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My brother swears by his 243. I bought a 243 short mag a few weeks ago. I'm wondering if it has enough punch to kill a deer. say a 220 pound monster buck at 100 yards?? Would it be enough to kill it?

timbercruiser

If you do your job (shot placement), then the .243 will do its job.

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thats all I wanted to know, thanks.

asttbe

.243 is an awesome caliber (unless you listen to the magazines) I've hunted with a Browning BLR-81 in .243 for 20 years. If you have correct shot placement the deer will go down. I've only had to track one deer with it. It was an 8-point that I shot at 327 yards (laser) and he dressed at 215lbs. It went through both lungs and he went 75 yards into some thick stuff.

I recently bought a Tikka .300wsm and that is what I hunt with now. This is just because I elk hunt every couple of years and I would like to use one gun for both. There is a lot to be said for feeling comfortable with a gun. I didn't want an elk gun that sat in the cabinet and I use to sight in and hunt every other year. So I hunt deer, hogs, and elk with one gun now.

Dubbya

.243 will definitely do the job. My first kill with mine was an antelope at 343 yards. (Hours upon hours upon hours upon hours of shooting). My second was a whitetail that dressed out at 185lbs in Wyoming, killed him at 120 yards. Just put 'er in the lungs and you'll be golden.