Deer hunting 243?

Iknow in minnesota it is totaly legal to hunt with a .243. but what are all of your views on it. is it to small or not.

This one was put down opening day by an 11 Year old named Jenna… with a .243 She heart shot it, her first hunt and deer A well placed round will do the job

I’ve shot a lot of deer with both a .223 and 22-250. Great calibers for an accurate shooter. A .243 is more than enough caliber. I watched my uncle shoot deer with .222. Amazing what a well placed shot will do.

243 wife shoots a deer every year with it.

That is a great gun for deer.

The .243 is a great choice for whitetail, antelope, and coyotes. I’ve been using one for all species for 30 years and haven’t once wished I’d had more gun. With a little change in bullet weights-types it’ll do it all. 1/2″moa groups aren’t uncommon.I have one handload that will shoot that at 200 yards!

Don’t let anyone talk you out of a .243! Some proclaim you need knock down power when in reality you simply need to know how to aim. Don’t rely on heavy bullets to rip apart large muscles when a sweet little bullet will easily destroy the heart and lungs killing just as easily as any other caliber. I use a .243 Ruger M77 Mark II and have for 15-16 years. I’ve killed probably 18-20 deer with that gun and each was as dead as need be. I’m looking forward to using it for ‘yotes this winter too and hope to work up a couple different recipes once I get my reloading stuff and figure out how to use it. Another fine caliber, not taking away from the .243, is the .257 Roberts. I feel it is a good idea to have both, lol.

I have both a .243 and .257 Roberts.
Just like my pointed sticks from my bow or anything else!!

Shoot Placements!!

Check the post in the deer forum on “11 Pt down” The little brother took that one with a .223

Just got my first .243 last year. Didn’t get the chance to shoot a deer yet, but its great on yotes. I might take it out later in the gun season, we’ll see. Will depend on how well my new 7mm shoots.

The .243 does shoot INCREDIBLY well. 1/2 MOA at 400 yards within its first 2 boxes of shells fired through it.

Make sure you choose the right bullet for deer, though. Something bonded to hold together and get good penetration.

EDIT – My .243 Remington SPS varmint loves the Winchester 95gr XP3’s. (I don’t reload)

Loved my old .243 – wish i would have never gotten rid of it.

What kind of rounds are people using on their .243’s for deer hunting? Are you shooting 100 grains?? Looking to get the wife’s rifle sighted in for SD and I just want to make sure I have a good round. Thanks for any advice.

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What kind of rounds are people using on their .243’s for deer hunting? Are you shooting 100 grains?? Looking to get the wife’s rifle sighted in for SD and I just want to make sure I have a good round. Thanks for any advice.

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Put a 95 grain Winchester Supreme Ballistic Silvertip in a deer where it needs to be and its back straps for dinner

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What kind of rounds are people using on their .243’s for deer hunting? Are you shooting 100 grains?? Looking to get the wife’s rifle sighted in for SD and I just want to make sure I have a good round. Thanks for any advice.

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My .243 Remington SPS varmint loves the Winchester 95gr XP3’s. This shot near 1/2 MOA (about a 2.5 to 3 inch 3 shot group) at 400 yards for me last year. I have only shot 1 round through it since, and the yote droped in his tracks at 175 yards.

EDIT – With the Leupold B&C reticle on top, that group was actually quite near the aiming point, without guessing, holdover, or Kentucky windage. I should add a disclaimer to this that I have yet to actually shoot a deer with this bullet — but it has a great ballistic coeficient (0.411) for retained downrange energy and is bonded for weight retention and improved penetration. With a well placed shot, should do the trick nicely! Only one way to find out, I guess.

I have a load I shoot at deer and antelope that shoots exeptional in my 1in 9.5 twist .243. its just 85 gr. soft point hornady with 43 grains of h4350. It groups exstremely good and isn’t temp. sensitive.I shot a “book” antelope last year at just under 500 yards. dropped in its tracks. This load works well in 90 degrees as well as -20 below. same point of impact. Its sweet! I’ve developed a super good load for my other gun that has a 1-12 twist that shoots 3990 fps! this load will shoot 1/4 moa @ 100 yards and 1/2″ moa @ 200 yards. Its the best I’ve tested in varmit style bullets.

Just under 500 yards….

Now that is goat hunting!!

Don’t know exact range because the range finder I was using decided to quit working at that stalk. I wasn’t able to get any closer because of lack of cover. It was my last try at him. I’d been hunting him for 5 days so… I know I shouldn’t but put the bipods down ,turned the scope up to 24x. put the crosshair 5 ft above his shoulder and squeezed.I actually was able to peek over the scope an watch him fold. so… the distance was how far it takes a 3600fps 85 grain bullet to drop 5 ft. I am just guessing 500 yards? I was sighted in dead on at 200 yards. Anybody know how to figure that? just curious.

We use Federal Fusion 95 grain. Shoots great and puts them down.

The .243 is a really good choice for deer. Anything from about an 85 to 100 grain bullet, your choice of make, model, and brand. I reload and my model 70 likes Noslers. It is as you know, a .308 necked down to .243 (6mm)….Fast and flat shooting. Good hunting to you

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Don’t know exact range because the range finder I was using decided to quit working at that stalk. I wasn’t able to get any closer because of lack of cover. It was my last try at him. I’d been hunting him for 5 days so… I know I shouldn’t but put the bipods down ,turned the scope up to 24x. put the crosshair 5 ft above his shoulder and squeezed.I actually was able to peek over the scope an watch him fold. so… the distance was how far it takes a 3600fps 85 grain bullet to drop 5 ft. I am just guessing 500 yards? I was sighted in dead on at 200 yards. Anybody know how to figure that? just curious.

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If you know it was exactly a 5 feet holdover, thats easy… Just look at the ballistics tables (its easy, that is, if you can find one with a simmilar bullet / muzzle velocity). I assume, though, that you were rough estimating 5 feet over, which could have really been 3-7 feet, who knows…. ???

Anyway, Federal makes an 85 grain sierra Gameking BTHP, but the MV starts at 3300 fps. I assume you loads were handloads? With this 3300fps load, it drops about 38 inches at 500 yards given a 200 yard zero.

Just found an easy calculator on the Hornady website. Check it out.. http://www.hornady.com/ballistics-resource/calculator

I input 3600 fps, 85 grains, and I took a guess on the ballistic coefficient, but I assume you were using pretty “sleek” bullets, so I gave it a 0.400 BC. It calculated the drop at 27 inches with a 200 yard zero… http://www.hornady.com/cgi-bin/ball10.cgi?firearm=Rifle&desc=&wght=85&coef=0.4&vel=3600&sight=1.5&temp=59&barom=29.53&zero=200&wspd=0&calcbutton=Calculate

Anyway, I don’t think you’re going to get a solid answer unless you knew more exact numbers… If you knew it was exactly 5 feet holdover of how long (exactly) the bullet took to get there, you would have something. Depending on your numbers and assuming you did really holdover 5 feet above the target, you possibly could have been shooting a longer range… however, there are a ton of variables (BC, MV, holdover height, etc) that are just too inexact to know for sure.

Either way, one heck of a shot!

WOW! Great link, thanks.I’ll be doing some figuring.Got a good rangefinder thats really user friendly now.My holdover was based that a goat is aprox. 3′ tall at the shoulder.Good guess I guess.

No problem.

Answering your post was a nice little diversion from staying up with my son who was puking all night. (fun stuff!)

Thanks for the info Guys!