Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Confessions of a former 243 basher...

Way back many years ago... say 1984 or so I was preparing for my first rifle hunt for deer. Didnt have a gun and wanted a 270... Well my Dad went and bought me a new Remmy 700 adl in 243 win flavor... Being the spoiled brat at 14 yrs old I was... I convinced myself that it wasnt big enough since Id had my heart set on a 270. Dad just laughed it off and said whatever and told me I had a lot to learn... I carried it a few times... didnt have much luck with it and made a bad shot or two which basically confirmed in my all knowing teenage brain that it wasnt a deer gun at all. Even said it on message boards a few times over the years..

Fast forward to 2011 I decided to get it out and maybe hunt it a day or two. Didnt have any luck but it sure did shoot the 95 gr nbt's and 80 gr ttsx's awful well. Finally got a chance to shoot something while I was carrying it in 2013 doe season. Squeezed the trigger the deer dropped like a rock... I thought it musta been a fluke... So next day i take it out and shoot another with the exact same results. 2 bangflops with the 95 gr nbt's got my attention so I carried it again doe season of 2014 and hammered 2 more does.. 80 gr ttsx and a 90 gr Prvi partizan sp of all loads. Neither took a step. So come this buck season i carried it out and decided to try 90 gr ballistic tips. Killed a 155 lb dressed 12 point that ran about 4 steps... next day shot a very nice 7 point who face planted immediately after a double shoulder shot just to see how tough the 90's were. Apparently they must share the 95's beefed up jacket.

Suffice to say Im now solidly in the 243 fan camp.... and somewhere up there my Dad who died in 2003 is still laughing his azz off at me. Ive killed deer with a ton of chamberings and this one kills as good or better than any of them... but of course with the number of 243 fans on here... a lot of folks already knew this. Some of us are slow learners I suppose. Just what I need... another featherweight stainless build coming soon!

The 95gr nbt are a good bullet. For your new build twist it 8 twist and try the 105vld! Bang flop kills!

Before owning one I too thought they were too light. After hunting with a 6mm Rem and watching what my daughter has done with the .243, I too am a fan. I still prefer the .30/06 for nostalgia, but I wouldn't feel handicapped with a .243 or 6mm for deer.

The older I get, come deer season, the more the old 06s just seem to sit in the safe and the 243s seem to get carried a lot if'n I'm not toting a 260.... there is a weak spot for light loads in the 7 x 57 Featherweight tho...

The 6mm and 260 in my rack are my two favorite hunting rifles.

That 95 grain ballistic tip out of the 6mm is Deer cyanide.

About the same story here. I had always viewed it is a larger varmint/predator gun, of which I don't use much. Not even sure what initially got me to get one, probably just the fact that I wanted something bigger than the hot 22 cartridges.

I also shoot the 80 TTSX for hunting. Deer, coyotes, turkeys, etc. have met that bullet with impressive results.

I was a little concerned the first time I used it for deer, after seeing how little and long the blood trail can be from good bullets on deer in .22 caliber cartridges. I shot two nice bucks on the first day of a deer season with it. One was double lung, which went about 15 yards, and the other was a quartering shot, which folded it. Bloodtrails, when needed, are fantastic. I wouldn't hesitate to start a young shooter out with that cartridge.

Tried all kinds of stuff over the years and now that Im older and don't hunt anything larger than deer, my .243 is my "big" gun....

I had about the same opinion of the .243 until my 8 year old punched a deer with a 85 grain partition this year at 149 yards.

Now I want a Sako in 243.

Dink

The 243 and 85 partitions have always worked well for me. I have Barnes 85 TSXs loaded, but haven't used one...yet. Both give me sub moa groups.

The first deer I killed when I was just 6 was with a 30 carbine at 75 yards. 2nd deer was with a 222. Dad figured I was ready so at Christmas that year a Savage 99 in 243 showed up from Santa. A few years later, Santa brought me a 600 in 243. My 'love affair' with the 243 has proceeded from there. I used those two rifles to take more than 150 whitetails in just 10 years (doe culling operation on the ranch I hunted on). At 14, I took 13 doe in one morning with that rifle. As I recall, all were DRT.
Took my first buck with the Savage at about 60 yards.

Fast-forward about 45 years and I still have the Savage. It comes out when I'm going to just walk around hunting. The 600 is with my 5 year old grandson (he took his first buck with it this year! :D). The 600 was replaced with a Weatherby Vanguard S2 that prints some beautiful groups out to 500 yards.
Though I have other calibers, the 243 is what gets taken out to the field/range more times than not. I have NO hesitation on using it for any of the game animals I'm likely to be able to take where I hunt.

That's the bullet that got me on board with the 243.

Guys here got me started using that 95NBT and Im pretty well sold on it!

The 243 is 1 cartridge among many that has benefited from the advances/improvements in bullet technology and production, better today than the day that it was introduced.

I agree, mostly, but prefer to shoot Partitions in rifles with bores smaller than .277". I like through and through penetration and have gotten that outcome more often with Partitions than with BTs, but BTs have been more accurate.

I had about the same experience, maybe a couple years earlier than you. 'Twas a 788 at Christmas, and I dropped a thick-beamed 10 pointer the next fall with it. However, that killing was a rodeo, and I never had confidence in the gun. I'm sure it was 100% the fault of the cartridge, and not that the rifle as a 3-4 MOA shooter, or that I wasn't made to use hearing protection when firing it (ever!), or that I didn't spend enough range time with the gun.

After it sat in the gun cabinet for nearly 25 years, I brought it out & tried to make it behave, but no such luck. Hoping to make something useful out of my very first rifle, I called Mickey Coleman, who suggested a new barrel. It ended up being a 7-08, and it's now amazingly accurate.

But I haven't bothered to put another .243 in the safe, and I don't see it happening anytime soon. For the hogs & deer that the boys & I are likely to hunt, a 7-08 with 120's over a reasonable charge are plenty effective, and I can't discern any difference in recoil. Heck, with my loads, the 7-08 has less muzzle blast, too.

I suppose it just goes to show that I've not yet matured enough to abandon a childhood prejudice against a cartridge.

FC

.3-.4 MOA is typical of many 788s....JS.

Now Dink - I kick myself for selling:

1885 Low Wall

but perhaps more so, a pre-Garcia Forester and A2 Deluxe. Both wonderfully accurate, and you cannot beat the quality.

That said, had others, will likely have more again. Currently running a T3, and like ALL 243s, it shoots TIGHT.

Had a 1A Ruger, single shot, 3/8" on first 3-round group with a 2.5-8x and 85 BTHP Sierra handloads....

The 95 is my GO to deer/hog bullet, but the 80/85 barnes and 85 Sierra product DRTs, and yes, the 105 Amax - as I've dumped them to 400 yds from a 6BR

Scroll down to see a Hog I dumped about 3 seconds after it popped out of the brush at 240 yds - #1 RSI, 6x36 Swaro -
85 XBT

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...ger_1_International_Who_has_#Post3091822

Getting old:

Step one, sold all the .300 mag and larger

Step two, bought several .30-30s.

Step three, dug the .308 and .243 out of the back of the safe. ,

Step four, sold the last magnum, a 7 RM.

Step five, started using .243 and .30-30 more and more. 95 & 100 NP puts a .243 on steroids. Life is good. These will kill any predator or game that I am likely to encounter.

Step six, tagged the three .30-06 rifles for two S-I-Ls and a grandson to inherit. Nice rifles, but I am finished with them. The .308 goes to a daughte

Jack

My son uses my Browning Micro Hunter in .243 with Hornady 100 grain interlocks and every deer that has come in contact with that little rifle has ended up in the freezer.

Finally used one of the three raffle won .243s this year on a nice doe. Rem 700 CDL, 80 grain TTSX, base of neck with great expansion and damage resulting in the expected bang, flop. Never really bashed them, but never really took 'em very seriously, either, for too dang long.

I used my .243 on a fine little blackbuck antelope in Texas several years ago.. With the much loved 95 gr. Nosler BTBT. At the shot, which hit perfectly behind the shoulder, the buck took off and ran several hundreds yards up hill.. Watching a $1000. trophy fee beat it into the brush was not fun.. We followed the little guy up, he was still alive.. My partner said don't get close, he will jab you with those horns... After a minute the little guy gave up the ghost..
Sold my last .243 a couple mths ago..