those do sound like they are right up my alley. I'll see if there are any available in cartridges i shoot.
Off hand I can't remember who's loading brownings ammo for them.
243 for big game at 300-350 yards?
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Off hand I can't remember who's loading brownings ammo for them.
midland man
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well I reload and shoot 243 using sierra 100gr soft point bullets using 37.6gr Winchester 760 powder in my new England firearms singleshot 243win with a Nikon Buckmaster 3-9-40 scope works very well pushing those bullets at 2,700fps! so far everything including wild hogs drop like a hammer! plus this reminds me of a story about my 30-30 I also hunt and shoot deer with using 170gr sierra bullets and Winchester 760 powder at 33.6gr pushing 1,975fps and you know I had people tell me for years that the 30-30 wasn't good past 100yrds and but I have taken deer at 140+yrds and they dropped dead right there! so I am puzzled about where this story came from but I still use my first deer rifle my dad gave me new for xmas when I was 12yrs old which is a Winchester 94 ranger model angle-eject and that rifle still does a great job today!!
Varminterror
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Press I have seen says Winchester.
thanks, I've read somewhere, but for the life of me couldn't remember.
mustanger98
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I do agree that one must understand the rifle and its ammo for it to be effective.
Do you ever figure how many of these Mr. Know-it-alls are probably the same guys who either don't read the directions because they "know what they're doing", or get lost and argue with their respective wives who would stop and ask directions because they're the man and "know where they are"? And of course the problem is never their error, so of course they'll blame the cartridge, the rifle, or whatever.
And the misuse and bad results we observe with the .243... Jack O'Connor wrote at least one entire chapter that I readily recall on much the same general stuff about the .30-30, mostly in Winchester 1894's. At this point, the two chamberings may be running neck-and-neck for fans and detractors. I've harvested deer pretty quick and clean with both. I know plenty of others have too.
Olympus
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Makes sense considering Olin owns both Winchester and Browning.
TexasPatriot.308
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with the right bullet and a good shot on big game....otherwise step up to maybe 7mm-08 at least.
We have a special situation: A permanent "blind" set on a straight old, narrow, woods road that used to be a town-way that we can shoot deer about 400 yards. There are lots of areas that are heavily-wooded with evergreens that make it difficult to find/track wounded deer. We want to assure that deer drop in the road as much as possible.
I let my sub-teen and teen grandkids shoot my .243s on deer, but try to limit their shots to 200 yards and caution them to aim high in the front shoulder, so a shot will anchor the animal in the road and result in a quick-kill. It's worked pretty well.
I let my sub-teen and teen grandkids shoot my .243s on deer, but try to limit their shots to 200 yards and caution them to aim high in the front shoulder, so a shot will anchor the animal in the road and result in a quick-kill. It's worked pretty well.
A good Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad really helps to tame recoil on most deer-rifles. Just make sure to cut the stock to retain the same length, if desirable.
bearman49709
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Olin owns neither, FN owns both of them.
Olympus
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Quick Google search will show you that Winchester is still owned by Olin Corp.
Varminterror
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Olin owns Winchester. The Herstal Group has licensed the Winchester name to produce “Winchester” branded firearms via multiple production channels. The Herstal Group owns Browning, which contracts ammunition production from Winchester. The intertwining relationship might seem a little bit like kissing cousins in some ways, but overall, it’s really pretty straight forward. If it goes bang, Olin makes it. If it makes something go bang, Herstal makes it. Brand names among them are just labels, at this point.
I like my FN’s to FNH on the side, and I generally don’t care for my ammo, brass or otherwise, to say Winchester on it any longer.
I like my FN’s to FNH on the side, and I generally don’t care for my ammo, brass or otherwise, to say Winchester on it any longer.
that's probably the best way I've ever heard that described
if you don't mind me asking why not? I rarely buy factory ammo, but still use a pile of Winchester cases for my magnums.
Varminterror
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I used Winchester brass for different cartridges for a long time. I started seeing an increase in neck non-uniformities a handful of years ago, then pretty extreme lot to lot variances.
Then I had a couple hundred rounds of 243win brass which had flash holes punched with a bent punch. I contacted them, to which the response was paper forms and multiple weeks of processing time. I inspected the same lot number at three Cabela’s sites and found the same bad flash holes - no resolution from Winchester. Rather than shipping at my cost both ways, and waiting 6 weeks for processing, Cabela’s issued a refund - I returned the batches in ziplock bags to help prevent them going back on the shelf. That was the last straw for me. Hornady, in comparison, sent me 300rnds of brass next day shipping when I had one lot come up ~5grn heavier than my previous lots. There are different ways to manage customer service issues in 2019 (2017, in that particular case), some keep customers, some break the last tenuous thread of trust.
With their market approach since the transition, and these brass quality slips in the years thereafter, there wasn’t much trust from me for them left.
Roamin_Wade
member
I’ve made a 280 yd shot with a 243 on a white tail buck that was a quartering away shot. Went in just in front of back leg, glanced off a rib and tumbled through the heart. Very humane kill. Lots of folks buy those 300 Mags to shoot deer with and that’s akin to standing still for an ass kicking! All shooting at animals should be surgical. Brute force is a bit unsportsmanlike, in my opinion.
Thanks!
I've only ever used their 7mm and .300 loose brass, haven't noticed any issues as of yet, but I don't really check out my cases that hard. I usually just back off a grain of so and work back up every new 100 I open.
Shot the plain old PowerPoints from the early 2ks to about 2008 but haven't bought any cases for the .243 since a buddy gave me some 500 rem his dad had.
bearman49709
Member
Yes and no.
Olin still owns Winchester ammo, and owns the name "Winchester" but has not made any guns in a long- long time.
stownsend
Member
My first deer I ever shot was with a 243 shooting a 90 grain ballistic tip (Remington factory load) at 285 yards. The bullet hit a bit back and missed lungs and hit the liver and other soft tissue. The bullet didn't exit so I told myself that was about the limit for distance for that load that I was comfortable with shooting big South Dakota whitetails.
Others might have their own experiences, but this is what I determined for myself. Did it do the job? Yes, but there wasn't much margin for error.
Others might have their own experiences, but this is what I determined for myself. Did it do the job? Yes, but there wasn't much margin for error.
I've found performance with the 90 great btips to be inconsistent, that performance is not what I typically expect when I chamber a round in my .243
whatnickname
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I like the 243. It gets quite a bit of bad press because of the idiots that try to take deer with 75 and 80 grain varmint bullets. The key is bullet selection. Not less than 100 grain bullets. PERIOD!!! I prefer the Nosler partition bullet if I’m going to shoot out around 300 yards. One of the newer bonded bullets would work just as well. Just stick with a minimum of 100 grains bullet weight.
Gordon
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I agree with you statement about bullet selection and about wrongly choosing varmint bullet for deer hunting . I do not agree about less than 100 grain bullets not being good for deer tho, The 90 grain controlled expansion bullets work extremely well , even on large pigs and offer better range and possibly quicker kills in my observations the last 20 years. Nothing wrong with 100 grain loads if they shoot accurately in your gun and still expand at the ranges you will shoot. The new generation of copper 80 up grain bullets and the Sirocco 90 grain BT bonded bullets work as well as the 100 grain ones IMHO .
whatnickname
Member
You got that right! Caliber, unless you’re shooting a howitzer, is relatively inconsequential unless the bullet is put in the right place. I’ve seen way too many deer wounded and lost by folks trying to take one with a varmint bullet. I shoot well enough that I could probably pull it off but I won’t. I have any number of other rifles that are better suited to the task. Just don’t want to take the chance that the deer spooks at the instant I send the round down range and end up screwing the whole deal up. Light weight varmint bullets come with a much smaller margin of shot placement IMO. I’ve killed more deer than I can count with stuff like 30-30, 7MM-08, 25-06, 243 & 270. My favorite shot is one where the deer is quartering away from me. I line the vertical cross hair up on the far side shoulder and get an instantly dead deer every time. Grew up in the Deep South where the cover is heavy. That shoot ‘em behind the shoulder stuff is a good way to loose one. On a broad side shot, I take out both front shoulders with a high shot that puts the bullet right under the spine. None of them are going anywhere with two broken front shoulders. My other favorite shot is right where the neck meets the chest, in the center of the neck. The picture posted below was a buck I called in from 365 yards out. Didn’t feel like dragging him in and out of three ravines. He was polite too. Walked up to the base of the hill I was sitting on and turned broad side and posed for me. My 338 Rice (338-06 with 35 degree shoulder) loaded to 2800 fps with 200 grain Hornady SST was planted dead center of his neck where the neck joined the chest. We pronounced him DRT...Dead Right There.
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whatnickname
Member
Good to know. Haven’t used any of the newer monolithic or controlled expansion bullets in the 243. I have a tendency to stick with what has worked for me. The 100 grain Nosler Partition is old technology but it drops ‘em like they were struck by the sword of Damocles. What I have seen is some really nice deer shot in the shoulder with stuff like the 75 grain Speer TNT that limped off to become an easy meal for the coyotes. And that makes me mad as hell. So much for the: “Velocity is everything and bullet construction is meaningless” argument.
mustanger98
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Well, I use 100gr cup/core bullets... PowerPoint, CoreLokt, Hornady Interlock... which are older technology and they work. I figure if you use what gives you satisfactory accuracy in your particular rifle, considering individual barrels can be funny about bullet selection, then regardless of which weight bullet you end up using, you increase your chance of your aimed shot putting the bullet where it'll do the job.
Nature Boy
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You got that right! Caliber, unless you’re shooting a howitzer, is relatively inconsequential unless the bullet is put in the right place. I’ve seen way too many deer wounded and lost by folks trying to take one with a varmint bullet. I shoot well enough that I could probably pull it off but I won’t. I have any number of other rifles that are better suited to the task. Just don’t want to take the chance that the deer spooks at the instant I send the round down range and end up screwing the whole deal up. Light weight varmint bullets come with a much smaller margin of shot placement IMO. I’ve killed more deer than I can count with stuff like 30-30, 7MM-08, 25-06, 243 & 270. My favorite shot is one where the deer is quartering away from me. I line the vertical cross hair up on the far side shoulder and get an instantly dead deer every time. Grew up in the Deep South where the cover is heavy. That shoot ‘em behind the shoulder stuff is a good way to loose one. On a broad side shot, I take out both front shoulders with a high shot that puts the bullet right under the spine. None of them are going anywhere with two broken front shoulders. My other favorite shot is right where the neck meets the chest, in the center of the neck. The picture posted below was a buck I called in from 365 yards out. Didn’t feel like dragging him in and out of three ravines. He was polite too. Walked up to the base of the hill I was sitting on and turned broad side and posed for me. My 338 Rice (338-06 with 35 degree shoulder) loaded to 2800 fps with 200 grain Hornady SST was planted dead center of his neck where the neck joined the chest. We pronounced him DRT...Dead Right There.
View attachment 862776
Nice buck. Double brow tines on both sides. You don’t see that very often
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