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

Hahahaha! I love it…

I think the 243 gets a bad rap sometimes because people shoot deer with Varmint bullets.

I have one - bought it and a 7mm-08 for the kids. They haven’t used them yet, but when fully loaded, I think they will enjoy the 243 a lot more. In a light rifle the ‘08 can buck a bit. Feels really 270-ish to me.

Yeah, I know you can load an ‘08 down. Then why not shoot a 243? It is really a sweet little cartridge. I like my 25-06 a bit more, but it is “full-size”.

Nothing wrong with killin deer with a .243 Win, its a great do-all cartridge for hunting everything from ground hogs to Whitetails but IMO there are better Deer cartridges....Good hunting ...Hb

I'd say you are correct. Also, the 243 is often the one you'll find inexperienced hunters using, because it doesn't kick much. Those hunters as a general rule, just aren't as good at being able to place their shot in the right place for a quick kill, as someone who has experience is. That results in wounded deer, which usually means that the cartridge gets the blame rather than the shooter. Put a good bullet that's designed for big game in the right spot, and the 243 is as good a deer killer as anything else is.

James is spot on...

I started out hunting with one. I figure I killed more than thirty with it. The does and year and a half old bucks dropped at the shot normally. Older bucks usually ran off. The last Buck I killed with it took 5 bullets before he went down. 2 through the ribs, 1 in the tailbone, 1 in the center of the neck broadside, then I finally shot him right under the ear and he died. I never took it hunting again. Those were Remington 100 gn. Corelokts. There was probably something wrong with the cartriges.
But I have never had that problem shooting a 35 Whelen, 30-06 or 300 Mag.

Wow!

Been shooting .243 since 1970 and never felt under gunned. I have several and my two sons have one each. The oldest has killed all of his deer with .243 and the youngest is probably at about 80% with the .243 . They use the Privi version of Winchesters PP in 100 grain, works great with the lung and neck shots they use. I use the old flat base Nosler SP 100 grain that is no longer produced. I have 200 of them loaded on the shelf so I am good for deer loads from now on. I have a friend who uses an 87 grain bullet and never loses a deer and know of a handful that were killed with 75 grain Nosler BT in a factory Federal load. Good hits are all you need with a .243 , put the bullet where it goes and you eat , wrong spot and maybe you just feed the yotes. Same with any cartridge . I know of a bunch of other larger game that has been killed with the various 6mm's , as long as you do your part they work very well. My load and the load used by my boy's is a minimum load from Lyman's 1970 load book using IMR 4320, it is the most accurate load I have found but there are many others that are so close that I wouldn't hesitate to use them if I ever run out of 4320.

My grandkids have killed quite a few whitetails with their 243’s shooting 100gr federal blue box ammo. I start them all on a 223 and they progress to the 243. All shots are 30 to 50 or so yards and broadside. Never lost an animal.

I’ve killed several with the 243 using 80gr ttsx, 80gr gmx, 95 ballistic tip and 105 Hornady hpbt. A couple friends have piled up whitetail with the 95gr fusion and 100gr blue box federal. Good bullets in the right spot and you have dead deer.


A big problem with people shooting 243’s around here are their papaw tried one in the 70’s and shot a big buck in the shoulder with an 80gr bullet and it ran off, so. Don’t ever shoot them in the shoulder. I’m convinced most hunters have no clue where the shoulder is because “right behind the shoulder” is just about the back of the ribs for a lot of people. That means a poor hit, lots of tracking and a high probability of a lost deer which leads them to believe it’s underpowered.

A friend just got a great deal on a 700 in 243, he bought 4-5 boxes of fusions and the first conversation we had was him telling me so and so said never shoot a deer in the shoulder with a 243 so he will only take broadside shots towards the back of the ribs. I can’t get him to believe that with a stout bullet like the fusion that shoulder won’t matter a lick.

I passed on a good deal for a Browning Low Wall a number of years ago because at the time I didn't have a good understanding of the effectiveness of the 243 as a deer cartridge. If I knew then what I've come to know by personal experience and firsthand observation at my camp I'd have jumped on that Low Wall.

Between me, my campmate and his boys we've had very good results on deer and pigs with 95 grain Fusions, SSTs, Ballistic Tips and Partitions, 90 grain Accubonds, 85 grain Speer boat tails and maybe others I'm forgetting at the moment.

I"ve seen the landowner's son kill more than one big muley buck with a 95gr ballistic tip.

I was thinking this might be about exwives.

Not many “Dear” ex wives out there! Most have other words describing them!!!

You might show your friend this photo, of my wife Eileen and a Montana whitetail buck she shot through both shoulders and the spine with a 100-grain Nosler Partition from here Husqvarna .243. It was getting late in the evening, and the buck was near a big thicket of riverbottom brush. Eileen decided to anchor him, so held 2/3 of the way up the shoulder, and the buck crumpled. Oh, and the Partition exited...

Hell...for decades I've done deer control hunts usually shoot around 100 every year........been using for over 30 years one caliber and one bullet 243 Winchester and Sierra 243 85 gr. BTHP no other bullet drops deer like it....

Give me any buck of your choosing and I will put a 95 grain or less bullet in his shoulder. He will be laying in his shadow.

I will be the odd man out, give me a semi fragile bullet under 100 grains and I will bet 90% of my deer will never take a step.

IMO the problem with a .243 bullet is everybody wants something too tough. Tough small diameter bullets don't turn stuff to schitt inside of a critter. We are talking something 250 pounds or less, not exactly a large critter and damn sure ain't tough.

A bullet that most like and claim is "tough" is the 85 grain Sierra BTHP Gameking. They're right it is tough. Shot 3 deer and 1 coyote with em before I said enough. Not a one died where it stood. Deer ran 30-50 yards and the coyote covered over 100 yards with a perfect heart shot and had a quarter sized hole right above and his elbow.

No thanks to tough bullets and deer.

Part of the reason the Partition works so well is it's front end probably expands as fast or faster as any SP out there and may even faster. They have a very soft front end.

I hear how tough the 95 grain Ballistic Tip is too, no thanks, give me something softer.

A 100 grain Gameking is about as tough of a bullet as I want on our Midwestern deer.

As for shoulder shooting deer and them running off. How in the fugg does anybody know where they hit the deer if it ran off?

Here's my "shoulder" shot. If a deer runs a single step from this shot he wasn't hit where the dot is. Same placement with the underpowered 22 calibers and a 55 or 60 grain bullet....same DRT results.

10gaugemag,

Yes, the front ends of Nosler Partitions expand violently, because they core is a relatively soft lead alloy, if I recall correctly 2-1/2% antimony, while the alloy of most cup-and-core big game bullets is closer to 4% antimony.

But you're mistaken about the 95-grain Ballistic Tip. They perform closer to Partitions than cup-and-cores, expanding easily because of the plastic tip, but holding together due to the thick-based jacket.

You sure it wasn't '94? I could swear it was '94.

That’s where I shoot them also. I’ve never had any issues other than finding my knife in my pack to start dressing one out



Move your dot back 12” or so and that’s where “right behind the shoulder” is to a lot of people.