Africa from Dassies to full grown Impala. With young eyes and steady hands he has also killed dozens of feral full grown camels (up to 700kg) with accurate shot placement. Versatility is the beauty of the .243 .... if you can shoot. People Sleep Peacefully in Their Beds at Night Only Because Rough Men Stand Ready to Do Violence on Their Behalf. | |||
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My favorite type of rifle is a s/s double rifle, and have always wanted a S/S double rifle chambered for a rimmed version of the 243 Win cartridge. That rifle could be made very light and would be a real little shooter, for anything from jack rabbits to mule deer, and really be tops with an extra set of barrels chambered for 28 Ga shot gun and another set for .243Win on the right barrel, and the shot barrel on the left, to make a handy CAPE RIFLE! ……………………………………………..wishing in one hand and you know what in the other! ……………………………………………………….Mac ....Mac >>>===(x)===> MacD37, ...and DUGABOY1 DRSS Charter member "If I die today, I've had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"~ME 1982 Hands of Old Elmer Keith | |||
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