Thread: Reloading .243, tricks, tips and advice

Originally Posted by Jhon

That heat will erode your chamber throat before you can say "Jack Robinson" if you keep on shooting past those first three rounds without cooling down. Which is why I would go for something burning less powder at more gentle pressures for culling, like 222 or 223. Goats won't know the diff. Heat is the enemy of barrel life. For goat culling at closer ranges there's a lot in favour of lever action in Pistol calibres, like 357mag.

Absolutely. The problem is where I do a lot of the culling, the goats can quite often be out past 200m. In my experience there, the .223 has been absolutely fine in the past for everything up to 200. Between 2-300, it’s marginally ok for nannies and kids, but not ideal on the Billy’s. I like to know that when I need to take an animal, goat or fellow deer at 300m or more, I can dispatch it quickly.
As you say, the .223 is the ideal, but I just need something with a bit longer legs now (the goats are way faster at climbing hills than I will ever be haha).
Cheers,