My girlfriend is looking to buy her first hunting rifle. The rifle will be used for whitetail and general target shooting. She is very small in stature (4'10" & 100 lbs) and a 243 is about all she can handle recoil wise. We've been looking at the Ruger American compact with an 18" barrel and the Savage Axis youth with a 20" barrel. She likes the feel of the Ruger better. How much of a sacrifice is the 18" barrel as far as velocity and muzzle blast are concerned?

The deer won't notice any difference at all.
My wife shoots a Remington Model Seven in 6mm Rem and kills them out to 300 yds with no problem

I wouldn't worry so much about velocity loss as I would the muzzle blast.

As was said above the deer won't know the difference.
My grandaughter's first using 100gr Super-X's in her
mom's .243 M77 Compact Carbine at just under 250yds.

You might consider seeing how she likes a standard Ruger American with 22" barrel, specifically concentrating on how she likes the extra length of the barrel. If she doesn't mind the barrel length, then call the company and see if it's possible to buy or swap out for the compact stock. Best of both worlds that way - a little longer barrel to mitigate muzzle blast to the shooter along with a good fitting stock. Weight difference will be a few ounces.

The compact stock on the standard American is an interesting idea. I'll have to look into that.
Shots tend to be 100 yards or less around here so I guess the velocity loss isn't that big of a deal. I've never fired a 243 with an 18" barrel but I've been warned that the blast could be fierce.

That would be a definite consideration.....

Casey

I bet you could call Ruger in the morning and have an answer in a few minutes regarding the stock. Ruger has been VERY good for customer service, in my experience.

The compact stock for the RAR is $55 shipped from Ruger. I have one arriving tomorrow for a full size 243.

I started my daughters at the age of 12 and 10 with a Ruger 77 RSI with an 18" barrel. The younger daughter shot deer and pronghorns with it until she was about 21 or 22. They both took a couple of big-bodied Nebraska whitetails with the little rifle.

Bob Milek killed herds of deer with a 6mm/223 handgun

A few inches of barrel makes very little difference in the end results

+1

I don't think velocity difference will matter to an entry level shooter, or to the deer she hits with it. The extra 4" of bbl WILL help with muzzle blast!! (and safe muzzle control)

Sycamore

I have a ruger77rsi it works fine and I haven't noted the muzzle blast to be objectionable

Have you ever shot a .243 with an 18" barrel? If you can tell the difference between an 18" barrel and a 22" inch barrel, you're the auditory equivalent of the princess and the pea.

^ +1!!!

Obie- it is great you have a girlfriend you will go hunting with you. there are a lot of smaller rifles in .243 . my sako mannlicher is a great little gun, also there is a remington model 7, remington mtn rifle , remington 700 youth, ruger 77 compact, kimber and ............. you do not say where you are or how big of deer you are shooting. I have used a the 85 sierra bthp to harvest a lot of deer. using a medium powder like I4064, varget, h/I4895 a few grain under max it produces a pleasant shooting and deadly load. any or many of the bullets from 85 to 95 grains are awesome for this. loading a light bullet 55-70 grains just for target/varmint is another great option.

Have used a Rem 600 in 6mm for many years. It has done a good job on caribou for us. 85 grain Partitions and RL 19 and 115 grain Barnes Originals (I have just under 200 left)with Retumbo shoot very well. The short barrels lose some speed which actually helps with penetration!

We'll be hunting the catskill mountains in NY. I honestly don't know what the avg weight is for the deer around here. Over the years I have shot two that pushed almost 200lbs dressed but bucks that size are rare. I have no experience hunting with a 243 so I don't know how it usually performs on game. I was thinking about trying the 95 or 100 nosler partitions. Any thoughts on partitions and the 243?

Absolute best combination out there for your purpose.

drover

We used both the 95-grain Partitions and the 95-grain Ballistic Tips. It seemed like we got quicker kills with the BTs and they shot a little better in our rifle. Both delivered one-shot kills if the bullets went where they were supposed to go. One desert mule deer that my younger daughter shot down south went a little over 200 lbs, dressed. We didn't weigh the big Nebraska whitetails, but if they weren't that big they weren't far behind.

When I started to use the little .243 primarily for shooting feral hogs in the cienega in front of the house, I switched to 100-grain Partitions. They worked well, even on fairly large adults.

We have a Rmington 660 .243 and muzzle blast isn't a problem out of the 20" barrel. You don't need Partitions in a short barrel because the 100 grain Federals hold together just fine.

I got a model seven Remington, .243 youth model, with 18.5 inch barrel, for my Daughter a long while ago, and it has been used by several people,including myself, to kill deer. Everybody that ever used it, loved it. When I use it, I just slip a rubber butt pad over the stock and everything is good. miles

Let her shoot a box of ammo through a Ruger Frontier in 300 WSM with a 16 1/4" barrel. After that she'll never notice the muzzle blast in an 18" 243.

Unfortunately Big Squeeze was the only person to ever purchase a Frontier 300 WSM, and he tragically died when his head exploded from being too full of awesome. So no one knows where the rifle resides today.

Don't be afraid to rock a .223 Merican compact, either.

I've never had any muzzle blast complaints from any of the MANY people who've used that M77 Compact Carbine to either hunt with or who've just shot it.

As far as the OP asking about bullets to use. I've always sent 100gr Super-X ammo with the rifle for those hunting with it. Performs well on game and is accurate in that rifle.

For my son I debated between the Ruger compact and the Rem 700 youth rifle in .243. I opted for the Remington because of the slightly longer barrel to reduce muzzle blast. I haven't compared it side by side with the Ruger, but even at 20" it barks plenty loud.



We settled on the 85 tsx over a book max charge of RL 15. Very accurate and recoil isn't bad. Sitka deer gave my son several boxes of cup core 100 and 105 gr bullets for practice and you can definately tell the recoil is milder with the 85 gr than the 100's and 105's.

Another nice thing about the 85 tsx is you can work up practice/varmint loads with the 87 vmax and have less expensive ammo with similar trajectory.

I also think a 20" .243win barks plenty loud. If an 18" .243win was all I had, I would likely not have any problems killing stuff with it. If buying new, I'd want a 20"-22" barrel. The shorter ones do seen a bit sharper in terms of sound/blast. I remember one range session when my brother and I were sighting in several deer rifles and finally got around to a .243win carbine, after the first shot, we both mentioned that it had a nice bark to it, considering it was pushing a good bit less bullet/powder as compared to the other rifles we'd just finished shooting.

A bit more powder, but my first deer gun purchase was a rem. 600 carbine in 6mm. It was a lady on the shoulder but a lion at the muzzle. Truthfully, w/o ear muffs, it hurt. It went that way....gone. My 9 y o granddaughter is about 5' 0". She handles 22-24" bbls just fine with a short LOP. Best wishes,, Jack

I dislike anything less than 20" on a case shooting over 30 grains of powder.

It is easy to tell the difference on your ears.

Same here.

Short barrels chambered in high expansion ratio cartridges are tough to live with.

I've not had a short one, but even while wearing ear protection, at both 22" and 24" the .243 seems noticeably louder/sharper than a 22" barreled .308, which seems louder than a 21" .358 (to me). I never notice recoil, but a muzzleblast/sharp report gets my attention...I have sissy ears.

You lose about 50-75fps from my notes. Not worth worrying about.

I load 100 grain Hornady's, Core-Lokts or Power Points for the kids for deer. They only get about 2750 out of the short barrels so bullet performance is quite good.

I will load Partitions if the girls want to try for elk. a 660 Remington with an 18.5" barrel and a Coast to Coast version of the 880 Mossberg cut to 19" are the ones my kids used. I have a 22" LW K-98 but I have never shot a deer with it or even tried. It is a varmint gun for my purposes.

I do not find the muzzle blast from the 18.5" barrel to be noticeably different than from a 22" barrel. Let her get what she wants.

Velocity is not the issue with the last several posters. We agree! It is noise!

Jack

You could also look at the Marlin X7 youth. It comes with a youth sized stock but a 22 inch barrel. My niece has one in 7mm-08 and is 7 for 7 on deer with it. It shoots very well with just plain jane Remington reduced recoil loads.

You should also consider the new Tikka Compact. It has a reduced length of pull that is adjustable and a 20 inch barrel. The trigger on the Tikka is very user friendly and adjustable from 2-4 pounds and the rifle is guaranteed to shoot an inch or less. There is not a better deal to be had. This is what I would buy if I were looking right now. I have a Tikka 243 and love the rifle - it is a tack driver.

Get her the gun she likes the best, the deer won't be able to tell the difference in velocity, and of course she'll wear ear protection at the range, and when she shoots a deer odds are she won't notice the noise anyway.

I bought my son the RAR Compact. Someone states Ruger will send them a compact stock for $50 to put on their standard .243. Wish I had knew this. Wonder what/if Ruger can swap out a 18" barrel for 20" for a few bucks?

Take a look here, 5.56 not .243 but will give you the idea.

http://www.sadefensejournal.com/wp/?p=1093

Well have your girlfriend or you invest in some good hearing protection, for the one or two that she will shoot hunting not a major concern, target shooting, yep and then some! Take if from an old man, who's hearing is shot in part a lot of shooting and a lot of flying noisy airplanes and helicopters, the barrel length is really not much of a factor! Oh White Tail deer here in my part of New England average about 100 to 180 lbs with some bigger and some smaller, I have a 130 lb Doe hanging right now, a guest got one with a bow this evening, the bow season started on Monday, so fresh venison is going to be on the table! Over night lows in the 40's too!