Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting The @#$&* 243 Winchester

I started off with a 243. I believe if you put a big game 6mm bullet through the ribcage that deer will die before it runs a 1/4 mile. The problem is some of them do and some of the blood trails will be dripping spots far apart. I killed 30 something deer with.mine and only lost 1 I thought I hit. Never found blood and he was a brute. I moved on to bigger bullets with no regrets. I wouldn't use one for deer hunting unless it was my only option. I realize other people feel otherwise. I would rather have a millisecond of recoil than spend a long time tracking and dragging.

One weekends work with a .243, all DRT 1 did go about 10 yards backwards, I've posted this picture before, I've never had any trouble killing deer with a .243, I am not a fan of blood trails. Rio7

Bullet of choice?

I try and shoot for the neck. Always drop right there. It doesn't matter what I shoot them with either. I shoot .308, .30-06, 8mm, and .50 MZ. I have some steep hills around my hunting area. Don't want one to run very far.

Jack rabbits ? LOL. I don't see many lung shots there. When you hunt them afoot in the woods, you often don't get to put your bullet where you might choose and from the angle you'd prefer but rather you put it in the spot that is clear of obstruction from the angle that's offered.

LMAO

That and a 40 yard death dash into a tangled hell of underbrush 25 minutes after sunset can make for a deer that's nigh impossible to find.

Yup. OTOH, I shot a doe through the heart with a 100gr Sierra Pro Hunter that simply shredded it and the other stuff, didn’t exit, and left little bullet bits scattered in the chest. She went maybe 100 feet, leaking blood the whole way. That won’t, can’t happen really, with a hit higher up, exit or no, except maybe for some spray on the offside, unless the exit hole is pretty large IME. That PH really crushed that doe, but I’m glad she was broadside. The last one I shot with a .270, in 2011, was with a 130gr Interlok, and it was half-way up, knocked hair off the far side of the chest but didn’t exit, and that buck left not a single drop of blood on the ground. Until I found the hair, I was convinced I’d missed.

Deer are not supposed to run off after getting shot. I'll never understand why it's so hard, the bullet goes where the + is when you pull the trigger. It's not the caliber, it's not the bullet, it's the shooter.
I've came to the conclusion that some people are just damn lucky to kill a deer, he'll some can't even shoot a target very well.

I'd put my money on RIO even though Blackheart "hunts them afoot."

Says something about Rio’s marksmanship and where he hits’em. I’ve seen chest shot WT’s run that far hit with a 26 Nosler. Chest shooting to save meat is OK, if you’re not in a thicket. In that setting, better nail’em so you can find them, worry about meat loss later.

DF

You shoot them where there's a clear path for your bullet that will go through something vital. You can't shoot them in the neck if there's a tree between you and it. Lung shot deer will usually run aways no matter what you shoot them with. We don't all sit on our asses in a stand, shooting house or blind and shoot at unobstructed deer over a feeder, food plot, field or shooting lane.

Jackrabbits? The Yankees call deer German shepherds around here. And they'll shoot your dog as a deer if one runs by them. DFY's

They look like fawns from here.

The last big buck I killed with my 243 already had 3 100 gn core lokts in him when I shot him in the neck. He laid down and got back up. 5 th bullet under the ear turned him off and I never used the rifle again.
The year before I killed a big buck with it and put 2 through the.ribs and one in the jaw running. He went a 1/4 mile into a bad place to drag one from.
I use bigger bullets now and don't have that problem any more.

Never had a single issue with the .243 here. Piles of whitetail and a fair number of black bear. It was my main cartridge for years, and still carry one quite often now. Wife uses it exclusively, several of my hunting buddies use one, and it gets the nod when we take new hunters.

Most kills either with 105 Amax or 95 NBT. Have saw a ton drop with various 100 gr factory offerings as well. Have one buddy who uses 55 grain BTs and loves them. Says they’re the best bullet he’s used for neck shots.

Whatever issue you have, it’s not the cartridge. Scratching my head as well about bullet issues, if they are breaking both shoulders like you stated in your post.

This is why, since moving to the Low Country, I tend to do my late watch from an elevated stand, use a caliber that makes a big hole, and shoot to destroy the running gear. My first deer down here, I did my normal clean, in the crease, heart -lung shot with a moderate caliber and got the usual 50-60 years run…right into the tangled underbrush. We found the deer but I don’t want to do that again, in the dark, warm weather.

My Boys drop whitetails DRT with the 243 95 grain Ballistic Tips. Never and issue.

I had a problem with one big buck and the 243. It took five shots to kill him. But the first four were shiit shots, hitting in the margins, rather than good vitals hits. They only served to amp his adrenaline.

Again, it's the Indian far more than it's the arrow. Animals don't die because of headstamps. Thinking a cartridge is to blame is irrational. All you've done is create a superstition around little marks on a piece of brass causing (or not causing) an animal's death.

Another 243 fan here, I've never had an issue. I've used the 80 GMX, 80 TTSX, 105 HPBT and 95 NBT. A friend has killed an absolute pile of deer with the 100gr Federal Blue Box and 95gr Fusion. We hit them in the important parts in the front end, I'm a shoulder breaker, and we've never had an issue. I've actually never recovered a bullet from my 243's as all have passed through. I'm a thick woods hunter so I take whatever angle I have in order to get to the vitals.