Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .243 Winchester

Actually the other deer (between 3 and 5) I shot with with same 243 load (105 Speer at 2800 MV) and recovered had pass throughs with between 1.5-2" exits. I would say they did expand on our smaller deer and did what I expected.

I guess I'm not geting the bad hunter/tracker problem angle with my events. The deer were hit properly with what should have been fully capable loads. I have only lost one other deer (shot with buckshot) in 26 years of hunting. I think I know how to track just fine.

You guys are missing the point I think. I live in the deep south, where deer season starts early and the weather is still very warm. The upper 80's aren't that unusual. Deer that aren't found very soon after being hit begin to rot. The deer I lost with the 243 were found days after being shot so they were a complete loss. The vultures and smell pretty much lead me to them. I wonder how many of you have actually seen the kind of woods I am talking about?

Anyway, I guess you guys think I suck as a hunter (just because my experience dosen't match yours and even though you likely have never hunted here). I think all of the deer in my freezer over the years say otherwise. In my experience anyone who says they have never lost one is kidding themselves or not very truthful. At least when hunting in my neck of the woods.

I have heard of hunting clubs in GA voting to ban the use of 243's over the number of deer lost. I thought that was complete BS for a long time until loosing some myself. Like I said I can only go on what I have directly experienced. In other areas or with other loads it may be great.

Mark in GA

Check out the new FN Winchester M70 Stainless Featherweight in .243 made here in the US as well.

Tzone - I remember one of our more active posters from Alaska was giving me heck about putting reduced recoil rounds in my savage 99 308 because the rifle sucked and there ergonomics were poor..., but I also wanted to give my Left handed nephew my 99 in 300 savage, however it didn't work well because it has a behind the trigger safety. 300 savage is very pleasant to shoot. I will apologize to Steel head if he wasn't the guy. The Alaska guy was telling me to use a 223 and thats not my preference.
Go up into the deer hunting section, find the post about a "11 year old" getting a nice buck with a AR. The father responded he used a 55-ish grain 223 at 70 yards and had difficulty finding blood and the bullet was found under the skin under on the other side. Its fantastic the kid got the deer, but I prefer to shoot a heavier caliber to get two holes. My preference.
There is no doubt a 243 works fine and I would gift a larger caliber gun to be on the safe performance side. The minnesota DNR recomends bear hunters to use a .27 caliber or larger rifle so it seems like a good starting place for the hunter with only one gun that may want to go after larger game. Non-hanloaders can buy reduced recoil rounds off the shelf if recoil is a issue in the early years.

I've seen the hits where they don't start bleeding out for quite a distance so I'm not doubting your abilities. It happens and not every shot is perfect so two bigger holes help. Of course everyone else is a internet legend.

The origional poster wanted the rifle as a backup or for starting his kid. Maybe the interest in 243 was for a dual purpose varmit rifle too so maybe we all jumped on the praise or disdain of the 243 rather quickly.
No one seems to doubt a larger calibers ability though...

" wonder how many of you have actually seen the kind of woods I am talking about?"

They're probably not much thicker than some of the Northwestern California rain forest I hunted when I lived (existed?) in California. If deer ran more than about 25 yards you stood a good chance of not finding it al all. Our trick was a hot loaded 170 gr. 30-30 bullet in a 30-06. usually a solid chest hit would bring it down like right now. mangles a bit of meat but at least you didn't lose the whole deer. If it was raining or after a rain, the dripping water would wipe out any blood trail very quickly.
On the .243, I didn't get one until about 1974 or 5 and I loaded it with a stiff load using the 100 gr. Hornady which just may have been pre-Interlock. Just can't remember for sure.
Rifle was a Kodiak Mauser sporter than I used mainly foe coyotes. I would take some of the local kids from our church on their first deer hunts with that rifle which was very accurate BTW. The hunting area was on a private ranch I had access too at the time and the terrain was fairly open with little shallow runs where willows grew. Usually we'd sit on top of a haystackin the early AM or late afternoon and wait for the deer to come out. These kids had shot the rifle quite a bit and being country raised kids had done quite a bit of rabbit hunting with their .22's so were decent shots. When deer would show up, I would coach them where to hold and tell them to carefully squeeze the shot when ready. During that time frame when I was taking them hunting, 6 deer were taken. All the deer were properly hit in the general lung/heart area and all were recovered. One deer was a bang/flop DRT kill. The other five ran anywhere from about 25 yards to one that made it over 250 yards before falling. From where we were shooting from, we could follow those running deer until they finally fell but considering the lack of blood trails, if the cover had been very thick, at least half those deer might not have been found. near as I could tell, on the one that ran the 250 yards, the bullet punctured both lungs but apparently only penciled through making a very small hole. Most of the other deer has sufficient damage to at least one lung that they didn't go all that far. Would a different bullet have made any difference? Maybe. I dunno.
Shortly before I moved from Nevada, I gave that .243 to the son of a friend for his first hunt.
Currently I have two rifles chambered to the .243. One, a roughly 1968 isue Winchester M70 is my wife's gun. She absolutely refuses to shoot anything else. Period! She just shoots at the range so the fact that the gun is a bit heavy doesn't bother her. The other is a Ruger #1A that is a part of my small collection of Ruger #1 guns. It's been so long since I even shot that one that I don't remeber what kind of group I got from it. I suppose I ought to pull it out and shoot it some just for the hell of it.
Paul B.

Why is that hard to understand? If the deer were hit properly, they died and did so quickly. Which is why you're getting the 'crappy tracker' comments.

If a deer can be made very dead with a .22lr, a .243 to the good parts will make them very dead, very fast.

The biggest buck I've ever killed was shot with a .30-06 and 150gr core lokts, It left no blood and ran for 100 yds in the thinckest stuff MN has to offer.

When I found the deer it was hit square in the on side shoulder with no exit and the only blood was at the seen where the deer was found. I didn't feel the need to go buy a bigger gun because it didn't exit.

Since then I've shot many with smaller calibers and they're all dead. I'm starting to like the low recoil cartridges like .223, .243, .257 more and more. There isn't a deer that walks that will live with a bullet from any to the boiler room.

I would not start a kid with something larger than a 243 as many have said. When first starting you can load 55 GR. bullets and they should be able to shoot all day long without recoil bothering them. When they start hunting, pick something heavier and go kill [bleep]. For a rifle I would look at a youth 700 so that the stock would fit better, (if starting them young) then get a TI take off or McM. for you and also as they outgrow the youth stock.

My son has killed 2 cow elk with a 243 so they are plenty capable.

Never seen the first problem in killing deer with a 243, and I've killed more than a few with one and have seen quite a few more killed with one (and 6mm Rem). Most were with 100gr Remington Core Lokts and a few with 85gr Sierra HPBT Gamekings.

A .243 has always been a good deer rifle, but from what I've seen, an 85 grain TSX kicks it up a very good notch.

That pretty much covers it.

Perzactly.

Just to clarify. There are no flies on the .243 for deer IMO, I've killed a couple with it and it worked just fine. Heck I just killed a white-tail stone cold dead with a .221 fireball. Its all in what you like, and I just never got much enjoyment out of a .243. For coyotes and fox I like minimum fur damage and for deer I just like bigger chamberings... Needed? No, wanted? Yes.

The point is that failing to find two deer when neither traveled more than 100 yards of where they were first shot is not the fault of rifle or bullet. Not only can you not find a dead deer; you also stumble across the point without realizing it. Better to quit while your ahead, but I hope you don't...

IMO, a light sweet cartrige dovetails best with a light sweet rifle, so adios to the Weatherby(heavy) and the Savage(not sweet).

My current rifles chambered for the .243 are the Remington 600 Mohawk and a tang Ruger RL. A Tikka T3 or a Remington Model 7 would do yeoman service as well. If modern Remingtons scare you, there's always gun shows and Gunbroker.

The Kimber Classic he mentioned is sweet x 10. I hope he goes with that one. Or, a new Winchester Featherweight in 243. Either would be mega excellent.

I like that, and may steal it. Not that I don't like Savages, but "not sweet" is a great descriptor.

BUT, they outshoot everything KImber puts out...for less money....

My buddy's son shot a 197# buck using my .243 loaded with a Barnes 85 grain bullet. The deer ran 50 yards and dropped but it took a couple minutes for it to die. The top of the heart was hit as well as the lungs. The deer died and all but what bothered me was there was no blood trail. As long as a boiler room hit happens it will work without fail but Ive decided to stay with larger calibers as I prefer a blood trail. The areas that I hunt are typically full of brush so even if my aim is true I can suffer a deflection. Loaded up some .358 win's today for my last weekend of rifle season. YMMV

Several yars back I shot a few with the 243 and just couldnt take a liking to it. No blood trail or very little blood trail. Those were with 95 bergers, and they ran a long ways after being drilled. May have to get another one and try the 80 TTSX, but I just cant seem to put down the 7-08 long enough to even shoot a 22lr anymore. If you want two holes and blood and a heirloom, get a marlin or winchester 30-30 and run a flat nose 170 through them with little recoil and muzzle blast. I'd say the 30-30 is the original kids rifle and i bet it still works quite well.