.243 Winchester on Whitetails

Using Sierra 100gr Grand Slams, in my .243 (Win M70 Short Action Carbine)

I shot a small buck 30 yards away from a 20 foot high tree stand. Due to the acute downward angle, I actually hit him slightly off center, high on the back, and the bullet exited between his front legs.

He left 6 inch diameter blood splatters about every ten feet for about 50 to 60 yards, then piled up, dead. Thick underbrush and foot tall grass/weeds caused no problem following the blood trail.

Only one story, about only one deer, but it adds to the total picture.;)
 
My uncle hit one from about 30-40 yards in the right rear hip with an 80gr TTSX from a .243win, MV 3450fps.
Shattered the hip and penetrated diagonally through the deers entire body, punctured the diaphragm, liver, left lung and stopped just inside left shoulder.

Blood trail started about 50 yards later (was on a dead run) but could have been followed by a blind man just by slipping in all of it.

That was a solid 3 feet of penetration.
 
My family and I have shot over 30 deer in the past 15 years with .243 Winchesters, most with 95 grain ballistic tips/ Accutips..

We've never recovered a bullet- all were complete penetrations on corn fed deer ranging from 120 - 180 pounds. All of them dropped within 50 yards of where they were hit.

In our experience, the 243 works just as well as large calibers on deer.
 
Interesting. I've tagged some two dozen bucks via my .243, and none of them moved from the time they were hit--except to the ground.

I'm spoiled. :D
 
I have killed or seen killed quite a few deer with the .243 nearly always its a jump/kick and run, (unless something like both shoulders or spine is hit), blood trail starts from point of impact usually 50 yards or so to a very dead deer. Once that bullet leaves you don't know for sure how it will react, I have had the exact same description as Reynolds had with a 7-08 and Speer bullets, good hit, both lungs, not a single drop of blood for maybe 30 yards and then it was pretty spotty until the last few yards. I have no idea why, unless the very close range impact was more than the bullet could handle.
The rifles I have that shoot X bullets out of are very consistent in the fact that I don't think I have even seriously slowed down a bullet in going through a deer. They will initially act like a miss, but the blood trail tells the tale and the deer critters are pretty easy to find within 50 -75 yards and you could blood trail them easily. If I wanted to know for a fact they would drop right there I would put a Partition, Interlok, or TSX through both shoulders or maybe a high shoulder shot, tracking job should be about 3 feet, straight down.
 
Three from head shots. Almost all the rest were neck shots, but I don't recall more than two or three which were cross-body heart/lung. No running shots.

Dressed-out weights of 110 to 120 pounds, generally.
 
My oldest has taken deer and hogs with her .243. No issues shooting Winchester Platinum silver tip 100 gr. Pass through shots, 1 DRT and 1 dead within short distance.

I have also shared hunting camp with quite a few .243 hunters, and none had any more problems on deer and hogs as others.

One thing to remember is the animal gets a vote. I've seen animals hit perfectly that ran a lot farther than I thought they should. I've seen higher hits in the lungs not bleed for a while until the blood filled enough of the chest cavity. I saw great hits get plugged with tissue and debris and stop bleeding. I've seen a red road of blood come to a sudden halt like Scotty beamed it up.

I've seen 2 shots from a .270 hit a doe in the boiler room within 2 inches of each other with the shooter adamant that his rifle must be off, because the deer did not so much as flinch at the first shot, and walked off after the second out of sight. I went up to where the deer was, found a couple drops of blood and hair, tracked for 50 yards, and found her in a palmetto clump. That was with 130 grain core Lokt!

That being said, I've also seen a lot of DRT or within a couple steps. Bottom line: unless you are seriously overgunned (see .338 WM vs antelope) things can and do happen. If using proven/prescribed bullets on an adequate cartridge, and you put the round where you should, what else can you say?
 
Three from head shots. Almost all the rest were neck shots...
Click to expand...
It's the best tracking tool, of all, isn't it?
...'cause you don't have to! ;)


I like head shots.
Head shots are one of the reasons I built my new ".243". High velocity, flat trajectory, plenty of bullet options, and a rifle that lets me pick which hairs I'm going to cut on the way into the skull.
Brain soup! :D
 
Reynolds, give the 90 grn Accubond a try, if your gettin good velocity, and hit the deer in the lungs, I'd almost eat my hat if it didn't pass through on a brodside shot...
 
I might give the accubonds a try again. I know the Barnes X will stay together. I have a wildcat 6 that is ridiculously, excessively fast and the X performs wonderfully in it. It simply amazes me how anemic the .243 Win behaves on game in comparison to the same size bullets flying 450 fps faster. Even a regular ballistic tip strikes like lightning at hyper velocity. The .243 win just does not deliver the amount of damage I am accustomed to.
 
shoulder and lung shots

A "shoulder shot" is not necessarily a lung shot, and a lung shot as I think it usually does not pick up the shoulders. If you are shooting deer in the shoulders with the .243, I understand why you may not be getting exits, as the off shoulder may be catching the slug. And the .243 entrance hole is not all that big period for consistent blood at the entrance. A true bone busting shoulder shot is alot to ask from a slug under 100 grains. The only .243 slug I've recovered was a R-P 100, caught under the hide on the off side after busting the near shoulder, that deer was DRT.
There seems a pocket/area behind the shoulder, outside the ribs, that can catch blood and limit blood trails on wounds in or out at the shoulder too.

Bamaboy and I have been shooting deer with the .243 the last 10 years or so and are much impressed. We're now shooting Nosler 100 Partitions, have not had a slug fail to exit, (shoulder bone or not) and a high % of our kills are DRT.
 
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