243 100 Grain
 

Do you think a 243 100 grain bullet is a little to light for deer?

Re: 243 100 Grain
 

Mark, I killed lots of deer with my grandad's Savage 99 in .243....Killed lots more with a .223.
Where you live the deer are bigger, but if you hit them through the "stickin' spot" they will go down with that 100 gr .243....

Rockinbbar

Re: 243 100 Grain
 

In a word............... NO!


I would be careful with the 100grn in the .243" though as the .243 Win which I am assuming you are talking about seems fussy which is one of the reasons I do not like it. You would probably be better off with the 85 grn bullet, but until you try the 100grn in your rifle you simply won't know. Some rifles shoot it well others scatter them like a shotgun. I have a friend with 2 rifles in .243 win, one is a Sako and will shoot the 100 grn quite well although ti shoots the 85 & 90 grns much tighter. The other is a Ruger No1 whihc will not shoot any bullet over 85 grn accurately, with the 85 grn bullets it's a vitrtual one hole group though:eek:

My friend the Gamekeeper has a Schoenauer which was re-barreled into .243 win some years back and that's really accurate with federal premium 100 grn factory ammo, in fact he as not been able to load himself to equal it, but it does not like the Winchester 100 grn ammo at all:(

Only testing in your rifle will tell what it likes and what it dislikes, the bullet placed in the right spot will drop them. Good luck on your hunt:D

Re: 243 100 Grain
 

My first deer rifle was a .243, and I've never been without one in my gun cabinet since. I've killed many a deer (both mule deer and whitetail) with it, and the 100 grain bullet was always my bullet weight of choice.

I've shot WAY more rounds of this cartridge than any other, and I feel comfortable saying in the hands of a competent rifleman it'll kill deer with no problems. Keep your shots inside of 300 yards and place your bullet correctly and that rifle will serve you well.

Good luck,
Daryl

Re: 243 100 Grain
 

Hi Daryl,

Seems I have confused you, the question was:-

Do you think a 243 100 grain bullet is a little to light for deer?

And my answer was no!

The .243 Win is just about the most used Deer cartridge here in the UK, although I personaly don't use it. The reason for it being so popular is due to r Der laws, it says the minimum calibre is .240" and the .243" seems the closest. Really it's true calibres is .236" or .235" but don't tell anyone;) Now to shoot deer here you need your firearms certificate varied to allow you to do so and the Police who do this like the word "Minimum" so push folks into using this cartridge. The Police often refuse folks who want to use their .308 as it's "too powerful"

Reasons I don't much like the .243" is being told by a bucnh of idiots who know diddly squat about shooting and that the .243 can be very fussy as I outlined. The police try so tel you that you Must! use a 100 grain bullet as a minimum to shoot deer, whilst this is true of any deer other than Roe in Scotland. It's not the case in England and Wales! due to this a lot of factory ammunition loaded with 100 grain bullets gets used up and we here a lot of complaints that the rifle is not very accurate:rolleyes: it could be if they switched to as I said a 85 grain bullet, in fact they might be surprised the difference this would make. The Deer won't know the difference except that it may be a cleaner kill as the bullet is more likely to land where it was intended.

I have shot precisely ONE deer, a Muntjac Doe with a .243"Win chambered rifle, it took us about 45 minutes to find that little deer even though it was a clean heart shot at about 70 yards. It was in a new fir plantation and she was in the ride between the rows of conifirs, she ran through the line of trees into the next ride which was about 20 feet then turned down the ridel for a few yards before diving under the brush and low branches where she expired. Muntjac are small deer weighing only about 25lbs and are the Devil to find in situations like this.

Using other cartridges like the 6.5mm, 7mm, .308 and 30-30 I have never had this problem. I was only using a borrowed rifle as like a fool I had picked up the wrong box of cartridges, although the right cartridge it was the wrong bullet weight and not sighted in for them:confused: the difference was enough to mean a clean miss on these deer:eek: I was 100 miles from home so I borrowed the gamekeepers .243" which is very accurate and fitted with a nice Khales 6x42 scope.

I hope that explians my views better;)

Keep up the good work with your .243". Just because I am not enamoured with it does not mean it's not good and cannot do the job very wel indeed:D

Re: 243 100 Grain
 

Brithunter,

I'm sorry if my post sounded like it was directed at you. i didn't mean it that way at all.

Actually, I was answering the original question with my post, and meant no disrespect for your opinions and experiences.

Back when the .243 was first introduced (in 1955), it was designed to shoot bullets up to 100 grains in american made Winchester rifles. When Remington came out with the .244 Remington to compete with the .243, they used a slower twist in their barrels that wouldn't stabilize the 100 grain bullets well. As a result, the .243 became more popular than what is arguably a better cartridge. Later on, Remington re-introduced the same cartride as the 6mm Remington using a faster twist barrel to stabilize the 100 grain bullets, but it was too late for that cartridge to catch on with the .243 doing so well. That bias still seems to affect the .6mm Remington today.

I can't help wondering if the rifles you've had experience with are maybe barreled with a slower than standard twist? The twist rate seems to make all the difference for heavier bullets in this caliber (as well as others, I'm sure).

I agree that there are other, perhaps better, options. I myself use a 7mm Rem Mag for most of my deer hunting these days, but I can't help but feel that the .243 Win remains a very viable option for those who are sensitive to recoil, or simply want to use a lighter caliber.

I had worn the barrel out on my first .243 by the time I was 17 years of age, having shot many thousands of rounds through it. It remains one of my favorite cartridges to shoot, though in recent years it's seen more limited useage than it once did. It used to be my "go for" rifle for most hunting, but I've since started using more "specific use" calibers.

Take care,
Daryl

Re: 243 100 Grain
 

Hi Daryl,

We wondered about the barrel twist too, at first but when it happens that one rifle of the same make and model will shoot the 100 rn and one won't. t sort of dampened that idea a bit:(

I know of the Remington and it's story:rolleyes: in fact I looked at one some while ago it was a Ruger No1, I also saw a rather nice Parker-Hale in 6mm remington only the other week, which for the price might require looking at again in the near future if............ if it's still there.

Re: 243 100 Grain
 

The first centerfire rifle I ever owned was a 243. I have always had one since that day. Currently I have an old non-prefix Ruger #1 topped with a 7.5x Leupold. This gun has fired one load at deer with great success. I use 100 grain sierra bullets. The load shoots 3 shots in 1 inch or less at 100 yards. MV is about 2900 to 2925 depending on the lot of powder.

Re: 243 100 Grain
 

Hey I dont own a 243 but my friend does and he was using it this year for dear and those 100 grain bullets. So I thought I just might ask what your guys opinion was.

Thanks for all you help

good huntin,
Mark

Re: 243 100 Grain
 

Mark

I have hunted deer with the 243 in Germany and the States and found it very adequate with the 100 grain bullet. As noted already, shot placement means a lot. I like it enough that I have a 243 Model 70 that I am holding for my daughter until she gets big enough to hunt with it.

To answer your original question: No, I do not think the 100 grain 243 is too light for deer.