As everyone knows is absolutely hate the 243 because if have seen to much game wounded with it by people using the wrong projectiles for the game hunted. Also seen a lot of game just wounded by good shots with projectiles that were supposed to be ideal for the game hunted. Eg a 100gn Remington core lockt factory round put into the ribcage of a fallow deer. One deer died quickly the other with the same shot placement and same factory load run off never to be seen again.
I have reloaded this cartridge for people and have never attained the book velocities.
80gn max load 2,900-3100 fps
95gn SST max load 2,800fps
100grainer max load 2,700-2,800 fps
To me this round fails to live up to all the hype. To big for small game and not really big enough for medium big game.
I know there are people out there that love the 243 but I'm not one of them.
There's also people that say they use it for culling and it works well with head shots for that. Well a baseball bat to the he'd will do the same job.
This could be quite interesting to see some of the reasons why I should stop bagging out the prissy little 243 and see if I can refute some of the so called claims.
Let's keep it respectful but still have some fun and good humoured bantering.
Bob
It is interesting, Bob, because I have a diametrically opposed experience...
In the 1970's, when I started hunting, the .243 Win had a very good reputation in the French Alps as a very capable mountain game rifle with 90 to 100 gr pills. Those were the days before laser rangefinders, ballistic turrets, etc. etc. and it was liked for its reliable ability to shoot flat out to 200 meters, which was then considered a long shot. It for sure had better ballistics than the heavy pencil-like-loaded pre WW II reigning mountain caliber: 6.5x54 Mannlicher !!!
My mentor used a Steyr Mannlicher L stutzen in .243 Win and was deadly with it with RWS 6.2 g (95 gr) KS ammo on Chamois, Roebuck, Mouflon, and even mountain Sanglier (wild boar) that were half the size/weight of the corn-fed plain dwellers. I have no idea how many animals he shot with it over the years -- it must have been topping the hundred -- but I do not think that he ever lost any. He only up gunned to a Steyr Mannlicher M in 7x64 when Red Stag slowly recolonized the pre-Alps in the 1990's, and used it only on them.
In time, I had an opportunity to buy less expensively a used Steyr Mannlicher M72 (a very good rifle in its own right, although obsoleted by the newer Steyr Mannlicher L and M), on which I put a 2.2-9x42 Swarovski Habicht (in those days, the wisdom was still to spend more money on the glass than on the rifle). The rifle was in 6 mm Rem. Of course, I prided myself in thinking (and saying) that it was a better cartridge than the .243 Win, but we all know that when shooting 100 gr slugs they are virtually ballistic twins. With Federal Premium 100 gr Nosler Partition ammo this was, and remains, a near perfect, and reliably effective, mid-range mountain rifle.
I do not know if they fall in "small game" or "medium game", or maybe they are their own particular class of "mountain game", but I found both .243 Win and 6 mm Rem absolutely deadly with 95 gr KS and 100 gr Partition on Chamois (60 to 130 lbs.); Mouflon (50 to 120 lbs.); RoeBuck (25 to 75 lbs.); Mountain Sanglier (80 to 150 lbs.). I do not remember shooting or seeing shot anything else than these by .243 Win or 6 mm Rem, so my experience is limited and very specific.
Another reason may also be that all the shots I took or witnessed were to what would be considered nowadays almost as short range. In those days we hunted rather than sniped, and 200 meters was already considered longish, at least in hunting culture that I grew up in that little alpine village.
I do not have ANY experience shooting the lighter loads, or shooting larger game than the "mountain" class, or shooting game at 600 or 800 yards with the .243 Win, and this may very well be, Bob, why I still like very much the .243 Win and 6 mm Rem
To this day, although my R8 .257 Wby barrel clearly outclasses my old M72 6 mm Rem, I would have zero qualm whatsoever going after anything up to 150 lbs with it and Federal Premium 100 gr Partitions loads, or -- concession to modernization -- Barnes 80 gr TTSX loads.
And there is a very special (shortened!) rifle in my safe that I personally never used, but that will stay with us...
Not you. obviously.
On the other hand, my son shot his first half dozen deer with one. Worked perfectly. Hoping for a grandchild and he will start out on that .243.
I personally currently prefer either the .270 or the 7x65R for North American Deer. But I could switch to a .243 and with the right bullet do just as well.
This shortened (my wife is a petite) Sako Forester .243 Win was my wife's first centerfire rifle (she now shoots a shortened R8 in .222 Rem, .270 Win, 9.3x62); was our 3 daughters' and 2 boys' first centerfire rifle; and I indeed expect that it will be our (so far) 2 grandsons' first centerfire rifle. With its diminutive (but plenty enough) Zeiss Diatal ZA 4x32 scope it is light and compact, laser accurate thanks to a relatively heavy barrel, and I cannot imagine a better "starter" package for smaller stature hunters.
No, I will not have them take it on Elk, but I expect that it will do just fine on deer with the same loads that worked so well on mountain game: tough 100 gr Partition, or, I would speculate, 80 gr TTSX. After all, 100 gr TTSX in .257 Wby has become my default load for anything up to way heavier than Deer, so I guess that 80 gr TTSX ought to work just fine on Deer...
So, yep. I think that you are a little hard on the "prissy little 243", Bob
At the same time, I certainly understand how it can be misused (e.g. 55 gr varmint loads on Deer, or even 100 gr loads on Elk
), but is not the ability to be misused common to all modest power cartridges? such as 6.5 Creedmoor on Elk or Kudu
