.243 QUESTION

[mndeer hunter]

i was wondering how a .243 would work for deer hunting. how is the recoil
from a .243 thanx

[Duckbutter48]

Some will say its too small but personally for deer hunting I think its about perfect. I would go with at least an 80 grn bullet up. I use 85grn Nos Partitions in my .243Wssm. Very low recoil factory ammo is reasonable to buy even if you get the premium stuff. Alot of guys on this site swear by thier 243's here. Just do a search you'll see all the threads that have been previously discussed on this. The recoil very light.

[bigbulls]

The .243 is about a perfect a deer cartridge as ano of them. Yes you will hear of horror stories about the .243 being too small and bullets not penetrating, flesh wounds, so on and so on. You got to remember that there are also many varmint bullets loaded for the .243 so you gotta make sure that you choose the correct ammunition.

The vast majority of those that talk about the .243 being a bad deer cartridge have either never hunted with one and really don't have a clue, chose the wrong ammutition and experianced one of those flesh wounds, or can't shoot worth a darn under hunting conditions in which case a bigger cartrigde wouldn't have helped any way.


Recoil of the .243 is almost nothing. Any child big enough to shoot a center fire rifle should be able to handle the .243.

[DannyD]

I have a 30-30 and 270 for deer. I was looking for another deer rifle and based on suggestions here I purchased a 243 a few months ago.

My first day hunting with it i shot a deer at 151 yards and dropped it right where it was standing. double lung passthrough. nickle size hole out the other side. Used 100g corelok. great accurate cartridge

My 13 year old 89lb daughter who is sensitive about recoil has no problem shooting this gun.

[James B]

In many if not most states, the 243 is the minimum cartridge allowed for deer hunting. That is the best way to describe it for deer, Minimum. Some states allow the centerfire 22 calibers I rate them about the same and have had simular results from both the 223/223 and the 243. With perfect shot placement they work. I would much rather use calibers from 25 caliber on up.

[DANTHEHUNTER]

I have one in nef bull barrel with a nikon pro staff scope. That thing will shoot with my customized ruger m77 vt .220 switf andI am very impressed with it. I have never deer hunted with it but my friends have and I watched a 358 yard (nikon range finder distance) on a good ol missouri buck and dropped him where he stood. That changed my opinion of that cartridge,what a statment for its ability to kill deer size game.

[Portage]

If you use the "search" function here you'll be an old amused and confused person before you are done reading about the 243 and deer.

[ejpaul1]

Yes indeed, well put by bigbulls. I took a large doe with mine this year from 160 yards and she stepped of maybe 10 yards. She only stepped that far because the shot was 2 inches high. I used a 100 grain hornady interlock that is actually made for big game. So, follow bigbulls direction and use quality bullets for taking big game and you will take more than the fella using a 38 win mag to take deer, but mostly because you are shooting straighter because you have nearly 0 recoil. I love mine and have adopted it as my new whitetail cartrige. Save the big guns for the big stuff.

[Fat-Arrow]

With proper bullet selection and shot placement it will drop them in their tracks. I have a 243WSSM, and with the 100grn power points, it does more internal damage than my 308.

Fat-Arrow

[ejpaul1]

How much faster is that 243 WSSM? I noticed them after I got my plain vanilla 243 and wished I would have looked at them. I am plenty happy with the 243, but you know the faster is better thing. EJ