.243 X-Bolt or T3 or ????

Boomer said:
On these larger species of game the .243 clearly fails to meat the criteria of having a reasonable expectation of killing the game with a single shot from any angle within the maximum range of the cartridge and the marksmanship ability of the hunter.
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Brother, if you can't make the shot, don't take it. I have never in 31 years of hunting taken a shot that wasn't broadside. I have never needed a bullet that would kill from any angle. I have even used a 20ga to take my first deer at 16. You don't need a cannon, only preparation, patience, and practice. Oh, and the ability to be able to give up the shot if is isn't presented properly. Unfortunately, my father is like most otheres and needs something that will penetrate from a$$hole to heart. Hopefully gut and clean the deer on the way through. I'll stick to the .243, the 7.62x39mm, and my other .30 cals. Each having their limitations and each still doing the job when I do mine.
That being said, OP, the .243 is a great cartridge for anything from deer on down. I wouldn't carry it o n a moose, elk, or bear hunt. I wouldn't even try it on a moose, no matter how perfect the setup. And I wouldn't use it on a bear unless I had to.
 
rookie wildcat said:
Brother, if you can't make the shot, don't take it. I have never in 31 years of hunting taken a shot that wasn't broadside. I have never needed a bullet that would kill from any angle. I have even used a 20ga to take my first deer at 16. You don't need a cannon, only preparation, patience, and practice. Oh, and the ability to be able to give up the shot if is isn't presented properly. Unfortunately, my father is like most otheres and needs something that will penetrate from a$$hole to heart. Hopefully gut and clean the deer on the way through. I'll stick to the .243, the 7.62x39mm, and my other .30 cals. Each having their limitations and each still doing the job when I do mine.
That being said, OP, the .243 is a great cartridge for anything from deer on down. I wouldn't carry it o n a moose, elk, or bear hunt. I wouldn't even try it on a moose, no matter how perfect the setup. And I wouldn't use it on a bear unless I had to.
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The broadside deer takes a step as you fire, your shot hits too far back and he bolts, just as he would if you fired with a .375. Now your target angle is straight away . . . do you pass up the shot on a wounded animal? Chances are the .243 won't do it on a heavy bodied buck unless the spine is hit which would be more luck than good management. Any cartridge from a 6.5 and up would work in this scenario provided it was loaded with a decent bullet. Now consider that many deer are taken with a snap shot in heavy cover, and many require a follow up shot. Therein lies my objection for the use of the .243 on game over 100 pounds . . . not for what I intend to do, but for what I might have to do.
 
This is what I am thinking of getting
TC Venture Preaditor
silo-detail-745-venture-predator.jpg

CALIBERS: .204 Rug, .223 Rem, .22-250 Rem, and .308 Win
 
vanshooter said:
Hey All.

I'm hoping to pick up a rifle for target/varmit/deer. :)

I'm looking at either a Browning X-Bolt, or Tikka T3, or ??? I'm thinking that .243 would be the best caliber, but I can go up to .270 based on locale if there is some compelling reason (ammo price, etc).

Any thoughts on these rifle/caliber combination's (or other suggestions) would be greatly appreciated.
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my T3 in .223 shot great ,had a nice trigger...but it wore the feed lips out on the mag in about 6 months. My local dealer went to bat for me and got me a new mag. but i had to buy a replacement mag so i could use the gun in the meantime .... i ended up with 2 mags. [that was cool] but afterwards i used the gun as a single shot as much as possible. when another piece of plastic failed [a superficial bit on the bolt follower] i traded it in on a savage
 
Got It.

Hey All.

Just thought I would follow up with an update.

Picked up the following:
- Browning X-Bolt Stainless Stalker 25-06
- Bushnell Elite 6500 2.5-16 x 42mm

Pretty happy with this rig. Shoots true, feels good, and looks pretty sweet to boot.

I'll try to post some pics shortly :)
 
Boomer said:
The broadside deer takes a step as you fire, your shot hits too far back and he bolts, just as he would if you fired with a .375. Now your target angle is straight away . . . do you pass up the shot on a wounded animal? Chances are the .243 won't do it on a heavy bodied buck unless the spine is hit which would be more luck than good management. Any cartridge from a 6.5 and up would work in this scenario provided it was loaded with a decent bullet. Now consider that many deer are taken with a snap shot in heavy cover, and many require a follow up shot. Therein lies my objection for the use of the .243 on game over 100 pounds . . . not for what I intend to do, but for what I might have to do.
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I too, like insurance. Especially since I discovered that that insurance doesn't damage any more meat, if the right one's chosen. .375 H&H hits like a truck, and damages less meat than my old 243 when I was younger. See no reason not to use it.
 
Ardent said:
I too, like insurance. Especially since I discovered that that insurance doesn't damage any more meat, if the right one's chosen. .375 H&H hits like a truck, and damages less meat than my old 243 when I was younger. See no reason not to use it.
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What's the price of the ammo in 375 H&H in comparison to .243?
 
Calum said:
What's the price of the ammo in 375 H&H in comparison to .243?
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Identical, I handload.

Plus, I don't shoot 200 deer a year, I shoot 2, so again, irrelevant. If I couldn't afford enough .375 factory ammo, even if I used it, to sight in and shoot two deer, I couldn't afford the gas to get to the hunting field either. Thankfully I'm not that broke and I hope nobody else is.
 
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Hopefully you're shooting much more than half a dozen rounds a year from your hunting rifles. If you want to be hunting deer ethically, most people would suggest going through at least 50-100 rounds a year in practice.

Let's say the .375 bullet is $1.00, and the .243 bullet is $0.25, and the .375 takes 80gr of powder, and the .243 takes 42gr. Let's also say that .375 brass is $54 for 50 and the .243 is $30 for 50. We'll say the brass lasts 5 firings. Primer is $0.03, powder is $32/lb.

Each .375 shot would cost ~$1.62 firing Hornady IL bullets. The .243 also firing Horn. IL bullets would cost ~$0.59 per shot. The .375 costs roughly 3x more to fire than the .243. If you're shooting the gun only 100 times per year (VERY conservative. I'd say most guys here shoot their rifles MUCH more than that every year), you're looking at ammo costs of $162 for the .375 and $59 for the .243.

That's still not a good enough reason not to own and use a .375, but it does justify owning more than one rifle. Take that one to the wife ;)
 
Your cost break down just makes it clear to me the ammo cost doesn't matter. The argument was .243 has little insurance value on game, I agreed and mentioned I use my .375 and have experienced less meat damage. Calum said it was too expensive. I pointed out that if one can't afford the cost difference, one can't afford gas either, and your breakdown is perfect. $9 a month to shoot the .375 versus the .243 over the year, presuming one fires a bare minimum 100 rounds a year. I would presume a hunter worried about the $9 a month would shoot as few rounds as possible. I'm not worried, and shoot piles of .375. :)
 
I agree with you, mostly. I like to shoot 2000-4000 rounds a year from my hunting rifles. Shooting nothing but .375 would add up after a while ;)

It would cost $4,120 per year to shoot the .375 instead of the .243 if you went through 4000 rounds practicing, zeroing your scope, and hunting in a given year.
 
It would probably take 2 years of shooting like that before you needed a new barrel on your .375 ;) Of course it all depends on whether you always keep the barrel cool enough to grab comfortably with the palm of your hand or not...
 
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