Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 243 win / 18" barrel

We used both the 95-grain Partitions and the 95-grain Ballistic Tips. It seemed like we got quicker kills with the BTs and they shot a little better in our rifle. Both delivered one-shot kills if the bullets went where they were supposed to go. One desert mule deer that my younger daughter shot down south went a little over 200 lbs, dressed. We didn't weigh the big Nebraska whitetails, but if they weren't that big they weren't far behind.

When I started to use the little .243 primarily for shooting feral hogs in the cienega in front of the house, I switched to 100-grain Partitions. They worked well, even on fairly large adults.

We have a Rmington 660 .243 and muzzle blast isn't a problem out of the 20" barrel. You don't need Partitions in a short barrel because the 100 grain Federals hold together just fine.

I got a model seven Remington, .243 youth model, with 18.5 inch barrel, for my Daughter a long while ago, and it has been used by several people,including myself, to kill deer. Everybody that ever used it, loved it. When I use it, I just slip a rubber butt pad over the stock and everything is good. miles

Let her shoot a box of ammo through a Ruger Frontier in 300 WSM with a 16 1/4" barrel. After that she'll never notice the muzzle blast in an 18" 243.

Unfortunately Big Squeeze was the only person to ever purchase a Frontier 300 WSM, and he tragically died when his head exploded from being too full of awesome. So no one knows where the rifle resides today.

Don't be afraid to rock a .223 Merican compact, either.

I've never had any muzzle blast complaints from any of the MANY people who've used that M77 Compact Carbine to either hunt with or who've just shot it.

As far as the OP asking about bullets to use. I've always sent 100gr Super-X ammo with the rifle for those hunting with it. Performs well on game and is accurate in that rifle.

For my son I debated between the Ruger compact and the Rem 700 youth rifle in .243. I opted for the Remington because of the slightly longer barrel to reduce muzzle blast. I haven't compared it side by side with the Ruger, but even at 20" it barks plenty loud.



We settled on the 85 tsx over a book max charge of RL 15. Very accurate and recoil isn't bad. Sitka deer gave my son several boxes of cup core 100 and 105 gr bullets for practice and you can definately tell the recoil is milder with the 85 gr than the 100's and 105's.

Another nice thing about the 85 tsx is you can work up practice/varmint loads with the 87 vmax and have less expensive ammo with similar trajectory.

I also think a 20" .243win barks plenty loud. If an 18" .243win was all I had, I would likely not have any problems killing stuff with it. If buying new, I'd want a 20"-22" barrel. The shorter ones do seen a bit sharper in terms of sound/blast. I remember one range session when my brother and I were sighting in several deer rifles and finally got around to a .243win carbine, after the first shot, we both mentioned that it had a nice bark to it, considering it was pushing a good bit less bullet/powder as compared to the other rifles we'd just finished shooting.

A bit more powder, but my first deer gun purchase was a rem. 600 carbine in 6mm. It was a lady on the shoulder but a lion at the muzzle. Truthfully, w/o ear muffs, it hurt. It went that way....gone. My 9 y o granddaughter is about 5' 0". She handles 22-24" bbls just fine with a short LOP. Best wishes,, Jack

I dislike anything less than 20" on a case shooting over 30 grains of powder.

It is easy to tell the difference on your ears.

Same here.

Short barrels chambered in high expansion ratio cartridges are tough to live with.

I've not had a short one, but even while wearing ear protection, at both 22" and 24" the .243 seems noticeably louder/sharper than a 22" barreled .308, which seems louder than a 21" .358 (to me). I never notice recoil, but a muzzleblast/sharp report gets my attention...I have sissy ears.

You lose about 50-75fps from my notes. Not worth worrying about.

I load 100 grain Hornady's, Core-Lokts or Power Points for the kids for deer. They only get about 2750 out of the short barrels so bullet performance is quite good.

I will load Partitions if the girls want to try for elk. a 660 Remington with an 18.5" barrel and a Coast to Coast version of the 880 Mossberg cut to 19" are the ones my kids used. I have a 22" LW K-98 but I have never shot a deer with it or even tried. It is a varmint gun for my purposes.

I do not find the muzzle blast from the 18.5" barrel to be noticeably different than from a 22" barrel. Let her get what she wants.

Velocity is not the issue with the last several posters. We agree! It is noise!

Jack

You could also look at the Marlin X7 youth. It comes with a youth sized stock but a 22 inch barrel. My niece has one in 7mm-08 and is 7 for 7 on deer with it. It shoots very well with just plain jane Remington reduced recoil loads.

You should also consider the new Tikka Compact. It has a reduced length of pull that is adjustable and a 20 inch barrel. The trigger on the Tikka is very user friendly and adjustable from 2-4 pounds and the rifle is guaranteed to shoot an inch or less. There is not a better deal to be had. This is what I would buy if I were looking right now. I have a Tikka 243 and love the rifle - it is a tack driver.

Get her the gun she likes the best, the deer won't be able to tell the difference in velocity, and of course she'll wear ear protection at the range, and when she shoots a deer odds are she won't notice the noise anyway.

I bought my son the RAR Compact. Someone states Ruger will send them a compact stock for $50 to put on their standard .243. Wish I had knew this. Wonder what/if Ruger can swap out a 18" barrel for 20" for a few bucks?

Take a look here, 5.56 not .243 but will give you the idea.

http://www.sadefensejournal.com/wp/?p=1093