calibers for deer hunting?

yes

you can kill elk with a 243 ,myself i would use a bigger cal 270 sounds better then your 243 . i just belive the bullet being a winchester power point did not expand after 2 deer i didn't get sent the rest in they said they were overly hard thats all. kinds of put a sour taste in your mouth don't it
 
Some good ones are the .243, 30-30, 30-06, 270, and a whole bunch more. Everone has there favorite. Buying ammo does cost, and you should do some practicing before hunting. The more the better. Like the one post said when it comes down to it the cost of ammo is not that much compared with everything else that goes into it. The .243 will work just fine with the right bullet in the 100 grain catagory. I reload my wifes with the 100 grain Nosler Partition, but they do cost the most if you buy them. Shot placement is key no matter what you use caliber wise. These are just my thouhts, and everyone does have a favorite caliber, and rifle. Have fun, and keep it safe.
 
sent the rest in they said they were overly hard thats all. kinds of put a sour taste in your mouth don't it
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Well, it might put a sour taste in my mouth for that particular ammo, but then again, if I stopped using everything that had ever let me down then there wouldn't be a whole lot left for me to use.....

and then again, an overly hard bullet on a whitetail deer from a 243 should not really be a problem. I was figuring that maybe you had used some soft varmint type rounds that pretty much exploded on impact, leaving a crater and not much penetration.

Even a FMJ through the lungs with a 243 should be fatal in a short distance.

I've lost deer that I shot at less than 40 yards with a 12ga, generating over 3000ft/lbs of energy. It's not because the gun is not enough. I just made a bad shot.
 
I was orignally looking at the .243 win but ammo for that thing is exensive for me.
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Seriously?

Remington Core-Lockts are running about $14 for a 20 ct box. If that is too expensive maybe you should try a different hobby.
 
Go with the .308Win you can shoot the cheap stuff, and you can shoot the real good stuff after your tast changes. There will also be no questen about it taking down a deer.
 
.243 is minimum caliber chambering for deer. federal power shoks are 12.99 a box of 20 around my neck of the woods.

me , i still have my old 243, but use a 30/06 or 300 win mag ( i have some really long shots that the 300 win mag is perfect for with very little drop out to 400 yards with my handloads).

JOE
 
243

Peetzakilla, that was my thoughts on this calibre . Winchester told me they were overly hard that was all to it .Never got the rest of the ammo sent to them ar anything else but they were hard. I don't shoot winchester ammo for this reason. my way of thinking there was better calibres. Shot where them 2 does were shot should have found them but didn't not much blood then nothing
 
rudy270 said:
my way of thinking there was better calibres. Shot where them 2 does were shot should have found them but didn't not much blood then nothing
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I agree that there are better calibers. On the other hand, like I said, I have lost 2 deer that I hit at very close range with a gun that generates 50% more energy than a 243 and hits a surface area almost 10 times the size. The last time was at less than 40 yards, I was sitting in a chair with my off-hand elbow resting on my knee and a 9X scope. The deer was standing still and perfectly broadside. I know that the gun is accurate. I screwed up, obviously. There is no other explanation. I don't know how or why. It felt like a perfect shot, but it wasn't. If I had been using a "lesser" cartridge then I would be tempted to blame the gun too because I honest to God have no explanation as to how I could have screwed up that shot. I wasn't using a lesser cartridge though, so there's no choice but to blame myself.
 
ok...

I found some places in my area that sell the ammo at a descent price. I found 20 rounds of .270 win for between $17-$20. The model gun I am looking at getting is the Remington 770!
 
Tom the Model 770 has had some not too positive comments. While I'm sure it would work, you might consider looking at Savage or Vangard for a low end rifle.

A used deer rifle is a very good value. Guns that have store names are a real good way to get a fine rifle at a discount price. Montgomery Wards, Sears, Pennys, and several other stores sold guns from major gun makers with their store name stamped on in stead of Winchester or what have you.
 
If .243 is too much $$$, maybe you should hold fire on hunting for a while. Yes 30-30 is a little cheaper to shoot, but that comes at a price higher than ammo, effective distance. Unless you can afford a lazer rangefinder, you'll quickly find out that a 30-30 tends to "lob" bullets. If you are pinpoint accurate, a 30-30 is pretty much limited to 100-125 yards. A .243 of the other hand shoots flatter and is good out to 250 or so. Now you probably get a couple of responses where " My Uncle Herm shot a7x8 245 pound buck running at full speed at no less than 750 yards, and dropped him in one shot"
There is not much if anything out there that is cheaper to shoot and has a better effective range on deer than a .243. And yes, that Remington 770 is UGLY all day long, yuck!!:barf:
 
You can get a older winchester 243 used for a good price usually anywere. These guns were made when quality was on the top of the list and if u can't afford 243 shells you are either shooting way too much and need to consider reloading , or consider broadening the budget for hunting no part of it is cheap anymore good luck shoot straight.
 
stevens 200 are good cheap rifles that are excellent. and 7mm-08 is a great caliber to hunt deer with. Why not go straight to 308 so you can handle the possibility of bigger game, plus .308 is plentiful and cheap for decent ammo, whereas 7mm-08, while a great round, is hard to come by and usually a lot more than comparable quality 308.

I own both calibers and if I had to choose one based on price and availablity then it would be 308.
 
Go with a Poor Man's Deer Rifle

By poor man's deer rifle I am referring to a Mosin Nagant....under a 150$ for a well made, strong, reliable rifle, and 15$ for 50 rounds(yes those are soft points at least thats what I payed) and you can successfully drop deer out to 200 yards or more depending on how well you shoot, and how good the bore is on your Mosin. Almost any mil-surp rifle will have cheap ammo, including an SKS...but if you are going commercial calibers, then yes .308 is cheap because you can still get mil-surp ammo for it and I would have to say a Mossberg ATR would be a good cheap bolt gun, my buddy owns one in .270 shoots every time, accurate and it was around 400 bucks with a scope. Any thing made by Savage is good from what I have heard though I have never had any experience with them. I have heard rumors Weatherby makes a good gun for around 400-500 bucks. I have a Mosin and have taken a few Doe's with no problems so.
 
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Maybe its me, but it seems like you guys are really being hard on him with this find a new hobby if it is too expensive thing.

I got a 20g instead of a 12g for a number of reasons, but one of them was because the shells are usually less expensive.

You guys say that the extra cost of shells is not a big deal, but then you say he needs to shoot a couple hundred rounds.

A couple hundred rounds times a couple dollars over the course of a couple years is real money to a lot of people.

I would suggest the 30-30 because that is what Gus McCrae used I think.
And a friend of mine has an old 30-30 Winchester that is just as solid as it ever was. Of course I am probably the least experienced hunter on the board.
 
Seems to me that if the cost of ammo is a problem, then the cost of a rifle must be factored into the deal. The least cost for any centerfire rifle would be one of the surplus bolt-action military rifles. Depending on the selection, not much additional money would be needed to also buy a .22 rimfire rifle.

Practice basic marksmanship with the .22. That's as cheap as it can get. It then takes much less ammo to get used to the deer rifle.

"Good used" at gunshows is IMO a logical place to shop around and look at the various rifles which are available. One aspect of that is learning whether or not hunting ammo is commercially available for a partcular cartridge. Military ball ammo is not hunting ammo.
 
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