Thread: Factory ammo fliers every 3 shots

The reason the .243 performs better (accuracy wise) with the lighter bullets is because it was designed for shooting rabbit-sized groundhogs out to 300 metres or so, not for deer shooting. The 100 grain (CAC even loaded 105 grain which were a bloody disaster) load was added as an afterthought. I had a .243 BSA Majestic in 1967 when I was working at West Arm on the Manapouri power project. I owned it about two weeks before I sold it and got my father to throw my old sporterised .30/06 M1 Garand on the Road Services bus to me. With the .243 I shot three deer (all chest shots) in a week at ranges less than 100 metres and never found one as the blood trails never went more than a few metres. That problem went away instantly with the .30/06, the caliber I still use. On reflection, I suspect the poor .243 performance may have been attributable to the 100 grain steel jacketed Norma tri-clad ammo I was using, not giving enough expansion. One of my old hunting mates uses nothing but a BSA Majestic .243 (I rebarrelled it twice over 25 years) and has shot an awful lot of animals with it, although I have witnessed him having similar experiences that I had with mine.