Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting deer with a .243 vs. 30-06

Shot several deer with my .243 and never had one run. Dropped on the spot. I use 100grain powerpoint.

I thinks the guy behind the gun needs more practice.

Did you really say "ilk?" The mind boggles...

Amazing ain't I.....

I had one of those friends as well, cept his Red Ryder had been AI'd, he said that fire forming was a witch though..grin

Dober

sounds like a reliable source, I believe it

Everyone knows you can only AI Sheridan air rifles, duhhhhh....

Deer with a .243 vs. .30-06


Ummm, I prefer a .257 Roberts or a .270 Win or .308 Win.

223's and 22-250 wound a few up here. Partly because it's kids or some dumbass making a bad shot and mostly because there's a bunch of 'em around.

Great rounds for kids(given good guidance) and by guys who know how to shoot and when not to shoot.
I know for a fact that a deer hit poorly with a 22-250 might run off. Haven't seen one yet that runs off when whacked by a 300 mag and a good 180 grain bullet. Overkill 90% of the time but every once in awhile it's nice to have the extra smack.

That said a 223-243 will kill deer way out and the hell out there provided the bullet hits the right spot.

Next rifle I get will either be a 243 or 308. Probably a 243, I wanna zing some TTSX's through something like that!

Dunno about how your 7x57 compares to .243 or .223, but I do know that I ran a 7-08 at around 2600-2650 fps with 150-gn bullets and found it to be effective at shooting a hole through deer, but not always at dropping them quickly nor leaving a big blood trail.

My .358's proved to be MUCH better at poleaxing deer, and on the one "runner" I have had, the blood trail was a red carpet.

At woods ranges I believe the .358 to be the highest and best use of the .308 parent case, with everything factored in. Meat damage being one factor.

That's just my thinkin from my little corner of the world and my relatively small sample of 20-odd deer.

243 and deer.....whats next, 22-250's and 223's?!?!

THese were 243'd and none of them liked it. Top 2 were with 90gr scirocco's, next was a 75gr Vmax, bottom was a bergerVLD

Ouch... my eyes..... lol...

I know what you mean. (grin)

I get the warm fuzzies when I see that rifle... grin...

DAMN you guys grow big-bodied deer in Michigan!

Brad is only 4 foot tall, makes everything else look big......

Ok, looking at the pics with that in mind, they make sense... normal deer, tiny little feller, got it <g>.....

Caliber choice isn't so critical. Bullet choice can be. Choosing a VMAX is flirting with disaster.

killing deer isn't that difficult. Here's the entrance and exit from that 75Vmax. Now there was some distance between the deer and the muzzle, impact velocity was around 2650'ish and it surely didn't bounce off.

hell, everyone praises the 85 HPBT sierra and i had one not make it to the off side of the rib cage on a 100lb doe... deer die easily...

This is worth quoting. Trama to soft tissue as a result from high velocities is staggering.

Glad you recovered your deer and the 243 did its job. Not every shot is perfect and sometimes those deer run farther than you expect and it becomes a question of faith in your choice.
I've been tempted to get a 243, but it's hard to leave the 30 caliber family when I've had good luck with it, similar to the origional poster. My fastest drop was a lung hit with a 300 savage and thats not a big or speedy round so it falls in the void where most people worship here.
Winter fat northern MN deer are easier to track with two holes so I fall into the camp of "theres no replacement for displacement" and have more faith in a bigger bullet leaving a bigger hole that won't plug up with fat.

Like most peoples responses, it's just opinion and everyones experience is different and its what you build faith in.