Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Deer Lost = using a 243

Thanks! I'll pass on the word.

We also have some 95 BT's loaded up, and are going to try the 90-grain E-Tips as well, since Eileen has had great luck with them in the .240 Weatherby.

That is a heck of a Buck Eileen shot.look to have good mass and very clever of you to take a smaller one.

Can you explain the exact aim point for this shot?

The antlers are over 5" at the bases, and carry the mass up high as well. Since it's a 4x4 (8-point eastern count) it wouldn't score all that great, but we long ago quit caring about that. I have a similar heavy mule deer on the wall that isn't very wide and lacks the front fork on the left antler--but everybody who sees him says "Wow!"

I have learned a lot about my trophy selection when hunting with her over the past 25 years. Plus, I'm not as crazy about taxidermy bills as I used to be! The only thing I took our taxidermists this year was a sage grouse....

Huntz, I agree.

And I bet JB learned that saying 'Yes Dear' long ago, which goes a long way, towards a long marriage. Maybe I will find one that will make me say those 2 magic words - often! Lol.

JB - seriously, do you have an article or can write one on Shot placement and anatomy of America's Favorite big game species?

Like 28 - I'd gladly like to know PRECISELY where to thread my next rifle shot - as I love seeing them DRT when I have time to do it.

Curious JB on what your experience has been and witnessed - heart shots, what is a typical reaction when deer are hit there...I have heard stories that defy logic - as in running a long way but skeptic to 2nd hand stories, but am open to facts.

Thanks sir.

I just did a piece for GUNS on where to shoot big game, but the aiming point for the shoulder/spine shot is 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up the body, in line with the front leg. I tend to hold for a hit closer to 3/4 of the way up.

In my experience, heart-shot deer tend to go further than lung-shot deer, though obviously there'll be some variation. The absolute quickest non-shoulder shot in my experience is one that goes through the big blood vessels on top of the heart, or just above it, plus both lungs. A more violent bullet also helps on this shot, putting them down a little more quickly, but there will always be some variation.

A high lung shot just under the spine will often put them down right there, probably due to the bullet coming so close to the spine. They'll usually die from the lung shot before recovering from the temporary paralysis, but I have seen them raise their heads before they do, and sometimes even stand up.

Congrats 65BR. Hope yall don't mind me sharing a pic here
along this theme? My daughter with her deer from this weekend.
Her second this year with 100 NP from her 6mm Rem, H4831sc for a mv of 2980. Old red pad tang safety M77 I got when I was her age.
Both bang/flops, the first 140 yards, this one 65.
Both in the last few minutes of shooting light.
Exit in the picture. I told her in all honesty, it is making
me ashamed to shoot deer with the big stuff I've been using,
when hers works so well

I wouldn't hesitate to hunt deer with a .243 if, for some reason, I couldn't use one of my .223's.

A friend of mine switched to a 270 a few years ago and guess what? He actually stopped wounding and loosing deer.

So, he was using a 243 right? No, actually a 300 Win Mag. Point being, he could actually shoot the 270 and hit something consistently with it. Deer die just fine if hit properly with a 223 or 243, and limp off wounded just as well if you gut shoot them with a 338 Win Mag.

AKA, the " go get the truck shot ".

It's a killer.






I had to track my deer about 3 feet this year because it slid downhill in the wet leaves.

I have been studying shot placement and bullet wound channels in whitetail deer for many years, as we kill about 350 to 400 whitetails a year here on the ranch, with our MLB permit,the high shoulder shot MULE DEER, speaks of is the right shot placement on a whitetail every time, the heart shot to many times turnes into a gut shot if you are a little back in shot placement, i also look at a few hundred pigs a year and study shot placement and bullet damage from different calibers. on deer and pigs,put the 243 in the right place and you won't have to go looking for a critter, it will go about 3 ft. down.rio7

The .243 is indeed VERY deadly on whitetail deer (or any animal of 400 pounds and under). T say other wise is foolish (too many deer have died after being shot with a .22 LR to think otherwise).

As has been pointed out, bullet placement is important no matter what caliber rifle is being used, but it is especially important with small caliber weapons. This is NOT, as some believe, due to a lack of "killing " power or penetration (although larger rounds DO have a definite advantage on "marginal", raking shots), but because of the smaller (or non-existant) exit holes that result from a small bore bullet.

If an animal runs after being hit (and sooner or later it WILL happen no matter what round is used), a good blood trail can be critical to "find" the deer. It will likely be jusrt as dead, but if you can't find it......that doesn't matter. In the thickets of the south and Pacific northwest are unbelievably dense.

Those who have not hunted these areas just can't fully understand. When I've traveled to the northeast (Pennsylvania, Upper State New York, Vermont)....what those who hunt in those areas consider really "thick" stuff......is considered fairly "open" woods in the Deep South. Most of the midwest and western states are even more open. In the REAL thickets I hunt, an animal that travels even 30-50 yards will be out of sight after one jump and may be "lost" without a blood trail to follow.

Deadly as they can be, the small bore (.22,.24 and .25 caliber) rifles just can't be depended on to leave an adiquite blood trail.....every time.

I know....some will respond with an "I remember the time" story about a GREAT blood trail with a .243, but one-time (or a few) instances do NOT make a round "dependable" in this regard.

The "solution" is to not allow the deer to run at all....the so talked about DRT shot. This is best achieved with a shot to the central nervous systen or the "high shoulder" shot that breaks down the animal....in other words, PRECICE shot placement. While this shot may be desirable with ANY catridge, it is CRITCAL with the small bore rifles.

Even with the most careful shot placement, sooner or later, something will go wrong and a deer WILL run after the shot. That's why many (me included) do NOT recomend the small bore rifles for general. It is a specialist weapon that requires one accept it's limitations and be prepared for an occational tough tracking job if you hunt the thickest places.

I still "like" the small bores and use them from time to time, but I also accept their limits and can't accept that any of the small bore rifles (with the possible exception of the .25-06 and .257 Weatherby) are proper "general" whitetail rifles.

everyone is an eggspert. why I am sure one day when I kill a deer I will understand some of this stuff. I may have got it "small headstamp calibers need not apply". Lets watch those head stamps and pay no attention once again to the bullets.

Some nice deer taken with "inadequate" .243.


I am running the 95 grain Nosler BT with 41 grains of H4350 @ 2954fps out of my Tikka .243.

All I need now is to get a deer to cooperate and be a test subject.

I've had several deer/243 meetings and everytime, the 243 won...quick and without drama. Must be lucky

the only place you will find drama is here, sometimes I feel like I am watching that old movie "being there".

I went out today to load some .243 ammo and I have 90 gr. Nosler Ballistic tips and 95 gr. Nosler Ballistic tips.Is the 95 Gr. Ballistic a heavier constructed bullet than the 90 gr. bullet.They both have a purple tip. Thanks

Shoot a 95gr NBT, 100gr NPT, 85gr TSX or 80gr TTSX and you'll get your exits.

Aye.

Jeff - smile says it all - great pic thanks for sharing, she did great and wonderful daughter you have sir. Nice to see the ladies get field time too

I question the pairing of 'Small bore' and CRITICAL shot placement. Shot placement IMHO should be the same regardless of round, as whatever bullet you shoot on deer should do the same in a 223 or 338, get to the vitals and result in a kill.

My deer had it been shot w/a proper deer bullet in a 223 would have died all the same. Granted, wound channels can be narrower, but if you are hitting vitals, the result is death.

I also FIRMLY believe, that todays better bullets, results in performance of say 22 and 24 bores, killing as if they are larger rounds the next size or two up. Optimum expansion w/good retention and penetration are key, to proper bullets.

Consider this:

Shot a hog, 243/85 XBT, 240 yds, recovered, weighs 85 gr.

Shot a Mulie 270/150 Partition 275 yds, weighs 88 gr.

Granted the 270 cut a wider swath, and it shed alot of bullet going from stem to stern.

Yet in each case, death was quick. Hog - DRT, Mulie - perhaps 40 yds.

SO point is, when you recover a say mono that weighs MOST of what it did before the shot, and compare that to a larger bullet that ends up nearly half, I truly feel the advantage of more initial mass and caliber is offset to a noticeable degree by smaller bullets in mono form.