Gm54-120

Its a shame its not more popular in the USA. The 6.5x55 is still very popular in many parts of Europe including using it for game larger than our deer.

Im trying to get my father to sell his Ljungman rifle and build a custom on the Swedish Mauser action instead. He already has the ammo and a small ring Mauser action would make by far a better hunting rifle than the Ljungman.

DON'T VOTE FOR THE WIFE OF MONICA'S BOYFRIEND!

Topgun 3006

...Deleted by CalHunter...

GTOHunter

I would either go with a larger Caliber, maybe a 7mm-08 or simply get a Browning A-bolt Hunter in a wood stock Bolt-action Rifle in the same .243 Caliber He has been using!

Sling

One thing to consider is the size of the deer you are hunting. Do you plan on hunting 80 pound Coues deer or 300 pound Canadian giants? How about making your choice based on the whitetail subgroup you are hunting. Here are some suggestions:

Whitetail Subgroup____________Caliber Suggestions
Dakota________________________28/7mm/30/8mm/338/35
Northern Woodlands_____________28/7mm/30/8mm/338/35
Northwestern___________________28/7mm/30/8mm/338/35
South Central Plains________________25/26/6.5mm/270
Southeastern______________________25/26/6.5mm/270
Gulf Coast_________________________25/26/6.5mm/270
Seminole____________________________24/6mm
Coues______________________________24/6mm

nchawkeye

Why, do you think the .243 is too small for larger deer????

Sling

Ha. That is a loaded question (no pun intended).

Ok, this conversation will go nowhere and get a lot of clicks, but it is deer season so what the heck.

I think the 243 will kill deer of any size. All I was suggesting is that you could use a 35 Whelen to hunt Coues deer and you could use 243 to hunt deer in Canada. They will both get the job done, but there are probably better choices.

Now I might have to explain why I think a 35 Whelen is too big for Cues deer to the Whelen guys…

I have hunted with a 243 a little bit just to try it on does. I have seen the results of both a 243 and 6mm rem mag on dozens bucks up here of various sizes (up to around 200 lbs live weight). Boiler rooms shots of various angles. I can best sum it up as this. When you start to approach 200 lbs live weight, you will start to see a difference in the recovery distance for the 243 (unless you go for shoulder, head or neck shots).

I will also add that you will not see a difference in recovery for deer closer to 100 lbs live weight.

What I have seen is that with larger calibers, there is normally an immediate reaction from the deer and short recovery. With the 243, the deer seem to build up a head of steam before they react to the shot. I would say this is the case about 80% of the time. In fact, on deer that are closer to 200 lbs it is not uncommon to see them start to run away from the hunter, then either circle back around past the hunter again. It is an odd behavior that we don’t see with something like a 30 caliber, but that delayed reaction buys them some time and distance.

And this is not something that has happened once. It has happened multiple times to multiple hunters. I don’t know if this behavior happens in mule deer or other species. I have just seen it in large northern whitetails.