Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Is The 243 Winchester in Danger of Being Replaced by the 223 Remington

The 223 can shine pretty good in its own right with a 75 grain bullet and 25 to 26 grains of powder.It isnt a 243 but it is not dull.I hear the cheap ammo reasoning all the time but dont see anybody shooting it except armchair warriors.

Pretty sure I don't run cheap ammo through mine.

Not even CLOSE.

First deer I killed with a .22CF was in 1967 with a .222 Rem and 50gr Norma factory load. One shot DRT. Have done many since with .222 and .223 with no bad results. Didn't even realize this was a controversial practice until the internet came along. I've got a whole safe full of choices and use them all, but probably .223 half the time. 65 gr SGK is my bullet of choice and I don't worry about drilling shoulders.

Tell me what I said was wrong as I'm all ears.

Cheap ammo has nothing to do with the 223 being popular for deer hunting.

There is a pretty wide margin there... maybe fishing for bass with a brim pole

There's no such thing as "fishing for bass". It's BASS FISHIN!

Maybe I'm missing the point as I just saw this thread. Are you saying that the 223 is a better deer getter than the 243 ? I haven't read through this thread so perhaps I've assumed the question was just about popularity ?

When did it matter what was "better" for shooting deer as long as what you use works?? This issue gets weirder every time it comes up.

I'll be glad for deer season to open...

Nice green carp

That sure the hell ain't surprising. Don't try walking and chewing gum at the same time or you'll surely suffocate.

Dixie boy huh?

More shear genius.

But 6x45's are, and tempting...

Yep, fished Montgomery Lake more times than I can count but never could come close to George Perry's big'un.

I used a 243 wiggle-fish to about 5 1/2 feet. I don't believe a Chub perch 223 would've done it.
DMc

Creek Chub Fintail Shiner... Nuff said

The 6x45 is a very interesting round. I built one for my wife as a low recoil deer/coyote rig. She's happy with it, accuracy is great. It was a good build.

I kill lots of deer. More and more of them are killed with 223's. Use bonded or Barnes bullets and they will generally penetrate close to 20 inches and produce a fairly wide wound channel.



From my not limited killing experience the 243 Win with the right bullet is a solid 600 yard cartridge on med/big game and even further with a couple of bullets. The 223 is solid to about half that. With 62gr federal Fusion, Partitions, etc. and especially with the 75gr AMAX I don't have any heartburn about killing a deer at 400 yards. With a Barnes or like bullet I prefer to keep it around 300 or under.


I would rather use a 223 on ANY NA animal where I get to pick the rifle, scope and bullet than use any other cartridge where someone else picks the rifle, scope and bullet.





62gr Fusion after penetrating almost 20 inches of a deer. 80 yards hard quartering too. Penetrated near shoulder, two ribs, lungs, two ribs, and was found under skin on offside.