You Know , I never owned a 243. Sold a ton of 788s, and ADL's and Ruger 77 RS ( Rings and Sights ) in that caliber in my youth. Usually with a 3 to 9 Bushnell and sometimes a Leupold 3 to 9 VX2 . What a great Cartridge. I think when were are all standing at the Pearly Gates, waiting for the "Range" to open, we will all remember the 3000 different Cartridges we all knew about , and argued about which was best and how out of that batch there were maybe 10 or 12 that were just fine at what they did. Just as they came from the factory , Easy to shoot, no big Blast , no scary recoil, just all around fine !!! Chambered in a light to medium weight rifle, just a perfect little deer /varmint rifle. In my VERY HUMBLE 3 of those 10 are the .222 Rem; the 243 and the 270 Win. The overused word I'm looking for is CLASSIC!!! Enjoy it!!!