Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 243 for Dear Hunting?

Christmas came early that year

Awesome pic. Nothing better than a kid with his first Deer rifle.

Anytime I’m hunting thick brush/steep country, deer get shot through the shoulder. Take out running gear they aren’t going far. That’s any caliber. I’ve seen an 80lb doe shot with a 180gr .30-06 run 150 yds into the laurel. Heart and lungs were jelly.

lol! I’m sure the people at Sierra still laugh about that one.

I’ve seen that as well. Just one of those things. Small sample of two or three, but the deer shot in that area with Sierra 165gr Gameking HPs seemed to drop very quickly as opposed to ones shot with BTs of the same weight. Still have most of a box of those, so might load some up, all in search of the truth, of course. They also jelly up a lot of shoulder meat on the far side, even though it wasn’t actually hit.

ya know Mr Kane, that is a damn good idea! thanks for that suggestion.... I'll give them your regards.

have a great day buddy!

If an 1100 pound elk can be hunted with a 300 Win Mag 180 gr

Then a 330 pound Mule buck hunted with a 223 62 gr must be ok?

No.

A man can carry a 10 pound rifle, and then justifies the compromise cartridge with manageable recoil and ballistic coefficient.

The biggest elk I have ever seen was dead next to a little woman nursing a baby. She said she shot the big bull in just the right spot with a 243 at 200 yards.

Dear hunting with a .243 Win is illegal in every state. But it works for deer.

Perhaps you meant say it is “legal”?

No. Read carefully. Look up in your dictionary: dear vs deer.

Inside of 400 yards in the right hands the .243 can be really good with the right bullet. Sure Ill get some flack, though I am finding the smaller 6mm ARC bolt action to be even better with the right bullet & right hand load. YMMV

Underpowered? My sons .223 shot through both sides while breaking ribs with Barnes 55 grain TTX. A .243 isn’t underpowered at all. You’re more than GTG.

Standard 6mm-7mm cartridges are just right for deer IMO.

243 hammers whitetails. My daughter has proved that. I load her 100 gn round nose and they are a slammer for sure. Will say that I'm not a fan of all copper bullets though

gunchamp- he doesn't really have a choice in CA. He has to use monos.

100 grain Corelokt from a Rem 700 worked fine on a moose at 80 yards. I don't know why your set-up won't work on a deer 1/5th (maybe) it's mass, with an up-scale cartridge and better bullet.

I've also taken sheep, black bear, caribou, and a mule deer with it. It's not my favorite cartridge/ gun , but it works.

An elk, several caribou, and wolf with a Rem 725 SA .260, which isn't that much different than a 243, tho I use 140 gr bullets in that.

The M725 in 260Rem??

And what do you gain with the 6ARC?

Give me any buck of your choosing and I will put a 95 grain or less bullet in his shoulder. He will be laying in his shadow.

As for shoulder shooting deer and them running off. How in the fugg does anybody know where they hit the deer if it ran off?

Here's my "shoulder" shot. If a deer runs a single step from this shot he wasn't hit where the dot is. Same placement with the underpowered 22 calibers and a 55 or 60 grain bullet....same DRT results.

Thanks for posting this Pic. Everyone talks about shot placement. Or just put the bullet in the right place and they will go down. But not a lot of specific description of exactly where the right spot is. Some say its right behind the shoulder in the crease like a bow shot. Or even a little lower (heart shot). Some say right on the shoulder to brake some bone. Some say high shoulder or neck shot (cns)
"A picture is worth a thousand words"



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Nope. Show me a state where "Dear" hunting is legal with any cartridge.

There is always that guy........