Tell me of your .243 experiances , please

[Lloyd Smale]

ive shot a boat load of deer and black bear with the 243 6mm and the vairous .25s and ill stand behind this statement. If a 243 with a 100 grain corelock doesnt kill a deer out to 300 yards cleanly its your fault not the gun or the ammo. Put one in the boiler room and its a deed deer plain and simple.

 

[Tensaw]

ive shot a boat load of deer and black bear with the 243 6mm and the vairous .25s and ill stand behind this statement. If a 243 with a 100 grain corelock doesnt kill a deer out to 300 yards cleanly its your fault not the gun or the ammo. Put one in the boiler room and its a deed deer plain and simple.

Well said.

 

[Canazes9]

ive shot a boat load of deer and black bear with the 243 6mm and the vairous .25s and ill stand behind this statement. If a 243 with a 100 grain corelock doesnt kill a deer out to 300 yards cleanly its your fault not the gun or the ammo. Put one in the boiler room and its a deed deer plain and simple.

I am far from the only person I know to have deer shot w/ the 243 run a long way and leave little to no blood trail. The original poster asked for experiences w/ the 243 - I gave mine. In my experience it is not a good deer round, not because it won't kill them, but because it won't drop them. If you have other experiences state them and let the OP make his own decision.

I haven't told anyone that their opinions or experiences or wrong just because they are not the same as mine. However, there are quite a few people that I know that have had the same experience as me w/ the 243. I know there are plenty of folks that haven't (and they seem to get indignant when a 243's stopping power is questioned). When you move up in caliber, the stories about deer running off w/ good hits diminish rapidly.

I have never had a deer that I shot well w/ a 270, 7-08, 308ME or 30-06 move more than about 20-30 yards after being shot and most drop on the spot. I have successfully hunted whitetails w/ friends for over 30 years and have seen this to pretty much be the norm. I have personally recovered or been part of the recovery of 7 deer shot w/ a 243, all but 1 ran over 100 yards, only 2 left any blood that could be found. I have unsuccessfully tried to recover about 10 other deer shot w/ a 243.

Do I think that they were killed? Absolutely! I'm sure the coyotes had a feast.

Is it possible that you and others are far better trackers than me and my friends? Yep, sure is, fact is I haven't done much of it - most of my deer drop instantly.

Do I believe that you and others have had very positive experiences w/ the 243? Yes, I do, I've heard from plenty of folks that have - just hasn't been my experience, which again is what the OP asked for.



Here is an example of a different experience than "its your fault not the gun or the ammo. Put one in the boiler room and its a deed deer plain and simple." :

My son shot this deer from about 40 yards from an elevated stand. What you see is the exit wound. The bullet entered the opposite side about 2" higher than the exit wound, took out both lungs and the top of the heart, then the bullet exited.

The deer then ran about 140 yards, never giving the slightest indication that she was hit, nor was there any blood to be found. Fortunately, this time she ran away from cover and ran in a straight line. I heard the bullet hit and led my rather dejected son along the path she ran until I spotted her in the distance, then I got him to walk in that direction while I walked slightly off on an angle so he could find her. She laid down and bled out, very, very dead! If she had run back into the heavy mesquite thicket thickets I doubt I would have found her - she would have still been very dead, just not recovered.

What's the point? My experiences are different than yours, the 243 did not perform well for me (actually my son) or several of my friends. I related my experiences but have not implied that you or anyone else on this board that have had different experiences is being less than truthful, is a poor marksman, etc. I can believe you have had a different experience using smaller caliber rifles for deer - you apparently cannot believe that anyone can have a different experience than yours and seem to believe that if they did it was due to personal incompetence.

David

 

[9638]

I have hunted deer for years in northcentral Missouri. The deer there are on the large size to say the least.
I use a Winchester Model 70 Sporter Varmint (sorry Ruger) in .243 and load it with handloads of 100 gr. Nosler Partition bullets pushed by 39.5 grs. of IMR4350.
Every deer I have shot has dropped in its tracks. I have shot them from 7 yards to 200 yards with the same results.
Everything inside the deer is mush when I open them.

Edit: Prior to starting my hunting with the .243, I hunted with a 30-06 and tried multiple types and brands of bullets. Every deer I shot with the 06 ran at least 50 yards and most often over 100 yards.

 

[Lloyd Smale]

ive have had deer run alot farther using an 06 then i ever did with a 243. I agree that the blood trail can be tough sometimes with the 24s and 25s if a marginal shot is made. But then no gun is going to make up for a marginal shot. One of the most popular deer rifles in my parts is an o6 and most still use 180 grain bullets and ive seen deer go along ways after being hit by one and many that were recovered showed little or no evidence of expansion. Ive seen deer hit by 243s that looked like a bomb went off inside them.

 

[sargents1]

I had a 243 for a while but never did much with it. It had a lot muzzle blast (from a short barrel) which made it somewhat unpleasant to shoot. Of course, a longer barrel will make this a non issue, and I was pretty young at the time and was really more interested in shooting Mum's M77 in 30-06.

I think it can be a good caliber for some folks but here in Maine I prefer a somewhat larger bullet. I have used .243, .308 win, 30-06, and 7mm08 and of all of them I feel that the 7mm08 is the best compromise. It kicks just a little more than a .243 but less than a .308 yet you can still get a 120-175 grain bullet. I like the 140gr for deer.

As many have stated shot placement is critical, and I feel that it is more so with a .243. I personally have not used on on deer but one of my cousins shot a deer in the shoulder from ~75yds and the bullet failed to penetrate thru the shoulder bone. I found this surprising when I heard about it but i have to believe my uncle wasn't BS'ing me. they found that deer later on in the winter after hunting season. It had gone several hundred yards before bedding down and bleeding out. I can't prove it but I think the same shot with a .308 would have been more effective.

I hear too many of these type of stories to use a .243 for deer when you can get an equivalent rifle in .260, 7mm08, or .308, all of which will have better selection of bullets for larger deer.

You asked about mfg's for rifles in .243: as far as that goes, you cant go too far wrong with any of the major mfg's. Ruger 77's are very nice rifles in my experience, but so are Remington 700's and Browning A-bolts and I am currently hunting with a 7mm08 Browning A-bolt. I had a Savage 110 in 30-06 that was an absolute tack-driver, but I sold it because for some reason it kicked harder than any other 30-06 I have used and the trigger was a lot heavier than most. The newer Savages with the Accutrigger are pretty nice.

Do watch out for some of the cheaper bolt actions from Remington (I think they have one called the 770) that are available at Wal-Mart. I have heard bad things about these cheapy all in one package deals. Get the real thing and get a Model 700, Model 7, or get a gun from Ruger, Browning, or Savage.

BTW, if you dont mind a long action bolt gun, .270 Win, .280 Remington and 30-06 cannot be beat for deer. If you are looking for a varmint cartridge, I suggest that you simply shoot your varmints with your deer rifle. A .308 Winchester does amazing things to woodchucks and coyotes. Its a bit much, but...I dont see why that's problem

why you like the caliber, wich rifle you use, what you use it for, how it compares to your other rifles. maybe how its failed , for your purpose.

Good better and best manufacturers ?

is one twist rate better for lower weight bullets and another twist rate better for the others ?

 

[Ewalker]

Several years ago I helped with a orphan hunt for deer in a day and a half we would take 200-300 does and spikes.The main calibers used were 30-30,243,22-250. Some of these kids had shot a little but most had shot .22 previous to the hunting trip. We had a few deer that were wounded but for the most part .243 is plenty capable for deer. But that said I do not personally like the round and I should because that is what I shot my first deer with, but I just never really liked the caliber.I sell fur in the winter so I need something a little more fur friendly (.204) But I would take one today if that is all I had and go fill a freezer full of deer meat. Just my opinion.

 

[bomtek44]

My son started out with his Remington 700 .243 at age 11. I loaded the 85 grain Speer BT Spire Point over a modest 35 grain dose of IMR-4064. I sat with him for a few of his first years and video taped some spectacular kills. He has always had great nerves and eyes. His shooting will rival many trained shooters....I know because I am trained. He is now 18 and has killed 18 deer with 18 shots. His largest buck fell this year to that load. It was a 116 yard shot, double lung, broke the off side shoulder. I witnessed the kill and saw the buck sag at the shot. He reversed field and sprinted as untouched back across the field into the brush. He crashed just inside the brush line. He was a 130 pound dressed weight (above average for SW VA.) 17.5 inch spread 10 pointer. The separated jacket and core were removed from the off side shoulder skin. I have had them run farther with .270, .30-06, .44 mag pistol, and .35 Remington.

I would use that round on any deer....period!

Proof in the pudding!

Thanks,

 

[Anonymous]

Thought I would update my earlier post. Since posting I had the opportunity to shoot a medium sized doe at about 200 yds with my 77rsi in .243. The load was a max load of H414 under a 100 gr cor lok. The doe did a bang/flop at the shot. I approached and had to give her a couple of minutes to pass. The shot entered in front of the near shoulder and I found the intact mushroomed bullet under the skin in the offside armpit. While I was pleased to have collected the deer with a on the spot kill, I admit I was surprised that the bullet did not exit. If the deer had been able to run there would have been no blood as she did not show much of an entrance or exit wound. Will I hunt with the .243 again yes as one experience does not mean much and it no doubt dropped the deer with authority. One interesting aside is my buddy shot a medium buck about 10 min later with his 6.5x55 (165 gr rn at factory velocity). When I got there he found where the deer had been hit and there was much hair and blood. We tracked the buck about 80 yds following a heavy blood trail. The deer had been hit low in the chest and had a 2' entrance and exit wound and there was a tremendous hemorrhage of blood. It was just interesting that my deer looked almost untouched and died where she stood yet his looked like it had been hit with a bomb and ran .

 

[chiefbg]

I have a 243 built on a Springfield 03-a3 action with a 20 inch barrel. Shooting Remington 100 grain ammo I downed a large doe at 292 paces across a field with first shot. Aimmed about an inch and a half high to allow for a little drop, the bullet hit exactly where I aimmed. Great caliber that is largely under estimated around where I live. Most here think you have to use magnum to drop a deer.

About two months ago I bought my daughter-in-law a new Marlin 243 that came set up with a scope (cheap). I paid a whole $350 out the door. When we took it to the range I was really surprised at how well it shot. 100 yard groups just under a inch with that same Remington ammo. BG

 

[JimHnSTL]

this link was posted on a couple other sites i visit and touches a bit of everything discussed in this thread. give it a look, i find the results pretty much on par with my experiance over the last 30 yrs. by the way i love my .243 as well as my 7-08's and .280. my biggest buck today was taken with the .243. my farthest run (right at 100 yrds of run) on a heart shot deer was with a 30 cal.
http://www.dnr.sc.gov/wildlife/deer/articlegad.html

 

[Don Lovel]

Ruger #1A with 100gr Nosler Partitions on Federal Premium ammo, 7 one shot drop in their tracks on good sized whitetails out to 325yds.
A buddy of mine used his Sako and that ammo to take a really big buck at a measured 456yds, one shot drop.
My handloads of 55gr Nosler ballistic tip bullets over 42gr of Varget makes 3965fps and great accuracy out of the little Ruger.

 

[ArmedinAZ]

I have a pre-64 Win Model 70 in .243 with a Pentax 4-16 scope that my son currently has claimed. He shoots long range bench with some guys with high dollar guns (Kimber etc) and says this 243 is the most accurate stock gun in the bunch. Not sure if it's the gun or the caliber. (It has also killed it's share of Pa deer with at least 3 different shooters behind it.)

 

[6mmsl]

this link was posted on a couple other sites i visit and touches a bit of everything discussed in this thread. give it a look, i find the results pretty much on par with my experiance over the last 30 yrs. by the way i love my .243 as well as my 7-08's and .280. my biggest buck today was taken with the .243. my farthest run (right at 100 yrds of run) on a heart shot deer was with a 30 cal.
http://www.dnr.sc.gov/wildlife/deer/articlegad.html

So, a reasonable caliber, shot from a capable rifle(of any brand),shot by a capable rifleman in the vitals,at a reasonable distance with a good bullet equals a dead Big Game animal you can reasonable recover. Sounds like hunting ethics 101 my daddy taught me and still stands today. Good to hear.

That research article was great.

Good shooting-Steve

 

[JimHnSTL]

6mmsl that is the same aproach i have been teaching my kids. i have had deer run on me that were shot through the heart, with 30 cal's & 7mm. it's the critter most of the time not the caliber

 

[Hammer]

.

One one of my African trips, took my then eleven-year old son with me.

My son took all manners of African plains game including wildebeest, warthog, bushbuck, etc.

Never used more than one shot on any animal. Did not lose any.

Used a 243 Winchester with a 100-grain Nosler Partition on everything.


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