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

There was a time.......

My .243 was shot exactly 4 times this season.

4 deer, 3 pass-throughs, one lodged in opposite shoulder.

Ruger MKII Boatpaddle[she's a beaut Clark]
1 in 9 twist[I believe]
Federal Fusion Factory ammo[95gr]

50 yards, Ran aprox. 30 yards[downhill]


Doe
No pics, 70 yards-DRT

Bang flop by wife @ 60ish yards-DRT


Bang flop by me @ 100yards-DRT

Yeah, me too !!

I have a 243 , that is junk yard piece together gun , 700 action , new take off barrel ,and a HS Precision Stock I found. It is in my truck all the time. With a light 2.5-10 x scope. It has become my regular using rifle. Kills antelope like lightning and has not had the chance yet to kill an elk , But I am sure its capable . I consider it maximum on antelope unless shooting at over 500 yds. Everything bigger does too much damage. On the plus side also is my 8 lb rifle is comfortable to my surgically repair neck. the antelope I killed this year with it was In my elk hunting area. I put away my primary elk in the woods rifle and lo and behold the 243 was on the back seat, 10 minutes later the antelope was in the back of the truck. easy 300 yd shot DRT.

Very nice sir.....but

Big fan of the 80 gr TTSX in the .243. Wanted to try some 50 gr TTSX in a 22-250 but the Savage I have is a 1:12 twist I'm pretty sure. Barnes recommends 1:9 or faster for the 55 TTSX. I did buy some 50 gr TSX but haven't worked up a load for them yet.

You shouldn’t need a 1:9 for a 55gr ttsx. 62 in up you probably will tho.

About the .243 Win. . I have also seen it make no blood trails. However , the other day I shot a doe just before closing.. I would have sworn up and down I hit that deer where I aimed. As I shot, it turned around and ran almost towards me. i shoot again and it spun around and died right there. Skinning it out , I was amazed that I missed the first shot and the second shot was way off . The bullet was about 16" back and high. I must have blew out the kidney and put it in shock . No other explanation for it. I missed the heart and I think the lungs. When gutting, I never saw so much blood in the cavity. It was some old Remington bullets I bought for $10/100 years back . Not hot reloads neither. Just maybe , the lost deer with no blood was a miss. There is so much brush that I am sure it was deflected and didnt see the twigs. Just saying .

Back and high, probably the femoral artery if below the spine.

Yes, it was below the spine and there are some arteries there , and was low enough to not hit the back straps .

I hate my .243.

Every time it goes "bang" there's work and butchering to do.

Somebody said they went to a bigger cartridge because of a 15 yard shot and a 25-06 in another thread.

It had nothing to do with needing a heavier cartridge for a sub 250# animal.

Guys around here are terrified of a deer shoulder vs 243 win, so much that they always shoot “right behind the shoulder” which means at best liver and usually guts. Then they can’t find the deer, then the 243 doesn’t have enough “knockdown power”, lol.



It shot them with my 243 like I would with anything else and I’ve never had a problem piling them up.

I've been using .243 since 1970 . Always shot the same load with the same Nosler flat base 100 grain bullet. The load is the minimum 100 grain jacketed load listed in Lyman's 1970 manual for IMR 4320 and was also their accuracy load . It's somewhere between 2700 - 2800 fps . Never lost a deer , never had one run more than 30-40 yards , and it is extremely accurate in every gun I have shot it in and that's quite a few . I currently own 5 and both sons have one apiece . I usually double lung them and it usually does damage to the heart as well . Got a friend that used an 87 grain bullet for years with a hot load until he tried the Lyman load then switched to it .

This !!

Yep, I'd opine, though personal experience, that the shooter forgot that at 15 yards, from above POV & POI are at a minimum, of 1.5" apart, depending on where zeroed.

Went for a head shot, at about that distance, on a buck jumped from his bed.

Took out the lower jaw, deer died, but a bloody mess, that could have ended differently.

YMMV, but it was the last, close up, head or neck shot I've taken.

That is a gorgeous woman , she beats pretty by a good bit . Is she a blind girl ?

My nephew's kids all got nice bucks this year, all with .243s, no issues. Some kind of factory ammo, dunno what kind, whatever was cheap at the Walmart, no doubt. Apparently, the .243 is okay for kids and wimmens, but not enough for he-men.

I know my father would cripple a lot of deer with his .243, but he'd never practice, and used factory 80gr. bullets, because they killed coyotes faster, and he shot at more coyotes than deer. Most notably, though, he just didn't practice, and wasn't a great shot. In fact, he was a pretty poor shot, overall.

A lotta guys on this thread have problems killing deer with the .243. I think they’re unknowingly commenting on their marksmanship. I’ve never had a problem with the .243 and I’ve killed shietloads of deer and antelope with it. In fact I rarely use one for deer nowadays as it’s overkill.

True



......and true. Guys need to get out in the field and practice more I guess.