.243 Win Opinions

ExAgoradzo said:

If I get the job tomorrow, I will land in Emmett by/early summer.

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Good luck tomorrow!

ExAgoradzo said:

Don’t hold it against me I’m from CA; I am an American, not a communist.

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Whenever someone gives my wife a funny look when they find out she's originally from southern CA, she says, "You don't get to choose where you're born."

Your daughter might like a .243 like this one. My grandson is smallish too - very athletic though - and this fits him well. As luck would have it, the rifle likes 100 gr Remington Core Lokt. He likes the rifle, shoots it well and works fine on deer. He and his rifle both get respect at deer camp, which at that age (12) can be important.

ExAgoradzo said:

Very nice... What model is that rifle? Looks beautiful!!!
Greg

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Henry single shot youth model. They are handsome rifles IMHO. The scope is a Burris 2x7. He's left handed too, which with this rifle is not a problem at all.

A wonderful .308 derivative sadly overshadowed by the Ceedmoors. Sadly, because the average rifleman would be largely unable to either tell the difference or make use of it. I've kept mine for that reason. Does everything I want and my 77MkII is pretty.

ExAgoradzo said:

Got the job.
Didn’t get the rifle.

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Good to hear about your new job and subsequent move to a free state. In communist NY I'm waiting for the 2a proletariat to rise and return my to the United States.

ExAgoradzo said:

Don’t hold it against me I’m from CA; I am an American, not a communist.

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@ExAgoradzo congratulations on your new job.
While looking for that new rifle for your daughter. Take a look at reduced recoil loads for other cartridges. I like the 243, 7mm-08, & 308. Not to mention the rest of the 08 family.
Finding a rifle that fits her first and then a cartridge legal in the state for the game you will hunt.
Good luck at the new job and with your move.

I found a Savage Model 11 "Lady Hunter" .243 for my sis-n-law who is a petite 5' 2". The loads that shoot best are 100 gr Sierra SP with Varget. Dime size 100 yd groups

It may be a "kid" rifle but I used mine successfully on deer with Remington 100 grain Core lockt bullets for years. I shot deer with it from just a few yards to over 300 yards without a single loss. Neck hits drop them on the spot and body cavity hits usually allow deer to run a few yards with no need for a second shot. While this applies to all calibers good shot placement is especially important with a 243. It should not be used for shoulder shots to "break down" the animal. Shot placement should be head, neck or lung/heart area. It may not be a "macho" caliber but with good shot placement it is deadly on medium game. I bought a a bigger caliber rifle (a 7 mm Rem Magnum) when I hunted in BC because I felt my 243 would not be enough. It was a good decision because I needed three good hits from the 7 Mag to drop a bull moose. However as soon as I started hunting deer again I returned to my 243 and I have never needed that 7 Mag again.

Congrats on the new job. Idaho sounds great.

I bought a left handed Tikka T3 for my son when he was 12. I own about 20 rifles including some pretty high price ones and nothing shoots like this little gun. Worst loads are 1.5" and most everything goes MOA or better...sometimes much better. Really amazing . I also used a Remington 600 in 6mm for many years and many caribou. I like the 95grain Nosler Partition as they have a decent b.c. and open up well at long range and hang together and penetrate when hits are close. Only issue I can see with the 243 is that it is easy to make hits past 300 yards where the energy is getting a bit low. In other words hitting distance outpaces its energy levels at long range. This requires some shot discipline. If long range shooting is going to be your thing the 6.5's are a better place to start but for 300 yard and closer on 350 pound animals and smaller (90% of what most hunters hunt) the 243 is pretty damn good. Here in the Yukon it's a bit small and I wish I'd started him at 30-06 and managed recoil through reloading. That said when a rifle shoots like this one it's hard to sell.

I love fire breathing super magnums that eat bushel baskets of powder and throw huge chunks of lead and crazy velocity- but they are not necessary or needed- that 243 win will kill whitetails with authority-
Bullet placement is THE most important thing - a shot in the butt with a huge magnum is still a shot in the butt- and a mild recoiling cartridge that is easy to practice with and you or your loved one shoot well is the key to success.....period.
Buy the 243 win and work up some good loads shoot as much as you can and have fun-

I used a 700adl 243 for a few years using partition 95s on Maine white tails. It worked as well as anything, the usual 25-50 yard run and drop, same as the other calibers I’ve seen used including my 375HH (nothing wrong with playing Capstick as long as we’re not serious). Mild recoil was a plus, kinda sorry I sold the gun.

I have been having issues with my very dominant right shoulder and I have a 14YO daughter of slight build who might decide to hunt deer some day. I thought about the 243, but I will probably never take a 200+ yard shot at a deer and if I do it will be a pronghorn and I will be shooting my 30-06. I also like bigger bullets for terminal effectiveness. I ended up with a 350 Legend. All of the teenage girls like shooting the American Ranch in this chambering with no complaints about recoil. With an AR and a 350 upper you can simply slide the stock in or out to match the shooter.

Newtosavage said:

I bought a single shot CVA Hunter in .243 for my daughter when she was 11, and one for my nephew when he was the same age. Neither one of them liked shooting those guns because of the recoil. I was using 100 grain bullets. They both shot them, and my daughter made two perfect shots on two deer with hers, but they didn't enjoy shooting them

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I have to agree with you. I have hunted all my life with a 30-06 rifle 165 grain bullet. One day my brother bought the same rifle as yours and asked me to zero it. I was surprised at how much the recoil was. I expected it to be very light, according to what I had read through out the years. I don't think a .243 is a light recoiling rifle a 22 yes but not the .243.

If anything I would get her a bolt action rifle in .223 using some 75 to 80 grain bullets. More than enough to do the job for deer. As she matures she can settle into a .243

Assuming you are starting from scratch, why not look at the 6 CM.

ms6852 said:

I have to agree with you. I have hunted all my life with a 30-06 rifle 165 grain bullet. One day my brother bought the same rifle as yours and asked me to zero it. I was surprised at how much the recoil was. I expected it to be very light, according to what I had read through out the years. I don't think a .243 is a light recoiling rifle a 22 yes but not the .243.

If anything I would get her a bolt action rifle in .223 using some 75 to 80 grain bullets. More than enough to do the job for deer. As she matures she can settle into a .243

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Those cva rifles are nice I have a compact in .223, that being said, I wouldn't take one in .243 similar to my buddy's 788 carbine in .243 it's not the same as a full size bolt gun, both feel sharper than say even an axis2 in .243. in .223 Barnes, nosler, swift, and sierra all have deer class projectiles in 62 or less that would work fine. In Idaho, black bear tags are doable too so I'd say that while the .223 is capable, a fast twist .22-250 or .243 or 6mm cm would be more useful. The .243 can be downloaded to a much softer level for practice time and cranked up when necessary.

My father worked for a well known gunsmith while in college at Texas Tech back in the early 60's (last name Pope IIRC). Anyhoo...it was right when the .243 was being developed and commercialized. He decided to build one for himself which I now have. It's a Mauser 98 action with a Douglas benchrest barrel milled down to sporter specs with a Timney trigger and Fajen stock. It was my first "big game" rifle growing up in Wyoming. I've shot hundreds of "dirt dogs"(what we called prairie dogs back in the day) from 100 to 500yds out. I then started with 'lopes in the minuteman missile fields north of Cheyenne near Wheatland and then on to Mulies. IIRC my "pet" load for mulies was using a 90 or 95 gr Nosler. Always worked well and never lost a deer which I hit. Although I have bigger and more powerful rounds to shoot...none of them are more accurate and just FUN to shoot on a nice day at the range than my .243. Taught 3 daughters, one son and soon one grandson to shoot with it as well. One of my daughters and my son each have killed a couple of Wisconsin whitetail with it as well!

The first center fire rifle I ever bought was a Winchester model 70 featherweight on an auction 40 years ago. Still have it. I've shot everything from groundhogs to deer with it and a bunch of coyotes and antelope in between. The .243 is a cartridge that seems to perform better than it should. Easy on the shooter, accurate, easy to reload for with good bullet options. My wife is in her 60s, 5' nuthin and no more than 110 pounds and she handles it quite well also. (She made a beautiful shot on a nice Wyoming pronghorn at 185 yards and dropped it where it stood.
I know a Montana rancher and outfitter that takes an elk every year with a .243.
The .243 Winchester is an old cartridge, a "medium" cartridge at best, but there is no shame in shooting or hunting with one. It will still do what it needs to do at reasonable distances with good bullets.

You can get a 700 ADL 243 right now, also there are some Kimber Hunters too. The Remington has a 24" barrel if that appeals to you.

For deer, it'll be fine. I wouldn't use a .243 on elk, though, unless the ranges would be close enough for neck shots.

I got my wife a .243 to play with early on, but she quickly showed me she could handle a lot more. She still enjoys it, but the hunting rifle I'm building for her on a Winchester 1917 action will be a .280 AI.

We also have a good friend who hunts with a .308. She's 4'10" and probably has never weighed more than 100 lbs.

Physical size is not necessarily a determining factor in how much gun a person can comfortably handle.

As well, if recoil is an issue, suppressors will reduce it substantially, in addition to the obvious benefit of saving your ears.

IMO, a suppressed 7mm-08 or .308 (or 6.5 creed) is about perfect for the recoil sensitive hunter, plenty of rifle for any ungulate game critter on this continent.

I like the .243 win and have used it for whitetails, coyotes, fox, coons, rabbits... I use mostly 100 grain Core-Locts and InterLocts. It has an easy to control recoil and haven't lost a deer out of the 35 or so shot with it.

In the 70s after I got out of the army I bought my Dad a Rem 788 in .243. He killed a few deer with it and 10 years later gave it back. Three of my kids and this year 1 of my grandsons all have used that same .243 to harvest deer. That makes it a 4 generation rifle.