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

I love the 80gr TTSX in the 243 and 6mm.

I killed one deer with a .243, in fact the biggest whitetail I ever shot. Core-Lokt 100 grain at about 50 yards, two steps and down. The following year I discovered the 6.5X55 and all of its grandchildren. With it I get a 140 grain bullet with ever so slight increase in recoil, negligible, and bullets I have shot through elk with, and that ended my affair with the .243. If it was all I had to hunt deer or elk, I would NEVER feel under gunned.

Another 10-pages thread, that was wrapped up with the first reply.

Barnes 80 gr. TTSX ammo (https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1001615523) or handload (https://www.barnesbullets.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/243WinchesterWeb.pdf) (see page 4).

Just works.

The biggest recipe for failure has nothing to do with bullets and everything to do with the shooter.

BULLSEYE HitnRun.
I don't need to argue with guys on this forum about the capability of a .243. If Byron Dalrymble ("Hunting Deer With Dalrymble,"
Arco Publishing 1983) said he and his sons killed over a hundred Texas deer with a .243 and didn't lose a one, well, sir, that's
good enough for me.

On the mark IMHO. I grew up with a 6mm Rem & 100 gr core lock did the job over & over again, stay away from frangable varmint or target bullets & stick with a high quality100 gr core lock or perhaps a lighter monolithic like a Barnes TSXX would my be my go to option today.

Decided I wished for bigger caliber as I aged. Today 6.5 Grendel suites me well for large midwest whitetail.



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As one writer put it, with all the modern ammo offerings today in .243, "it's not your father's oldsmobile anymore." Check out the Norma Oryx 100 grain one piece bullets. Looks very good for just about anything other than "grizz." I wonder what Warren Page would think of the .243 today. No doubt he would still be using it successfully on Elk and enjoying every minute of it.

The same people that sat the .243 isn't a deer round also say the same thing about the 30-30 Win.

That's my experience as well. The only deer I have ever lost, I lost to a 30-06 shot. I was prone. The gun was a skeleton stock Ruger. The deer was hustling across an opening about 150 yards away. After i pulled the trigger I couldn't replay in my mind where the crosshairs were when I touched off the shot. I could replay how I was thinking it was going to be uncomfortable to pull the trigger.

There was blood spray on the vegetation every 6-8 feet as if it was spraying with each heartbeat. That rodeo lasted several hours. We tracked it to where it bedded in dirt and pine straw. It jumped and departed without offering a shot. Come to think of it that was the last deer I shot with the -06. It was all on me.

I have helped others track poorly shot animals. 270's, 7 mags, 30-06 and 300 mags. Can't recall ever helping anyone track a deer shot with milder rounds.

Still amazes me how many think it takes a 100 grain bullet in the 243 or 6mm to kill deer.

I have used exactly 6 bullets over 87 grains to kill deer with a 243 or 6mm. Probably used 20+ bullets in the 80-87 grain range.

Couldn't tell much difference in how they worked other than more runners with the heavier bullets.


80 and 85 grain Sierra soft point or 87 grain Hornady BTHP result in faster kills.

Did eventually switch to 95 grain Partitons as I changed hunting spots and my shots are now at archery type ranges but I bet those light bullets would work just as well as I had killed several deer under 20 yards with them in the past and had no issues.

I’ve used my 6mm Rem, on mule deer with 85 grain Barnes for 15 years. Never had to track any of them.

Back in the mid 60's my Dad got a 243. He was not like me with multiples guns. He had one gun and wanted something for deer and fox, so he settled on a 243. In the 80's I went antelope hunting with my brother in Montana. I borrowed my Dad's 243 and got to antelopes. I had a double tag license. The next year I got a 270. Have not used the 243 for antelope or deer since. My Dad and three of my brothers have all shot deer with that gun. I ended up with it. I think it would be a good gun to take out but then I think that I have others I prefer to use. When I shot my elk it was 113 yard broadside shot. I am sure that a 243 with partitions would have worked, but glad I had something bigger in case I had an angle shot. I think as I get older I may want something with less recoil, but I am not there yet. Maybe I have too many guns, no, I don't think that is possible.

You mean the gun that has killed more whitetails than any other caliber.

Ron Spomer has a funny story about a western guide who told him about all the slickers with their 308s and 30/06s and such blowing their shots on the intended game. The guide then gives the dudes his .243, and, to their utter amazement, they're able to bag their animal.

Many times here on the ‘Fire I’ve been tempted to say, “they all die in their tracks.”

And they are also all “DRT.”

That's what a MAGNUM is for. Blows 'em clear into another deer's tracks.