Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 243 Deer Rifle Recipes for Failure?

No one really uses them here .

I believe your chances of DRT are higher with something a little bigger. 25/06, 6.5 s , 270 win. , 7mm ‘s ,Etc

But.....a 100 grain (or so) 243 or so will absolutely harvest a whitetail in the hands of a skilled AND experienced hunter.

I've owned this 243 HB since the mid 80's.
Not sure how many things have fallen to it, nor how many rounds fired thru it ?
I loaded 90gr Ballistic tips in it,with a max charge of imr4350.
I call her "Linda", as she has a deep throat. I set the bt's at 2.80, and went shooting yesterday.
Linda loves the 90gr's pushed down her throat !
They were eating a ragged hole !
Think I'll put a 90gr bt into a deer or antelope ?
With what John B., says about bt's now, you betcha.
I've always had this love affair with Linda, and will continue to do so.
A 243 is a helluva all around cartridge.

Yes, my 10 y o Son killed his first 2 WT with a 99 - 243.

Then 2 or 3 more the next couple of years.


Jerry

For a specialized situation of lung shooting of small does for the freezer I would consider a lighter, more frangible bullet at higher speed.

Load up some 85 grain Sierra SP Varminters.

Problem solved.

Speer 85 grain BTSP is another good one.

Deer are small critters that don't take much to kill.

Contrary to popular belief those 85 grain bullets are mighty rough on 200# bucks as well. Not like a 200# animal is all that tough to kill.

I did used to shoot speer 85gr btsp - about a thousand of them. Then 85gr interbonds. Sadly they stopped being accurate as the throat wore.

Now 95gr BTs seated out are about the only bullets that are accurate. My lease is mixed so I also shoot bigger deer at much shorter range.

Tried a 100 grain Gameking or Speer BTSP?

Where are people shooting these deer that run after the shot? I don't kill alot of deer prob 5-6 on an average year and it's once about every 3 years that a deer makes it 50 yards after the shot. That's with a variety of cartridges and factory ammo, usually blue box. And a variety of shot angles and impacts. Range 50-250. I just don't understand all these deer running after getting shot. And as I type this I can't ever remember a deer going anywhere but straight down that i shot with a 243.

Too tough of a bullet for a maximum of a 200-250# animal.

Most are shooting too hard of a bullet for smaller animals.

If somebody wants to shoot a hard bullet shoot forward or high forward and break bone. If they move at all it won't be much.

Partition is as "tough" as a bullet as I need and the front of them is pretty soft but I do get exits where sometimes I didn't with a Sierra, but deer never went far enough to need a blood trail.

To each his own but I know what I like and what works for me.

Lung shot will usually allow a short run. They're just dead on their feet and running on existing oxygen.

I tried the Sierra 100 grain Pro Hunter. I ended up preferring the 95 grain Nosler BT, but the Pro Hunter worked good.

That's what I'm saying. Mine usually flop when shot in the lungs just as if they were shot on the point of the shoulder. Im sure some will disagree with me. Bang flop, especially with a 243

Um, right where I like to, a bit behind the meat of the front shoulder, an inch or three behind the crease and about 1/3 of the way up to loose the least amount of meat possible.

While a lot shot with 243 used to drop even with that shot, a lot run.

The way you DRT a deer is hit CNS. Not even shoulders are a guarantee.

Of course thats only shooting deer since about 1976 or so. And probably only averaged shooting 4-5 a year. Plus a number of pigs a year.

What rost495 said.

Killed my first deer in 1966, but have only been using the .243 since 1974, with a bunch of bullets and loads. As with any other cartridge, some lung-shot deer (and "deer-sized") big game animals will travel a ways before dropping. Have seen them go 75 yards with both lungs shredded and the top of the heart with a 1" hole through the plumbing.

MD, would you say that's the rule or the exception?

I just don't see it. I'm racking my brain and the last lung shot deer that ran anywhere I shot broadside with a 165 partition from a 300 saum at about 40 yards, he ran a whopping 40 yards. Like I said about 1 out of 15 moves, from the shot. If you consider a little over 100 feet to be moving

Light bullets driven fast will do that, but I am kinda shy about light bullet construction and prefer the middle to heavier range of bullet for a cartridge. And a light .243 can be speedy.

Whatever you are doing, keep doing it.

Now, 40 yards is about what I expect for lung shot. I shot 3 this year and got a DRT, a 20 yard dash, and a 90! yard dash, all with the same rifle, so the individual deer reacts different. Id like to get your percentage of bang/flops for lung shots but don't expect it.

Heart/lung shot deer typically go for a short run.

Years ago I had a Winchester semi heavy barreled (26 inch) 243. All I ever shot out of it was the 70 grain ballistic tip over a max charge of 4350.

I shot two does with that combo, they dropped to the shot. One was standing and I spined her. The other was running and I couldn’t find any bullet holes after skinning.

I should have kept that rifle.

Not the only report I have heard of it being a good deer bullet. I have a couple of buds that like it too.

Nathan13,

That has not been my experience, in fact I tend to expect deer (and similar-sized game such as pronghorns and pigs) to go a ways after a behind-the-shoulder lung shot. Sometimes they drop, but I never "expect" it, even with the quickest-killing bullets, whether Ballistic Tips at high velocity or Bergers. (In my hunting notes, Bergers have not only provided the highest percentage of instant drops with lung shots, but the shortest runs after the shot.)

Have also shot a bunch of deer with 165 Partitions, mostly from the .30-06 but also various .300 magnums, and can only remember one that fell instantly from a lung shot--a big mule deer buck standing broadside about 300 yards away. At the shot he dropped straight down--but a couple days later my hunting partner shot another big mule deer buck with the same rifle and load at around 150 yards. (The scope had gone screwy on his .308, so he borrowed my .30-06.) That bullet also went behind the shoulder through the lungs, yet the buck went around 25-30 yards after the shot, and in fact tried to sniff a doe, before falling.

Have also never seen any significant difference in how whitetails and mule deer react to a double-lung shot, and have seen hundreds of both taken. Occasionally have seen deer (and antelope) actually back up after a fatal lung shot, as much as 10-15 yards, before falling. In fact the last mule deer buck I killed backed up. He was 160 yards away, almost perfectly broadside, and I put a 129-grain Nosler AccuBond Long Range from a 6.5 PRC tight behind his shoulder. He immediately started backing up, but only made it maybe 8 feet before falling.

Which brings up another subject. Would that buck qualify as a DRT? I have always interpreted DRT ("dead right there" or "dropped right there") as falling straight down and not moving on the bullet's impact. But upon questioning other hunters, some have said they consider it a DRT whenever they see animal fall, even if it runs after the shot.

Have also seen animals that were APPARENTLY hit only through the lungs turned out to have the bullet (or a fragment) hit the bottom of the spine. A good example was a young cow elk my wife killed a few years ago. It was not a calf, but a 1-1/2 year old, weighing around 350-375 pounds, standing quartering away on the opposite side of a draw at a lasered 123 yards. Eileen was using her .257 Roberts, with a handload starting 100-grain Barnes TTSXs at around 3150 fps. I expected the cow to run maybe 30-50 yards after the shot. Instead it fell instantly, then flopped its head a few times and lay still. While field-dressing it, we found the bullet had angled through both lungs, ending up under the hide in the meat of the far shoulder. But it had also taken a chip less than an inch deep from the bottom of the spine. That is probably what caused the elk to drop right there, though the holes through the lungs are what actually killed it.

So yes, I do expect deer (and other big game animals) to go a ways after a behind-the-shoulder, double-lung shot. Sometimes they drop instantly, never taking a step, which is great--but I do not expect them to, no matter the bullet or cartridge.