Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Goodbye 243 I'm done

+1

Started my hunting 'career' with a borrowed 30 carbine. The next year it was a borrowed .222. My third year was a Savage 99 243, followed by a Mohawk 600 in 243. It wasn't until I was about 13 that I started hunting with a 25-06. My first two elk were taken with the 25-06.
Fast forward a number of years and my Model 600 and Model 99 were both using 100 gr sp and dropping deer quite regularly. As was my 25-06.
Dad asked me one time if I'd ever counted up the number deer I'd taken by the time I was 18. I did some math and came up with just over 100, give or take. By the time I was out of college, I'd added more to the list.
In my 40's, I went back and started playing with the 243's again. Worked up a nice load with 95 gr BTs for my 'grandson' to shoot when he got old enough. The lever gun I should start playing with again and see about bringing it out of the back of the safe. Trouble is, I have a nice Weatherby 243 that shoots little bug-holes. Even took it out to 800 yards a couple of times just for grins.
I still like the 243 AND the 25-06 AND my 6.5x55 Swede AND my 264 WM and several others.
Biggest problem I have now when I pack to go hunting for whitetails is, which one's will I bring? Usually it's one of the 6.5's and a 243 or one of the 25-06's and a 243.

Deer hunters probably not many but shooters and prairie dog hunters many. I have burned 5 243 barrels out myself and I try to keep them from getting real hot. Two were still good enough for deer hunting.

I am getting an old Sako forester in .243 Rick, but I have done similar moves as you are doing. I have killed a lot of varmints and deer, exotics with small cartridges, i.e .221 Fireball, 22-250, 22-250 AI, 220 Swift, and the 224 TTH for the 22s. Don't own a one now, ha. Been there, done that. I love and used the 240W, the 6mm/284, 6mm Remington, 6mm Bullberry ( 6mm/30-30 Improved) and the .243. I also had a 27" barrel 6x47 made up ( 6mm/222 Magnum) and the 85 XBT was going a tad over 2900fps, very mild report in the jewel. I killed an axis doe, a big axis buck and a Scimitar horned Oryx with, essentially, a .243! ha. That was awhile back. I'm not getting this .243 primarily for deer but for shooting rocks, coyotes and the "occasional" muley or antelope and for Texas deer. I am getting my 7x57 Mod 70 FWT set up as my "main squeeze" with my 338 WinMag as a thumper. I like to take two rifles on any hunt trip, just in case one gets gilflirted...so for deer, its the .243 and the 7x57; for elk, hogs and such, its the 7x57 and the 338. I "right now" have an old JC Higgins Mod 50 in .270 that is in limbo. It "may" get sold it may get rebarreled! Nothing wrong with a hot .22 and the right bullets, especially on Texas deer! have a ball.

over 100 deer by age 18? I'm curious how you could manage the logistics of that. If true, that is a lot of deer for a teen to handle

💩💩💩

I used to think those RSI Number 1s were silly looking, but now I kinda like them.

Nice photo.

My first rifle I bought was a 243. It was retired many years ago.I killed a bunch of deer with it. Just got tired of them running so far after being well hit with a lousy blood trail. My wife and daughter have hunted with it since. I won't. Unless I use it for varmints. It is a good shooter that is comfortable to shoot. There are just better choices to hunt big game with.

Maybe you need to put the bullets where they count??

On a good size TX ranch (assuming TX), I could easily see that.

It does help. My camp mate and his youngest son have been dropping them quick with 95 grain SST's through the chest. I've had fine results with the 95 grain Ballistic Tip, even on a rather large hog.

When I was growing up I hunted Louisiana and Arkansas both, as I lived close to the state line. That was 10 deer right there, if I wanted to take them all. And later, when we had our own land in Louisiana, my family got an extra 20-25 doe tags a year through the Deer Management Assistance Program, on top of the 6 deer tags on our licenses. It wasn't uncommon to kill 8-10 deer in a year without much effort. My dad got 15 one year with his bow, all tagged and legal. I spent a ton of time in the woods in my teenage years and didn't cull much......

I have been hunting private land in Southwest Alabama for a long time. For years the limit was two does a day,it's still one doe a doe a day, The season is over 100 days long so it's possible to kill a lot of deer if you want to.

Being a rifle nut,for years I experimented with lots of different cartridges and bullet designs. The result of all of this is that I think there are better choices than a 243 for deer.

I dunno, maybe, maybe not, how dead is dead? I can't recall a deer making 100 steps from my 243s. Thats from stupidly using 80 grain soft points, all the way to what I ran for years, 105 speers. And from up close spitting distance almost, out to over 500 yards. They normally didn't even make it out of sight or much past 40 steps I"d guess.

I can't say that I saw any difference from the 308. Maybe a bit shorter runs on average with a 257 wtby, no difference with a 300 mag, no difference with a 338 mag, no difference with a 30-30, and so far less distance traveled with a 10mm.

I often think the 300 and 338 for some reason may be that much louder, and thats why they ran a bit further with the mag.

I have done a few only with a 7x300 and with a 338-378 but not enough to have comments tehre.

OTOH I do believe with any round if you choose to run the way of an explosive bullet driven really fast, that most of the time the deer wont' go quite as far. I hate wasting meat, so its not for me. I also believe that now and then you'll loose a deer to a superficial hit. Though bergers seem to be, so far, totally reliable compromise. Although I've seen deer run over 100 yards after hit with them. And less than 20.

Bottom line for me has always been pick a bullet thats going to provide an exit hole. Put the bullet in both lungs. DOn't worry about breaking bones. And let the deer run a bit and bleed out, no problem finding them. and if for whatever reason, say i was to sit on a neighbors fence line, which I don't do, and needed a drop, I"ll shoot CNS and at least know I"m 100% sure of a drop, vs risking a high shoulder or such.. and hope it works all the time.

I agree, even in eastern states is possible to kill that many easily. but before the age of 18? 100 is a LOT of deer. one would have to have a very dedicated parent and lots of hungry neighbors. I also know lots of ranchers and none of them (or their kids) would ever have to borrow a gun to go hunting, regardless of the size of their ranch. just doesn't add up to me is all, not looking to start anything which is why I chose my words the way I did. I agree it is possible.

Those 95 grain SST's are wicked little bullets. They do more damage to a deer's giblets than 165 gr. power points out of my .30-06 and drop deer fast.

We haven't been able to detect any real blowups yet either, despite the SST reputation. None have been recovered, all exits. The more moderate velocity from a short barrel (his rifle is 20" I believe) and the long, straight shank with this particular SST being flat based may be helping.

I didn't have any blowups with the SST's either. Full penetration with exits on broadside shots. Shot one in the brisket as it faced me. Bullet blew off the top half of the heart, turned the lungs to soup, put a silver dollar sized hole through the liver and was lost in the guts. They are very accurate out of my Tikka. I like 'em.

You guys shooting those 95 SSTs and 95 NBT out of 10" twist barrels or faster, like the 6mms 9" something? My Sako has a 10" twist. I'm going to start out with the 90 BT & AB.

My Tikka is a 10" twist.