243 as a Legitimate and Humane Deer Gun?

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yakoun

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Hi all, this is my first post not including the obligitory intro post...

OK, I'm a very inexperienced hunter. I have shot precisely 1 deer, a few ducks, a grouse and a cormorant (by accident while shooting at a duck) I currently have a 12 guage shotgun and 1 rifle - a Marlin X7 chambered in 30-06. Problem is, I'm ashamed to say that I'm fairly recoil shy and it is impacting my accuracy when shooting my rifle at the range. I'm worried that this is going to lead to a bad shot in the field at some point, which is my greatest fear. I have used 150 and 180 grain cartridges in a couple of the standard brands. I most definitely do not hand load my own ammunition.

So, I'm looking for a caliber with much less recoil that is still going to be humanely lethal on whitetail or mule deer here in Kamloops, BC. I've looked at some recoil charts and read some forum posts, and discovered all kinds of neat looking calibers that I have never heard of before such as the .25-06 and 7mm 08. My only concern with these calibers is the ready availability of ammo. I know that this sounds terrible, but I am HOPING to limit my choice of rifle to one that I can buy ammunition for at 9 PM the night before at a box store. This brings me to the .243... Ammo seems to be readily available and some reading I have done suggests that this is a more than adequate choice for deer. But I also get the impression that SOME people think that this is a gun that is best suited for a 12 year old girl whose father (with a REAL gun) is standing right behind her ready to finish the job.

So, I'm looking for the truth from those who have hunted deer with this caliber - based on a clean shot from anwhere inside of 200 yds, is a .243 sufficient for every deer in my neck of the woods or not?

In case I ever get a chance to target bigger game, I intend to keep the 30-06.

Apologies if this is in the wrong category.
 
The .243win cartridge is more than adequate for the role you intend to use it for. Another possibility would be a .308win(which is what the .243win is based off of) which would allow you hunt larger game as well, .208 will do everything a 30-06 can do but with less recoil. Recoil makes everyone flinch and the less recoil the better. A good compensator or muzzle brake helps a lot in mitigating recoil as well and I suggest having one on all rifles.
 
Met a lady hunter at my range last year and she was sighting in her .243 for deer hunting. She said she had bagged many deer, no issue with the .243. I don't know what kind of bullets, or ranges, but she let me shoot her rifle and it seemed extremely mild to me compared to my .308.
 
Have used the .243 on deer for years and it kills them as good as anything as long as the shooter does their part - just like any other caliber.
 
243 is a varmint caliber, sorry don't want to re-hash that debate. 25-06 or something in 6.5 would be good for you. Get some buddies or make friends that have those calibers and try them. In the big picture, work on the recoil flinch, or like the other guy said get a 308
 
redbirddog said:
243 is a varmint caliber, sorry don't want to re-hash that debate. 25-06 or something in 6.5 would be good for you. Get some buddies or make friends that have those calibers and try them. In the big picture, work on the recoil flinch, or like the other guy said get a 308
Click to expand...

Perhaps no actual experience with a .243? I have seen folks dump a running moose with a .243. No problem on deer.
 
I'm not really a fan of the .243 but there is no deer in north america that a .243 won't kill, especially if you use premium bullets for extra insurance.
 
I would step up to a 6.5x55 swede,then you can take anything in North America with confidence ,very accurate,low recoil and one if the highest sectional density bullets around.Ballistics virtually parallel to .270 after 100 yards.Chamberings don't last for well over 100 years for no reason.Tradeex has a good selection of rifles at modest prices ,and ammunition is readily available.Dropped a lot of Blacktails and a couple of black bears , nothing went more than 20 yards,all one shot kills
 
My good friend has used his .243 for decades on interior mulies and white tails. Wanted to upgrade to something bigger for the "just in case I run into something dangerous" situation.
 
243 is over-kill on deer, but dead is dead. And DRT.

243 ammo is sold with light bullets for varmints and heavy bullets for deer. You want the heavies.

Recoil is a real issue. We all have our own tolerance and accuracy suffers when we go too big.

Buy your 243 and get good with it.

The other real good caliber for your needs is 260Rem, also based on the 308 case, like the 243. But you won't always find it at 9:00 pm the night before the hunt.
 
My walls are covered with numerous big mulie racks all taken successfully with the 243. I suggest listening to the ones that use it instead of the ones that dont IMHO
 
243 is a great choice for someone who doesn’t plan to own a lot of rifles. Very versatile. For gophers, crows, and coyotes it’ll push 55gr bullets over 4000fps. Or load it with 100gr bullets at 3000 FPS for deer, black bear, wolf, etc.

It wouldn’t be my choice for moose and the like, but I wouldn’t think twice if I saw one in the hands of an experienced moose hunter.


So by all means, get a 243... BUT... don’t stop working on your flinch! Find a mentor and work through it. It’ll serve you better than ANY firearm change will. There’s a million little tricks to deal with it, but the most effective for me when growing up was my granddad saying “see the impact. Seeeeee the impact.” Think beyond the shot, and really focus getting to see the bullet’s impact. Shooting reactive targets helps because you’re more prone to want to see the impact. Doesn’t need to be tannerite or anything goofy... just soup cans full of water will explode pretty good. But by thinking beyond the shot, it helps to take away the anticipation which leads to the flinching. That’s my little trick anyway.
 
yakoun said:
Hi all, this is my first post not including the obligitory intro post...

OK, I'm a very inexperienced hunter. I have shot precisely 1 deer, a few ducks, a grouse and a cormorant (by accident while shooting at a duck) I currently have a 12 guage shotgun and 1 rifle - a Marlin X7 chambered in 30-06. Problem is, I'm ashamed to say that I'm fairly recoil shy and it is impacting my accuracy when shooting my rifle at the range. I'm worried that this is going to lead to a bad shot in the field at some point, which is my greatest fear. I have used 150 and 180 grain cartridges in a couple of the standard brands. I most definitely do not hand load my own ammunition.

So, I'm looking for a caliber with much less recoil that is still going to be humanely lethal on whitetail or mule deer here in Kamloops, BC. I've looked at some recoil charts and read some forum posts, and discovered all kinds of neat looking calibers that I have never heard of before such as the .25-06 and 7mm 08. My only concern with these calibers is the ready availability of ammo. I know that this sounds terrible, but I am HOPING to limit my choice of rifle to one that I can buy ammunition for at 9 PM the night before at a box store. This brings me to the .243... Ammo seems to be readily available and some reading I have done suggests that this is a more than adequate choice for deer. But I also get the impression that SOME people think that this is a gun that is best suited for a 12 year old girl whose father (with a REAL gun) is standing right behind her ready to finish the job.

So, I'm looking for the truth from those who have hunted deer with this caliber - based on a clean shot from anwhere inside of 200 yds, is a .243 sufficient for every deer in my neck of the woods or not?

In case I ever get a chance to target bigger game, I intend to keep the 30-06.

Apologies if this is in the wrong category.
Click to expand...

First of all, yes, the 243 will take down a deer inside 200 yards without any problems. Unless you place the shot badly or are using bullets that don't perform. Nowadays, that's not much of an issue with factory hunting ammo, especially the premium stuff. It is your very best choice for low recoiling, good range and good killing power for a deer rifle. I have a friend who has switched to 243 from 30-06 this season and is very happy with the .243 performance on every deer he's taken so far. The 25-06, 270 and 308 will all kick substantially more than the 243, so they are worse choices in this case.

Second, a 12 gauge and 30-06 are hard kicking guns for a newbies. I found myself with a flinch years ago due to a similar situation. Lots of shooting with a .22 and a careful move back into harder kicking guns cured the problem in my case.
If I were you, I would park the 12 gauge / 30-06 for a bit, get a .22 LR repeater and practice with that for a while. Then shoot, offhand, a box or two of .243. Once you're used to the .243 and are confident you have no fear of the gun, try a few shots from the bench. You will sense the recoil more from the bench, and so hold the gun firmly. A sloppily held .243 can still "scope" you. Yes, I've done it myself. Not fun to get scoped. If you have developed a flinch from the bigger guns, make sure it's gone before you go hunting.

You can decide at a later date if you still want to hang onto the 30-06. Some would argue that the .243 can be used for bigger game too, but I don't have the experience to discuss this.

You also have the option of using reduced or managed recoil loads for the 30-06 if you don't want to invest in another firearm.
 
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