Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting .243 or .30-30 for deer?

If you had to pick between either a .243 Winchester or .30-30 Winchester for your deer hunting this year which would you choose and why?

.243....I feel comfortable with a 300 yard shot with a .243....but not with a .30-30

Yep. 10 yards to XXX yards, I'm still picking the .243.

Aye. This ain't Montana, but the shots can be long.

Of course, I'll still be using something with a .284 bore.

I shoot most of mine at 50 yards or less, 100 yards is long. I'll take the 30-30

243 is a wildcat. It will never last.

give me the 30-30....

heck if it is North Carolina, and you are hunting swamps on the east side, or heavily wooded areas elsewhere.... I'd take the handiness of a 30/30.. if you are hunting in areas where shots are going to be less than 150 yds...has more to do with the handiness of the rifle they are chambered in..

if'n ya need further range than that.... then the 243...

both are more than up to the task at hand....

The good news is, you can't go wrong. Either cartridge works very well. Tailor your choice to the stand you plan to hunt and the type action you want to run.

Other than that, you are good to go.

I killed a decent buck this year the first day I hunted with a 30/30. I had packed my 243 the other days with 100% confidence. For me, inside of 150yds I'm good with either but if range can be longer then 243 all day long. I'm a fan of good bullets in the .243, 80 ttsx and 80 gmx are what I have experience with. I switched to the 95 Nosler BT after the reviews here but no test subjects this season. Pretty much any 150-170 FN/RN works in the old 30/30.

Its the best grinner gun ever.......

Same here. I do have an old .30-30 that was my first rifle and it gets taken to the woods for nostalgia on occasion, but the .243 goes frequently.

Both pale in front of the Mighty 270

oh hell.....

Either. Put a properly constructed bullet from almost any firearm through the lungs of a deer and you'll be eating venison.

I hunt deer in the woods and prefer the handling of a levergun so .30-30 for me. I'm typically taking shots at bow hunting distances so 150 yards of potential range is more than adequate.

I like them both a lot. Hard to pick one. But I'd likely go with the .243.

And it is not worthy of being in the shadow of a 7x57.....

True, but the 243 will do it 'longer'.

If you're satisfied with softball trajectory, the 30-30 is fine.


Jerry

.243 and for myself an 84 Montana out-handies every lever in more ways than just carrying.

Of course some would find it fun to drive across the country in a 1940's pickup. I don't happen to be one of them.

The 30-30 hardly has a softball trajectory, unless you're thinking about softballs thrown by Eddie "The King" Feigner.