I' ve shot a .243 and a .30-06 and have had no problems with either, recoil-wise. Deer shot went down within a few feet of the position at where they were shot, whether it be with Remington CoreLokts, Sierra GameKings, Nosler Partitions or Winchester FailSafes(in the .30-06) and others I don' t remember and at distances from 25 to 150 yards. For me the issue has been precise placement; I' ve been most fortunate that the deer were in broadside positions.

To get back to the original question, yes, the .243 Win is ok for deer, with proper presentation, bullet placement, decent bullets and adequate range practice.

Ok, guys let me get this right. Some of you see a great difference in how the deer fell between a 25-06 and a .243?? You mean that extra 100-150fps made that much of a difference to you guys?? I don' t think so. I think this is like a placebo effect. I mean, I have had deer hit in the lungs with a 30-06 run 100 yards, and monster bucks hit with a .243Win run only 5 before piling up. And vise-versa. Really depends on the adrenaline and just the animal itself. Seen deer fall over too with a bad shot. People that tell me all thier deer fall in their tracks, usually tell me they have only killed 10 or so deer.

So Alacrity Fitzhugh, is it ok to use a 30-06 or 338Win mag, or Something more powerful than a .243Win without proper presentation, bullet placement, decent bullets and adequate range practice?

I have used the 6MM Rem. on whitetails for many years with very good results! I would consider the .243/6MM to be the minimum caliber for deer. When I say " minimum" though, I am not saying that it is " barely" good enough. I am saying that with 100 grain bullets the .243/6MM is a very good minimum, for ANY whitetail deer or deer sized game.
I suspect that too many people, myself included, have fallen for the " bigger is better" craze! Todays thinking seems to be " hit ' em with an atomic bomb, and they will drop on the spot!" Wrong!
I would much rather see a well placed shot with a .243/6MM than a poor shot with one of todays latest, greatest, super-duper, dadgum-magnums! (Nothing against magnums, I shoot them too!)
Bottom line, I think that the 7MM-08 would be about as perfect a deer gun as you could get, power to spare and light recoil too! However if the .243/6MM is what you have or what you want, it will serve you well if you do your part.

Get yourself a torn rotator cuff and you might be able to tell the difference.

I went to the range Sunday and shot half a box through my 270 and half a box through my 7mm-08. To tell you the truth if things don' t get any better I am going to have to " borrow" the wife' s 243. Actually I am just going to start shooting left handed again.

I will tell you what amuses me. People who tout the 30-30 Win as being the best deer getter out there and then in the same breath poo poo the 243. Talk about just plain amazing.

I would imagine a torn rotator cuff would require surgery and no shooting for a some time.

GTBuzz, usually that is the case. Unless you are in the military, then they just give you Motrin and tell you to suck it up and press on. At any rate you will be recoil sensitive for a long time afterwards and will learn to appreciate the subtle differences in recoil.

Is a .243 good for deer? No.

No Thanks! I believe I' d like to stay the way I am and not be able to tell the subtle differences.

woods

Yep - I' ve had the rotator cuff surgery and tore up a few other things in my shooting shoulder. I can tell the difference between a 7mm/08 and a .308, too. That' s why I like the .260 Rem and the 6.5x55 Swede. They' ll do everything the other two will do, and they kick noticeably less.

Scoped my RC couple years back, don' t have to have it rebuilt, yet at least, and both of my shoulders have been thrown out of socket/dislocated enough to the point that I have severely winged scapulas and am able to pull my shoulders out of socket with minimal effort (<--they said this was probably the reason I didn' t completely destroy it upon my last tear), I used to do it as a party trick in fact, just sit in a chair, grab the seat and lean back, my shoulder drops an inch and a half, then I elevate it past level with my shoulder, and it falls back in....and I don' t have any problems with recoil. If you' re wondering why my shoulders are so rough, it was a combination of breaking horses, riding bulls, playing football, and wrestling, maybe I' m tougher than most, but I wouldn' t care to think so, read my above post and you can see the ' punishment' my shoulders take on a daily basis just due to recoil, and like I said, it' s never been a problem. My shoulders are the least of my problems though, and I take glucosamine and chondrotin, along side all of my other vitamins/minerals/protiens and I work all of my injuries like I' m supposed to, do all of the stretching and what not that the PT had me doing, my last MRI' s showed I had considerable scar tissue in my shoulders (now my knees are another story), but less in fact than I should, and very little arthritis, which should have been prominant by now, maybe this stuff would help you guys?