.243 Winchester: What's your take?

The question that begs to be asked is, "Would you take a going away follow-up shot if your broadside shot hit too far back and your gut shot deer was headed for the next area code


Ah, but that's a different question. Your first post asked about shooting a deer up the poop chute, now your talking about a follow up shot. The answer to that is of course. A good 6mm bullet (tsx) might make it further upstream then a standard bullet, but any bullet has the chance of taking out a leg, severing the spine or cutting a major artery AS A BACK UP ONLY SHOT to slow it down. Under no circumstances should anybody make a Texas Heart Shot and say their deer is going to go down while it wanders off through your heavily wooded area. It's very simple, if you don't have a good shot, don't take it. I doubt anyone on here is starving, and patiance is a pleasure that too many have forgotten about.
 
other than being some what not exciting it is an excellant round. It flattens yotes kills deer and doesn't beat you up. probably the perfect light cartridge. it is based on the 308 case what else can I say buy one
 
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Ah, but that's a different question. Your first post asked about shooting a deer up the poop chute, now your talking about a follow up shot. The answer to that is of course. A good 6mm bullet (tsx) might make it further upstream then a standard bullet, but any bullet has the chance of taking out a leg, severing the spine or cutting a major artery AS A BACK UP ONLY SHOT to slow it down. Under no circumstances should anybody make a Texas Heart Shot and say their deer is going to go down while it wanders off through your heavily wooded area. It's very simple, if you don't have a good shot, don't take it. I doubt anyone on here is starving, and patiance is a pleasure that too many have forgotten about.

My point is that if the shot is ethical as a follow-up, it is also ethical as an initial shot; it either works or it doesn't. The question then is do you have enough bullet with enough momentum to penetrate the length of the deer. Typically, the bullets chosen for medium sized game like deer are too light and too fragile. But in your argument concerning the .416 vs a 6mm, the .416 with almost any bullet would penetrate the length of a deer and still have enough energy left to kill the grizzly in front of it. If I was hunting big game with a mouse gun like a .22-250 or a .243, I would certainly use the toughest bullet I could find and I would be very selective with my shot in terms of placement. From my limited experience it appears to me that many hunters will attempt a going away shot on the length without any idea of what the outcome might be, but in those situations the savvy ones will try for the spine.
 
I have killed two deer with factory 100 gr Federal 243 loads and I would not hesitate to take any game with a 100 TSX out of a 243 with proper shot placement.



Any game? Do you know ahead of time that you'll have the option for proper shot placement? :D

grizzly.jpg
 
.243 win

good day everyone:

i have chosen and use my .243 for these reasons
short action,easy to reload for,accurate,minimal recoil,great bullet selection,easy to carry,light weight,limited to .270 cal where i live,it's killed everything i've shot with it(ground hog to calf moose).
and i just plain like it.
here'a pic.
remington m660.243 win,20" tube
gary goudy design stock,timney trigger(3lbs),cvmw bottom metal,bushnell elite .
new660stock001.jpg

new660stock006.jpg

Z
 
The Fact I have killed deer with a .22 with one shot to the head.
and then there are people who say a .243 wont work.

I see you're from Germany. We're talking whitetail deer here for the most part, not Roe deer. Our fawns are bigger than a mature Roe deer buck. ;)

Generally, a 22 rimfire is illegal to use on deer unless you're part of a certain group that does it at night with the aid of a spotlight.
 
Can not wait til hunting season,so we can use our 243,not just talk about them.The deer will be one year older,and one year bigger...I wonder if my 243 will kill them this year....
 
An ethical shot is one that has a reasonable expectation of killing the animal with a minimum of suffering. This is a combination of the shot angle offered, the range, the cartridge and bullet in question, and the hunter's "on demand" marksmanship ability. When you take the shot, the hunting part has already been accomplished, so its not a hunting problem, rather its a marksmanship problem, followed by a terminal ballistics problem.

The question that begs to be asked is, "Would you take a going away follow-up shot if your broadside shot hit too far back and your gut shot deer was headed for the next area code, or do you wait until you again have a broadside shot?" If the back up shot is an ethical one, then the on the length shot from the rear is as well, provided you bullet has the potential to penetrate 3 or 4 feet. There's more to hit on the length than there is broadside, so in that respect, the on the length shot is more ethical. People get funny ideas when it comes to ethics.

Would I take the follow up shot up the rear? Under the circumstanses you list, there's really not much sense, if you can't hit the animal half azz well when it gives you a broadside shot you might as well give up and go to the gun range and practise. A first well placed shot with a lesser calibre is far better than a poorly first placed shot with a big canon.
 
Lets assume you shoot your broadside animal with good hold from a solid position at a range of 200 yards. As the trigger breaks the animal takes a step forward. That center lung shot is now a gut shot requiring a follow-up. Same scenario, but this time shooting on the length; the animal takes a step, but unlike a broadside shot, the bullet still impacts on the centerline of the animal, penetrates into the chest and produces a clean one shot kill.
 
No way i am gone say a 243 hit has hard as a 308 but what i have to say is that those SST 95 gr loaded to near 3200 fps are very lethal... Our 2 last mooses were taken by my wife 5 foot 1... 108 pounds @ 175 metres she shot a 800 pounds bull and a 700 pounds bull and none of them walk more than 20 metres and no second shot requiered... When you are a witteness of that you realise that the 243 not being ideal his a hell of hard hitting round for the smaller caliber allowed for hunting big game.... JP.
 
For me SST is one of the most underestimated bullet i only handload all my hunting calibers with it.... in 308 the 165gr SST is devastator, i am not putting down any other kind of bullet but those really shine for us... Cheers. JP
 
JP,

I have loaded the 180 SST .308 bullet in 308 Win, 30-06 and 300 Win Mag. It is deadly because it comes apart so quickly, and rarely exits. Black bear, caribou and sheep go down on the spot, however the mess inside looks like a bomb went off. One for sure doesn't want to hit anywhere other than the lungs, and even then a lot of meat can be ruined.

Curious if the 243 bullet behaves differently, and how far do they penetrate in a moose?

Ted
 
True they dont exit and a heart and lung shot ( both mooses actually ) is messy i agree but the bullet is a stopper, sure you could loose some meat if you shoot it in the rear end but shot placement is why we practice so much at the range and the SST being accurrate above average it do give us a good chance, now if i was to go grizzly hunting....would change bullet... JP.
 
Its neither fish nor fowl too small for big stuff, too big for small stuff.

Really :confused:....................I suppose then that what everyone has been saying is all garble.........deer......yotes..........etc......hmmmmm. Maybe then I should put my newly purchased Tikka up on the EE cause its just no good cept for shoosting paper.
:rolleyes:







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I had been packing a .22 and a larger centre fire in the truck with me heading up to my trapline in case I came across a bobcat or cougar. But now I have a Ruger stainless compact .243 and a Leupold 1.5 X 5 just waiting for a scope ring to put it all together. Seeing as there are so many .243 lovers here what bullet would do the least damage to a bobcat pelt yet be suffice for the larger cougar ? Sorry if I got a little off topic. Jim
 
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