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

I'm curious why so many recommend the 85 gr. rather than something like the Hornady 100 gr. BTSP or 95 gr. SST - wouldn't either of them be better for deer?

I go with 100 gr on traditional and 85 on the TSX.

No...

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i have used the 6mm Remington and 243 for deer since 1971 and the deer bullet i used the most was the Hornady 100 gr SP but have now changed to the Swift 90 gr Scirocco and this bullet is outstanding for whitetail deer in any 6mm cal rifle. This bullet shoots it best with IMR 4064

I know a lot of guys run the .243 on deer all day long. But, IMO I find it hard to own a .243 when for example the 7-08 exists.

I'd be choosing the 7-08 with 140 NP's or 154 Horns out to 300-400 with no problem and with realistically no recoil at all especially in the BLR weight class.

YMMV

CLB

bea175, are you finding the 90 grain scirrocco exits a lot? I am working up a load soon for a young hunter to go after cow elk with and that is one bullet that I am considering. They seem to get very good reviews.

I haven't recovered one as of today from Whitetail all have been complete penetration. I wouldn't hesitate to use this bullet on Cow Elk in my 243. I also use the Hornady 95 gr SST in my 240 Wby and i haven't been able to recover a bullet, all have been complete penetration on deer. I purchased two boxes of Hornady 85 gr Interbonds and will be trying these in my 6mm's soon.

Thank you. I kind of figured as much but thought they might stop under the far side hide.

My experience with both at 100 yards or less is my .243 will drop deer far quicker. My loads are .243/100gr CoreLokt and 7mm-08/140gr CoreLokt. Both are my loads not factory. Can't say what the results would be at 300 yards. My son,High Brass, hunts eastern NC and has taken a deer at 200 yards + with his .243 and had no problem but one deer isn't conclusive.

under 200 yards with good bullets you will not be able to tell the difference (if you can shoot)

I have no hunting experience with the 7mm-08. However, my hunting buddy's wife uses a 243 with great success. She hunts only over a food plot and picks her shots carefully with most being under 75 yards. She is very recoil shy but the 243 poses no problems for her. We've thus far only had to track 1 of her deer and that one only went about 50 yards.

I shot a "dink" buck 50 yards broadside .308 WIN 150 grn out of my Savage 99M. It reared up, spun around and ran 50 yrds, turned 90* and ran another 50 yards with both shoulders and lungs blown out!!! Dad thought I missed because it didnt drt like he was used to with his .243. This deer was spewing blood and lung chunks out the entire run. Easy to trail but he ran a long way. The last one I shot only ran 20 yrds with the same load and shot, go figure!

This pretty much sums up 7/08 performance...There's a good reason you see this kind of performance from the 7/08,and that is because it duplicates the performance of the 7x57,which has been around longer than the 30/06.For years the 7x57 has been regarded as one of te lightest recoiling, practical, all round BG cartridge a guy can get....and while the 243 certainly works on smaller species of BG,it's smaller bullet diameter and lighter weights preclude it from competeing with the 7/08 as an all round cartridge.....I'd take a 7/08 over the 243 myself, but that's just me

That's right.

The 243 with 95g Partitions, 100g Hornady BTSP is a super gun on hogs and deer. I used the 95g Partition on deer and antelope for many years, about 43g of IMR 4350 with a Win primer. The 100g Hornady is no slouch. I helped brother on a 243 with the 100g Hornady's (700 LSS) and it shot clover leafs at 100. We went to Kansas and a 2nd cousin used the rifle to kill his first buck, 200 lb 8 pointer at 320 yards. The buck was facing us(we rattled him in) in a quartering shot. The 100g Hornady broke the right front shoulder and was under the hide on the off side in the middle of the rib cage.

7/08 with the 130g Speer BTSP is awsome also. I love this bullet for the shock that it puts on a deer. I gave my Rem 700 that I had tweeked to my 12 year old nephew. His did put a 6.5-20 Leupold on the rifle. We practiced at the range with the rifle and my Leica 1200 range finder. On his first deer hunt, he killed a doe at 300 and another one at 325, both were bang flops. We had the rifle sighted in at 200 and told him to aim at the top of their backs out to 325...that is what he did....not bad for a sharp 12 year old...kept his nerve also. The 130g Speer performs so well in the 7/08, I would not use another king of bullet on whitetails, premium or other wise.

I think Steelhead is right. Any centerfire cartridge should be OK.

However you have to know that there is a lady that hunts with us every year that has NEVER recovered a deer. She uses a 30-30 lever action with a scope.
She can sit in a stand from sunup to sundown, but when she shoots we always find a blood trail that ends up trickling down to nothing and we have yet to recover one that she has shot!
Last year I offered to help her zero her rifle and she refused the help!
She shot a buck at 20 yds and we never found it!
On the other hand I have a niece who uses a 6mm Remington who gets bang flops. There are a lot of people who are scared to shoot their rifles on paper because of embarrassment, yet they continue to hunt every year! It makes me sick.
whelennut

7-08. Nuff said.

I've never shot a deer with a 7mm-08 but have seen them killed with that cartridge. I have killed several deer with a 243 though and based on what I've seen with the carcasses, I couldn't tell a difference.

put a muzzle break on it