Talk to me about .243 Winchester

[Rosebud]

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........

Funny thing, the 6mmARC is supposed to be the latest and greatest of long range sniper rifle. Pretty sure the .243 Winchester will shoot rings around it. 95 grain hornady SST is usually lights out for Southern white tails. Unless they are wearing body armor in your area.go figure.

 

[436]

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........

It's a great cartridge, that is my 0.2 on it... But... if you really would like to read some good background on it; read some of the things G David Tubbs has said about the cartridge over the years I'm sure you'd find it quite interesting... http://www.davidtubb.com/
Good luck.

 

[Hard rock]

It's a great cartridge, that is my 0.2 on it... But... if you really would like to read some good background on it; read some of the things G David Tubbs has said about the cartridge over the years I'm sure you'd find it quite interesting... http://www.davidtubb.com/
Good luck.

If you want a full understanding of the 243 win go to terminal ballistics research and read about its performance with about all the different bullets thats been mentioned on this post

 

[DoneNOut]

One of these, never knew a problem till I got on the forums, type of thread.

 

[CBH Australia]

Another new latest and greatest, some reading material for tonight.

 

[ZAK13]

I've never had a problem harvesting a deer with the 243, from the beginning I used the Nosler 95gr BT's hand loaded to just under 3000fps and got great accuracy and results, but since then I switched to the 80gr. Barnes TTSX and or Hornady GMX and with the Superformance powder I am getting the same or better results, pushing it along at 3200fps. The 243 isn't meant to knock a game animal off it's feet, it's meant to efficiently harvest one, and that it does well for me.

 

[Capt RB]

If you use the search function you can see this dead horse has been beaten to death every year. I use the 85bthp gmk. I ran a pack of hounds for bears. Have seen over 200 results from a 6" 44mag to a 338win mag all at treed distance. The most messed up bear we were a part of was shot with a 243 shooting that 85bthp and that one was from a box of federal ammo not even one of my handloads.3250ish fps. Your mistaken if you think a grendel has better killing power than properly sset up 243. goto a 22" barrel and get either a tripod or bipod for the younger shooters.

 

[Hard rock]

I havent read a post here that has said the 243 win isn't a good cartridge but too preform at its potential it needs barrel lenght and a bullet that will do the job thats requiredfor game persued all cartridges have its limitations Ive seen as many deer drop in there tracks and just as many run shot with a 243 when they run you most likely find them but you dont get much of a blood trail unless your using a bullet that exits Hammer Barnes etc those bullets changed the effective ness of the 243 most 243 shooters probably dont know when the 243 win came out the advertised velocities were out of a 24 in barrel to qualify for the min ft lbs of energy at the muzzel too hunt in Colorado making the 257 Roberts obsolete in my opinion a better round but that s marketing then most rifles introduced were in 20 and 22 in barrels I have a 243 win 257 Roberts 2506 Varios 6.5 cals etc they will all do the job with the proper bullet for the chosen game

 

[Wyosam]

I got the 88gr shock hammer to about 3100 out of an 18" barreled 243. It was a muley hammer. I probably still have some on the shelf and I rebarreled that rifle this year. I'll look tonight And could sell them to you cheap to see if you can breathe some life into that thing.