Recommend a handy woods rifle.

Nice looking rifle... and, since "butt-hurt" seems to be the fad phrase here, I'm not "butt-hurt" at all by your choice.

It is, after all, YOUR rifle.... and it looks like it will do what you intended it to do.

Congrats on the new rifle....
 
Nice rifle! And the scope looks great. You should do a range report on it.

A better trigger will be worth it for sure.
 
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Otherwise a good 30-30 always serves you well in the thick Midwest woods.
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And that is all you need. Grab an older Marlin 336. Scope or aperture sight. 150 or 170 gr factory ammo (or if you reload LeverEvolution power and up the velocity 100 fps as I do!)

I have several deer guns from 30-06 to .308 to 30/30. All work fine. But if shots are limited to 150 yards, heck the 30/30 is plenty, in fact it can go to 200 yards.

But, since you got a .243, use it. It will work fine to.

Deaf
 
hornetguy said:
Nice looking rifle... and, since "butt-hurt" seems to be the fad phrase here, I'm not "butt-hurt" at all by your choice.

It is, after all, YOUR rifle.... and it looks like it will do what you intended it to do.

Congrats on the new rifle....
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Haha! Thank you!
 
upstate81 said:
Nice rifle. Try a variety of bullet weights, you will find the magic load.
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I've been reading a lot of great comments about the Sierra 85gr BTHP on deer, so I may grab a box of those bullets and work up a load. I've got 50 pieces of brass that are formed to this gun, so I can try out my Collet Neck Sizing die and keep these 50 pieces of brass that are already fire-formed with this gun.
 
Thanks. I'll be taking the rifle with me to the woods in the morning and it will be carried every day until Sunday night. Hopefully I can tag out before then though.
 
Took the rifle to the range today and I'm not especially impressed, not disappointed, but not grinning from ear to ear either. I was able to get 2 inch groups using my reloads with a cool barrel with my reloads, but man that barrel heats up quickly and groups start opening up. I'm sure tailoring a load specific for this gun would be better. One thing I noticed right off the bat was the trigger pull. Horrendously heavy in my opinion and I think that had something to do with the groups and maybe some inconsistent groups. I put the trigger on my scale and it broke consistently at 6lbs, which is WAY to heavy for me. The gun has the X-Mark Pro adjustable trigger that is used to be adjustable to 3lbs. I adjusted it down until the adjustment screw came completely out and the best I could get was 4.5lbs. Better, but I'd rather be in the 3's, and it aggravates me that the trigger won't adjust to what they claim it will.
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I appreciate the unvarnished review.

There was some kind of recall & issue with that trigger. Hopefully corrected in you gun.

http://xmprecall.remington.com/
 
Mr. Hill said:
Good luck! Stay out over lunchtime if you can.
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Couldn't do it today. It was 70° at 10:30 and I was starting to sweat. Deer have not been moving except for very early, before light enough to shoot, and right at last light in the evenings. We've had this Super Moon and clear skies so it seems the deer are being more active at night.
 
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Here is the first day in action for the new gun. Didn't see anything this morning though.
 
The gun drew blood on her first day in the field! Only deer I saw today came out at 4:50pm. The 95gr SST did a BRUTAL job. I think this one will be a keeper.
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Thanks guys! I guess I'm not such a "beginner" after all and that "low quality" "Chi Com" scope did it's job pretty well.

It just goes to show that there is no right answer when it comes to guns and scopes, only the right for you answer. Thanks to all the guys who provided great recommendations and great and supportive comments! I've still got one more tag, so I'm taking today off, but plan on going back to the woods tomorrow and through the weekend with this little gun.
 
upstate81 said:
Way to go! Love that feeling of filling a tag. Did she (im assuming) drop right there or run a bit?
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It was a small cull buck. Ran all of 20 yards and crashed. Another reason I love the 243 round. With the 95gr SST bullet it has never failed to impress.
 
Yep i see the antler under the hide now. The 243 is a great deer round. Ive had good luck with the 95 grain ballistic tip loading from winchester myself.
 
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