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

My god, it's a wonder anybody ever uses anything other than a .243. Hell, you're probably over gunned with that and should just stick with a .223. There's simply no point in all those 6.5's, 7mm-08's, .308's, .270's, .280's, yada yada yada, that so many of you use. You're just wasting powder and lead. It's like using a dump truck to go get groceries. And what about those doofuses that use stuff like .35's and .358's ? Why they're simply delusional nut bags. If they had the first fuggin clue what they were doing they'd trade those rifles in for .243's today.

I'd bet 3/4 of the "no blood" tracking jobs I've helped with over the years have been shot with cup/core 6mm and .25cal bullets at standard velocities. Most were in pine plantation briar thickets with tracks everywhere, from deer and hogs. No fresh snow or virgin forest ground to work with. All these diagrams and photos everyone posts are great, but a lot of deer aren't shot at the best angles, while holding absolutely still, by a hunter with a perfect rest. It's not always watching a deer for minutes on end while you wait for a great shot presentation. Around here, we sometimes have to hunt narrow lanes in thick cover and you are left with the shot presentation you get, often times for 5 seconds or less. I'm sure the 6mm rounds are nearly optimal for a culling operation in open country, and are probably what I'd pick, and if I was heading out tomorrow to just shoot a meat doe and had plenty of time/opportunity, I'd be fine with even a .223/5.56. Deer hunting, on purpose, for a good buck? I want more rifle, because I might get one or two opportunities all season for a good shooter, and he might give me 3 seconds to make it happen and get a bullet in a vital area.

"If you can't do it with a .243, you suck" is kind of akin to saying self defense with .22LR LRN should be totally sufficient. If you can't make that headshot or CNS hit under stress on a human at 7 yards, I guess you suck. Maybe so, but I still carry centerfire JHP because schitt happens.

Except in Iowa where we have 35 cal. and up regs. Years ago my dad and I were hunting coyotes and we called in 5 in one particular stand. I got two, my dad got one, and they all dropped at the shots. Then the first one I hit stood up so I shot him again. Down he went. Then the second one I hit out at longer range stood up, so I shot that one again, and back down it went. I was using my Dad's. 243 with whatever ammo he had and in disbelief I asked Dad if he's had this trouble with a .243. He said Yea he's seen it happen with deer and coyotes and preferred to stay with round nosed bullets which helped apply more smack. I handed the gun back to him and said I'll stick with my 30-06 thankyou. I believe that was the last time I carried a .243 win in the field.

Very well said.

And that is the whole truth! Well said JPro.

In those situations, it’s not more rifle that I want but more bullet. I’ve driven a fair number of .243 bullets lengthwise through large deer, smashing large bone in the process, and the 80 TTSX and 85 X/TSX have gotten the job done with aplomb.

If somebody wants to make the most out of their 6mm around here, I point them to the Partition or the TTSX. At least there's good odds you'll have two holes in the deer unless the shot angle is really harsh. The ones we've had to do a lot of tracking with were Gamekings and Core-Lokts, as they didn't regularly punch out on angling shots. I never caught a Partition from my 6mm days, but I have generally seen easier tracking jobs when bumping up to the 6.5mm-.30 cal offerings.

I've never used TSX's and probably won't. I see no reason when the cheap cup/cores I use in my .30 cals. have been working fine for decades and dozens upon dozens of deer. I've also heard from many people who say that they produce narrower wound channels and can be slow killers with lung shots so you need to shoot bone for quick kills. In fact, I hear the "shoot bone" mantra from TSX users over and over again right here on these forums. Makes sense since a given bullet at a given velocity can ony do just so much damage. You have a choice of a longer narrower wound channel or a shallower, wider channel. I don't always have the option to "shoot bone" due to obstructions and since I don't do ass shots {ain't been that desperate} and as stated before, I get full penetration on hard quartering shots with what I use now, I see no reason for a longer, narrower wound channel and more penetration. Unlike many here apparently, I have no problem and make no apologies for shooting bullets bigger than .24 cal. at deer.

The 85 grain partitions left very small exit holes for me but yes the others generally used the cheapest factory loads on sale. They also lost a lot of feral hogs which I wouldn't spend my time trying to recover, wouldn't risk getting either my dog or myself snakebit over a hog. Blood trail or not crawling through "tunnels" in that shinnery knowing the Prairie rattler lived in there made for some nervous times. I usually used a 7x57 and it seemed to me a much better deer rifle in that situation than my 243.

If going "heavy" give me a 100 grain Gameking. Seen more "drt" with those in a 243 than the others save for the forward and high hit where any of em work great. The Gameking sheds a lot of weight or comes unglued, me like this for fast kills.

A 100 grain Partition gets high praise and I have had good luck with the 95, but as far as very fast kills in a cup n core I like 80/85 grain stuff. Pretty much instant lights out.

Not a fan of the 100 grain stuff. It works but not nearly as fast of a killer in my opinion.

YMMV.

Use the 95gn Federal Fusion with little to no issues, so far.

The odd thing about the 243 to me was the number of deer that went down on the spot or within a few feet. Then others that would make it way into the thick with good solid chest hits. I shot a doe dead center through the lungs and she dropped but then she got back up and made it fifty yards! I have rarely ever seen that happen. That was with the 85 grain Partition.

Dead center in the lungs. Not a lot of deer die instantly from just a lung hit.

No reason to as they haven't had time to drown in their own blood and leak out yet.

Yeah some will say thier '06 kills em instantly with a lung only hit but I bet they never took the time to really get in there and see what was really hit.

Most folks gut em, and from what I have seen they can make a chore/mess of that then off to the processor not having a clue what really happens at the shot.

I used them in the 150 gr. weight in my .30-06 for a couple seasons. They are vey accurate in that rifle. I have one I recovered from just under the hide of a medium sized buck I shot through both shoulders a couple seasons ago. It expanded very wide which of course limited penetration. No issue in that instance of course since that buck dropped in it's tracks but I'd rather have seen it exit.

As I said before, nothing shoulder fired will drop them dependably with a lung shot. At least not that I have found. I've even seen one take off like a turpentined cat and run a good ways after taking one through the lungs from a .338 Win. Mag..

I agree. About the only thing I've seen take them down reliably with lung-only hits were soft bullets at hyper-velocity. Old school NBT lung hits from 300WM or 7mmRM pushing 3300-3400 would often drop them with just lungs, but they'd sure make a mess. Other rounds generally have them on their feet for 10-30 seconds after a hit through the middle of the lungs. If that's the hit you get, I like to see some chunks of pink goo coming out of an exit. A medium-weight bullet from a 7-08, 308, 35Rem, etc will typically do it pretty well without much recoil. Probably why they continue to be regarded as bread & butter deer cartridge's around here.

A 257 Weatherby shooting 100 grain Interlocks is a contender in the lung shot, instant drop conversation.

Except the campfires very own Rost495 disputes that. I've also heard a 55 from a .22-250 or 80's-85's from a .243 at warp speeds will do it dependably. Nope, BTDT several times with each. It's nothing I'm going to rely on with anything.

Yep, BTDT several times with the 243 and 6mm.

My bet is that with some of these shooters and somebody else tracking their deer is that had the shooter had a larger caliber bullet the results may have been the same on lost deer. Some people just aren't hitting the animal properly, it's lost then there is blame on the cartridge/caliber when it reality nobody has a single clue where the bullet even hit.

I’ve shot a fair number of deer with a 6mm Remington/100gr psp and a 243AI with 105Amax. Never with any lighter bullet weights than those (in fact, I’ve never shot lighter bullets than that through any 243/6mm rifle for any reason come to think of it).

I don’t know that I’ve had more than one go more than 30 yards under it’s own power and the vast majority fell where they stood (or landed if they were running - I grew up jump shooting whitetails).

Soft bullets flung fast tend to fold deer up quite impressively in my experience.
Pretty rare these days that I’m that mad at a deer that I need to step up to a 243AI to shoot him though.