Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles 243 Win. still popular as a varmit rifle????

Lately, I have been thinking of adding a 700 varmit in .243 to my list of varmit rifles...years ago I had several light .243's..shot some varmit with them, actually quite a few..then went to the .22-250's and .222/223 calibers...for many years..now in addition to the .22 cal. centerfires, I have been shooting my .25-06 and .270 on coyotes...in the last few mths. I have been looking over the 700 laminated varmiter in 243...Haven't heard much about it being used on varmits these days...is it still a popular round for this or mostly used by deer hunters??????

.243 is wicked on coyotes. My favorite caliber.

one of the best for yotes. i find it too small and fast for deer.just stay with non explosive bullets. i have seen them get up and walk away from vmax type bullets. but the tsx or 85-100 gr sp will ancor them

Love using mine on coyotes. Using 65,70,85gr pills all the time. Even take mine when I go Pdog blasting.

Hard to beat on a praire dog town when the wind picks up.

I use a 70 gr Blitzking or 75 gr V-MAX over Varget. Works fine on prairie dogs to coyotes.

I used to have one in a Kimber Montana. Great rifle, and a great shooter. I was using 58 gr v-maxes and getting 3800 fps. They were killer on 'yotes out past 400 yards, and I killed marmots out past 500. I'll have another one day.

If pelts matter then maybe stick with what you got. The REAL question is why NOT have another varmint rifle??? Having said that though, I shoot coyotes w/a 243 and I am saving pelts, just gotta load ammo appropriately.

Thanks for the replies...the .243 used to be pretty popular in my area, but only my buddy seems to be shooting one now..he loves it..so maybe I will have to pickup a laminted .243...and some bullets..have lots of cases, and powder..

I have a Sako HB I bought some 20 years ago. I only use it on chucks 300 yard + w/75 gr. Hornady HP's. It is my favorite for longer distance chucks, ranges to 500 yards. Can't shoot well enough anymore to kill past that distance.

WYO- Having shot over 250 mostly with a 243. i would say it is a great round. currently i have 5 .243's. the last a sko hb i bought from a guy in utah. it is my most accurate rifle and i have several with krieger barrels. i-4064 or varget and either an 85 or 70 balistic tip.

"243 Win. still popular as a varmit rifle???? "

Only with those who are actually varmint hunters. Range rats seem to prefer a .223.

1+

Good One there.

NB

Interestingly, a fellow I know who hunts a whole lot of larger varmints (rock chuck to coyote size) tends to skip over his 243. Not always, by any stretch, but he generally uses either a 223 or else skips to the 25-06. I'm not sure this fellow has shot more than ~5% of his total shots fired at a formal 'range.' He's a hunter, shooter, and general non-match/non-organized guy (except he does like to shoot at a steel gong sequence a friend set up out to ...1300? yards). He's also generally a cheap-skate.

Personally, I dislike the 243 Winchester cartridge, but have no issues with 24-caliber in general. It's unfortunate, to me, that 243 Win is essentially the only factory/volume 24-cal chambering we get to 'choose' from.

My lefty sps varmint in .243 with the pro-x trigger is rediculously accurate with the 75g vmax and a few others as well.
Getting ready to develope a load with the 85g Barnes tsx!Can't wait to see what it will do out to 300yrds or so.GREAT rifle and
caliber!