Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting .243 vs. 7mm-08 on whitetails?

Out to distances of 300 yards...maybe 350..am I likely to notice any difference between the .243 and 7mm-08 on whitetails? I'm recoil sensitive and trying to decide between the two calibers for a new BLR lever-action.

No comment, but be aware that Neil Jones of Neil Jones Custom Products, can fix the God-awful trigger that it will come with... If it's an accurate rifle, and it probably will be, I for one think it's worth the investment.

Ok... A comment... I've killed maybe 8 deer with a 7-08. That's what I would get in a BLR if I was gonna screw up and NOT buy a .358 <grin>...

aint enough recoil in either to be concerned about...if it is you should slide down to a .22 cal as I hear they are great deer medicine with a TSX.....

I've used the 7X57 for many years on lots of stuff. I've seen several .243's do their stuff on lots of stuff. I've used a .240 Weatherby at distances so far that their bullets were traveling slower than the .243's would at 350 yds.
Unless you use varmit bullets on the deer, the only thing you might notice is that the 7-08 will punch a larger hole. If you use the heavier 7mm bullets, say the 160-175 gr. stuff in the 7-08, it will penetrate more. However, all the .243 bullets I've seen used on broadside shots went all the way through. All the quatering shots left nothing to be desired.
I wouldn't worry about it. To this day, the .243 is still a highly underated deer rd. Any 100 gr. load should do all that you'll need. E

Ive shot deer with em both and both are fine rifles the 7mm-08 kicks a bit harder and to a recoil sensative shooter the 243 is probanly the better choice and myself I choose this round to do all my coyote and deer hunting with and a deer & coyote killin machine it is,deadly accurate and light on recoil and easy to shoot,with a well placed bullet most game hits the ground with out a twitch like it never knew it made the transformation from life to death,243 winchester a top notch choice,dont leave home without it............

If your recoil sensitive go with the .243.

get the 243 and don't worry no more. my wife and her 243 our known in our camp as " death on skinhead ridge "

.243 all the way.I doubt you could ever see any noticeable differnce in killing power between either round,on deer at least.

I have trained blood trailing dogs for a large southern hunting lodge that kills around 200 deer a year.

Based on following actual blood trails,the 7mm-08 is a quicker killer,it makes a bigger hole and tends to put more blood on the ground.


Deer lung shot with a 243 tend to go farther than deer shot in the same area with a 270 or 7mm-08,that's what I have seen.

If you hunt in semi open country,it prolly makes no difference.
If you live and hunt where the woods can be thick and nasty,the 7mm-08 is the better choice in my experience.

The 243 will certainly kill any deer that walks,but there are times that the 7mm-08 will just plain stop them quicker.


I'm sure lots of folks will disagree,so flame away.

I don't disagree, but I also believe the bullet and the nut behind the trigger make a biiiiiiiiiiiiig difference.

Yep,

Precise shot placement makes the 223 a great deer rifle,lousy shot placement makes a 300 magnum inadequate.

Some of the most experienced guys that I know are super deadly shots with a 243,but the typical guy who goes on a quided hunt is often not that great a shot.

The rifle that's perfect for those guys is kinda debateable,a 30-06 kicks them a little too much. A 270 or 7mm-08 is prolly about the perfect balance of killing power with mild recoil for a guy that shots a deer rifle maybe once a year.

My 9 year old daughter hunts with a 223 because it's all that she can handle,I quess the perfect choice depends upon the shooter and the circumstances.

I'm not a big recoil fan either, and my Rem 700 LSS in 7-08 is an absolute cupcake with 139 gr bullets. Many folks shoot 120 grainers with excellent results. I would have to think that a 7mm-08 w/ 120's would have to be the bees knees for you--killing power w/o much recoil.

I agree with ruraldoc, especially if you are looking for wounded deer in the brush.

And I agree with Steelhead. If you can shoot it really doesn't make a whole lot of difference what caliber you use given useing the propper type bullet.

BCR

Available bullets are better today, so my experience may well no longer be applicable. When I started deer hunting in central Louisiana piney woods ~34 years ago I started with a .243. After trailing a number of lung shot deer farther than I thought I should have to, I stepped up to a 280 Remington and that distance halved, more or less. Since that time I've not used any smaller bore size than a 270. Currently using a 7mm-08 w/120 gr bullet & love it. Mild recoil & kills deer very well, based on my (albeit limited) experience.

Not disputing anyone's assertion that the 243 kills well as I'm sure it does. For me, I'd get a 7mm-08 w/120 gr bullets & run with that over a 243 where I hunt . If you're hunting open terrain, it probably doesn't matter.

"Precise shot placement makes the 223 a great deer rifle,lousy shot placement makes a 300 magnum inadequate."

I like that!

About the .243 - it kills fine. So do the bigger cartridges. Shoot what you're comfortable with. I think we get too worked up about which cartridge to use for deer, they typically die pretty easily.

Regards, Guy

In general, with lung shots the 7mm-08 (and cartridges like it) will put deer down a little quick on AVERAGE than will the .243 or similar rounds. Of course some deer shot with .243's won't go very far, and some shot with 7mm-08's will. While hunting in Arkansas I once shot a doe with a 7mm-08 (140 Trophy Bonded at around 150 yards) through both lungs, and she went around 100 yards before falling. I have never had a deer that I lung-shot with a .243 go that far.

Mostly, however, I'd like to note that today's 6mm bullets are good enough to shoot deer through the shoulders/spine. This is pretty easy to do when hunting from a stand, though not always possible in all hunting. The only direction deer go with this shot is straight down. In fact a whitetail outfitter friend of mine here in Montana asks all his clients to use this shot if possible, because he'd gotten tired of tracking lung-shot deer through thick woods, no matter what cartridge they were shot with.

Actually the 100-grain Nosler Partition is just as good as any 6mm bullet for this shot, so "today's bullets" isn't quite correct. The Partition first appeared in 1948, before a lot of us were born. My wife has used the 100 Partition to drop good-sized bucks with shoulder/spine shots, and generally it exits.

I don't have much experience with the 6mm as I've killed less than a dozen blacktail and mule deer with the .243/6mm's. But I've taken over 100 deer sized animals with the .270,.280,.6.5-06,7mmRemMag.and 30.06 and I have some opinions. If you want quick kills on lung/heart shot deer with 6mm or larger calibers, use standard not premium bullets. Deep penetrating bullets have their place, just not on deer sized animals. The only exception might be Nos. Partitions which I classify as a premium.

I always think its interesting how mileage varies.While I certainly don't have the experience as some of you guys, I've killed several deer with different calibers, up to 7mm RM and 30-06, as well as slug guns and ML, and have seen friends using .300 mags.When I first tried a .243, I was worried about it being marginal.For me, I've yet to see any killing difference between it and any of the other calibers on lung shots, or any other for that matter.Wound channels are certainly larger with the bigger stuff, but the farthest I've ever had a deer run after being lunged with the .243 was about 35 yards.That seems to be about the average for every other round I've used.So I haven't used a different rifle caliber in several years now.Just like what the .243 does.

The .243 is my favorite caliber. It worked perfectly on my son's mule deer this year. 350 yards, right through the heart with a 85 gr. TSX. Complete penetration and tons of blood. Blood trail was about a 20 foot circle.

I shot a mule deer last year with a 7-08. It worked about the same as the .243.