Your experiences on medium/big game with .243 cal rifles?

[Sun_and_Steel_77]

This is my similar thought - 243 Win often is got for a wife or a kid to "start" - why is that adequate for them and not for you? So, one of my recent purchases was a 16.5" barrel Ruger 243 Win for me - after having set up my wife with a 788 some years ago, and my grandson with a 783 a few years ago - so "good enough" for them is "good enough" for me? Kinda like a .410 shotgun - most kids start with one - but is that a cartridge for a beginner or for an "expert"?

Much like the puny 7-08 is for the twelve year old son or the “lil’ wifey”.

Most half a box a year shooters in my area wear a 42” belt and use a belted magnum to shoot their 125lb muley dinks in half.
Some of those guys are decent hunters too even if they suffer magnumitis.
Variety is the spice of life.

Over on the rockslide forum there is a long running thread dedicated to hunters taking deer,elk,bear and moose with the 223 Remington using modern projectiles. Heaps of pictures, necropsies and details of successful kills.
It kind of makes me chuckle and it flys in the face of the belted magnum cult I was raised in.

In between the two extremes lies a goldilocks zone…maybe a fast twist 243win or 6 Creed?
As previously mentioned by Ardent a slippery 6 or 7 mm bullet leaving the muzzle around 3000fps is a good place to be and leaves medium game feeling very sick when they catch one.

 

[regulate34]

I’ve shot 3 bear and 2 deer with my 243s
100g partition @3000fps. Worked every time.
All shots were inside 100yrds.

So take that how you will.

Shot a couple coyotes with that same load. Hammers hard and don’t tear them up at all.

 

[time4t]

....

 

[Mr.Rigpig]

Its kind of funny how some guys will get all bent out of shape over .243 vs .264, a whopping .021" of bullet diameter..... claims of one is barely adequate for coyotes, just a beginners/ladies gun(why handicap a beginner?), the other one is adequate for all big game...

The 243 has been doing just fine since its development, and only gets better with newer powder and more importantly, bullet technology. If it wasn't any good it would have faded away and been discontinued.

My bets are on a 243 in the vitals of a big muley over a 338 mag in the ass.... Simply put, put the proper type of bullet where it belongs and you will be fine.

One red flag that always arises is when someone complains about a given calibre not working, as the shot was "perfect" but the animal got away... How do you know the shot was "perfect" if you never recovered the animal?

 

[Ardent]

Evolution still hasn’t developed an animal that can survive a hole in the heart, or even through both lungs for that matter. Although I’ve been told of Cape buffalo managing that feat for an impressive amount of time with low velocity / sub-2200fps solids that cut a clean hole.

Respectable speed gets rid of the clean hole deficiency, the rest is up to the shooter.

 

[Jay]

My wife has killed 4 white-tailed deer & a black bear with her 243 using Remington Core Lokt 100grain ammunition.

I can attest to the bear taking about 5 steps & dying. In comparison the bear I shot with the 7mm Rem Mag ran about 30 yards.

243 works good.

 

[Hmatt]

Reading this thread makes me very happy I’ve chosen 6.5x55 for my do all ��. 7-08 for the wife we should be just fine.

 

[Potashminer]

I have taken 7 animals including 3 deer, 2 black bear and 2 coyotes with a 243 using either 100 grain partition, 95 grain grand slam and 100 nosler btsp. All kills were between 40 and about 170 yards. One bear needed a second round and all others dropped on the spot or did short death runs. The caliber is adequate, but in my areas/ type of hunting -i prefer 708/or 7mm mauser as my primary general purpose medium- game guns.

Since about Year 2000, I did all my deer hunting with 7x57 - 150 grain Partitions, but I do not think they were really needed. With that rifle and load, I took several dozen White Tail and Mule Deer in Saskatchewan. Something like that - circa 7mm bullet, 150 grain, circa 2,800 fps - probably decent enough for a "starter", for "middle" and for "old guys". The rifle was a Ruger No. 1 - do not need big magazines, unless you plan to miss a lot when hunting. But the No. 1 is not a lightweight rifle, I found. That might have contributed to "felt recoil" - I have never fired that cartridge in a lighter weight rifle. My latest acquisition on the work table is a previously owned Model 70 XTR in 6.5x55 - I think that might be "the one".

 

[Great North Guns]

243 is easily a large buck cartridge but that’s where I draw the line.
The caveat being that you always match the bullet and the distance to the game. You have to keep the SD and the velocity high.
243 has had great success in my party with several kills between 10 and 330m and no wounded animals.

 

[DGY]

Funny thing is I shot my last two moose with bullets coming out at less than 2550ft/s and both died quicker than any moose I shot with 30-06 with velocity above 2700ft/s…. And faster than my BIL 300Rum!

 

[MiG25]

IME the 243 begs for "Premium" bullets.

 

[jjohnwm]

Funny how many guys love to trumpet how great the .243 is, along with any other cartridges on the smaller side...but they usually will admit that it is "less forgiving" or provides "less margin for error" or some other proviso. I swear, if I hear that tired old chestnut "...as long as you do your part!" I will scream.

But the thing is, there are lots of hunters who need all the forgiveness that can be mustered up, and the greatest allowable margin for error. They rarely "do their part"...but they still want to use the smallest rifle they can possibly get away with.

There are also those hunters who can kill anything with anything; they "math" the animals to death. A concentrated dose of ballistic coefficient, sectional density, momentum, velocity, bullet frangibility, "knock-down" power and a couple of charts and formulae will serve to slay the largest beasts.

Of course the small-caliber game slayers must pick their shots...but so should we all, and all the time! But the simple fact is that there will be shots presented that can reliably be taken with a larger rifle...but should realistically be passed up if you are using the bare minimum for the game. And it's easy to pass up on a less-than-perfect shot on a meat buck or a doe...but what happens when the guy has one week to hunt, and on the last day a heart-breaking monster trophy buck shows up and allows only a difficult quartering away shot? How many guys will find their resolve to wait for that perfect broadside shot wilting?

That's another of those hunting excuses that makes me grind my teeth. "I had to take a head shot!"...or shoot him in the ass...or whatever other stupid move they choose to make...because "It was the only shot I had!" No, it would be more accurate to state that you didn't have an ethical shot to take...especially with your .243...but you rationalized yourself into shooting anyway.

How about shooting at wounded game? Do you want to use a .243 to shoot at the wrong end of a going-away game animal before it disappears into the bush? Please don't BS that it will never happen to you. It will...or will happen to your partner...or your kid...

Is it easier to shoot a .243 accurately? Sure is...but that's not the point. If you can't shoot a .300mag, then don't...but don't tell yourself that a .243 will do the same job, because although it often will...it sometimes won't.

I often use cartridges that don't have the ranging capability to capitalize on extreme long range targets...but I will virtually never use a cartridge that isn't much more than merely "adequate" to kill the game in question. I love the idea of getting as close as possible; I see no appeal in using "adequate" rifle/cartridge combos when they are propped up in the safe right next to "ideal" ones.

 

[pathfinder76]

I have a neighbour that stopped a charging grizzly with a 243 a few years ago. It did the job decisively.

Whether you like it or not, nothing you shoot gives great margin for error. If you miss, you miss.

 

[gwes2003]

I hunted with a model 88 in 243 for the first time last November. Was lucky enough to harvest a buck. Federal fusion 100gr worked just as well as any other cartridge Ive used. Which includes 30-30, 270, 280, 7-08, 7mmremmag and 30-06.
The 243 killed just as fast with less meat damage than all others except the 7-08. Just my experience.

 

[Joel]

Evolution still hasn’t developed an animal that can survive a hole in the heart, or even through both lungs for that matter. Although I’ve been told of Cape buffalo managing that feat for an impressive amount of time with low velocity / sub-2200fps solids that cut a clean hole.

Respectable speed gets rid of the clean hole deficiency, the rest is up to the shooter.

Here's one I don't understand.

If I was going to shoot a big deer (or perhaps larger animal) with a .44 or .50 caliber, flat nosed, heavy lead bullet, pretty sure a lot of people would say "sounds great"

But a small bullet like a .243 that gives you the hydrostatic shock damage where the bullet opens up, and then becomes a .50 cal flat nose, essentially, is not good?

I can't say I see the logic. It has the wide, maybe even flat meplat. Its going a good distance, probably exiting a deer, especially a heavier bullet. And its arguably doing more damage at least for the first several inches of travel. What gives?

 

[MiG25]

Here's one I don't understand.

If I was going to shoot a big deer (or perhaps larger animal) with a .44 or .50 caliber, flat nosed, heavy lead bullet, pretty sure a lot of people would say "sounds great"

But a small bullet like a .243 that gives you the hydrostatic shock damage where the bullet opens up, and then becomes a .50 cal flat nose, essentially, is not good?

I can't say I see the logic. It has the wide, maybe even flat meplat. Its going a good distance, probably exiting a deer, especially a heavier bullet. And its arguably doing more damage at least for the first several inches of travel. What gives?

Momentum.

If my math is right a 100gr bullet needs to go 5000fps to have the same momentum as a 400 grainer doing 1300fps.

 

[Joel]

Momentum.

If my math is right a 100gr bullet needs to go 5000fps to have the same momentum as a 400 grainer doing 1300fps.

How does momentum kill an animal any faster? Its still going to run off until its blood pressure drops to such a level that its brain runs out of oxygen. Slow hard cast bullets do not make for good bang-flops unless they hit the CNS.

I don't see a mechanism for how "momentum" turns into "kills better". Have heard that before, but it kinda sounds like pseudoscience or ballistic bro science.

 

[Mr.Rigpig]

Here's one I don't understand.

If I was going to shoot a big deer (or perhaps larger animal) with a .44 or .50 caliber, flat nosed, heavy lead bullet, pretty sure a lot of people would say "sounds great"

But a small bullet like a .243 that gives you the hydrostatic shock damage where the bullet opens up, and then becomes a .50 cal flat nose, essentially, is not good?

I can't say I see the logic. It has the wide, maybe even flat meplat. Its going a good distance, probably exiting a deer, especially a heavier bullet. And its arguably doing more damage at least for the first several inches of travel. What gives?

I don't think a 243 expanded to 50 cal is gonna penetrate much further. It likely only started out at 100 gr so will now weigh what? 55-60? thats quite a bit different situation than a 45 or 50 that weighs around 450 gr, that sucker is gonna penetrate from any angle, zero worry about its ability to reach the vitals, as long as the shooter does their part.

Again, the biggest determining factor is the shooter and their ability to put it where it needs to be.

 

[Joel]

I don't think a 243 expanded to 50 cal is gonna penetrate much further. It likely only started out at 100 gr so will now weigh what? 55-60? thats quite a bit different situation than a 45 or 50 that weighs around 450 gr, that sucker is gonna penetrate from any angle, zero worry about its ability to reach the vitals, as long as the shooter does their part.

Again, the biggest determining factor is the shooter and their ability to put it where it needs to be.

Sorry, I was kinda thinking mono in my head and shoulda specified. Apparently it came out as "heavy" because my brain farted. But the 100gr SP is probably still exiting most non-complicated shots on deer? certainly a broadside?

100% on board with what ya said at the end though! And that if its a regular SP, the hard cast is going to have ALL angles covered.

 

[conor_90]

From what I've witnessed the "lightning bolt" effect of a 243 on small deer with heart/lung shots is often a result of dramatic expansion and accompanied by no exit wound.