How good is the .243?

G

gmarr

New member
I hear both good and bad about the .243 on deer and hogs. Some people give it high marks while some claim it's marginal at best. So, at distances of 100 to 125 yards, shooting at hogs, how effective is it really? I know bullet selection is important and I'll be using factory loads. Any personal experience will be appreciated. Thanks.
 
I've very much enjoyed the .243 Win for 20+ years. I've taken mule deer, pronghorn, coyotes, and multitudes of prairie dogs with it. I wouldn't begin to feel like it's marginal until you start talking about larger big game such as elk, moose, and big bears, but it is certainly capable of killing them.

Stick with 85-100 grain hunting bullets and you'll be fine with what you're wanting to hunt. I like the 95 grain Nosler BT for most things big game and use 60 grain Sierra HP bullets for varmints. Good shot placement trumps most things and the .243 is pretty easy to shoot well.
 
Warren Page regularly killed elk with the .243. I have taken mule deer at 400 yards with cup and core bullets with the .243.
John Whidden spanks everyone's ass at the NRA national championships with the .243 and that includes the new prima donna 6.5 Creedmore shooters. The worst you can say about the .243 is that it's kinda hard on barrels.
I shoot tons of Hornady 105 match bullets out to 800 with my Ruger American topped with Leupy 2.5-8x36 with custom turret. Built the rifle to toss on the quad and in the truck as a beater but it is one accurate little rifle.
.243 will kill anything under 400 lbs to 500 yards no problem
 
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Very popular (ie effective) on white tail deer. I would guess, 243 is one of top ten centerfire rifle round in America today. Dont know about hogs, anything that can bite back warrants a degree of respect. I would guess 243 is fine and if there was any hog a 243 could not handle, then perhaps time for a 12 gauge pump with slugs :D Or learn how to shoot better?

I don't own a 243 and for my 2c, any gun that can chamber the 243 can also accept the 7mm-08. That 7mm is extremely easy to shoot and adds more high end potential. I also like the idea of the 260, but again dont see any reason (recoil, factory ammo) to choose anything smaller than 7mm-08. Because the 7mm08 is so easy to carry and shoot, it is as small as any normal adult person needs to go.

If I had a choice 243 or 260, then it would be 260. Not because of any deficiency in the 243, I just dont see the reason to go that small.

Now, if I had an offer of a great classic hi-quality rifle that happened to be be 243, no problem in the least.
 
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On deer size game or smaller hogs there isn't really any advantage to using anything bigger than 243. Dead is dead. On larger game, including the bigger hogs it can still be effective, but there are better options.

The 243 was introduced intended to be used primarily as a varmint round. Lots of people still view it that way but todays better bullets have changed that.
 
Load your .243 with a 95 grain bonded bullet and you've got a long range deer rifle. Its a myth that a hunter needs a bigger bore for large mulies or heavy bodied northern deer. Once that bullet smashes through the chest wall, damage to the chest organ is impressive and lethal.

Jack
 
The 243 is as good as the bullet you shoot.
In other words, if you use a bullet that holds together it is very good for deer and hogs.
Every bad story I know of involving the 243 or the 6mm Rem was a result of either the wrong bullet for the game, or simply poor marksmanship.

If you use a bonded core bullet, a partition or any 6MM bullet that has a thick malleable jacket the 6mms are good for deer and hogs and even elk if you are a good enough shot
 
The 243 will kill em just as dead as anything else if YOU put that bullet in the boiler room. That round is so easy to shoot well with light recoil. In the event I'm hunting somewhere that the range is beyond d the limits I've set for my trusty 30-30 then the .243 goes with me. As wyosmith and others suggested, choose a good bullet and it will do the job.
 
The 243 will push a 100 gr bullet about 3000 fps, and I know for a fact that's all you need for whitetail deer. But, from comparative use, a 120 gr bullet at that velocity kills deer a bit better. My point being that a 243 will do just fine, but there are more effective options.
 
I've killed a bunch of deer and hogs with a Rem 788 .243 and will always recommend it as a optional hunting cartridge. One of my dumbest/luckiest kills was on a big sow hog facing me at 440yds. She wouldn't turn sideways and I was losing light. I waited until she turned her head and was able to put a round right in the chest cavity. She went about 5 or 6 steps and DRT. So don't discount the .243 as a medium game round.
 
243 is overrated and over exaggerated.
Slightly off mark with a shot. Best have your flashlight along with new batterys installed and a roll of toliet paper so's to mark your lon~~g empty handed trek back to the Stand. Yup!! Your going to do some tough track'en to recover. Especially so with those 95 to 105 gr undersized projectiles limping along out its barrel._ 24 cal bullets have very little mass size. "Quite similar to the analogy of throwing a chunk of concrete at a target (30 caliber) or blowing a pea out a bean blower. (24 caliber)"
Typical problem with the 243 its lighter bullets disintegrate internally. Its heavier one's simply pass thru both sides leaving a very small wound channel in-between. Which over time will either plug or leak so little blood you'll be wondering: Which way did it go? Which way did it go!! as your flashlights new battery's dim.

Honestly I think the 243 is a caliber designed for those who can't handle any recoil what-so-ever. I always promote the 243 & 6-MM too. Both should be considered varmint calibers certainly not Big Game candidates. When comfort level supersede or chances a Big Game animals quick dispatch. Time for that hunter to Man-up and use a more appropriate caliber for the job. Quit the bellyaching and take a little recoil on the Ol' shoulder. You can Tear Up at the kill site.

BTW: I own a 243. Flat Top Ruger. 243 was immediately retired the first morning I took my 270 afield.
 
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I've tagged some two-dozen bucks with my .243. All were one-shot kills. Mostly neck shots. They just folded up their little legs and went flop. The Good Lord put that little white spot on Bambi's neck so I'd have an aiming point.

Worked out just fine. :D
 
"...Slightly off mark with a shot...lighter bullets disintegrate eternally...simply pass thru...24 cal bullets have very little mass size..." Nonsense. Rifle bullets don't kill with mass or velocity. .243" deer bullets do not disintegrate or pass through. Unless you're using a totally inadequate varmint bullet.
"...if YOU put that bullet in the boiler room..." That applies to ANY cartridge. Even a .270 or .30 cal, misplaced, will not kill cleanly if not put into the vitals.
"...at distances of 100 to 125 yards, shooting at hogs..." BANG!!! Thud.
"...to 500 yards..." Too far, ballistically. Typical deer bullets drop like bricks past 300 and the remaining energy is low.
 
I just noticed the OP is from Florida. I hunted deer one time in the Florida pan handle. I was surprised how different things were from anywhere in the North East. The deer are small. Very small - like dwarf deer. Almost as if; a cross between rabbits and deer. I cannot image any rifle, any center fire, that was not up to killing one of those little critters.

The hunting is different too. I saw two guys sitting on a bench on the back of a pickup while the dogs worked the mangrove thickets. Hunting deer with dogs! Shooting off the back of a truck! Apparently all legal. The limit in Florida was TWO per DAY! Limits like jack rabbits. No checking stations either.
 
I find it funny when people really bad mouth the .243 Win for shooting deer and smaller game. I don't believe that the .243 is the best choice of rifles for what the lady was hunting in the video I linked. I do believe that if the proper shot placement is taken it has as good of a chance in securing an animal as any other big game cartridge.

688 yard shot with .243 Win!

When hunting some big game animals your limited on what shots can be taken with the .243 that you wouldn't be limited by larger calibers with heavier bullets. However for deer and hogs I think the OP would be hard pressed to find anything that will do the same job significantly better.
 
converted basher

I have printed before that I was a .243 basher.......now I own two, and both are used for deer. My bashing came from my Dad, who, along with the rest of my people, despised anything under .30 cal/180. Dad bought a .243 sporter to shoot groundhogs, and shot it so well, started deer hunting with it. Turns out, Dad, as tough as he was, likely had a flinch going, as well as being cross dominant. The lighter recoiling .243 helped with both issues (I believe he could mentally focus/concentrate better with lighter recoil, to overcome the eye issue). He started killing more deer too.

Dad's rifle came my way, and I killed a few with it, and then bamaboy took it over. He killed some with it too. We shoot 100 gr Partitions and have never recovered a Partition, all pass throughs. Coaching at bamaboys shoulder in his younger days, I watched the bang flops and was impressed. Hit as they should be, I've never seen a deer run any further than one hit with anything heavier, sometimes, they just run a ways.

AS noted, bullet selection is important in .243. I'd opt for a so called premium slug, a Partition, a bonded bullet, one of the homogenous alloy slugs. Understand the vitals, angles, and how to hit'em.

I liked the .243 so much, that when a rare Mossberg 810M came my way, in .243, I jumped on it. It shows a penchant for lighter bullets, and I may well buy some 85 gr Partitions and experiment, but we have a lot of 100's on hand, and the Mossberg will plunk them under 2 MOA. Put where they should be, I can't imagine a deer or hog getting away.
 
The .243 is plenty capable for deer and hogs. How well it works is a byproduct of you bullet and you ability to place it well. Have always loaded mostly 100 gr hornady interlock with a moderate charge of IMR 4895, it is a very boring deer load. I do like my 7 -08 better but you always have a favorite, that may or may not be the best for the application.
 
In a hunting magazine article from back when the .243 was fairly new, a guy took one to Africa and used it on plains antelope. He cited his professional hunter as saying, "It shoots bigger than it looks."
 
The 243 facilitates precise shot placement in a way the bigger cartridges struggle to emulate. That being said whenever I go hunting big game I have either my .270 or my .300 win mag in hand (and I do own a .243). As a varmint round none of the big .22s can exceed its trajectory, wind drift, or splat effect. With hunting bullets it isn't even that amazing trajectory wise. People talk about it like its a laser beam. It's not. The bc of the common hunting projectiles isn't that great (in the .35-.45 range for most). Energetically speaking, it's identical to a 30-30 which no one seems to doubt as a big game round when used within its limitations. Shot placement will almost certainly be more precise with the .243 than the .30-30 in the rifles these rounds are respectively chambered in and with regard to the trajectory difference. Provided an appropriately constructed projectile is selected, the .243 renders much deadlier wounding than most any handgun round and you read about people hunting large game with pistols and revolvers (not to mention bows and arrows) all the time. I personally like to use as much gun as I can comfortably and accurately shoot, but i wouldn't feel at all hesitant to use the .243 to hunt any game animal in North America (to be fair I think I'd be nervous hunting the huge bears regardless of what I brought with me). We have a neighbour who has taken numerous elk and moose with hers, all one shot kills, she is a patient hunter who doesn't take questionable shots (and that is an ethic that should apply regardless of caliber choice)
 
My stepfather had a couple of .243s and he killed a lot of deer with them. I wasn't that impressed until I took my daughter on a youth deer hunt and she used a .243 BLR that I inherited from my stepfather. She shot a nice size buck at 90 yards and it went straight down.

When I dressed it out it looked like a grenade had gone off in it's chest. I gained respect for the .243 that day.
 
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