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

GFY!

The REAL problem is that Joe Avg hunter ain't going to Cabela's with his kid asking for a .223. Most who turn their nose up on the .223 don't see the light with goodhand loads and an X or Nosler.

Besides, Joe avg mainly thinks .243, .270, 30-06, .308

Brainwashing maybe...<grin>

I do not think these would be the same in .223

1955 Model 70
1957 Model 88

Yeah, pretty pictures as always, but have nothing to do with the subject.

Yep, instead of a 10 pound LONG action 243 you'd have a 10 pound long action 223....

Might even weigh a skosh more cause of the littler hole going down the barrel...

I was going all up, factoring the lesser amount of brass, powder, bullet weight and of course small rifle primers...

Gotcha!

I think you are right.....

Laffin'.

Per usual, most anti-.223 posters have zero experience with the cartridge on anything bigger than a coyote, though a few admit to having "very limited" experience. I'd go back and add them up to prove the point, but it's waste of time and cyberspace.

Oh, and my friend prarie goat was right: Ruark used his .220 Swift once on a warthog, trying to shoot it up the ass with woodchuck bullets, and then never shot it again on the safari.

I have only limited experience with a .223...but I'm not 'anti'....

I did forget to take into account the added steel around the bolt face, so you're likely more righter...

Yeah...but I'll bet they'd be a loose twist, so they need less steel in the lands....

I've never used a 223 as a BGR but with a 60 grain Nosler Partition round I don't see why it wouldn't kill a deer.

Don't forget magazine spacers.

It is a common misconception that you must use a Barnes or Partition to make a .224 suitable for big game. Such is not the case.

55gr. V-max

Also good are the 65 gr. Sierra Gamekings and the 64 gr. Winchester Power Points. Those two and the 60 gr. NPT's are my three favorites in the .223 and .22-204 for hogs and such. Never killed a deer with a .224, but those bullets would sure do the job.

I choose between these bullets by which one a certain rifle seems to like the best. IMHO, they all three perform well.

DF

Except, .270 Win...

DF

I've used the plain ol' 55 and 60 grain Hornady SP, 62 TSX, 40 grain Ballistic Tip, and 52 grain HPBT Black Hills Factory ammo for deer and antelope at 223 speeds, all seemed to work fine. If shooting for bone I would sure prefer a TSX in the chamber, but for standard behind the shoulder shots, the others work fine.

my objections with .22 centerfires on deer are the same as what others used to complain about with the .243...

if used with the wrong bullet, results can often be other than what the shooter plans on.

too many shooters of the 50s and 60s read about the lethality of the .243 and picked up the cheapest box off the shelf at the co-op to go deer hunting. the results were usually a DRT deer or a total mess.
the DRTs occurred often enough that they got more attention than anything else, but in a lot of peoples memories, the .243 is a useless deer cartridge.

and the .22s in this regard are just like that only more so...
there is nothing wrong with the rifle or the cartridge, per se...

for deer, i was against the .22s for years simply because i deemed them a poacher's choice.
but there are areas that i hunt that if i go back there, i will use a .22 cf...

gotta grab the dinner pail and head out...