.243 for whitetail

I've killed a lot of deer with a 243 and they will be DRT with the proper bullet placement.


When hunting, I always blow away at least one shoulder. A little high and I destroy the spinal column. A little low and I take out the aorta and the front of the lungs. And I have never seen deer run on their hind legs. Besides, our hunt club is very serious about one shot kills and DRT. It is not uncommon for a deer shot behind the shoulders to run. We have had deer run over a 100 yards before dropping. That is unacceptable with our crowd and will put you on "probation". Do it again and you will be asked to leave. Before you can hunt with us you have to hit a 6 inch steel plate at 200 yards 3 consecutive times with the firearm you plan to hunt with. That is basically a 3 MOA target. What is nice is that we haven't had to trail or track a deer in many, many years. Shoulders are mostly bone, cartilage, and sinew. They don't even make very good burger. A .243 loaded with a decent bullet like a 95/100 grain Partition will be potent medicine on a whitetail and will punch through a shoulder with little effort at normal hunting ranges. Do it all of the time.
 
Don't shoot Ballistic Tips and H-Ps. And speeds above 3000 fps so's to help hold blood shot tissue to a minimum.

Just saying:
243 is a girly cartridge when its bullet speeds are held to 3000 and below. But it becomes a whole different animal when its bullet speeds are increased to 3200 and beyond. (that theroy applies to any cartridge.) Very destructive the 24 cal becomes and strangely without the need to hit bone irregardless of bullet selection.

All hunters need to have three (3) hunting requirements. Patience, a hellva good aiming eye, and imagination > i.e. knowing just where his/her bullet will exit the carcass is just as important as the bullets point of aim entrance wound.
 
Depending on which Hornady 87 grain that was, it may not have been a "varmint" bullet. The old 87 spire point with the "coke bottle" core was one of the best 6mm(.243) deer bullets I've ever used.
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Mobuck, They were in fact varmint bullets I was using. Normally, I would find the shed jackets inside the deer, whereas the cores would exit the off-side. Therefore, the bullets were coming apart...not the action of a typical "game" (as opposed to a varmint), bullet.
 
Shoulders are mostly bone, cartilage, and sinew. They don't even make very good burger.
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You don't have much knowledge when it comes to cuts of meat, do you? The shoulder of a deer is not much different from a pork shoulder. They do have an odd shaped shoulder bone ("blade"), but just as a pork shoulder, they are make a prime roast. A person who converts a massive amount of prime deer meat into "burger", is a person who does not appreciate deer venison, does not know how to cook it, has dead taste buds, or his knuckles drag on the ground when he walks. :p

How to "do" a deer roast:

Place an entire deer shoulder roast on a large piece of heavy-duty Aluminum foil.

Dot the roast with butter.

Squeeze the juice from an entire Lemon on the roast.

Sprinkle the roast with a full (not the smaller recipe size), envelope of Lipton's Onion Soup Mix.

Wrap the roast securely in the Aluminum foil.

Bake at 350-375 until slighly over-done.

Unwrap the roast and put all the juices and remenants of the onion soup mix into a sauce pan.

Make gravy from the contents of the sauce pan by adding some water and a thickener such as corn starch or St. Vincent's Arrow Root (best thickener).

Slice the deer roast into 1/4-1/2 thick slices.

**Pour the gravy (important!)**, over the meat...also use the gravy on mashed potatoes. The onion/lemon sourness will impart a wonderful tang to the meat. Please! No more talk of grinding-up such a wonderful resource.
 
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Haven't hunted whitetail with a 243, but we (mostly my wife) have shot a ton of mule deer with hers.

Also great for starting grandkids on hunting. I normally use a 257 Roberts ( or this year I tried the 6.5 CM) but I believe the 243 to be the best deer/antelope round out there. Light weight, no recoil, effective (even at longer rangers) and extremely accurate.

Don't let anyone tell you that you have to limit your shots to 300 yards. With the proper bullet, its good to 750 yards or so for hunting, 1200+ for targets.

My wife got this guy this year, at 539 yards, using Hornady 100 gr. BTDP. She use to use 87 gr. Bergers, but they were too violent, damaging too much meat.

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I traded into a Ruger #1 in 243 about 20 years ago. I loved the rifle but that caliber wasn't what I was seeking. Got a good trade deal so gave it a try.

Have shot it a lot and reloaded a lot for it. Mild to shoot but I consider it a little light for animals over 125 pounds. I know many deer are killed with it every year but I wonder how many are wounded and lost? Folks don't brag about those deer.

Once when shooting I set up a soup can at 50 feet and shot it with an 80 grain SP load from the 243. the can never flinched. I fired two more rounds with same results. Walked over and found the can was center punched by all three bullets. Six holes, in and out. Not enough energy or whatever to make an empty soup can even quiver. Shot the can with a 308 and watching it fly 40 feet.

I still have the rifle but I would not shoot anything over 50 pounds with it. Just me. Just sayin'.

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I bought my little Sako .243 carbine back around 1971. Seven pounds, ready to hunt. I've tagged a couple of dozen bucks with it. All were bang/whop/plop. I don't care how big Bambi is. You put a bullet in the middle of his neck, he's not going anywhere. :)
 
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Meat damage is solely dependent on bullet selection.
I disagree. For years I shot deer with a 6MM Remington using an 87 grain Hornady Varmint bullet. I always shot them behind the shoulder and always waited for a standing side shot. Little to no meat was bloodshot or turned to mush despite the fact that a varmint bullet is the wrong bullet for deer.
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To that sir, I would say you have been very lucky using a varmint bullet on medium sized game such as white tail deer.

To you and anyone else doing the same, I would almost call it not smart and almost unethical.
 
Once when shooting I set up a soup can at 50 feet and shot it with an 80 grain SP load from the 243. the can never flinched. I fired two more rounds with same results. Walked over and found the can was center punched by all three bullets. Six holes, in and out. Not enough energy or whatever to make an empty soup can even quiver. Shot the can with a 308 and watching it fly 40 feet.
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Let me get this right...you are shoot a soup can to see how much "...energy or whatever..." it takes to move it as an indication of how well it will perform on deer? Have you ever considered, in your scientific mind, that it has enough energy to efficiently kill deer, but not enough "whatever"?
 
To that sir, I would say you have been very lucky using a varmint bullet on medium sized game such as white tail deer.
To you and anyone else doing the same, I would almost call it not smart and almost unethical.
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And to you sir, I would say that if one is a sportsman as opposed to killing a deer by whatever means no matter as to how much meat is destroyed (or if the animal is gut shot, "head shot' that shoots off the jaw, neck shot that goes through the esophagus, etc.) in the process of having a carcass to display (and promptly turns the entire thing into barely edible Summer Sausage), is not a sportsman or ethical. I shot a dozen or so whitetails with that combo (87 Hornady) and method (standing-broadside through the ribs), does not sound "lucky" to me at all.
 
If I cheated on my tax return and got away with it, I would be happy.

Still, it would not make it right.

My BIL shot a pig with a varmint bullet last summer. The pig has not been seen since. He was not lucky that time.
 
hunting style

I've begun to think that the use and reputation of the .243, or any of the "light" rifles, (to this you can add the 7.62x39, the .223,and any of the new short MSR cartridges) may well depend a bit on how and where one hunts. If you are on limited access land, in a tower tower blind or shooting house, overlooking a plot or crops, where you have support for the shot, a relaxed deer, and are seeing multiple deer at multiple angles, your ranges are limited, have ample opportunity to hunt, and can "pick" a shot with enough patience, you have plenty of rifle.

If you are a short season stump hunter, on public land, in some type of cover or where ranges can reach some distance, with deer pushed past you by other hunters, and only perhaps moments to make your shot and a shoulder or quartering shot is all you are going to get, maybe THAT shot, for THAT year, maybe a heavier rifle begins to make sense. In those conditions, one cannot always wait for broadside or a dead still animal. NOTE, I am not advocating snap shooting, or taking low percentage shots at galloping deer, simply trying to state that the use of "light" calibers and success/satisfaction rates by those using them, may well depend on the conditions.

As I posted earlier, I hunt .243 a bit, but nearly always in somewhat controlled, somewhat open conditions as described. Used that way, I am completely satisfied and a bit impressed, as I was raised with a group of .243 bashers. Were I to find myself limited to high density public land hunts, with only a few days to hunt, and woodland conditions, the .243 (or any light rifle) would not be my choice, and I would go heavy. NOT to make up for poor shooting or more killing power, but not to have to pick and choose shots on what might be limited opportunities.
 
If I cheated on my tax return and got away with it, I would be happy.
Still, it would not make it right.
My BIL shot a pig with a varmint bullet last summer. The pig has not been seen since. He was not lucky that time.
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There are several things wrong with you "reasoning" (1) This is a tread about the .243 for deer (look at the original post), not pigs.
(2) If the pig was not recovered, there is no way to know where of if he was shot with that .243. If this is your standard of proof, well...
 
I think I would rate the 243/6mm well ahead of a .223 or 7.62x39. In Texas it is very popular. I've killed 2 hogs with my 6mm, 2 shots.
 
Well Saxon pig, your soup can science is grossly flawed. Think about it for a few minutes and you will discover why you came to the flawed conclusion. If you think about it and still don't get it, shoot an empty can with a 7 rum and then shoot it with a 9mm Luger. Then if you still don't get it, shoot full, sealed cans of soup.:D think snatching a table cloth off a table without moving the place settings.
 
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Most lost hogs are due to missing all the vitals. Many people shoot hogs the same place they shoot deer. It does not work. Aim much lower.
 
I have been on a couple of youth deer hunts where a 243 was the recommended caliber. The kids were allowed to load one round only. I only know of one deer that was lost. Most were found close to where they were shot. The young girl I went with used my Remington model 7 chambered in 7-08 and killed three deer with it. I loaded a 120gr Sierra bullet to about 2600fps for her. All her deer were killed very quick and never left her sight.

The 243 will work and has worked for a long time. I just always felt better with a little bigger bullet and a little less velocity. Lower velocity helps with meat loss but not if you make a direct hit on a shoulder bone. A hit like that WILL cost you some meat no matter what you are shooting.
 
Not enough energy or whatever to make an empty soup can even quiver.
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All that proves is the bullet went through without overcoming the inertia of the can. It has nothing to do with the kinetic energy of the projectile.

The can was just as dead wasn't it?
 
I still get a chuckle from a .243 story from back when it was new on the market. A hunter took one to Africa to use on plains game.

The pro hunter's comment, after several kills: "It shoots bigger than it looks."

It still does. :D
 
Shot placement.

I don't hunt deer or elk any longer, but, when I did, I'd shoot them BEHIND the shoulder, thru the rib/lungs. Can't breath, as lungs are filling up with blood, or totally shot out. Good placement, no bloodshot/wasted meat. Take your time shooting. The animal deserves that.
 
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