Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles strange 243 desire... should I do it?

I am a weak man and have too many guns... but I make up reasons to buy more buy them out of intrigue.
My second and favorite deer rifle is an old tang safety ruger 77 in 3006 and recently bought a 308 r77 tang safety because it was in my favorite deer round my first rifle was chambered in, a carbine rem 788.
I've always looked at the 243 with its little 100 grain bullets and always wondered how well it would penetrate and kill our winter fatted northern MN deer. Before you flame me, I like a bit heavier bullet to make sure I get an exit hole because not every shot is perfect like those broadside shots on the hunting shows. Having 2 holes is nice when that deer fat plugs one hole.
So... my affliction for tang safety rugers is being tested because I have found one in a shop that I may be able to get for $400. I know there are better 243 bullets out there now and I could buy it as an experiment and I could try to justify it as a "long range" coyote gun although I am quite happy with my 223 ruger for that. Several years ago I passed up a nice 257 roberts TS-R77 and I kick myself for not buying a R77 6.5x55 when you could get them. I don't reload so I do shy away from non-standard calibers because of cost. Buying 7-08 ammo for my sluttly rem 700 is twice the cost of my 308's and I can't feel any less recoil...
So after reading all this...
Do I buy the 243 because it is the style I like and I know there is one available and get over my my fears of performance from a guy with a 30 caliber predjudice? I shot a 243 once and it was pleasant to shoot, the shells are cheap, and it should not have any problems at my under 200 yard shooting.
Do it? are you enablers or talk me out of it... I have several deer rifles, don't need any more, and should purge a few more (give our young hunters in the deer shack good deals usually...)
do it? don't do it. I will go with your vote (maybe). I'll be near the shop on Thursday afternoon so I have until then to decide...
A weak man - H

i had an inexplicable 243 affliction last year. i also will buy just about any tang safety ruger i can find because i like them almost as much as rem 700's... i say that to say my background w/ the 243 is similiar to yours. also, note most of my hunting takes place in northeast s.d. - so maybe not as far north as you, but our deer aren't exactly texas size...

so, i bought a 243, spent all year learning the gun, developing loads, etc. went hunting, killed a few deer.

i'll not be hunting w/ a 243 this year, or probably ever again until i hunt someplace south of here. i was just disappointed in the performance of the 243.

i know many will disagree w/ me, but me and the 243 is all done for whitetail deer or bigger.

Of course you should do it!

The .243 can make a pretty good claim to the title of "most ideal whitetail cartridge" and with several different bullets of 85gr and up you can almost be assured of an exit hole.

Load it with Barnes 85gr TTSX's and you will get not only exit holes, but deer that die really, really quickly. Scratch the itch, but don't handicap your new toy with yesterdays bullets.

The ancient 100gr Nosler Partition will likely do the job pretty well too.
I would shoot the 85gr TTSX but if you like 100gr bullets there are great choices available.

I've put thousands of pounds of "handicapped" caribou meat in the freezer with "yesterday's" bullets in the 6. 100 Sierra SMP was my favorite. I wish I had recovered one to picture. .244 is a fine killing diameter for deer sized animals.

Klik, I had thought you an honorable sportsman and a hunter in the truest sense and now I read about you shooting poor and nearly helpless HANDICAPPED caribou! Shooting them after they been hit by a semi truck on the highway then taggin 'em are ya? Heck a 22LR would have worked for THAT gig. Shame, shame...

Scratch that itch! I have owned three .243 WIN rifles just to tinker with the cartridge (don't own one now because I moved to the .257 RBTS for that "nitch"). If you get over the .243 WIN itch you can sell the rifle, if it's permanent you have a new long-term friend for variety in your hunting.

look at the barrel carefully, the 243 is not kind to barrels

Get the .243, move the Rem 700 7m-08 since you have the Ruger .308 and at the price you are getting, still have extra money to go towards the next Ruger that shows up in 257R or 7x57 (still cheap rounds available).
Sounds like the makings of a nice tang-safety collection.

I understand your affiction. I had a friend give me 300 pcs of once fired 243 brass last year. It was all it took to go grab one.

I took a different tack with mine. Wanted to have a lightweight varmint walk around rifle. The sps remmy was placed into a Ti stock. Shooting the 55 nos bt at 4000 plus. No holdover for shots out to 300 yds. Perfect for fast shots on the varmints out here.

Have fun setting up a new rifle for your deer hunt.

DO IT!

Ingwe

Get the gun. Get some 85 grain TSXs and count yourself lucky if you ever recover one in a deer. At the moment I have five .243s and they all shoot accurately. The 36 grain Varmint Grenades with 14 grains of Blue Dot are one hell of a lot of fun.

Buy it & try it. Sell it if it don't crank your tractor or give you a warm fuzzy. Pretty simple.

You came to wrong place to be talked out of it.

I'm an enabler......

Buy it!

Back before the days of the super bullets I had a buddy who only owned one centerfire rifle, a .243. (We knew what poor was in those days.) With it he killed a couple or three moose with the standard bullets of the day. Not saying they are an ideal moose gun but they will kill moose so a whitetail is a cinch with anything like decent shot placement.

I used one for a few years and anything I shot at went right down. Couldn't see any improvement with a .257 Robt.

Jim

As noted above, check the bbl out for wear. If good, grab it. Not sure of the twist on the Ruger's, but you'll want about 1:9 to be able to stabilise the 100grainers & some of the longer premiums.

I've got one & it has been proven on enough deer, that I'm happy using it.

I, to, only shoot "factory" ammunition.

Have used Fed with 100gr Partitions, Fed with 85gr TSX & last year, Fed Fusion 95gr. All performed well & left 2 holes !

Paul.

P.S.: "We" are shooting a Savage with a 1:9.25" twist, which was originally purchased for my wife & son to share. It has quickly become a "family" rifle. At times, I pick it up & take it over my .308.

It will kill Minnesota deer just fine, my dad has owned and hunted w/ a Rem. 700 BDL .243 Win. since he was 16yrs old and now he's 51 and has killed many large Wisconsin whitetail and Wyoming mule deer bucks yearly with disgusting regularity. He also has a Winchester M70 7mag that he used to take out west, but I haven't seen him use it in 7-8 years, his .243 is always on his shoulder every Wisconsin deer season and that is the rifle he trusts the most and he's shot the biggest deer with. It still has the same old Bushnell Scope Chief 2-8X32 on it that he bought for it years ago and he's killed damn near every one of his deer with one well placed shot. He's also on occasion made some amazingly hard or long shots to get some of those bigs bucks he's shot. Don't worry about it, the 243 can kill Northern whitetail deer no problem, so long as you make a good shot, which is easier to do with a 243 since it's recoil is so mild. It's a really fun rifle to have and shoot, I don't think you'd regret buying it at all, and if you have any kids or grandkids starting out hunting, it's a great caliber to start them off with as well.

Just buy it! Develope it, and you will find yourself becoming a more precision shooter. I shoot 4 different varities of this rifle, and have come to the conclusion that the .243 is to the rifle world, what the .410 is to the shot gunners. When you become "good" with it, you have probably become "better" than most of those that would tell you its "not enough rifle". It has its limitations on some of the bigger stuff, but hell, anybody can down a 200# deer with a .338 win mag.

I say NO. Get its cooler brother the 6mm Rem instead.