Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 243 for Dear Hunting?

I have a nice .243 Weatherby ultralight that I would like to use to hunt deer. I know that it’s a bit underpowered, but I was planning on using barnes triple X bullets. California still requires lead free bullets and these controlled expansion bullets would make up, some what, for the limitations of a 243. Would this work well?

The 243 Win. is not under powered At all for deer and the mono bullets make it even better.

There are literally thousands of deer that would agree with you if they were still alive!!!

And almost as many threads on the campfire about that too…..grin.

I have 2 friends that use the 243 Win. for deer hunting, one uses factory Winchester Power Points 100gr the other uses handloads 100gr Nosler Partitions we have been hunting together for more than 40 years and those guys have killed many deer with those rifles

.243 is my go to for culling deer, this is 3 days work. Rio7

In no way is a 243 "under powered"

There was a time when I thought that the 243 was on the low end of the spectrum for a suitable deer cartridge. But, it is perfectly suitable, and is so much better than the 223 that it's not even arguable. I have often considered going to it exclusively as my deer rifle.

80 grain TTSX

I hunted with my cousin and watched him shoot two does with his 243 at around 100 yards at his camp one morning. Bang, slap. Hit the ground.

Gave me a new respect for the 243, for sure. Especially seeing the damage when we took them apart.

Shoot them throught the lungs with an expanding bullet and they will die. They might run a few yards, but when their brain is oxygen starved they will fall down and die. I've killed a couple dozen whitetails with 243s, 6mm REMS, and 6-284s, mostly with 80 grain Federal factory loads and 100 grain Partition handloads. The 80 grain Federals stayed inside of the pleural cavity, while the Partitions either went through and through or ended up under the hide on the far side.

If I was in a no-lead state, I'd try the 80 grain TTSX, as it looks like it would provide a nice balance of speed and penetration, the only remaining question is how good the accuracy is in your rifle.

I’ve killed 3 truck loads of deer with a 243 using hand loaded 95 grain Nosler ballistic tips. If you keep shots within reasonable distances you will be fine. I always used a maximum charge weight and never had any trouble.

Same here. I have killed a couple literal tons of deer, little ones to big ones, with a .243....by no means under powered. I cant think of anything in the lower 48 I couldnt kill with a .243

Grandkids have killed bunches with 243’s, never lost one. They opened my eyes on the 243!! Savage 243
She was 11

Go for it, James Jr. I still like my 7mm-8’s, but the .243 has become very popular at my house.

Darn cute, Hanco. Makes me smile.

I shot a big muley with a .243 in 1990 or 91, maybe 92 or 93, but definitely not 94.

The bullet bounced right off. Biggest buck I ever saw, 30” at least. He turned his head and just laughed and laughed.

Weird.

That’s when I said “Never again!” and took up the Mighty -08.

Old neighbor fella we used to hunt with years ago carried a Savage 99 in .243. He was quick as lightning with it, and I think he coulda shaved a hair off a gnat’s a$$ at a hundred yards without leavin a burn mark! Deer could be standing, walking, running…it didn’t matter. He shot, they piled up! He killed an absolute ton of deer with that .243.

Doc_Holidude

“Dear” hunting? Slip ‘o the lips? Another Macomber story?

Maybe y’all should try working it out peacefully.