JoeinNY

I shot my dad's buddys .243 today and I really like it. I am going to try to save my money up for a .243 It has less recoil than my dads 30-30 and is a flatter shooting gun. It had almost no recoil. It was a Winchester Model 70 Featherweight. I really like that gun. So I was wondering, what can a .243 be used for? I have 3 years left until I hunt deer with the gun (16 years old minimum). But until then, I plan on using it for yotes, squirrel? Rabbit? I don't know. I gotta save the money first. So what can a .243 be used for until I can hunt deer?

zrexpilot

You dont want to shoot squirrles or rabbits with it, there will be nothing but pieces of skin and meat left. It will totally blow them to smitherines. yotes or ground squirrles would be ok. If you use a 70 gr bullet. turkey would be ok. I have been using a .243 all my life, I'm 38 now. It does one hell of a job on deer, never had one get away, ever. You will love it, good choice.

jmfa1957

The last deer I took fell to my Winchester Model 70 Featherweight .243. I love this little rifle. This caliber is pretty good for deer sized game, but is entirely too vigorous for edible small game. Zrexpilot is right, there won't be much left.

If you are shooting coyotes or varmints this is a great caliber. There are those who use the .243 on tougher/larger game, such as hogs and elk. I personally would not advocate that; however, if you can pinpoint your shot to exactly where you want it you can probably get away with more than I would personally care to attempt. A headshot with this caliber is devastating to most critters.

jorkep

.243 is a great deer gun. I've shot most of my deer with a .243. I only changed when I got older and decided to change guns. I now shoot a .270. But, I'll never get rid of my trusty .243. Most accurate gun I've ever shot, and I bought it used about 10 years ago.

James B

Good Varmit gun.

Virginia7

Some of what it can be used for would include coyotes, woodchucks, bobcats, crows, and turkey with the right bullets.
243 is too much for squirrels and rabbits - if you want anything left to eat.

The 243Win. is a great varmint cartridge, but should be considered a MINIMAL deer
cartridge. Use premium ammo only for deer hunting (ex.: nosler partition bullets).
Broadside heart/lung shots should be the rule, and try to keep the range to within
200yds. for deer.

idahoelkinstructor

I wish I had a .243 to hunt Varmits with, here in Idaho along the snake river canyon rockchucks are everywhere. The problem is you can never see the ones on your side of the river. You always see the ones accross the river, that can range as close as 100 yards to up to 800 yards depending upon where you are. The .243 is a perfect choice for this chore.

jorkep

I'm not sure when the .243 became a "minimal" deer cartridge. I used to shoot regular old corelokts with great success. Don't shoot ballastic tips with it though because ballastic tips in this caliber and smaller are meant for varmints. You should always strive to take broadside shots. Placement is more important than caliber. I repeat the .243 is a great deer cartridge. It has no recoil which makes it a great gun to learn with.

JoeinNY

I'm with jorkep on this one. I really don't think that the .243 is a varmint gun. It can be used for varmint, but the all of the deer my dads friend shot, crumbled into a pile with a heart shot from this gun. I really like it. Say, maybe now I can take care of the groundhog population digging up our fields.

DM

I'm one of the guys that keeps on posting here that a .243 Win. (all 6mm's) is really too small for deer sized game.. Even though among other things, i've taken quite a few deer with one, and a very large blk. bear that weighed just over 500 pounds.

The reason i keep on posting "get something a bit bigger" is NOT because a .243 won't kill a deer!! With 100 grain Nosler partitions, it's a pretty good deer round "IF" you keep your shots to near broad side!! .243's have the energy to kill deer, it's just hard to get a 6mm bullet that will expand and penetrate "properly" on less than perfect shots!!

SO really, in the hands of a shooter, who can pass up a nice buck that's "not" giveing the best shot, they are fine, but how many guys "especially" new hunters, will turn down a nice buck standing straight away when they have a .243 Win. in there hands??????????????? From my experence, very FEW to NONE!!!!

The other day i sat in a deer blind with a friend deer hunting. He has a little room up in his pole barn to hunt out of, because he's handicaped. He had another friend there so it was a bit crowded, but i didn't bring a gun anyway. I just wanted to spend time with my friend, as his heart is failing and, well you just never know how long you will last!!!!!! I don't think he will be around to hunt with next season...

He lives in a shotgun area, and the 3rd guy was saying how far away he would take a shot. He had his limit at about 100 yards MAX, and pointed out to the furthest places he'd take a shot. (iron sights) All three of us had doe tags, and i already had shot a buck days eariler, so they could shoot what ever came out. Just before dark, 4 does came out at about 130 yards away, and sure enough the 3rd guy up and takes a shot, and they were "exactly" where he said he would NOT take a shot eariler!!!!

It seems to always go that way, think and talk one way before the deer gets there, and do another when you see something!! And, NO he didn't get the deer!!

I still say the 6mm's are on the small side for deer!!!!

Drilling Man