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

Tell me how one wins three rifles in raffle drawings? You need to go to the casino......

I know.. 2012, 2013 & 2014 in the same Lions Club 130/150 gun yearly drawing. Streak ended this year after the Hat Trick.

Personally I am a 6mm Remington fan. I use 85 grain HPBT Game Kings, and they are pure poison on critters large and small.

My daughter took her first deer last year with my 6mm Tikka T3 and it was a bang-flop, at 197 yards. Very fun to watch!

I. Used to favor the 6mm over the ..243. Now I see it the other way around. If you are into .244 Remington or 6mm, you'd better be a reloader, I got rid of all my reloading tools, too much hassle! No benefits I could see!

I kept all my reloading tools and I'm keeping my 6mm.

I used to be a fan of the 6mm over the .243 and still am to some extent. That being said, I would purchase a .243 over a 6mm today just based on brass/ammo availability.

If you cant kill'em with a .243win, your'e doing something wrong. 3 kills this year with my .243win

nice!! what bullet do u use in your 243?

95gr VLD

When I was young I was walking up a mountain to my deer hunting spot. I passed a older gentleman sitting on a stump with a Savage 99 which he told me was a .243. Near dark he fired several times. . When my dad and I left the older man had some friends and they were bloodtrailing the buck. Next afternoon he was back on the same stump? He told me they couldn't find the buck. Before dark he fired a couple shots. Once again my dad and I ran into him on our way out and he had friends bloodtrailing this second buck. Next afternoon he was back on the same stump. He didn't find that buck either . Between that episode and my friend having to shoot a spike buck five times to put it down with his BLR .243 I was a .243 hater and bashed it at every turn. But live and learn. I love the cartridge now. It's one of my favorites.

Started off with a 6mm Rem which I see as a near equal to the 243 with the 6MM having a very slight edge in the field. Understand the love of the 243 especialy if you are not the reloading type.

Over the years iIhave used 6mm rem, 22-250, 270 winchester and 30-06. This year opted to give a bolt action 24" barrel 6.5 Grendel a try. 6 MM Rem and the Grendel have been my favorite. Always worth repeating in my book that bullet selection and bullet placement will go further in a sure kill than being over gunned.

The less expensive your ammo and the more recoil friendly your hunting rifle is; The more likely you are going to put in more time practicing before the hunt. This will go a long ways to experiencing proper bullet placement.

A .243 was my first bolt action, scoped deer rifle. Used it for a few years then thought I had to have something bigger.

Came back to the .243, did the same thing 3 or 4 times.

Sold my 7mm WSM last year and came back to the .243 as my main hunting rig. Doubt I'll leave this time.

The cartridge has always done anything I've wanted it to.

If I were shooting smallish deer, yotes, etc. I would use a faster expanding bullet. The 95 BT is TOUGH, it expands, but I would not hesitate to drive one into a Bull Elk, inc. the shoulder. Blew right thru a Buck's front shoulderS at 100 yds via a M7 XCR 20" carbine. Death run about 40-60 yds max. No problem. A 260 130 AB did about the same thing. Same placement, exact same crossing, same size deer.

Point is, I would use a bullet like a 70-85 hunting bullet, even a TNT varmint threaded thru the lungs. I can assure you a 70 TNT or a 85/85 Sierra/Hornady would make Soup of the lungs and it would be down fast.

SLG888 has some fine bucks above, and before he used the VLDS, he was using the 95 BT and shot MANY animals.

It's not perfect, but its a close to perfect in a 6mm that will punch thru bone, etc. on close shots, yet retain and expand for longer shots. Yes, a Barnes is tougher, and an Amax Softer, but the 95 is nothing to sneeze at. Sorry your experience was not typical.

punched a deer with a 85 grain partition this year at 149 yards.

Now I want a Sako in 243.

Dink [/quote] i started with a .243 sako in 1968. accurate . deadly. now i have some .243 sakos. hbs , mannlichers, sporters.

A couple of years ago a group of us went deer hunting in South Carolina. One of the group was recovering from rotater cuff surgery earlier in the year. We issued him a borrowed 243 which was met with some doubt as he had always been a confirmed big rifle shooter and thought a 30-06 was minimum to kill a whitetail. I told him I thought he would be surprised. He hit a doe right in the boiler room . I asked him what did she do and he said it looked like someone jerked a rug out from under her. Long story short he became a believer that day, and I became a instant rifle sage.
we then began to look for him a 243. The funny thing is I found a bargain on a 250-3000 savage and told him to buy it and if he didn't like it I'd buy it from him. Now he thinks there are two super deer rounds out there.

One hesitation I have on 243 is you guys mention premium bullets to make it perform well. I can buy any cheap round in my 30 calibers and have pass through performance. The basic bullets keep getting better.

Would you reconsider if you had to shoot cheap federal or Remington loads?

They kill sheep too.

I used cheap bullets, and cheap factory ammo for years in my .243s and never had any problems.

Still have a bunch of Interlocks and BTs loaded up, and use them on deer every year. Wouldn't consider them premium or costly.

.243's are for the retards that never heard of a 22-250 or .223.




Travis

We have a whole state full of mandated retards.....

.23 caliber minimum. That's silly, no one makes a .23. And they just started allowing Sunday hunting.

At least we are allowed Aviators. For now.