Thread: 243 on deer

Advice around here suggests your over gunned and should swap it 243 for a 223 instead.

Originally Posted by Yesmate

I have noticed the .243 does have good impact shock on animals under 200 yards.but they are still semi gay.

That's exactly why a manly 25-303 is called for.

Originally Posted by TeRei

The 100gr Norma was always too hard. No expansion.

Probably why Tony Orman ,and others ,suggests hitting shoulder bones is best practise with the hundy grain loads

Originally Posted by 7mmsaum

Do you feel that’s because you know you have to be careful with shot placement and/or your aiming closer to the spine to shock drop and roll

Nah just bush hunting ,most shots under 60m and just go for usual mid shoulder placement,just seems to kill well.

I dont understand the .243 detractors. I have never found the boundaries of it. I can't see where I would shoot a deer with a .308 that would kill it when the .243 wouldn't.

However, some factory .243 ammo is woefully undeloaded and nohwere near what it says on the box. (SImilar to the .223 - I chrono'd some PMC 55 grain .223 the other day and it came out at 2700 fps - on the side of the box it says 3200 fps!

I remember chornoing some .243 I think it was cheap PPU and the 100 grain load came out at 2600 fps. Now, this will still kill deer because I did it, but I used that brass to reload some 90 grain BT's at 3200 fps and it made me feel better.

Gunworks have a shipment of 85gr GMK coming in mid September. Some dude has already bought 4 packets. Probably an undesirable pill because all they do is bang flop.

The Russian heart shot is where a heavier pill will beat a light fast one...but in last dozen years I haven't taken that option. Back a few years when animals were thin on the ground,it was used often as that quick chance was often all I would get for two days hunting.

I started shooting with the 243, 75 gr on goats, fallow and then when the rifle moved to my care I added the Berger 87gr hunter and it's nailed a few red's.
Then I added a bolt action fast twist 243 with 87gr again it dealt to some Tahr and then 105gr bergers and now 108gr ELM-M accounted for a few fellow and some reds. Longest shot has was a goat at 450 mtr, bang flop roll down the hill.
I must admit I have sort of moved on as the 243 is so easy to shoot it's sort of taken the challenge away so I have been shooting the 358Win mostly the last few years but it's only a 300 mtr gun in my hands. about ready to take the 243 out again for another run. have some long range pea fowl that need to be dealt too getting close enough with the 35 cal is a bit hard.
Z.

I’ve just gotten a .243 for the mrs to learn to shoot, unsure what factory ammo to go for, any recommendations from you lot? If nothing stands out I’ll probably just grab a box of fiochi, all my guns seem to all shoot that stuff consistently.

Federal blue box

Originally Posted by TeRei

The 100gr Norma was always too hard. No expansion.

I would almost bet if put through a fast twist barrel it won't be too hard anymore... And those lovely 80-87grn loads that used to perform well ,suddenly become grenades

the fiochi is easy. not to spendy kills shit good .the seller &ballot 100g was ok if you can find it good for roos .

Re ammo, the 95gr SST's are a good bullet but $3.70 - $5 a shot is not cheap.
Fiocchi at 2950 fps and Hornady at 3185 fps.

In practice, inside 200 mtr any thing over 80gr will kill a deer so I suspect I would be shopping on price, particually if some target practice was on the cards.
Z

Originally Posted by SpeightsDrinker

I’ve just gotten a .243 for the mrs to learn to shoot, unsure what factory ammo to go for, any recommendations from you lot? If nothing stands out I’ll probably just grab a box of fiochi, all my guns seem to all shoot that stuff consistently.

Yes the blue box federal is a good option, I chrono the 80 gr load recently and it averaged 3187 fps so if it shoots well in your gun it should serve you well.

Used to handload 65gn Vmax in the 243 for smacking Wallabies and 87gn SP for anything else