.243 - Just Enough, Not Enough or Perfect

[time4t]

What bullet are you using in your midcased 6.5?

And were all of your 243 animals with partitions?

KH- in the. 243 win- half were partitions, the other half were grand slams in 2 different rifles. One decent -sized black bear decided to take me on after I hit him properly with a grand slam; and was treated to a second one in the noggin at 15 yards. I dont consider the 243 win as a bear caliber, and mine were targets of opportunity while hunting deer. Sure , it will work, not unethical, but just not ideal. I dont give much credence to the paper opinions of what works or doesn't; as I have formed my own opinion based on having killed black bears with about 8 different calibers from 243 to 4570, and a bow as well.
My modern 6.5 swede performs very well with 140 speers, both hot core and grand slams for general purposes, and I have the 155 lapua mega reserved for larger stuff should the opportunity present. regards t4t.

 

[KodiakHntr]

KH- in the. 243 win- half were partitions, the other half were grand slams in 2 different rifles. One decent -sized black bear decided to take me on after I hit him properly with a grand slam; and was treated to a second one in the noggin at 15 yards. I dont consider the 243 win as a bear caliber, and mine were targets of opportunity while hunting deer. Sure , it will work, not unethical, but just not ideal. I dont give much credence to the paper opinions of what works or doesn't; as I have formed my own opinion based on having killed black bears with about 8 different calibers from 243 to 4570, and a bow as well.
My modern 6.5 swede performs very well with 140 speers, both hot core and grand slams for general purposes, and I have the 155 lapua mega reserved for larger stuff should the opportunity present. regards t4t.

About what I figured. On the softer side of hard when it comes to being a traditional controlled expansion bullet and nothing overly surprising when it comes to your results from those particular bullets.

 

[canadaman30]

The 243, like the 7x57, in a dialed-in lightweight rifle, are my preferred stalking cartridges. Mild recoil, inherently accurate, and hit well above their paper statistics. 243 is not an ethical nor effective bear cartridge, but is good to go for everything else in NA. I will never part with my mag-fed short-action CZ 557 Lux in 243. Versatile, accurate and handy.

Black bears we've shot would disagree

 

[speers]

I’m a fan of it for deer. 95gr nosler BTs are all I’ve used. Quartering to quartering away never a problem, aswell as right through both shoulders of the largest bodied buck I’ve personally ever seen at 280 yards folded him like a lawn chair. Works just swell for my application.

 

[Beeron]

Black bears we've shot would disagree

Same....

 

[1899]

Mild load - 33.0gr of IMR 4064 - with an 85gr partition out of model 7 youth (18" barrel). So, I am guessing 2600fps at the muzzle. A picture is worth a thousand words....

 

[Beeron]

Mild load - 33.0gr of IMR 4064 - with an 85gr partition out of model 7 youth (18" barrel). So, I am guessing 2600fps at the muzzle. A picture is worth a thousand words....

Maybe faster?
Im getting 2815 out of an 18.5” barrel with an 85gr TSX over 33.1gr H4895.
About the same with 36.5gt Varget.

 

[1899]

Maybe faster?
Im getting 2815 out of an 18.5” barrel with an 85gr TSX over 33.1gr H4895.
About the same with 36.5gt Varget.

Maybe. Book says 2809fps out of a 24" barrel. I figured a loss of roughly 30fps / inch as a guess. I never shot it over a chronograph so you may be correct.

 

[bearhunter]

I have to wonder sometimes about how people classify "dead"

Big strong men have no qualms about shooting the very good 243 Winchester at just about anything that's huntable in North America, from Gophers to Grizzly Bear, Moose and Elk, and everything in between.

It's a great cartridge, especially for people with "recoil sensitivity"

Poorly placed bullets, no matter how big, wound game animals. Well placed bullets, no matter how big cleanly kill game animals.

If the lighter recoil helps the shooter to place his bullets with better precision, I'm all for it.

I started my grandson with a 223 Remington and later onto a 243 Winchester and he's recoil sensitive. He's well over six feet tall and slender, with long arms and neck. Just about the worst build a fellow can have to absorb felt recoil, especially when shooting off the bench.

He's now moved on to the 7mm-08, but only because I wanted to build a rifle for him. He likes it and hunts with it, but he did comment this fall "The bigger 7mm bullet doesn't kill Deer any better than the 243"

I told him to hunt with whichever rifle he preferred to shoot and feels the most comfortable with, and take the other along as a back up when on extended trips. I think he was relieved, as the 7-08 has substantially more felt recoil.

OP, it doesn't matter what "other people prefer" for a personal hunting rifle. If you've used a 243Win, you will know how much recoil is being generated. Just keep in mind, the shooting bench is the worst place to check felt recoil. Your body doesn't have the capacity to move with the recoil, like you would shooting in the field, even from a rest.

 

[meatsticks]

A Barnes 80 grain TTSX pushed by varget will go right through the shoulder of a deer at 100-150 yards, and generally drop them on the spot. So just about perfect in my opinion, depending how you load it!

 

[camgeorge11]

I was suprised with the amount of kick when I first shot mine. Felt closer to shooting my 3006 than something like a 223. I thought it was going to be the other way around.

 

[MTM]

Application:
-Sub 150 yard deer cartridge
-Low recoiling for recoil sensitive shooter (more so to allow for more enjoyable practice)
-Commonly available factory ammunition

Question:
-Is the .243 just enough, not enough or perfect?
-Does it require an ideal shot (as some say online) or does it have enough insurance to it for those other times.

Lots of articles on this debate - but figured it would be an interesting topic to hear from the experts. Let me know your experience.

The OP asked about sun 150 yd shooting by a recoil sensitive shooter. Ya, it’s perfect. Probably idea for that application.

 

[WhelanLad]

my .2c
the .243 is plenty for that task, howeverrr. i been playing with that 7.62x39 in a bolt gun .. with 124gr jsp factorys it was super capable for smaller species of deer out to 150meters- the recoil is so mild- something like a .223 but different.

so the grendal is another contender as factory ammo might not be an issue over there, price / availability - ?

otherwise yeah, the .243 with a decent sp is plenty for deer

 

[Butcherbill]

I was suprised with the amount of kick when I first shot mine. Felt closer to shooting my 3006 than something like a 223. I thought it was going to be the other way around.

Yeah that was my impression this year, I spent some time shooting a .243 BLR. That said the BLR is fairly light so I wasn’t expecting no recoil, it felt closer to a lighter .308 load to me.

If I was to use a .243 to hunt with it would have to be because it was a specific gun it was chambered in, as from a reloading standpoint I might as well just use a .308. Same primers, relatively close powder charges, .308 brass is everywhere for free or cheap. So for a few more grains of powder I get more variety of bullet weight selection, for about the same component cost.

If something LH and interesting chambered in .243 fell in my lap I’d find it a home, till then I’ll keep using my .308’s

 

[CrewSafeBC]

I would not think that the .243 would have sufficient energy to down a large 200 pound deer at 500 meters. An Antelope or 2 year old deer sure, but a big bruiser? Nope, especially if you have to take a quartering shot.

you would be mistaken, All you have to do is poke a hole in the vitals,,trust me, Ive done it at 486 yards..Nosler up front

 

[powerbaitron]

A well built bullet does so much. I agree. I have seen some big deer get shot in the shoulder wi to an .243 and although I don’t doubt they died, no blood trails and didn’t bole them over.

 

[KodiakHntr]

A well built bullet does so much. I agree. I have seen some big deer get shot in the shoulder wi to an .243 and although I don’t doubt they died, no blood trails and didn’t bole them over.

Shot a spike whitetail through the shoulders with a 300 Ultra and a 180 TSX at about 25 yards, didn’t bowl him over either. Still managed to cover 100+ yards under his own steam.

Question though about your post…. “although I don’t doubt they died, no blood trails and didn’t bole them over….” Soooooo you were just out shooting deer and driving off? You don’t know for sure if they died or not? Kinda sounds like you don’t know if they left any blood on the ground either…?

 

[powerbaitron]

I was not the shooter. The shooter spent 3 days looking and since there was no blood, yes we did check. I saw the bullet hit thru my binos and the kinetic movement of the hide. A deer can take a while to die, and without snow it’s a coin toss on where it went. Luckily the shooter cancelled his tag, which he didn’t need to do but also knew that deer wasn’t gonna make the season. It’s possible it lived. Not probable.

 

[powerbaitron]

I was not the shooter. The shooter spent 3 days looking and since there was no blood, yes we did check. I saw the bullet hit thru my binos and the kinetic movement of the hide. A deer can take a while to die, and without snow it’s a coin toss on where it went. Luckily the shooter cancelled his tag, which he didn’t need to do but also knew that deer wasn’t gonna make the season. It’s possible it lived. Not probable.

This scenario has played out a few times with the .243 and creed. I shoot a 300 and don’t ever have an issue, I also don’t shoot past 200m. Although I know I could if I wanted to.

 

[Raton57]

I had a Remington Model 700 come my way to fix the stock someone busted in half at the wrist. I took out my little kids model 243 and shot it the first time to see what the kick was like and it was light enough I knew how strong the stock needed to be fixed , I am also going to make up a load for me to use for deer soon too. I wouldn't be scared to whack a bear with it either.