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.