1,629 ft./lbs.

[Shawnee]

"Back in the day" I came upon a piece of half-inch thick steel plate - about 18"x18" - and decided it would make a good bullet backstop.

I took it and my trusty rifle out to the gravel pit where my amigos and I usually shot for practice and set it up with a target taped to the front.

Then I paced off 125 steps - that being 100yds. based on the known length of my stride - and shot five shots at the target from an offhand stance.

Upon inspection I found that all five shots had passed through the half-inch thick steel plate from 100 yds. as if it had been soft butter (or margarine).

My rifle that day was a .243 Winchester with a 22" barrel and the ammo was plain-Jane Remington 100gr. Core-Lokt. with a 100-yd. energy of 1,629 ft./lbs.

After hunting in many places for many years I still must admit that I have yet to find even the first deer or antelope or hog that was made out of half-inch thick steel plate.

 

[JonB]

Jeez Shawnee - haven't you heard by now that .243 is too small for deer, antelope, and anything bigger than a prairie dog? Everyone who doesn't own or has never shot a .243 knows that. You need to read more THR posts apparently....

 

[gvnwst]

"Back in the day"

And you're telling us now?!?

haven't you heard by now that .243 is too small for deer, antelope, and anything bigger than a prairie dog? Everyone who doesn't own or has never shot a .243 knows that. You need to read more THR posts apparently....

i was just giong to buy a .243 for whitetail. shucks.

 

[db_tanker]

comments like this remind me of the one poor shmoe I ran into once that used a 300 WinMag for east Texas white-tail...


I simply asked him if it made them any easier to clean? He looked at me like I had insulted him. Then I showed him my 30 caliber big-bore killin' machine...


my Model 94.

 

[rangerruck]

Fast round; that is why Mr. Wetherby said long ago," speed kills"...

 

[Shawnee]

"my 30 caliber big-bore killin' machine...my Model 94. "


YaHaHaHaHaHaHa !

Now That's funny right there... I don't care who Ya are, That's Funny !

I need a bumper sticker to put on my .243 that says: "My Other Big Bore Killin' Machine is a 30/30 !"

 

[Eric F]

haven't you heard by now that .243 is too small for deer, antelope, and anything bigger than a prairie dog?

Its true though, I shot a deer once with a 243 and he just walked off, I went to where he was standing and found a mushroomed out bullet laying right there on the ground.............

Ok not really, I just prefer a larger wound channel that a 30 cal offers. Just prefrence though as I have killed a few deer with a 223 but those were head shots. Now I have the 50-90 sharps I wonder how well that will work?

 

[JonB]

i was just giong to buy a .243 for whitetail. shucks.

Yeah, better get the 300 WinMag, or .338 or at the very minimum a 30-06.


Or get the .243 (I have a Savage 99 .243) and have a perfectly effective deer rifle. But if anyone asks, make sure you tell them it's a 30-06 'cuz we wouldn't want to people to know that what they read on the internet isn't always true.

 

[gvnwst]

But if anyone asks, make sure you tell them it's a 30-06 'cuz we wouldn't want to people to know that what they read on the internet isn't always true.

Agreed.

 

[twofourthree73]

I penetrated the armor of an M1 abrams with my .243 sabot heat round. No lie.

Some steel is harder than others, but having shot my .243 vs old typewriters, fridges, stoves, and a tv set or two, I can belive it would go through half inch steel plate no problem.

 

[swiftak]

Gee. at 1629 ft lbs, I ought to go get my dinosauer tag. Surely my 243 will kill it, at least with a head shot. Actually, if you think about it, most rifles are way more power than is needed to kill a deer.

 

[bedlamite]

Yeah, better get the 300 WinMag, or .338 or at the very minimum a 30-06.

You really need at least a 416 Rigby if you want them DRT, at the very minimum a 375 H&H would do in a pinch.

 

[Clipper]

.243!!! let me tell you a .243 horror story...A frontal head shot deflected off the skull, traveled under the skin and followed the neck and back, down the tail and out the tip, resulting in a charging chipmunk that was only stopped by 3 shots from my guide's 3 1/2" 12ga buck. Them chipmunks set store by their tails...

Just think what kind of superweapon one of those armor-plated whitetails might need!

 

[benzy2]

The truth is a well placed shot out of most any firearm will kill a deer. You may not need a .30 to kill deer but if a fella wants to use it thats fine by me. I would rather see someone use too much caliber and overkill the deer than use too little and leave it wounded. If a fella is competent with a .243 again fine with me.

 

[t george]

i like the 243! i just bought a remingtion 700 used chambered in 243 took it to range and i was impressed i hope the first impression will apply to deer season as well! i like my 30 06 but for west texas critters i think ill be ok with mynew big bore killin machine in 243! aww man i cant wait!

 

[t george]

by the way im kinda new here but i have been a long time lurker lots of reading not so much talking! seems to help me learn this place is a wealth of knowledge!

 

[gvnwst]

i found the same thing after being a member for about two months, a warm and hearty welcome.
i like the .243 too. it was suggessted as my first (centerfire) gun, but i got a .223 instead.

 

[rcmodel]

Steel penetration has nothing at all to do with ft/lb of energy.

It is all about speed.

A .17 Remington will shoot through way more steel then a 30-30, with less then half as much energy.

But that doesn't make it a better deer cartridge then the 30-30.

rcmodel

 

[RP88]

"if it'll kill a ___-lb human one way, it'll kill a ___-lb deer the same way"

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

But you admit that was back in the day, see. The iron-rich invasive species of plants now spread across the country have caused deer skin to act just like 2 inch thick kevlar ballistic vests.

 

[Shawnee]

"It is all about speed."


Hmmm. You and Rangeruck and Mr. Weatherby may be onto something there, RC.

Maybe that's why they find pieces of straw and blades of grass embedded in trees and the sides of barns and such after a tornado

Just in case - I'll subtitle this thread "3000fps.".



But wait a minute! The mass of the projectile has to play some part in this festival. After all - anyone run over by a Quarterhorse travelling a mere 57 fps. ain't gonna be feeling too perky either !

 

[elmerfudd]

Momentum has something to do with it also as does frontal area. Kinetic energy is 1/2MV^2, while momentum is just MV. So big and slow projectiles can often have the same or less kinetic energy, but far more momentum than their small and fast counterparts. A 100 MPH fastball and a .22 lr have about the same kinetic energy, but the fastball is going to have way more impact.

Kinetic energy does have an effect though. The pictures of the impact from NASA's test guns prove this beyond a doubt. They basically have "airguns" that use a high explosive charge to drive a piston down a cylinder filled with hydrogen. The hydrogen is released by a burst valve which fires a tiny projectile, (if I remember right they were around 0.10"), down an evacuated bore in order to simulate the impact of tiny space debris on satellites and other equipment. Anyway, these tiny little projectiles reach velocities around 25,000 fps and the affect of their impact looks like the target was hit with a medium sized shaped charge.

 

[jkingrph]

I once punched a hole through a piece of 5/8" boiler plate with a 400 gr Barnes hollow point out of a 458 Win Mag at about 30 yards. That bullet carried and engraved the rifleling pattern from the gun and left them in the boiler plate.

 

[twofourthree73]

Deflection angle plays a part too. Put that steel at a 45 degree angle at the same range, and you might not see the same results. On soft targets this doesn't come into play.

 

[scythefwd]

I'd still rather use a slower .30 than a .243. There are several others out there that have less kinetic energy than the .243. Both the 7.62X39 and the .30-30 are very slow rounds compaired to he .243. Both rounds may be better suited to deer because they are going to transfer more energy to the animal than the .243 because they have more surface area in contact with the future carcass. With more of their energy being absorbed by the dead deer, the projectile will have less energy to stay in the air after the round exits, meaning less over penetration and less worries of your round hitting something another 500y away (if you were so inclined to shoot without a proper backdrop or knowledge of what was behind said dead meat). The larger wound channel (I know its not much, but a .30 can mushroom out a little bigger than a .243) will allow for a bigger blood trail (not guaranteed, but it's possible) and a faster bleed out (again, it may be the difference of 10 bounds or steps instead of 12, big whoop).

All that said, I would love to have a .243 to hunt with but the wife has a good hold on my wallet.