.243 Questions

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Firepower!

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I have been recently gifted a .243 by my father in law. It is a BRNO. I enjoyed shooting this bolt action rifle. As a matter of fact I was really in to bolt actions until recently.

I want to know how good this rifle is and is Burris scope good for it?

Also I want to get some education on the 243 caliber since we dont use much of it in Pakistan. I will appreciate you insights.

What can I use this ammo for (hunting terms)?
 
BRNO rifles are made in the Czech Republic. They are good rifles. 243 caliber is good for deer or smaller animals.
 
Burris makes fine scopes, and has a wide range of products, from inexpensive to pricey. I'm sure you can find something in your budget that will work. Congrats on the gift.
 
Nice rifles

Brno has a solid reputation. Did it come with the Burris scope? If so, and it shoots well, I'd stick with it.

The .243 was an attempt at a dual purpose caliber(from Winchester)that would serve for deer and varmint hunting(Small game pests-coyotes, ground hogs, etc.) Remington tried the concept with their .244 Remington and it failed.
The .243 is necked down from the parent case .308 winchester. Yes, it is quite possible to make .243 brass from the parent case.

It's capable of nearly 3,000 fps from a 100 grain bullet.

.243 enjoys a reputation as being easy to shoot and quite capable of taking deer sized game. I don't know if I'd try it on anything much larger though.
 
The .243 is a splendid caliber that most people underestimate.

It is extremely accurate and will easily take any deer that ever walked on Earth. It is also good for wild boar/hogs and black bears. It will do a good job on any animal up to about 400 pounds at ranges out to about 400 yards. It will kill deer in the 250-pound range a bit farther.
It is accurate enough to shoot animals like woodchucks (about 18" high) at beyond 400 yards.

Congratulations !

:cool:
 
The .243 is an good choice for mid size and less game - excellent for varmit hunting. You have a wide choice of bullets from 58 gr. varmit to 120 big game. Remington's .244 is similar ( ballistically superior) however it was not popular because nimrods of the day did not know what they were buying. Remington designed the 244 as a VARMIT cartridge not toshoot to the heavier bullets for deer an such. IMO buy the 260 REM if you want to shoot heaiver game.
 
Thank you for your input.

Any suggestions on what type of ammo I should use to optimize the effective range. Current I have some serbian cartridge which seem pretty good.
 
Without knowing what type .243 ammo is easily available to you I'll just offer that I've killed a trainload of deer with the Hornady 87 gr. BTHP in handloads.

The 75-gr bullets/ammo is designed for varmints. 85-95 gr. are good for larger game. Some people use the 100 gr. for deer but I've never found it necessary and it hasn't been quite as accurate as the 87 gr. bullets.

:cool:
 
I've had the same results as Shawnee - .243 is an excellent cartridge. Folks who think it's too light for game such as any kind of deer, antelope, etc are just plain wrong. I used either the 85(?) gr hollow points or 100 gr soft points with great results. My brother and I grew up shooting .243 and never had problems with deer-sized game.
 
Brno is and allways has been a fine rifle, known for it's accuracy. if you go to rimfirecentral, and check out the CZ thread, you will see big mention of brno's there. the 243 is an excellent cart, it is based on the 308, and uses bullets as light as about 58 grains, and heavy as 110 or even 120 grains. it is used for everything from varmint/prairiedog hunting, and with the heavier bullets, North american deer , and relevant sized game. It is a fast , flat shooting bullet, and can be made into a 1000 yd shooter with handloads.
To me, it sounds like you have a most excellent rifle there, hang on to it, It being a BRNO, it will only get more valuable.
 
I am glad to hear good things about BRNO. Is it the same company that makes CZ rifles?

No it did not come with the scope. I just happen to have one Burris scope.

How big of a game can you hunt with .243?
 
ATAShooter...whats the make of this rifle? And what brand+power scope you have on it? Also what distance and what do you hunt with it?

Sorry to bombard you with questions but I am really curious about .243 and effectiveness. I have a scope but I dont think it is as powerfull as this one you have on..from the look of it. And I have been unable to zero it so far- since I lack technique and am not sure about the distance I should use to zero it.
 
Brno is an excellent czech made rifle, very much worth the money, something to hand down to a kid someday. Worth over 600 new, even though he proly bought it for 300, if it is more than 5 years old. When the Czech rifles were unknowns, you could get them cheap over here.
The 243 is an excellent bullet, you can use it to hunt almost any size gazing game you like, up to say , large deer mountain goats, some smaller dangerous game. It is also a round you can long range shoot with, some guys do 1000 yds competition with it. it is based on the 308 case, necked down, to take a 6mm bullet, instead of a 7.62 bullet. They typically weigh between 80 and 110 grains. The bullets over 100 grains, are used for long range targeting, or bigger game. The smaller bullets, some as low as 60 grains, up to about 75 grains, are used for high speed varmint or coyote zapping.
 
Oh , the burris scope, with a 243 ballistic plex reticle, is a most excellent choice, will help you estimate, and range find within the scope.
 
Your 243 is an excelent deer round. like most high speed small bulleted rounds it benefits most from using premium bullets. The bullet does all the work.

You can either handload or buy the factory loads that contain bullets like the Barnes X bullet, Nosler Partition and Swift A-Frame.

Smaller animals like our Texas whitetails can be killed with the normal run of factory loads. I use my own handloads with the Nosler 100gr Partitions. It doesn't cost but a few cents more for the better loads. I practice with the cheap bullets.

For bigger stuff like mule deer and hogs spend the money and get the best ammo you can find.
 
Thank you guys.

Now the question remains how do I zero the scope and at what range. The scope I have is quite basic so it tells me nothing as per ramge etc.

I have winchester bullets and lots of Serbian- not sure what compnay that is since the writing it slavic. A dealer has told me that he has got some from NORMA- I am not sure how good they are and if should get some of them.
 
I shot my first deer with a 243 when I was 14. 225 yards while he was running in sage brush.

I heart the 243
 
Since you have a basic scope here is an option that should serve you well.

For the sake of the example we'll assume you're using the 95gr. bullet.

Shoot at 100yds. and adjust your scope so the bullets hit the target 2" above the point you are aiming at.

This will cause your bullets to hit the point of aim ("zero") at about 225yds.

Most importantly, this setting will allow you to hold essentially "dead on" at any range out to about 260yds. and, at 300yds you will hit only about 5.5" below the point of aim.... and, at 300yds., that amounts to very, very little needed "holdover".

Such a scope setting obviously greatly simplifies your aiming.

If you think most of your shots will be farther than 300yds., you can use a ballistic calculator to determine a better sighting. But then just remember that shots closer than 300yds will then require some changing of your aim point and thus be a bit more tricky. And you are also starting to need a more complex and expensive scope.

HTH.
:cool:
 
How do I adjust the scope. I mean I can shoot at 100 yds w/o the scope, and then when I put the scope on the gun how do I know that it 2" above the shot, since it may well be targeting 3" above the shot as is?
 
The .243 is a splendid caliber that most people underestimate.

It is extremely accurate and will easily take any deer that ever walked on Earth. It is also good for wild boar/hogs and black bears. It will do a good job on any animal up to about 400 pounds at ranges out to about 400 yards. It will kill deer in the 250-pound range a bit farther.
Click to expand...

I agree with Shawnee. 243 is a great round.
 
I like the .243, but I will take a minor amount of umbrage with this statement:

It is also good for wild boar/hogs and black bears
Click to expand...

I don't know about bears, but my best friends dad just got back from hog hunting with a .243, and he was very unimpressed with it's performance. Literally the day after he got back, he started looking at .308 rifles! Of course, that's just second-hand experience, so take it for what it is.
 
Son is about 5' 9" Hog field dressed 170lbs.
One shot from .243 at about 200 yds.
JasonHog.gif


Hog live weight 250lbs. Shot about 125yds. One shot from a .204 Ruger

Hog204.gif

The .243, in competent and responsible hands, will take hogs just fine.

:cool:
 
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