Try and convince me the 243 is actually useful

[CBH Australia]

I have the BLR waiting for me. But I’d be inclined to re barrel that to 358. Just because it’s different.

Different, like Bob.

It’s a .35csl so you have The Colonels blessing

 

[Sabre]

I won't try to convince you that a .243 is a great round because it isn't a caliber that I care much about one way or the other.

However, why do so many people ascribe mythical abilities to animals to escape death to support their dislike for certain calibers? You will hear people say things like, "I have seen many great (or perfect, or good) shots on animals with X caliber and they didn't die!" No you didn't. We are all aware that you can kill deer with bow and arrow, right?

A double lung shot deer or a heart shot deer is going to die 99.9%+ of the time no matter what you shot it with. So, if you saw a deer that someone made a "great shot" on with a .243 and it didn't die, you didn't see a "great shot". You saw a marginal shot (at best), or your buddy told you it was a "great shot", and your confirmation bias helped you blame the caliber.

 

[DG870]

I and a friend had a running debate on the 243 vs the 270 on mule deer. I used a 270 with 140 grain bullets hand loaded to 3000 fps and he used a 243 with 100 grain Remington core locks. One day during deer season he wanted me to come to his place to see a deer he had shot. He had a doe tag and it was a big mature older mule deer doe. He had hit it square in the shoulder and broken the shoulder but not penetrated into the body cavity. He said she could run as fast on 3 legs as she could on 4 and they had a hard time catching up with her to put her down.

The 243 lacks penetration with softer bullets and critters bones get harder as they age. Shots that slip through the ribs are deadly, but slip a little forward and the equation changes. A partition would have probable worked.

I have a Savage 112 single shot that I’ve shot 2 barrels out of shooting 75 grain hollow points at rock chucks and prairie dogs. Works good in the wind at distance and you can get good air when shooting varmints with 243 hollow points at 3500 fps. The problem is it burns barrels out in 2 or 3 thousand rounds. Savages are nice because you can swap out barrels yourself for $300. The gun needs a new barrel again and I’m looking at a 6mmGT to see if the barrel will last a little longer.

 

[jruby]

I have a very nice Browning high walls chambered in 6mm remington. The rifle is plenty accurate shooting 95g Nosler BTs. The problem to me is that there are better cartridges for taking deer such as the swede and my 7mm mauser. To me the 6mm rounds will be used for varmint Hunting and target shooting. Yes they will kill a whitetail, my dad killed one when I was a kid with a 22lr because we needed meat. I just have more faith in larger cartridges.

 

[ftrovato]

I've owned a few 243 Win & 6mm Rem. and used them on a few occasions on animals as big as whitetail deer with 100% success.

However I always insure I am using a premium bullet, the animals are standing, relaxed and broadside.

BUT, even with this, I would never advocate for the use of the .243 diameter bullet for anything bigger than 100 pounds. I've seen and helped others track way too many deer that were never recovered for a litany of reasons when shot with these bullets.

I truly believe this caliber requires a hunter with great discipline when used on animals bigger than a coyote or the tiny 10.

The old adage, 'Just because you could doesn't mean you should'.

With all of that, the below Dakota .243 Win is my favorite rifle (today).
Rifle on left....(enjoy just looking at her, carrying her in the woods and taking her to the range).

 

[Flbt]

@Flbt
At least Remington didn't advertise the crap out of the 6mm even tho they renamed it a few times to compete with the 243.
Loaded properly it is what the 243 tried to be but never was or will be. It's a pity you couldn't get a 257 Roberts at the time your wife would have fallen in love with it and it's a far better cartridge than any of the 6mills.
Bob

I think the 257 would have been better.
But I cant beat the deal on the 6mm a guy from work needed a light bill payed. He had been trying to sell the rifle most people here did not know what a 6mm Remington was.
So I got at a really good price. And i did not know if she would stay interested in hunting or not so less money the better back then.

 

[IvW]

Good for jackals.....

 

[Flbt]

I won't try to convince you that a .243 is a great round because it isn't a caliber that I care much about one way or the other.

However, why do so many people ascribe mythical abilities to animals to escape death to support their dislike for certain calibers? You will hear people say things like, "I have seen many great (or perfect, or good) shots on animals with X caliber and they didn't die!" No you didn't. We are all aware that you can kill deer with bow and arrow, right?

A double lung shot deer or a heart shot deer is going to die 99.9%+ of the time no matter what you shot it with. So, if you saw a deer that someone made a "great shot" on with a .243 and it didn't die, you didn't see a "great shot". You saw a marginal shot (at best), or your buddy told you it was a "great shot", and your confirmation bias helped you blame the caliber.

No I don’t agree with that.
I have used dogs to find deer for people.
Yes the animals do die most of the time.
But the problem is the bullets did not do as much damage as you would expect from the shot. Or way more important it did not make a good blood trail.
The 223 and 22-250 are popular for deer in fl.
I cant count the number I have seen recovered that did not leave a blood trail.
The 22 cf might be ok in a field that you can watch them drop. But around any woods/swamp of you use them you need dogs. Even with good hits you are going to have them that do not bleed.
And it doesn’t matter if the. Adequate kills the animal if you can’t find it.

 

[rookhawk]

As everyone knows is absolutely hate the 243 because if have seen to much game wounded with it by people using the wrong projectiles for the game hunted. Also seen a lot of game just wounded by good shots with projectiles that were supposed to be ideal for the game hunted. Eg a 100gn Remington core lockt factory round put into the ribcage of a fallow deer. One deer died quickly the other with the same shot placement and same factory load run off never to be seen again.
I have reloaded this cartridge for people and have never attained the book velocities.
80gn max load 2,900-3100 fps
95gn SST max load 2,800fps
100grainer max load 2,700-2,800 fps
To me this round fails to live up to all the hype. To big for small game and not really big enough for medium big game.
I know there are people out there that love the 243 but I'm not one of them.
There's also people that say they use it for culling and it works well with head shots for that. Well a baseball bat to the he'd will do the same job.
This could be quite interesting to see some of the reasons why I should stop bagging out the prissy little 243 and see if I can refute some of the so called claims.
Let's keep it respectful but still have some fun and good humoured bantering.
Bob

All three of my kids started with the same .243win. They were too young to realize it doesn't work 100% effectively, so it did, perhaps out of their childish ignorance. Their list of one shot kills ran the gamut from black bear, to red deer, to numerous white tails.

80gr TTSX factory loads were all a 6-8 year old child needed. It must be that as we grow older, the ballistics begin to falter, perhaps by the 243 being able to sense the age of the operator and therefore diminishing its efficacy in response to older operators.

 

[Flbt]

All three of my kids started with the same .243win. They were too young to realize it doesn't work 100% effectively, so it did, perhaps out of their childish ignorance. Their list of one shot kills ran the gamut from black bear, to red deer, to numerous white tails.

80gr TTSX factory loads were all a 6-8 year old child needed. It must be that as we grow older, the ballistics begin to falter, perhaps by the 243 being able to sense the age of the operator and therefore diminishing its efficacy in response to older operators.

Well you bring up the bullet.
That makes a big difference.
I know when I was younger most people bought what ammo the feed store or hardware store had. And from what I remember it was the cheapest stuff from Winchester,Remington and some times federal.
The year that the feed store got some 125gr hp in for the 30-06 a lot of people in the hunting club lost faith on the 06
It was not the cartridge that was the problem it was the bullets and people just buying what the feed store had.

It took me awhile to realize most hunters are not gun people.
There are way more hunters that buy what ever and go hunting.

 

[mdwest]

Its not unlike any other caliber... you just have to know its capabilities and limitations..

a 375 H&H is legal and will kill an elephant.. but its definitely not going to be as effective as a 416 Rigby...

for smaller whitetail (TX and some other states) and up to mid sized hogs, as long as its paired with the proper bullet its plenty... but I wouldnt take a 243 on an elk hunt.. or even on a hunt for a big bodied nebraska type whitetail, etc. no matter what bullet it is fed..

.243 has some reasonable attributes.. its a common caliber here in the US.. you can find lots of ammo choices pretty much everywhere.. and ammo is very affordable.. its low recoil and a good "starter" caliber for younger kids and small structured ladies that might be recoil sensitive.. pretty much all US manufacturers of firearms have multiple platform options chambered in 243, so rifle choices/options are significant.. etc..etc..

I used to keep a 243 in the safe.. had one for decades.. mostly for all of the above reasons (kids growing up, wife when she was new to hunting, etc)... but now that everyone is grown and experienced, my safe is absent of any 243's and likely will never see one again..

 

[8 x 60]

.243 Win makes an ideal cartridge for Woodland Roe (and Muntjac). Within its limits (imho) up to 150 yrds, I see no need for a bigger round. 150 yrds is more than enough for typical British woodland stalking on Roe. I have shot Roe with my 8 x 60 but it doesn't kill them any quicker.
Here is a Doe shot at approx 100yrds. You can see from the hair that the bullet went through and through. She dropped on the spot. A cheap and cheerful 95grn Prvi SP

straight through the heart;

Having said all that, if it were legal I would use my .222 Rem which is Legal in England for Muntjac and Roe in Scotland but sadly not Legal for Roe in England.

We all have our preferences, that makes it all the more interesting.

 

[cash_tx]

I have three 243's; one of which was inherited and two that were acquired opportunistically at great prices, otherwise I don't know that I would own any. I also have a few 7x57's and a few 30-06's; they like to huddle up together to point and laugh at the 243's clustered in the back corner of the gun safe. The 22LR's just smile and nod; knowing that they get taken afield far more than any of the others.

 

[jruby]

I have calibers from .17 to..411. They each have thier advantages and disadvantages. Choose the cartridge that best matches the game and shooting variables . We are fortunate to have this problem. Sometimes it's the rifle more than the cartridge i choose.

 

[wesheltonj]

I will expand my prior answer. I have dropped on the spot large South Texas deer 140lbs+ with a 243. I have also had to track deer with a 243 using 100g Winchester-Western Power points. The same can be said for using my 308 using Norma 180g Oryx and Norma 150g Kalahari.

 

[Don458]

I've owned a few 243 Win & 6mm Rem. and used them on a few occasions on animals as big as whitetail deer with 100% success.

However I always insure I am using a premium bullet, the animals are standing, relaxed and broadside.

BUT, even with this, I would never advocate for the use of the .243 diameter bullet for anything bigger than 100 pounds. I've seen and helped others track way too many deer that were never recovered for a litany of reasons when shot with these bullets.

I truly believe this caliber requires a hunter with great discipline when used on animals bigger than a coyote or the tiny 10.

The old adage, 'Just because you could doesn't mean you should'.

With all of that, the below Dakota .243 Win is my favorite rifle (today).
Rifle on left....(enjoy just looking at her, carrying her in the woods and taking her to the range).

View attachment 699642

My Friend uses a .243. 3 Deer all over 200lbs 120-135 yd shot. Rem core lok 100 gr All were dead within 20 yds This was last one .

 

[ftrovato]

My Friend uses a .243. 3 Deer all over 200lbs 120-135 yd shot. Rem core lok 100 gr All were dead within 20 yds This was last one .View attachment 699669

Looks like a nice New York or Pennsylvania Buck!

I took a nice buck many years ago at 327 paces with a 90 grain Barnes X Bullet from my 243 Win.

I ended up hunting somewhere I didn't intend to be that evening. The deer was relaxed broadside head down feeding. From the prone position I too the shot. The bullet broke both shoulders and exited the size of a silver dollar. The deer crawled to the edge of the field and died within a few minutes.

For me there are exceptions for some cases. But I don't promote my behavior that evening.
In my defense, I was a good shooter back in the day. But I was also young and naive (dumb)....

 

[Don458]

Looks like a nice New York or Pennsylvania Buck!

I took a nice buck many years ago at 327 paces with a 90 grain Barnes X Bullet from my 243 Win.

I ended up hunting somewhere I didn't intend to be that evening. The deer was relaxed broadside head down feeding. From the prone position I too the shot. The bullet broke both shoulders and exited the size of a silver dollar. The deer crawled to the edge of the field and died within a few minutes.

For me there are exceptions for some cases. But I don't promote my behavior that evening.
In my defense, I was a good shooter back in the day. But I was also young and naive (dumb)....

I use the Barnes 85gr TSX out of .240 WM.

 

[mark-hunter]

Well, let me think of it?
I hunted quail, partridge and pheasant, then from steinbok over kudu up to eland and buffalo, plus European game, foxes, roe deer, boars, fallow....
All that somehow I managed without 243, believe it or not?!

@Bob Nelson 35Whelen
What say you?

 

[Surgeon1]

I have owned several 6mm incl 243, They work well on Coyotes and foxes (pelt damage is of little concern today because of little value if any). My night rifle for coyotes/bobcats/fox is a 6mm Ack Imp
with 58gr Vmax at 3925fps gives POA to 330yds (important with a thermal as range determination is more difficult, less than 330y just point and shoot)
Last year in Namibia I had an interesting evening chat with a retired PH who does a lot of cull hunts for meat and wildlife control (literally hundreds of Impalas and pigs), he had tried 223 and bigger but had settled on 243. They had great luck with Hornady 95gr SST factory loads but they had dried up but with lots of brass he had saved, he tried several reloads and somehow came up with a large supply of Swift Scirocco 90gr. He has had excellent results with them. He stated that when his supply is exhausted there is a South African bullet I had not heard of that would be next option.
He made me laugh when he stated his worst experience was with a 6.5 Creedmoor and he added how could a Company like Hornady come up with a great bullet like the SST and a "ridiculous cartridge like the 6.5 Creedmoor".