Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting .243 Win. @ 300 yards ?

Guys ,
Does anyone use the .243 out to 300 yards or even 275 yards on a regular basis ? I'm talking about WT deer 150-200 lb class .
Do you find it efficient and effective at that range ? What bullet do you use , and if the range was consistently closer say 40-100 yards would you opt for a different or lighter bullet ? Suppose the game was yotes or fox or woodchucks ??

Thank you .
Bill

Not regularly but my longest kill ever was 440 yards with a .243. One shot and done. Deer went maybe 30 yards before it collapsed.

In my neck of the woods, 150-200lb deer are not big deer. A 243 is my minimum on deer when shots will stretch to 400 and beyond. I'm sure 22 cal bullets would work, particularly the long, heavy ones being made nowadays, but I am more comfortable shooting deer with 22 cals out to 350, tops. Any problems I've had with 243 on deer out to 400 have been my shooting error, and not the performance of the bullet. I use bullets of at least 100 grains with at least a decent BC. I've used the same setup when deer have popped up closer, under 50 yards. It was even more effective. I've shot coyotes and rock chucks, but no foxes, with the same setup, with quite dramatic results. Bullets have been Nosler Partitions, Hornady BTSP, Speer BTSP, Hornady A-max, Hornady BTHP. Maybe a few others, but I don't recall. There may be better options that are lighter. That's just what I used.

Have a pair of 243's that have accounted for 14 elk with 100g NPt's. Plus 2 deer, a bear, and 6-7 pronghorns. From 40 yds to 375 yds. Mostly in the hands of youngsters.

Now that I think of it, the pronghorns were killed with 90 and 95 g NBT's, and a couple with 100g NPt's.

I've seen enough deer killed by my daughter with an 80gr TTSX, that I would absolutely use it out to 300 yd and beyond.

Have shot multiple does out to 400 almost every year. Killed a 8pt last year a little over 400. None went far at all

95nbt or berger 95vld. Neither have let me down from point blank to 400 or so. Used the 105 for a while. Ran out and went back to the 95’s

I hear great things about Hornady 105hpbt but I have never used it.

Killed many with a 6mmBR......furthest 400 yds.....

2/3 the size of a 243.

105 Amax at 2850 muzzle, double lung, golf ball sized exit.

95 Nosler BT is my all around fave in any 6mm. Used on 2 deer in the BR, also in 243.

Shot placement with a good 90-100 gr bullet......son dumped one at 300 with an 85 Sierra BTHP, did a lot of damage.....

tough to beat a 95gr Nosler BT or 105gr Scenar, they just flat kill near or far.

+1

I've used the 105 AM and Horn BTHP a bunch, and they both have worked well, though the AM is softer. But at close range (< 300 yards) I am a fan of the 80gr TTSX.

I think my longest deer kill with a 243 was about 250, but I did kill several over 300 and one past 400 with a 6MM Remington, which for all realistic uses is not enough different to see any better effects in the field. Might have been 80-100 FPS faster at the muzzle. but I seriously doubt any deer could tell any difference at any range.
That was in the 70s and 80s, but I am sure the 243s of today has a few more good "deer bullets" than I had available in the 70s. So I'd vote for it as a totally fine 300 yard deer shell.

Plenty of punch for a 200# animal, even 250#.

Give me an 85 grain Nosler Partiton, 85 grain Sierra Spitzer, 85 grain Speer BTSP, 90 grain Accubond or Ballistic Tip, 95 grain Partition or Ballistic Tip or any of the 100 grain soft point bullets and I would have no issues to 300+ yards.

Even a 250# deer is a small critter and they don't take much to kill.

Farthest shot I have witnessed was 2 shots at a quarter mile fence across a hay field. My bud killed both the buck and doe.

The larger 8 point fell at the shot and the doe traveled maybe 10 yards. 2 100 grain Sierra Gamekings from a Ruger 77V did the trick.

Watch "Kasandra Cow elk 688yds. With 243 mp4" on YouTube
https://youtu.be/hY0w1c-gf18

Yes, I hunt pronghorn antelope out upon the Great Plains of South Dakota and Wyoming where shots tend to be very long. I've downed many of these amazing animals with my slide action Remington in .243 and have experienced 100% success. None got away. In my opinion, .243 bullets weighing 95 grains are at least as deadly as any 25-06 bullet known to exist. This opinion is based upon observations and not theory. .243 is a keeper!

Sherwood

It'll work perfectly for you.

I'd not blink twice to at least 600

Complete confidence at 300 with a .243.
GreggH

Bill, I’m so sorry, if you gotta ask this, maybe you should stay in your seat with your diaper, and wait to [bleep] yourself... god damn er

You lucky ones. In Germany the 243 is illegal for anything but juvenile wild boar and roe deer. In Austria, right in the neighborhood, the 243 is successfully used on red stag/red deer and chamois of course.

Holy bucket !