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

NoDak, I'm not sure what you are try to say with that Recoil Table.
I also have your Recoil Table plus a couple of others and they all about the same.
These tables can not calculate Perceived Recoil because of the type of variables involved.
These tables do not consider stock design, stock fit and chamber design.

65BR..1/10 shillen, 3450fps, it shoots better than I do..grin

Sorry for all the questions, how far was the elk? Go down fast?

150 yds, yes.

Congrats again, nice to see someone hunting, using a well thought out rifle/load combo, with precise placement with a good bullet and not try substituting with raw horsepower discounting the other 2.

I've got some experience with both rounds, and have lots of confidence in both of them. I have the most confidence in the 7-08 in higher wind and with a raking shot that might require more penetration, but I'm plenty confident with the 243.

I notice recoil sensitivity is part of the concern, and I do think the 243 with 85 TSX's is about as much bang for the buck as can be achieved for a recoil sensitive whitetail hunter.

I've seen the 243 do some impressive stuff with this combination (and with others as well, but especially with the 85 TSX.)

This axis is as big and tough as most any whitetail, and the 243 with an 85g TSX broke both shoulders and exited. He went 50-75 yards after a 70 or 80 yard shot.



My boys and I snuck up on him at a waterhole, and I killed him as he was leaving. We were dove hunting, and I happened to see an axis deer way off as we were going to get set up. I had seen a group of axis passing through a month before, and had the 243 stoked with 85 TSX's in the truck, so we hustled back and grabbed the rifle and snuck up behind the tank dam. I never hesitated a second about busting his shoulders with the TSX. It broke the near shoulder, and lost its petals and went through the off shoulder, but he was still able to run on the off leg, but not far. Lungs were soup.



If 243 recoil is all you want to put up with, it's no handicap for a whitetail hunter with an 85TSX or a Partition.

DJ

Thanks, nice chattin....

nice axis!

Thanks, Paul.

Can you believe he just showed up on a low fence Texas Hill Country ranch? There was another one with him almost as good. Sure hope the buggers make another appearance. We've seen axis about 5 or 6 times in 35 years out there, and I had the 243 along so I could let my 6 year old bust one if the situation allowed it, or we just saw a doe.

Couldn't have let him kill this one, though, and he couldn't have pulled it off anyway the way it worked out - had to shoot the axis offhand over brush taller than my boy was. Would have probably ruined him to kill one like this so young anyway...grin. Took me lots of years to kill my one and only one, but he is a bruiser. I bet he went over 250 live weight, maybe well over.

DJ

You just can't not love that beautiful trophy! Nice. Boys should also never forget that hunt! Taking your son(s) hunting and esp. when things turn out like that is priceless. Congrats.

Not living in Tx, but hear you can kill them whenever they 'show up' as I guess they are now free roaming??? During WT deer season of course. True? Long ago Axis seemed like an exotic 'ranch hunt only' opportunity.

DJ, are exotics like that just fair game anytime you see 'em?

Pretty cool...

i hunt a place in TX that has fallow, axis, black buck, and sika running free range, the owner said that he grew up with them on the place. that's what i love about hunting TX you never know what'll show up.

I could like that... growing up in NM really prejudiced me unfairly toward Texas. Was even talking with the wife the other day about how well our house equity would roll in that direction...

Thanks, guys.

Jeff - You can bust one anytime he shows up - as long as you've got a valid hunting license. There are a bunch of wild, free range exotics in Texas these days, and they are great to have around.

It is pretty cool - I killed a blackbuck antelope a few years back with a bow that turned out to score in the top 15 all time of archery kills - he's a beauty as well. Another one that just showed up. Watched him for several years along with a band of does, but the coyotes slowly killed every last one of them. Took me more than 2 years of hard hunting to finally get an arrow in him. There's one lone buck left that has gotten really big, and I've been trying to get my Dad to stick an arrow in him, but he's not much of a bow hunter (although he's a good shot).

The blackbuck stuck close when they showed up, but the axis seem to migrate through. I think the drought held them closer when I killed mine - the tanks that held water were few and far between.

It was a funny hunt - my boys were really excited, and I was too, when we saw the first axis probably 700-800 yards up the draw just starting out of the brush toward water. I hoped the big one might be with him (had seen him while I was working cattle about a month earlier, but no rifle & couldn't take time to go get one).

The boys had a hard time keeping up heading back down to the stock tank, but we were well hidden behind the dam, so I kept waiting for them to catch up. As we got to the tank, my oldest boy was right with me, but his 3 year old brother had dropped back 30 yards and was running to beat the band to catch up. I had put ear muffs on him at the truck since he's not as good as his big brother at covering his ears at the shot, and he couldn't hear me and was looking down. I just knew he was going to fall and holler and blow everything out, but he got up to me without crashing and I told him to stay behind me on the dam.

I snuck up and crawled over, saw the axis watering and saw the big buck. I dropped back down and circled to get the sun right behind me and to get behind some brush between the deer and me so that I could stand up. As I stood, the big boy was leaving and I made a quick shot on him in the only little opening I had. My little boy was behind me hunkered down when I shot, while his big brother was peeking through the brush at the axis buck. The shot startled my 3 year old a little and he lost his balance in his hunker and rolled backwards down the tank dam. He hopped up laughing and we just fell out when we saw he was OK.

This is the worst I've ever highjacked a thread - sorry for that - there must be something about the suitability of a 243 for deer imbedded in here somewhere...grin.

DJ

Triggernosis,

This is going to boil down to your personal preference based on how you shoot, your recoil tolerance, etc. Personally, I'm a big fan of the 7-08. If you handload or have a buddy who does, try some 120 gr Nosler BT's or go buy some loads that have 140 gr bullets in them. This will be all you need and will keep the recoil down to a minimum.

Good Luck.

Thanks for the info, CLB.

I bought my slightly built (then) son a 7-08 several years ago. Since then, I steal it, and the 140 gr core-lokts every chance I get. I've become a huge fan. He's smoked deer up to 300 lbs and cow elk with the same rig. Little recoil to boot.

coyotes are a huge problem with black bucks! i try to kill every one i see just to help out a little.

I found 14 dead Blackbuck over 2 years - fawns almost never survived, and they killed the does about as easy. The bucks can handle them if they can get to a year old - they are aggressive as can be, and know how to use those daggers....

Neighbor had a lion kill all his - kept finding remains way up in oak trees, and finally caught a glimpse of the cat slinking away from a kill.

Guy ran over a big male lion chasing a female a couple of miles from us a few years back, and I've seen some tracks a few times, but never a cat.

I'm with you on the 'yotes - I kill every coyote I can get in my scope - often with a 243 with 85 sierra BTHP's, with which I've also killed quite a few deer and hogs (See, I'm still on topic).

DJ

The worst thing that ever happened to the .243 and the 7mm/08 was when the first person mentioned them being a fine hunting piece for women and youngsters.

That keeps untold bunches of adult males from owning either one because of the implication that they would be hunting with a woman's rifle or a kids gun.

It is acceptable, however for a man to have one or both of these cartridges in the safe if in fact he has a wife, or child/ren. Then of course, he has to work up a load, sight it in, and ultimately field test it....You know, in the interest of science....

If a man lives in a place where he can keep a rifle in his truck all year long, then the .243 is a fine choice. Really it is a hard choice to beat, and like DJ (and his son's, Boone and Crockett)I think the 85 grainer is the way to go for year round endeavors.

I keep a .243 in the safe because they are useful. Well, that and on account of my wife hunting with it. It is an SPS youth model. I bought a takeoff SPS in the standard length and put on it for her. This year she even loaded her own ammunition. It is kinda hard to pry that one out of her hands.

All that being said, I could hunt deer all the rest of my days with a 7mm/08 and be entirely happy. It is just a tad more of a really good thing.