243 win

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If you are going for heart/lung shots, any bullet 85gr. or more will do. If you are going to shoot them in the shoulder, you should use a controlled expansion bullet of the same weight.

And for the gut shot mentioned above, any deer cartridge would have performed the same way. Not many bullets will expand going through the gut, and even if they did, there isn't anything there to cause immediate death.
 
The "haters" as you can them are the same folks who tote the .17 cal as a great deer round.

Read enough posts and you`ll at times wonder about some so called "hunters."


You did ok on your selection.........

I`ve had a Savage 110 since the 60`s. Light. Accurate. Has put many a deer the freezer! :)
 
A few years ago I bought a cheap .243 so I could reload a new cartridge, and I had heard a lot of good things about .243. Once I shot it, I knew I was going to fall in love with it.

re:

As my age creeps up, my shoulder seems to get more sensitive and the old .30-06 seems more punishing.

This is more than true. I've got a nice load in .243 that I use now. Honestly I still take my 06 out and use the .243 as my backup gun the last 2 years. Shooting the .243 has caused me to second guess my strategy. I'm now working on 30-06 reduced loads to make it feel like my .243. I should just used the .243 :)

No doubt in my mind that with the right bullet the .243 will get the job done.
Everyone I know who has shot it loves it.

-Jeff
 
The .243 is a very reasonable deer round. Bonded or parition bullets in heavy weights (100gr or thereabouts) are recommended.
 
Hunted deer for 45 years, but never owned a .243. That has recently changed with the purchase of a Howa in .243...can't wait to hit the woods with it this fall.
 
I remember my grandfather talking about hunting Alaska and Canada in the 1960s and 1970s. He was a very experienced hunter and often used a .243 when hunting deer. That was previous to today's great bullets, too. I would not hesitate to use a .243 for deer with my hand loads today.
 
Between my kids and I, we have taken over 30 WI white tails, not to mention a number of fox and coyotes, with my Rem 788 in .243. It has never failed us and is still as accurate as it was new. Usually use 100 grain core-lokts.

I have also taken deer with .338 win mag, 30.06, 7.62x54R, 7x57, 30-30, .223, and .357. Dead is pretty much dead, if you hit em right.
 
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I have hunted many years with a .243, shot many deer with it, never took more than one shot. In my hunting group, if I didn't use the .243, someone would park their trusty 30-06 etc. And borrow it. A few years back, a youngster in the family, rather on the small side for their age, wanted to hunt. He had issues with the weight and recoil of a "Traditional?" deer rifle. So I got out a very short and light TC Contender rifle in .223. Spending time on the range, coaching on where to shoot, and using life size paper targets to practice on, and using proper ammo designed for deer hunted, he killed a deer with one properly placed for four years straight with it, no tracking needed. Then his Dad moved him up to a .243. Or was it a move up after four years of successfull hunting with a.223. Most deer are killed under a hundred yards. Land is getting more and more divided up as each year passes, so does opportunities for long shots. If you have a light caliber rifle and can shoot it very accurately and actually enjoy the light recoil, take it deer hunting.
 
I can't understand why people say it's marginal for deer.

I like .243 Win - light recoil, good BC, short action, etc. It works as a deer hunting cartridge, however, whenever someone wants to discuss "what's the minimum for..." there are usually caveats. The same applies here.

The cartridge has plenty of velocity, but bullet choice and performance is what makes it marginal in some hunters eyes.
If 80-87gr bullets are chosen, are they constructed for deer and not varmints? No one wants to wound game or have to chase it.
If 95-100gr bullets are used, there is a risk of overpenetration. Several years ago, I took a doe at 80 yards with a 100gr SP with a heart/lung shot. She had run off into the woods and the blood trail tapered off after about 40 yards. An hour and a half later, I finally found her. Field dressing showed that it sailed right through and didn't expand much. On the bright side, the meat damage was .243" on entry and only a little larger on exit, with a bruise about 2" in diameter!
There could be several takeaways from this experience - maybe I needed to use a tipped 95-100gr bullet to aid expansion. Maybe I should have purchased bonded or partition bullets. I couldn't have aimed in a better place. Maybe our Missouri whitetails have more will to survive! - not likely. After all that second guessing, what I chose to do is go back to a 30 caliber cartridge. It's not like I can't handle the recoil, deer hunting is usually just a single shot, and I have never had to track more than 30 yards or so. If my experience is any indication, that is why some hunters consider .243 Win marginal/minimum for deer.
 
after hunting deer with a 243 for 20 yrs or so and maybe 40 to 50 deer killed. i found it kind of boring. shoot,go collect dead deer. big deer, little deer, medium sized deer,all the same.

decided to hunt with a 06.killed many deer with it for about 6 yrs.good results with handloaded 150 grn bullets. but not the blood trails or spectacular kills the 243 had. and some shots were not complete pass thrus like with the 100 grn 243 bullets.in all the deer i shot with 243, never did i not get a pass thru with a outstanding exit wound.

got bored with 06 and built a 6.5x55 mauser.very good results. now i was gettin always pass thrus with good exit wound.hunted with it for a few years and was never dissapointed.rifle was kind of heavy tho.

couple years ago took my old 243 model seven out of the safe,so light and handy! started hunting with it again.

this year killed biggest buck of my life with it. a massive beyond his prime 10 pt pig that must of weighed 250lbs. 280 steps.

im back in the 243 camp now and prob will be for life.
 
I think a lot of the angst about the 243 comes from mismatching the bullet to the task.
Yes.
This is especially true of the not-a-gun-guy hunter. It is a small percentage of the hunting public that have an adequate understanding of ballistic performance of calibers and bullets. Believe it or not, few hunters even now what the "grains number" on the ammunition box means. As long as the caliber on the box matches the caliber on the barrel, that is all that matters they believe they are good to go. And, IMHO, that is why so many people believe the .243 is inadequate for deer - because the 55 grain varmint loads they were shooting couldn't kill a deer that was 60 yards away with one shot.:banghead::banghead:
 
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My brother uses his Ruger #1 .243 and has killed dozens of whitetails. It is his favorite rifle for whitetails. Obviously, being a single-shot, his are all one-shot kills. Nearly all of them dropped where they stood. He is an excellent shot and patient, so he waits for the right shot. Those things help.
 
20 years ago I was told the 80 grain, out of the box, Winchester loads were unsuitable for the whitetail I was "dropping right there" with it. I've had more deer stumble off after a hit with my Hornady SST hand loads out of my 270 than I ever did with my grandfathers old 243.

Don't believe the hype. An 80 grain, lead nose factory round kills um dead out of a 243.
 
Yes.
This is especially true of the not-a-gun-guy hunter. It is a small percentage of the hunting public that have an adequate understanding of ballistic performance of calibers and bullets. Believe it or not, few hunters even now what the "gains number" on the ammunition box means. As long as the caliber on the box matches the caliber on the barrel, that is all that matters they believe they are good to go. And, IMHO, that is why so many people believe the .243 is inadequate for deer - because the 55 grain varmint loads they were shooting couldn't kill a deer that was 60 yards away with one shot.:banghead::banghead:

What is a gains number, did u mean grains?
 
Well I'm a bow hunter who is finally coming to my senses. I feel that these 80 grain federal will be a great pill if injected into the ribs, broad side with discipline. I will hunt with my boy and will be his spotter. With my blessing, he will take shots probably inside of 75 yards. A cup an core bullet like that will probably bust up, I doubt it will happen in a manner that isn't highly effective in side the ribs. Federal marks these as deer cartridges. When he man's up a bit , so will his load. .
 
Buddy of mine lost the deer of a decade shot in the ribs at 150 yd. With 243. Again stay away from 85-87 gr. hollow points or the same could happen to you.
 
Buddy of mine lost the deer of a decade shot in the ribs at 150 yd. With 243. Again stay away from 85-87 gr. hollow points or the same could happen to you.
No not to me. I use a 270 win with 130 grain corelokts.

My son won't shoot last a 100 with ought 100 grain rounds.

I know a respect limits, still good advice!
 
80 grain federal will be a great pill if injected into the ribs
That would be a shame, especially since you have received so much good advice to the contrary in this thread.
 
I've had a couple of dozen one-shot, no tracking, kills with my .243. But I'm picky about my shots since I load the Sierra 85-grain HPBT. Yeah, it's a blow-up bullet. I limit myself to neck shots or 90-degree cross-body heart/lung shots. No angling shots. Probably only two of the latter; the rest, neck shots.
 
First of all, the mighty .243 is a great choice for deer sized animals. It has a very flat trajectory and hits hard within reasonable distances. When we head west for pronghorn antelope & mule deer hunts, I always reach for my .243 rifle. That being said, many .243 ammo makers build bullets which do not punch a hole all the way through the animal which results in minimal blood trail if any at all. The solution is quite simple: hunt with a Premium bullet for better penetration.

I've had very good luck with Bonded bullets and the Nosler Partition for taking down even very large prairie mule deer bucks. It is a myth that one needs a larger bore size to topple large deer because once the bullet smashes through the chest wall, the animal is a goner.

Are there situations where the fast stepping .243 is the wrong choice? Here in Pennsylvania our shots tend to be no more than 75 yards with brush to deal with, too. That's why experienced older hunters tend to shoot bucks each year with their 30-30 carbines . A slower and heavier bullet tends to be a deadlier combination for the thick woods. But a good excuse anywhere is to say that, "my bullet was deflected by a small branch." Even 30-30 bullets don't always go where they're aimed sometimes.

.243 is a keeper!

TR
 
Whitetail deer is a broad term. A Florida doe will be under 100 lbs, and the world record Minnesota buck was over 500 lbs. A 223 would be more than enough for the former, and a 243 would less than I'd want for the latter (though I have no doubt that a ttsx out of a 243 would drop a 500 pound buck, I'd prefer my 06). For most deer and most shots the 243 is enough gun IMO.
 
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