Funny that this is brought up yetagain. Maybe I shouldn't speak my thoughts since I just got in from tracking yet another deer shot with a dadgum .243. A friend of mine shot him at 3:00 this afternoon and we finally found him at 9:45(Didn't start looking til 5:45...got the dog about 8:00 after the blood dissapated to less than the pin drops we had perviously been finding).I don't know that we went a mile but it was close. This is the 4th deer I've helped him track in the last 2 years. He only ask me to help on the bucks.I don't knowhow many does he hasn't found.He has killed a few bucks and found them on his own but I'm betting that I've helped him track the other half that were shot with this gun. I think he is convinced that this is the last deer he will shoot with it. Deer was shot 50yds qtring away. Bullet went in about 3-4 ribs up and came out just a 4-5" rt of center on chest. Maybe a hair back but not much. I didn't hang around to help him clean it but I would say he weighed in the 170lb range. 100gr nospart. Exit hole was barely bigger than the entry hole. I am conviced and he was to that had he used his .280 (which was in his truck...he just chose the .243) that the deer wouldn't have made off the plot. He went in to shoot a doe and a nice buck walked out.

IMO the .243 is a at very best a very marginal deer gun. It will kill a deer. I won't deny that but there are better calibers with similar recoil that will do a much better job. I have to ask what you are planning on using the gun for? Strictly deer? Something else also? If its just a deer save yourself the headache and get a 7-08 or 308. More knock down and a much bigger entry and exit hole. The 243 just doesn't allow enough room for error. I know there are a bunch of people on here that are perfect shots every time. Thats great for them. I personally get buck fever every now and then and I want something I can miss a little with but still get the job done. From what you are saying you take the shot you get not the shot you want. Get something that you don't have to question. 308, 270, 260
Good luck.