Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Who considers a 243 an all around deer rifle

No difference. Shot placement.

I do, at woods hunting ranges only so far, 100gr Grand Slams and partitions at 3000+ fps knock the pee outta whitetail deer, have never had one make 20 yards yet, most drop, but, I'm a shoulder puncher.

No bullet recoveries either.

Only caliber I've shot. Always worked so I never saw a reason to change.

The .243 Winchester was my main rifle for many years, starting in the late 80's. I shoulder shot every deer I killed and never had an issue when good bullets were used. I eventually went to bigger cartridges, but the number of bang-flops didn't go up, but actually seemed to go down. I'm now starting to trend back to 6mm's for deer.

IME, good 6mm bullet at an appropriate speed landing in the right spot isn't easy to improve on when it comes to killing deer where I hunt. My last 2 deer even fell quickly to the little 6mm ARC.

I spent most of the season as a secondary shooter, helping kids and others try to fill tags, so I don’t have a lot of current data for you, though a friend recovered an 80 TTSX from a cow elk that punched bone and dropped the elk.

Had a few close calls with the 108 on rams, and I nearly flipped the 108 switch on a WT buck at ~790 meters, but conditions weren’t right so I passed.

Based on historical data, the 80 TTSX is generally pretty vicious when impact speed is high, and tends to penetrate out of proportion to its weight.

I’ll take a 7” over an 8” twist, and the 6 CM has an advantage in mag length, more easily fitting longer bullets in the mag without reducing effective powder capacity. It also has an advantage in chamber/throat specs and ammo quality, when talking factory rifles and ammo, meaning that, on average across large samples of rifles and ammo, it likely shoots a bit better and with better bullets.

The Tikkas do! No other rifles that interest me it seems

Would rathr the 7" as well, like in a .223


That sounds like an awesome season all the same, Jordan! You must have a lot of chance to shoot LR with the 6mms

Was the bone the 80gr hit on the elk high shoulder/spine? Sounds like a great bullet. I'm curious about the 90gr CX and 95gr LRX at 6mm Creed speeds like 3200 fps

Great input! Whiskey hangover?

Folks,
Gale Root, a Nosler Engineer, spent lots of time developing 6mm bullets for the .243.And did a great job.
He shot a .243 exclusively. Used it on elk, deer, even a black bear.
Big Stick is correct -choose a bullet with a good BC considering the job at hand. Develop a good accurate load for your rifle-practice! And make your shot placement count.
Semper Fidelis
Soup

I have shot the 108 ELDM in practical rifle competition quite a lot, so I’m fairly familiar with its external ballistic behaviour.

Yes, sir. Spine was hit.

I haven’t used the 95 LRX yet, but I’ve got some queued up to play with, and based on the terminal performance of other LRX bullets, I expect even more aggressive expansion than the 80 TTSX and similar penetration.

Cool!

Thats what I was thinking, be good to hear of some real world use. Haven't had the chance. 100gr TTSX in 6.5mm has worked very well here but only short range so far, so no shocker there. Betting 6mm 95gr LRX is even better.

I dont own one, but grandkids had no trouble killing deer and pigs with them

I wasn't a 243 win fan for a long time, as I always felt it was something to small for my preferred hunting style. When I was in the market for a youth gun I found a ruger hawkeye SS in 243 win at a fair price and a bunch of Remington core-lokt 80gr and 100 gr ammo, so I decided to jump on board. Used the 80 gr to get my nieces practice and in the field we used the 100 gr, both bullets shot to the same POI.

Our first outing out niece #1 got a shot opportunity at young mule buck at 175 yards, a single shot dropped it in its tracks. Niece #2 took a buck around the same range with about the same result other than it did the 40-50 yard dash. Niece #2 also shot a 7 foot black bear at 150 yards, bear dropped on the spot, double lunged with exit. I was impressed to be honest. Penetration never lacked with that 100gr bullet in all 3 situations.

Now I'm not recommending this cartridge as a bear gun, just sharing my experience. The bear hunt was backed with my main hunting gun (8x57 180gr TSX at 2760fps) in case of a follow up or dealing with a wounded bear.

The .243 is a little bit big, but yeah it'll handle any cervid.

They don't work as well once one becomes an adult.

Nice chocolate!

I suspect you'll like them. Only have a 1/2 dozen or so deer with them in the .243, but each behaved just like you're anticipating.

I'm about the fiddle with the 90gr Hammer HHT if for nothing else than curiosity.

Thanks, Scott. Good to get some data on how the 95 LRX works on game. I’ve been around enough Barnes bullets that I’d be pretty surprised if I didn’t like them, at least for short-range work out to 300-400.

Were one to line up all of the wares folks are TRYING to talk about here,it would make a GREAT Tutorial on what NOT to do. Hint.

For starters,very FEW Good 243 Win's are offered from the Factory. Secondly,even LESS Good Ammo. Lastly,nobody actually shoots,as these Threads quantify obliviously. Hint.





Just sayin'..............