Thread: First gun

Originally Posted by deer243

Fair enough, but regards to bush stalking my mates father whose shot hundreds of deer over the years(job was a culler) bush stalking used a 222 then a 243 for years and years. Hardly even lost any deer and i and a couple of my mates use 243 bush stalking and have never had a prob with lost animals yet. I hear plenty of stories from other mates and there circle of hunter friends on how they shot a deer with there 308, 270 etc and how it got away. The fact is even bush stalking you shouldnt shoot unless you have a clean shot, as any caliber trying to shoot thou crap is asking for trouble. And just as a note its been well known on tests that have been done in rod and rifle and field and stream that a 100gr 243 round will out perform much heavier slower rounds keeping a straight line shooting thou rubbish. Last dozen or so deer i have shot all around the shoulder area or just behind none of them have run more than 20 yards, a 243 with a good round drops them fine. I use 100 gr fed powershok rounds, knockdown power is awesum, still think its the best factory round you can use in a 243 after trying a few different brands. I dont like recoil much, so a 243 suits me fine, of cause a 7mm-08 or 270, 3006 does the job even better but you wont be losing deer because you using a 243 , esp if you shooting within 200m like i try to do. In saying that i have shot a deer at 350m and it dropped it on the spot shot in the chest.

Completely agree, there is no such thing as a "brush buster" even tests performed with a 375 H&H have given deviation of bullet path from small twigs etc.
My reasoning for a slow heavy bullet is more to do with lower impact velocities meaning less chance of bullet disintegration and/or massive meat damage.
I do not doubt the killing capacity of a .243 in close cover provided a suitable bullet, as you have mentioned, is used.

An 85gr barnes TSX pushed fast out of a .243 is a lethal combination!

Bullet placement still remains key and I don't think anyone meant that using a larger calibre was an excuse to shoot recklessly, however people are human and mistakes do happen and I believe the argument is that using a larger calibre could mean the difference between and anchored animal and one that you will never see again.