Do I need a .243?

[Art Eatman]

My little Sako Forester carbine, fully dressed, is seven pounds. Sub-moa with my handloads, and now that Federal has duplicated my handload with the Sierra 85-grain HPBT, good factory stuff is available.

The 55-grain bullets are lauded by the varminter crowd, and I've found they work well on prairie dogs.

I've ruined the day for twenty-some bucks with that Sierra bullet; they all dropped in their tracks. Ruinacious on coyotes, as well.

I dunno. I probably have some 1,500 rounds or so through mine, and no degradation in group size as yet...

 

[Onmilo]

I wouldn't use my .243 for elk, I have other, more effective rifles for that purpose.
There are people who do use .243 and .25/06 for elk and do so effectively but I am with the guys who don't recommend it.

Factory ammo.
Some of the calibers recommended here can be hard to find in some areas and compared to the price of .243 are quite a bit more expensive.

In my area .243 is regularly offered for $12.00 a box and a bit less on sale, I have recently bought .243 for $9.50 a box for Winchester 80 grain Powerpoints.

At least here, you can't touch .25/06, 6mm Remington, or 6.5 Swede for less than $20.00 a box.
Economy is also something to consider, especially if you don't handload.

 

[cowpoke]

MY 243 rem pump with 100g psp rem has killed many deer & hogs. Hit in the right spot they drop on the spot!

 

[rebel4x]

Frankenstien .243

I shoot several calibers from .22 through 30-06. I bought a Remmy .243 intending to rebarrel to .308. Of course I decided to play with the 243. Since I was going to salvage only the receiver I did not care what happened so I did all the stuff I had read about in all the gun mags. It became a classroom for me. Mounted my own scope for the first time and shot an "as is" group of 3&1/2" @ 100 for reference--then I floated the barrel, bedded the receiver (JB Weld & turtle wax!) and tuned the trigger as described online and did a Krylon Digital Camo pattern. All these were first time attempts for me. Got it down to a sub moa rifle. I had no 243 reloading dies so I necked down some 7.62 NATO with a 243 trim die just like the pros. Even seated the pills with a .223 seating die. I am now shooting sub 1/2 moa groups with this Bride of Frankinstein. I now have a Lee Collet die and fireformed cases and expect the occasional .25 moa group. As to barrel life, you will go broke on factory rounds before you kill the original barrel. If you shoot that much you will eventually want to hand load because you really can build a better bullet than you can buy. You will just "have to know" what your rifle is capable of with the best. When you are ready to upgrade to a new barrel you will be ready to squeeze one more .10" out of her. All this fun for $295? Maybe.....

 

[slowr1der]

In my area .243 is regularly offered for $12.00 a box and a bit less on sale, I have recently bought .243 for $9.50 a box for Winchester 80 grain Powerpoints.

Wow, you have great prices in your area. The cheapest I've found here is Federal 100 grain Power Points from Walmart at $13.97 a box. Sometimes Federal does offer a rebate on them.

However, like you said, that's a lot cheaper than some of the other calibers mentioned here.

 

[LoonWulf]

I think shooting habits contribute to how barrels are eaten, and besides shooting out a barrel isnt that big a deal, 2-350 bucks and your back at it again. Ive heard people say as little as 1000rnds and as much as 3000. When mine gets worn, ill probobly just slap on another .243 barrel, or maybe swtich to a slightly bigger caliber just to try something different.

 

[Silent Sam]

Not if you have a 257.

 

[grtwhthntr]

If you're shooting extremely light varmint bullets, I suppose you could wear out a .243 barrel. But with 100 grain deer rounds, it would take a lifetime to do it. 100 grain bullets leave the muzzle at around 3,000 fps, which isn't exactly a barrel burner. I'm a big fan of the .243 as a deer round and would recommend buying one. They're low on recoil and fun to shoot.

 

[unwise11]

get one, then get a .308 then get a 300wm.. its an addiction, get em all

 

[HOOfan_1]

get one, then get a .308 then get a 300wm.. its an addiction, get em all

Pokemon for adult men? Oh no....

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

The real question is: If you had a .243, would you NEED anything else? I don't own one, but I have several friends that use it for deer and varmints, and it has become their one gun/rifle. It is a very versatile round.