troy fairweather
Member
I prefer a 7mm but almost half the deer i shot were with 6mms. All but one was drt. I shot a buck at 320 yards with the 95 hornady interbond deer dress at 265, and did not move a inch when the bullet hit.
243 for big game at 300-350 yards?
- Thread starter 357smallbore
- Start date
- Status
desidog
Member
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2008
- Messages
- 2,595
This is funny... because my six year old son was ringing the (big) gong at 300 yards this morning with my .243 and 75gr vmax.
Longest hunting shot with it to date was a coyote that I waited until it got to exactly 1000...cause I had that exact dope. BUT it’s all about knowing your load and practicing more than a set distance.
Longest hunting shot with it to date was a coyote that I waited until it got to exactly 1000...cause I had that exact dope. BUT it’s all about knowing your load and practicing more than a set distance.
d2wing
Member
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2008
- Messages
- 6,409
I had a couple .243 deer rifles, mostly for my kids. I loved the accuracy but not satisfied with the killing power. In my opinion, the smaller the caliber, the more critical bullet performance. The .243 requires a high quality bullet, one that reliably expands but retains mass, driven at pretty high speeds to perform well in my experience. Range in distance and speeds the bullet will expand at are important.
Ks5shooter
Contributing Member
Hornady 103 ELD-X in my .243 at that distance ....I am very confident for a quick clean kill. Practice practice practice....makes perfect.
243winxb
Member
I prefer 243Win as a woodchuck cartridge when it comes to long ranger.Falling bullets kill. https://forensicoutreach.com/library/the-falling-bullet-myths-legends-and-terminal-velocity/
Last edited:
Yea, with good bullets, good equipment and a skilled shot it'll take deer at 350 yards. A typical 100 gr hunting bullet loses too much speed to make the shot in this video. But for deer at 350, I'd pull the trigger. And no, I don't advocate taking the shot in the video. But it does prove that the 243 is capable at 1/2 that range on animals 1/2 the size.
The .22-250's bullets run out of steam a Lil before the .243 but with a 75 gr scirocco2 I'd be comfortable out there a good ways. Either choice has more thump at 700 yds than a .357 revolver at 50 yds.........which realities are we ignoring?
fireside44
member
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2009
- Messages
- 1,145
You are talking 700 yard shots on deer with a .243 I'm not sure there are any realities left to ignore at that point, lol The .243 has lousy killing power at 50 yards. Tiny little hole, in and out. Does it kill them? Yes, but they run much further when lung shot vs a larger caliber. Some guy mentioned his dad hating .243 cause he couldn't recover a buck. I have had the same scenario several times when shooting from the ground in thick vegetation except I have a dog that can find a camo'ed deer in the long brown grass. Again, "does the job" isn't a good selling point and if it's a good enough selling point for you then a 5.56/.223 still makes better sense.....
I wasn't saying that people SHOULD shoot at 700 yards. And as far as running, I've seen plenty of deer run as far or farther with 7mms .30s and other such wonderkillers, a few years ago I was lucky enough to witness a kill with a .243 sub 50 yards and a .270 sub 50 yards, both deer went 15 yards and with the exception of one at and incline and one at a decline same shot placement, the vital cavity looked exactly the same.......... I know I know, it just can't be true, I'll see the ghost of ol O'Connor tonight. Regardless, as someone who runs plenty larger cartridges for giggles, the .243 is up to the task. Does it compare to my stw screaming 162 elds downrange? No, but the reality is, if you can't get the right bullet out of a 6mm tube into the vital zone and liquefy some lungs, it ain't the gun's fault.
D.B. Cooper
Member
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2016
- Messages
- 4,396
I shot a caribou at 312 yrds with a 100 grn core lock. It took more than one hit to put her down. I've since moved on to the Barnes TSX 85 grn. Much better performance. I would still hold my shots to 350 yards due to velocity loss and the need to get the bullet to open up.
troy fairweather
Member
I seen a buck run 300 yards last year, kid shot into the liver and some lung. Rifle was a 300wm with a 180 partion at 50 yards. Shot placement is key. I've killed a lot of deer with 22-250s even using varmint bullets. High shoulder neck and just I front of the shoulder or behind depending on the angle.
Last edited:
You can't be serious! You can NOT have killed deer with anything that under powered! AND that .300 partition story was probably a fluke bullet failure! For shame sir! For shame!
have you ever tried the 64 bonded solid bases in that .22? It's a shame you can't get em in 6 or 7mm!
troy fairweather
Member
No not yet. I have the 22-250 to my dad after his surgery and he kinda kept it lol. I would like to try this in my 223s tho. The 22-250 probably won't shoot the 64s it's a 1-14. For 7mm I was using the Sierra pro hunters they work good for just a cup and core, but there getting pricey. Prolly just go back to cheap speers again.You can't be serious! You can NOT have killed deer with anything that under powered! AND that .300 partition story was probably a fluke bullet failure! For shame sir! For shame!
We're putting together a fast twist to try and keep the Valk on her toes, but in the 1-14 I've got of my dad's, I'm gonna give em a try, they were designed for the slower twists, could be I'll need a minimum of 1-12, but still, can't help but trying!
troy fairweather
Member
I've been looking for a fn mauser action to build the rifle I used when I first started hunting. It was in 243 but thinking a 6mm ackley would be fun. A fast twist 22 sounds fun to. Maybe do a 22-243 one day. Waiting for my dad to get a good lathe soon, then I can play around more.
If you're wanting fun.......6x284.........fast enough twist to handle these new fangled elds.......
troy fairweather
Member
I have wanted to do one in 6-284 for years.I remember reading as a kid about it. But seems the fps are not what they should be. Maybe a gang twist bartline would help.
The keyword is balance between all factors. Be it practical accuracy, E/V50 or E/V500, bullet BC, terminal performance at the target, recoil, or simply just already having a rifle in certain caliber.
Close to 2kfps seems to suffice nicely with premium bullets. .243/6mm is small so you really do want it to expand and mushroom and at the residual hypersonic velocities you still have a solid hydrodynamic shock working for you. As many have said, shot placement is crucial when you don't have an excess of killing power reserve. Nevertheless, it's more than capable of doing the job at distances few people are confident enough to take the shot at all.
My personal experiences of .243 are largely positive, partly because of the rifle, a genuinely excellent Sako L579 I inherited back in early 80's. I probably would've missed out by not having bought one myself because of the pencil-neck reputation of the caliber. Some 600yd+ shots at the palm-sized kill zone of grouse have been ambitious but not quite as much as one may think. Within 400-ish each one of them have been as good as dead as soon as they've been on crosshairs. On the other end of the spectrum, point blank shots at larger game have demonstrated the devastation a 90-100gr projectile at ~3000fps is capable of. Dogs have had a feast, the chunk of meat destroyed is pretty sizable.
Know the performance and limitations of the caliber and you're going to be just fine and have quite a bit of reach if need be. Some of your hunting buddies may chuckle at the mickey-mouse-caliber but what do they know.
Close to 2kfps seems to suffice nicely with premium bullets. .243/6mm is small so you really do want it to expand and mushroom and at the residual hypersonic velocities you still have a solid hydrodynamic shock working for you. As many have said, shot placement is crucial when you don't have an excess of killing power reserve. Nevertheless, it's more than capable of doing the job at distances few people are confident enough to take the shot at all.
My personal experiences of .243 are largely positive, partly because of the rifle, a genuinely excellent Sako L579 I inherited back in early 80's. I probably would've missed out by not having bought one myself because of the pencil-neck reputation of the caliber. Some 600yd+ shots at the palm-sized kill zone of grouse have been ambitious but not quite as much as one may think. Within 400-ish each one of them have been as good as dead as soon as they've been on crosshairs. On the other end of the spectrum, point blank shots at larger game have demonstrated the devastation a 90-100gr projectile at ~3000fps is capable of. Dogs have had a feast, the chunk of meat destroyed is pretty sizable.
Know the performance and limitations of the caliber and you're going to be just fine and have quite a bit of reach if need be. Some of your hunting buddies may chuckle at the mickey-mouse-caliber but what do they know.
I double lunged an axis buck twice last week with my .280 and 140s at 3k, still ran about 100yds. bullet performance was acceptable, but from experience it appears fusions don't open up particularly violently.
Diameter of the bullet at impact matters a great deal less to me than how quickly it opens up. Adding size and weight only allows me to drive it farther thru critters. I have a dislike for monometals, and other tough bullets for thin skinned game, simply because if I NEED that sort of penetration I might as well shoot a larger round. Not everyone thinks like that, or has a larger gun to use should they want to.
I tend to run heavy for the game I hunt, but the .243 is plenty enough gun for anything upto 300lbs from any angle and range most of use have ability, and reason, to shoot from. A good shooter can extend the range, and broaden the size limits, but for the average shooter I consider the .243 a short to medium range, and medium game, cartridge.
I'm annoyed at my 6.5PRC, which is getting axed soon i think. Might build up a 6-284 with the funding from it, then I'll have a pair of fast 6mm/.243s
Lol. If its so inadequate why dont you go stand at 1k yards and let some one take as few shots at you with a 100 gr soft point.
Seriously though. Its 2x more than a .223 and tons of people use that on deer out to 250 yards. It's good for deer. The best, no. But will work just fine. There's a youtube video of an elk going down at 600+yards drt with a 243 heart and lung shot.
Varminterror
Member
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2016
- Messages
- 14,883
This has not been my experience in killing deer with 243’s and larger calibers. As an engineer, I wish I could explain it, but most of my .243, 6 Dasher, and 6 creed killed deer have staggered 5-10 yards and buckled, whereas most of my .270, .30-06, 7rm, 300wm killed deer have sprinted 100yrds or more. The only explication I can offer is the higher impact velocity and lighter bullet construction does a better job at creating a catastrophic systems failure. They penetrate into the centerline, blow up a temporary cavity like a bunker buster, and then the shank/core punches its way out. Alternatively, in trying to replicate this means of killing with a larger caliber and cartridge, I tend to see the carnage starting past the centerline, with more exit damage and less done in the front side. Naturally, in either case, I recovered the deer to make these observations, so they all “worked,” but the fast 6mm rounds have a certain balance which isn’t found in the larger cartridges.
A small hole in and out, with a long-living deer after being hit with a 243win is most likely either a bad shot, or a bullet too hard.
It really doesn’t take 150grn of bullet and 60grn of powder to kill whitetails.
fireside44
member
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2009
- Messages
- 1,145
Lol, axis deer in Hawaii? Did not know! Are you on the big island or were you hunting another state?
I've mentioned my issues with the 243 before. All sub 50 yard shots. Some on bedded deer. Always double lung shots to broadside deer. I don't hunt per se, I harvest. My porch is my deer stand and I can bait so I always take my sweet time waiting for broadside shots through the lungs. The bedded deer get up and run. That sucks. Do I wanna chase deer 100 yards through the Texas salt cedar scrub? My property is deep but narrow at the front and widening as it goes back to the woods. A deer going 75 yards left or right of my shot is now on someone else's property. Minus using a dog, finding a deer like that out here can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I've had to get the dog for deer that made it 30 yards or less. Brown deer, brown long grass. You can be right up on it and not see it.
Remington core lokt 100 grain turned the lungs into a bloody puree but didn't leave much of an exit wound. Compared to a Tula 154 grain soft point in a x39 that smashed and shattered ribs and had left behind tongue sized heart and lung chunks, of which smaller pieces were blown out on the grass on the far side of the deer. There was more devastation to the body, 2-3x size exit wound with the larger bullet and a deer that died sooner.
Honestly been looking at a 450 bushmaster bolt rifle for deer season next year. Considering the terrain I hunt, shot distances, and past experiences I've moved to the slow and heavy camp vs the light and fast for medium and large game. The numbers look similar to a .444 marlin I used to shoot and I have seen some devastating deer shots with that on youtube so that caliber has my interest.
Do you hand load?
- Status
