Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .243 WINCHESTER AND THE WHITETAIL DEER

My interests are leaning toward the .243 Winchester lately, as I have never owned one before. Seems that I read and hear a lot about it being great for "beginners," "youth," and "lady hunters"

I'm sure this is a formidable cartridge for "seasoned adult men" as well, I just know very little about this round.

I would love to hear more about this chambering from hunters who use this round on big game, particularly, whitetail. Tell me about the advantages/disadvantages of using it for whitetail hunting. Any favorite bullets that work better than others? , etc...

School me please, and thank you.

The 243 is my go to deer cartridge. Anyone who thinks its for trick shots or just for children needs to stop allowing themselves to be brainwashed and stop watching reality tv because it's making them dumber. A deer shot in the front half from a 243 isn't long for this world. Deer ain't hard to kill and a 95 nosler BT will kill in short order with excellent penetration.

i love the 243. just bought one actually. a remington 700. when i first started hunting i used my dads old browning blr 243 and took a pile of deer using the 80gr winchester powerpoints. i have 2 boxes of hornady interlocks 100gr ima try out this season

The 243 ONLY kills deer when fired by boys and women. It bounces off game when used by grown men.......

If you use a good bullet, thru vitals, you will dull your knife.

Otherwise, it's on you, not the round.

Any favorite bullet recommendations?

H4350 and 95 NBT does the body good.

95 Nosler BTip
85 Hornady Interbond
95 Nosler Partition
100 Hornady BTSP

Shot 4 deer with my 243...,they were all 1 shot kills, all whitetails, all seemed to be as dead as other whitetails I shot w/ a 30-30, 35Rem, 308 & 30-06

If you don't load, the fed fusions have done VERY well on deer for me, out past 250, and up close.

Was never interested until the runt's grandpa bought him one.

Last year he took a decent 8pt with it. Hornady Whitetail ammo. 100 gr Inter-something.

I'm reloading for it now - worked up a decent load of H4350 under a 105 Amax. Peach to shoot off the bench and pretty danged accurate. Enough that I'm giving serious thought to getting one myself.

I started hunting Whitetails with a .243 some 40 years ago, and still do from time to time. But mine mostly gets used by my nieces & nephews nowadays here on the Ranch.

I've litterally killed a truck load of does, bucks, and feral hogs with mine over the years. And with just about ever .243 bullet available. And no telling how many coyotes, too.
For factory ammo, it's really hard to beat the cheap Factory Reminton Corelock load with their 100 grain bullet. Or the Hornaday Whitetail Load with their 95gr SST.

It's still one of my favorite all around Calibers, and won't ever be without one. Great Antelope and varmit cartridge, also.

This is the straight stuff right here.

Chl, isn't the Hornady Whitetail the 100g BTSP Interlock?

Sorry, your right. I was thinking of their SuperPerformance loading I shoot in my 6mm. It is loaded with the 95 grain SST bullet.

Thanks for correcting me.

I've killed quite a few deer with one and seen even more taken with one. I love the cartridge. Never the first complaint. I might get another one just because....

If you're disappointed it won't be the cartridges fault.

now we need someone to say that they prefer cartridges with more "knockdown power."

105gr Speer Hot Core works very well as does the 100gr Nosler SB-if you can find any, that is.

Kids rifle? I don't think so. Good for old pharts too, who don't like to deal with much recoil.

I'm way past the kid stage. My beard has more salt than pepper, and a day's growth could probably knock slag off welds, but I like my 243.

Funny, I was just looking at a Montana on GB in.... Yep, .243. I'm going to loose my 7x57 here in a year to my boy, so I'm going to need to replace it with something. I'm thinking it will be a .243.

Well OKAY...

I prefer something with more Knock Down Power....

such as the 6mm/08 Winchester....

or the 6mm Remington...