Talk to me about .243 Winchester

[JMW67]

I would look hard at the hammer bullets call steve and he will point you in the right direction just know your twist rate when you talk to him these bullets will give the 243 win a whole new life I have been using a 70 gr. hammer hunter in a 6mm BR and it kills like crazy with great velocity with all this said I load for several other peoples 243 and use 85gr. sierra hpbt but I tell them to shoot behind the shoulder not in it and none have ever lost a deer

 

[Orange Dust]

I read a post once on the .243 by a guy from Arkansas and kept track of a lot of deer shot by kids and .243. He had similar results as you with the slower heavy bullets. Said he then tested super fast Ballistic tips and said they did better on stopping deer. Ultimately he recommended getting kids to shoot a 308 (suppressed if you can) and it did way better at dropping deer.

I have shot a few deer with the 243 and monos- Barnes and Hammers. Maybe look at the 69g Absolute hammers, said it can get up to 3900fps !! That will give some shock. Also I always aim for bone with the mono bullets.

It was me. There are limitations to this though. We finally settled on 55gr Ballistic tips loaded over 4000fps after chasing everything shot with heavier bullets. Hunted feeders with the little ones. Had to wait until the deer was perfectly broadside and pop him in the lungs. They will not run off if hit right. We did this with a cut down gun with a break and a 22" barrel. It will work fine as long as they are close. Shot a couple over 100 yards and had to get the dogs. One was about 150 and the other 175. Recoil was between a 22LR and a .22Mag. As soon as the kids got big enough to shoot a breaked .308 the change was made and the dogs got lonely and fat. Nowadays one shoots a 7MM WSM and the other a .270WSM. No issues with those.

 

[Coldfinger]

I have a Remington 600 with a 17" barrel chambered in .243. I built a youth stock for it, and it was supposed to be the "do all field gun" for home......the max yardage we can shoot here is 250 yards, game ranges from deer on down, with the occasional cougar passing through so I figured the .243 was the perfect candidate. After my kids shot several deer with it, I was left rather underwelled in the results.....No exits, and what I would consider long distance traveled for the shot placement..... Don't get me wrong, they all died and not one made it out of site, but some were close to
making the tree line. About that time I built a youth 6.5 grendel and it really seems to kill better (deer drop on spot or within feet) with the same shot placement, plus I get exits which makes me feel better with kids shooting should I need to track......Anyway, the 243 sits now and I have contemplated rebarreling to a slightly larger caliber, however I have been re-looking at the 243 and wonder if I have it all wrong. I always loaded it with a heavy soft point loaded to accuracy, and with a 17" barrel I'm sure my velocity is way down. I never bothered checking it, just loaded for groups and went for it. So my question for you 243 fans out there......In the above senerios, if I went with a light mono at max speed, would the .243 outshine the 6.5 grendel like it seems like it should? I mean really, if you put the cartridges side by side I can't believe I'm gravitating towards the Grendel........

Sierra 85 grain bthp! Getter up in the 3300+ FPS range. Nuf said!!

 

[DJ Fergus]

It was me. There are limitations to this though. We finally settled on 55gr Ballistic tips loaded over 4000fps after chasing everything shot with heavier bullets. Hunted feeders with the little ones. Had to wait until the deer was perfectly broadside and pop him in the lungs. They will not run off if hit right. We did this with a cut down gun with a break and a 22" barrel. It will work fine as long as they are close. Shot a couple over 100 yards and had to get the dogs. One was about 150 and the other 175. Recoil was between a 22LR and a .22Mag. As soon as the kids got big enough to shoot a breaked .308 the change was made and the dogs got lonely and fat. Nowadays one shoots a 7MM WSM and the other a .270WSM. No issues with those.

High velocity has some good terminal performance benefits. I think the new crowd hasn't caught on to that. I do believe that larger bore diameter is going to do an all around better job than smaller bores but if a fellow is going to use those smaller bores like 243 & 257, they are going to be more impressive when pushed passed 3200 fps with a heavy & fast expanding bullet.

 

[Orange Dust]

Sierra 85 grain bthp! Getter up in the 3300+ FPS range. Nuf said!!

We tried those. They were not as effective. At the time we had about a dozen kids shooting deer. They killed a bunch of them, and we tried everything we could think of. The place was on timber company land in South Arkansas, and unbelieveably thick. Without a really good trail or a good dog you will lose nearly 100% of the ones that run off. In these conditions the BEST remedy is a 2" exit hole.

 

[mobenzowner]

I've taken 3 or 4 deer with a .243. I used the 85 gr sierra and the 87 grain Berger vld-H. I never had to track any of them, but admittedly all were taken inside 150 yds. I did always feel like I was a little under gunned however with the .243 and never took even what I would consider a slightly marginal shot.

 

[Ckgworks]

I hope I don't miss any questions in this.....if I do, sorry!

First bullets were both Speer and Hornady SP, and shots were all broadside/slightly quartering, lung shots...... For those wanting more info, I feel like you are kinda making my point.......these have all been "perfect" vital shots under 200 yards, with quality bullets. I have recovered the bullets, and they are perfect mushrooms so they performed as designed.......it seems like even factory ammo under these conditions would out perform a Grendel just looking on paper....

I was looking at the Absolute Hammers, which is what got me thinking maybe I was looking at this wrong!

As far as selling, this 600 is not the gem you're thinking of.....I cut 1" off the barrel to remove a bad rust spot, original stock was gone and overall it's rough......But it'll still shoot 1" which is plenty good for its application.

7-08 would be over kill for what I'm looking for......more coyotes get shot than deer, however I have been surprised what a little increase in bullet diameter seems to do. If I re barrel it will be to 6.5x47 or some .25 caliber round. I'm feeling better reading the responses so far, keep them coming!

 

[Orange Dust]

I've taken 3 or 4 deer with a .243. I used the 85 gr sierra and the 87 grain Berger vld-H. I never had to track any of them, but admittedly all were taken inside 150 yds. I did always feel like I was a little under gunned however with the .243 and never took even what I would consider a slightly marginal shot.

this sample was over one hundred.

 

[Orange Dust]

I hope I don't miss any questions in this.....if I do, sorry!

First bullets were both Speer and Hornady SP, and shots were all broadside/slightly quartering, lung shots...... For those wanting more info, I feel like you are kinda making my point.......these have all been "perfect" vital shots under 200 yards, with quality bullets. I have recovered the bullets, and they are perfect mushrooms so they performed as designed.......it seems like even factory ammo under these conditions would out perform a Grendel just looking on paper....

I was looking at the Absolute Hammers, which is what got me thinking maybe I was looking at this wrong!

As far as selling, this 600 is not the gem you're thinking of.....I cut 1" off the barrel to remove a bad rust spot, original stock was gone and overall it's rough......But it'll still shoot 1" which is plenty good for its application.

7-08 would be over kill for what I'm looking for......more coyotes get shot than deer, however I have been surprised what a little increase in bullet diameter seems to do. If I re barrel it will be to 6.5x47 or some .25 caliber round. I'm feeling better reading the responses so far, keep them coming!

7-08 is one of the finest medium range deer cartridges available with the right bullets. The .243 is a great coyote gun. Anything in between is just that. We shot a lot of animals with a .257 Weatherby and Ackley. They are great within their point blank range with heavy bullets. Same for the 6.5's. The .257's have the same edge on smaller stuff that the 6.5's hold on deer. Guess that's why we have so many guns.

 

[dwinmeade]

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[Lahunter76]

Threw the years, I and my family have shot several of the rounds mentioned above. Below you will find my break down.

1) .243: My grandma and mother both shot a Remington 742(I believe) in a 243....killed so many deer with it that I couldn't count, My grand parents ran dogs a lot and that's how they fed the family. My Cousin also shot the gun and killed a couple but didn't have the fortune as my grandma or my mother. A good friend and coworker of my father also shot a Winchester m70 in a 243 for years and actually killed a huge 170" buck with it one year....took about 20 steps and killed over, that deer weight about 240lbs.

2) 7mm-08: My father got me a Remington m7 in a 7mm-08 and I and my father shot it for about 5 years....I killed my first 8pt with it...we shot 120gr hollow pts out of it. Nether of us was over impressed with this rifle. I mean I did kill several and I did not lose any but just wasn't a huge fan

3) 25-06: My father found an old Remington m700 BDL 25-06 w/Leopold vx3 6.5-20x40 with 115gr cor-lokes and he shot so many deer with it, its shameful lol!! I also killed my first deer with it, and I also presided to kill multiple more. I bought my wife her first rifle in a Sako 75 25-06 shooting 100gr barns vortex. She has killed two deer with it and I have killed 4 does and 2 coyotes.

4) .257 Weatherby: Vanguard, I will start by saying this may be one of my favorite deer rounds. Shooting 110 gr Nosler AB. I had only hunted with this rifle for about 4 yrs and killed several does and one nice old buck. Shot them from 40yds to 400yds....recovered all within 50yds of impact.

5) 7mmRM: Winchester m70 classic stanines boss, arguably one of the best Rounds every! Shooting 140gr Ballistic Silver tips I and my father has vanquished well over 100 deer over the last 20 yrs with this rifle. this past year I loaded him the 150gr ballistic silver tips and he absolutely loved them.....this will be the rifle that we will measure all others... lol

6) 308: my uncle and my cousin has killed several with this old Remington, but me and my father said why shoot a 308 when we had a 30-06(classic nostalgia here with a 30-06 but will not comment on it much)

I am currently building a rifle for my wife and that my kids will also shoot. 22" carbon barrel 1:7.5 twist, tikka T3x lite action that will be chambered in a 6mm Creedmoor, my plans are(if I can ever find any, but not in a hurry) is to shoot the 103 Hornady Eldx or the 109 Berger Hybrids, If I cant get them I will be going with some hammers!

I believe with correct placement in the correct distance limits and correct bullet construction then I believe I will have a winner!!

 

[Idaho Lefty]

Not to be too "Rude" but,.. JUNK,.. the 17" Barrel ( go 22" min ) and,..
put some, 100 grain Sierra GK's SP's or Hornady Interlock, Bullets in the Rifle and get, the Velocity up to 2,950 - 3,000 FPS and the .243 Win becomes, a whole nother,.. "animal" ! The Berger 87 HVD'S @ 3,100 FPS are awesome too.

 

[del2les]

We've shot a fair number of deer with 243's in barrel lengths from 26" to 18 1/2", and bullet selection is important. Several deer have fallen to uncles and cousins Rem 742's and 760's, and of course, our bolt guns. I have a Ruger with a 18 1/2" tube, and with the old Speer 85BT to 100 CoreLokts it performed well. In the longer barrels, Nosler BT, Sierra 100BT, 85's, 95's and even 105AMAX have killed their share. Most were DRT, but 2 or 3 lung shots have run under 50 yards before staying down, but then we have seen that from many calibers and bullets.

When hunting deer sized game and within reasonable distances, I never feel under-gunned with my 243's.

 

[Ckgworks]

Not to be too "Rude" but,.. JUNK,.. the 17" Barrel ( go 22" min ) and,..
put some, 100 grain Sierra GK's SP's or Hornady Interlock, Bullets in the Rifle and get, the Velocity up to 2,950 - 3,000 FPS and the .243 Win becomes, a whole nother,.. "animal" ! The Berger 87 HVD'S @ 3,100 FPS are awesome too.

It's not rude, but you're missing the point a little bit..........inches (weight) out at the end of a barrel make a huge difference to a 10 year old.......especially a girl with their muscle structure. An adult, not so much, I agree make it longer. It sounds like I need to get my velocity up, and I might be happier..... that "might" isn't enough for me to put money on a new 243 blank. Who knows maybe I got the odd balls right in a row and the next 20 would be DRT.....

All in all, I think it's interesting how all of our experiences can be different and can mold our thinking one way vs another.....A classic one man's junk is another man's treasure, which can lead to some heated arguments. In reality, neither one is right or wrong! For the cost of some Hammer bullets, I may try them in it as it sits and see what happens......... I read through the absolute hammer thread and didn't see anyone trying the 243, is anyone here trying them?
Thanks all- I do enjoy reading others results and opinions!