Am I Crazy?

Nice No. 1's fellas :)

Good choice on getting a .243 again

I bought my wife a Remington model 7 in .243 a few years ago, and I have three 6mm's that have all been used for deer hunting at one time or another. One of them is now a dedicated varmint & predator rifle.

I've found the 85 gr Partition to be a great performing deer bullet for the .243

My hunting load for her .243 is the 85 gr NPT over a starting load of W760. Very little recoil and still plenty enough energy to drop a deer in it's tracks just as good as anything else.

Shot placement is the key whether you're using a .243 or .300 win mag
 
tahoe2 said:
I mostly shoot old rounds like 7mm & 8mm Mausers, 300 Savage, 30-30 Win etc... because my type of hunting doesn't require any more than that.
Thick, Coastal woods of Western Washington with the occasional 200-300 yard clesrcuts, plus I don't care for all that recoil of the fire & brimstone rounds. I'm not knocking magnums, they certainly have their place, just not for me.
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This is just it. We shoot/hunt for pleasure, so why not do what makes you happy? I have a thing for 8mm Mausers. In fact, I have a sporterized WWII Mauser and a modern Remington 700 for the same purpose. Can't buy premium ammo at mom and pop stores, but I don't care. I like having something different, and making a little extra effort to sustain my favorite hunting caliber is part of the adventure.

My cousin has hunted 10X more than me over his lifetime (very serious hunter) and when we were kids, I remember how we were so anxious to be allowed my our parents to carry the more Manly calibers like 30-06 (funny how that used to be the Big Dog for deer, but is merely an Old Dog to some now..). He always comes back to the .243, that's his thing. Gentle recoil, adequate power and very flat shooting within deer hunting ranges. The nostalgia effect for him is a bonus since his .243 was given to him by his mother so many years ago...
 
I have a thing for 8mm Mausers.
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I have a sporterized K98 Mauser in the original 8x57. It's a rough equivalent to the .30-06 and handloading can make it superior to the '06 in some ways IMO.
It is the big dog of my rifle collection. (My .35 rem fires the largest diameter bullet, but has a much smaller case)

I have never seen the need for anything larger than that where I live. The biggest thing I will ever encounter is a black bear, if I'm lucky it might weigh 500 pounds at the absolute max. But I have a few local friends hunting the same woods as me with .300 win mag, .300 RUM, .338 Lapua, and I just can't understand. Maybe they are trying to compensate for something? ;)

With the proper bullet (partition, TSX, etc.) I wouldn't feel undergunned black bear hunting with the "lowly" .243 win. But many people would consider that a "stunt"
 
steveNChunter said:
I have never seen the need for anything larger than that where I live. The biggest thing I will ever encounter is a black bear, if I'm lucky it might weigh 500 pounds at the absolute max. But I have a few local friends hunting the same woods as me with .300 win mag, .300 RUM, .338 Lapua, and I just can't understand. Maybe they are trying to compensate for something?
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I'd have no reservations at all about hunting black bear with the 8mm using any of several premium 196-200 gr bullets out there. Perhaps if I was specifically hunting a rogue man-killing grizzly I would think about 8mm Rem. Mag or one of the Weatherby calibers!
 
Well I just wanted to give everyone a range report from today. I took my Ruger to the range with a box of Federal Fusion 95gr and Hornady SST 95gr and sighted the gun in. I had the gun shooting MOA in the bull within 13 rounds, could have done it in 3 fewer rounds except I adjusted the scope the wrong way for one 3-shot group. I shot from a Caldwell Lead Sled just to get the scope sighted in so that I could take away as much of the human element as possible.

After that, there was no need for the lead sled. This thing recoils like a .223. I suppose part of it is the fact that it's a fairly heft little rifle. It was exactly what I wanted it to be. No punishment at all. I burned through a box of shells a lot faster than I would have thought using a single shot rifle! Then I was on to my next box for more fun. I left a few rounds in the Hornady box to use for deer season next month. I did note that there was some very minor vertical stringing of the shots, but they were all easily within 1.25" at 100 yards. Considering that my Browning A-Bolt 270 won't group half that good, I was still tickled pink. It's not a target rifle so I'm more than happy with the results. Looking forward to a lot of years of fun from this rifle. Now I'll have to start collecting the appropriate reloading components. :D
 
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