Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Comfortable Kill range for Deer with a .243s

What would be most of your guys comfort zone on deer with a .243? I know we would all like to have them broad side at 50 yards and next to the road or the truck? but that rarely happens, I know with my 30-06 and a 150gr. Nolser ballistic tip I'm comfortable out to about 300 yards after that I don't take the shot for fear of wounding the animal. I know there are allot of variables Load, Bullet weight, powder etc. I'm just wondering as a rule of thumb?
Thanks
Snidley

Many different bullets but I feel comfortable to 500 with my rifle. Berger vld are what I shoot mainly.

With the 105 amax, I'm comfortable to 750-ish. (Edit: but thats only because I haven't run that bullet farther than that yet on steel, in that chambering.)
Shot a big muley at 484 last fall, first one was hard quartering in front of the onside hind, and it rolled him hard at the hit. He did manage to get back to his feet, and since the shooting is the fun part I put a second one broadside through both shoulders just for giggles.
That one smashed him off his feet as well.

Mind you, that was with the AI version. A plain jain 243 is only good for women and kids, and only then if they keep the shots broadside and under 100 yards from a concrete bench. And you should probably keep a 375H&H handy for the follow up finisher that will be required........

I would be OK with maybe 600 with a fragile bullet. With the TSX/TTSXs that I normally hunt with I would not go beyond 400.

I wouldn't hesitate out to 600 with mine and a 95 NBT. haven't stretched it out much further than that on game.

Thank you guys for your posts and replies I'm looking at shooting the 95gr Nosler Partition with the Vhiti. H560 powder and thought I could reach the 500yd mark safely if I had to?

I like to stay within 300.

Eric

Wow!! With a 243?????

Kodak huntr, from reading your post did you ever in real life shoot a deer?

Meaning what exactly? Fairly positive I've killed a lot of deer.

Nope.

Around 400 for me preferably less but that is due to my shooting skills and ethics more than the cartridge. With the .243 and most others it is shooter skill plus the point where the bullet velocity drops below the optimum expansion level.

Laughin'....Yep. Didn't realize we had an audience where we were hunting.....How many deer have you tipped over 'man?

ABSOLUTELY rolled him, with both shots. First one hit him as he trotted after a doe. Was about a foot of snow on the ground and at the impact it collapsed him, legs kicking up a cloud of powder.

Second poke swatted him and he collapsed where he stood, and he rolled on the hill side kicking. On the offside exit there was a 1.5" long cylinder of leg bone hanging out of the hole in his hide.
Two things that stood out from that deer, was that it was about -12*C, and there were frost crystals haning in the air and bullet trace was easily discernable in the scope, and the second was that the impacts of both shots was quite likely the loudest I've ever heard.

T'were quite funny, as a lifelong hunting partner was with me, and all he could do on the walk in, was shake his head at the "mouse gun" I was packing.

With that deer we were both eyeballing him for quite a while head on as he stood facing us, but it wasn't until he turned to leave that we saw that he was a legal 4pt..."Hurry up, he's gonna leave" followed with "YOU ROLLED HIM, YOU F*CKIN ROLLED HIM!!!"....... That was followed up on the walk over to retrieve, with, "ok, I need one of these for deer."

I've killed more than enough deer, to know that it doesn't take a 300Ultra to knock them down. YMMV.

I shoot a 243 myself, not doubting its ability to kill. The last thing I whacked with one was a 300 pound boar. But it wasn't the impact of the bullet that slammed anything off its feet. A 300 Ultra won't do that either. Neither projectile carries enough momentum to transfer to a much more massive body and make it move very fast at all.

When a deer's body makes a fast move when hit by a bullet, it's the body's own reaction to being hit combined with whatever momentum it already carried that throws it whichever way.

In your present post you write the second shot collapsed him where he stood. That's physically reasonable, whereas the "smashed him off his feet" phrase I highlighted in the earlier post isn't.

To the OP question, if you are comfortable with 300 yards with your -06, the 243 is not going to do anything that I can think of to extend that range. It may be a little flatter shooting but you are giving up a fair amount of energy and the flatter trajectory is negligible inside 300 yards.
Your comfort level is your comfort level and only practice and experience will increase it.

Fair enough, but rolled is rolled, and both shots rolled him AWAY from the rifle at the bullet impact with feet in the air. Typical reactions from what I've seen from lead based, lightly constructed bullets that impacted animals at longer distances that were unaware of people in the area.

FWIW, the mountain grizz I shot this spring with my 300 Ultra merely started to run at the first shot and the only indication of a hit was that he faltered a bit, stumbled, and slowed to a stop on the slide, before he took a second one to the shoulders.

And if it helps you, the elk I shot last fall through both shoulders at 25 or 30 yards with that same Ultra didn't show ANY indication of a hit (other than red bubbles out of the entrance and exit wounds), and that one took a second poke at 100 yards (THS, where that shot resulted in an instantaneous roll, ass over teakettle.....) Any time a bullet impacts flesh, you can get a different reaction. But yes, I don�t disagree with you, that there aren�t any bullets out there short of a one ton pickup that will roll an animal off of its feet consistently at impact.

I've observed the 95 grain Bal Tip really hits hard for such a moderate size bullet out of a 243. Its BC may not be slick enough for the long range pursuits of some, bit I don't hunt at real long range.

I'm most concerned with:

1. My ability to put the bullet into the vitals.
2. Enough remaining velocity to ensure bullet expansion and thus enough vital organ damage.

If you use about 2000 fps for the 2nd criteria, that works out to about 500 yards, which happens to be, with the way the wind blows here, about the maximum I am comfortable with for criteria #1.

John

The bullet is capable at .243 velocities. Would depend purely on your abilities to put the bullet into he vitals. If you don't practice at 500 or beyond, you won't be effective at 500.

John