Is .243 big enough???

[Paul at Fechan]

I've got a 375 h&h that is open for deer, scares holy poo out of people with the muzzle break.... but it only scares people who haven't yet embraced the awesome firepower of real man sporting firearms as apposed to the FEO's preferred minimum legal allowance to shoot big deer. If you're happy with .243 that's great! Can't knock it up to fallow as it really is in its element but it's also obvious that bigger deer deserve a bigger thump. But precision by any man must be delivered and this idea that big gun shooters are compensating for a lack of skill is ridiculous?!

Just as a point I find irritating, my 375 h&h on the red deer is only as powerful as a .223 on roe deer... Wake up, a 22lr HV bullet on munties is comparably as powerful as a .243 on reds just think about it. But hey, justify it as you like.

 

[bewsher500]

as most UK boar run to weights significantly less that most UK red stags
consider this:

if you are happy shooting red/sika stags with a .243 would you be happy shooting boar with it?

 

[Glen of Imaal]

Yea Glendine, there are still a few .22-250 diehards around. Mate of mine still uses one on fallow. Raised some eyebrows when he did his hcap with it! I wonder what sort of response the use of a .22-250 on large deer would create on SD I still take an old 5.6x57 out for an airing every so often. Kills Sika too...

 

[Crosshair243]

Just as a point I find irritating, my 375 h&h on the red deer is only as powerful as a .223 on roe deer... Wake up, a 22lr HV bullet on munties is comparably as powerful as a .243 on reds just think about it. But hey, justify it as you like.

And who says .22lr HV ISN'T powerful enough for Muntjac? Oh that's right, the same people who say .240 IS powerful enough for Reds.

I don't believe your live weight/ft lbs comparisons stand up to any real world experience- as (genuinely) interesting as they may be.

I know one or two retired and knew a couple of now deceased keepers who kept their Roe deer numbers firmly suppressed with a .22lr firing good old white box Winchester subs. I doubt they'd have agreed with your ft lbs list either

Range, bullet choice, knowledge of anatomy and shot placement are what counts. But hey, lots of toys can only be good for the gun trade as people chop and change and work it all out for themselves.

Fwiw, I run .223, .243 and .308 but the .243 is definitely my favourite.

 

[49ERIC]

I think theyre all too small. Wouldn't use anything smaller than 338 lap mag on rabbits and 50 cal for muntjac, maybe 20mm for reds?

308 wont bash the meat around as much as a 243 with a heavier and slower round. 260/7mm 08 sits in the middle? 6.5x55 is a great calibre but the 260 will do the same with less powder. Plus you got a mate with dies which your always welcome to borrow

Sabian ....... ......

 

[Sabian223]

Now that wasn't very nice.....

 

[AN DU RU FOX]

have you decided yet dagben, my heads in bits, brand new wood stock/blue t3 270 on guntrader

 

[Dagben77]

have you decided yet dagben, my heads in bits, brand new wood stock/blue t3 270 on guntrader

I'm now thinking bigger again! How hard is this!!!!

Whilst I waste time thinking about it, I went out foxing this afternoon and look who I saw! Only 90 yards out. I stood and watched him for 5 minutes!!! Typical.



Not sure if you can see that very well.

 

[Paul at Fechan]

6.5x55... it's got authority and it's legal for deer and boar throughout Europe because lets face it, you'll want to...

 

[AN DU RU FOX]

I'm now thinking bigger again! How hard is this!!!!

Whilst I waste time thinking about it, I went out foxing this afternoon and look who I saw! Only 90 yards out. I stood and watched him for 5 minutes!!! Typical.

View attachment 40077

Not sure if you can see that very well.

thats a nice buck i can see him from here,crap he mentioned 6x5x55 again,damb,by the way you would have missed him the cross airs wernt on him,

 

[Dagben77]

thats a nice buck i can see him from here,crap he mentioned 6x5x55 again,damb,by the way you would have missed him the cross airs wernt on him,

I'm amazed I was pointing anywhere near his direction. Trying to hold my Howa on sticks whilst trying to operate a phone looking at a very eye relief fussy scope!! It would have been easier to just shoot him and then take the photo but I may have been slated for that

 

[Dagben77]

6.5x55 is tempting! Anyone else got an opinion on the 6.5x55??????

Incoming!!!

 

[joe soapy]

Not convinced bigger, faster is always better. Deer seem to have a coiled spring set to go off when provoked sufficently.
A clout from a big caliber seems to trip the launche button before the brain get a damage report to tell its dead.
lighter calibers, the deer seem to wait untill after the damage report, and not run off

 

[deeangeo]

6.5x55 is tempting! Anyone else got an opinion on the 6.5x55?????? Incoming!!!

Very good cal/cartridge & will take everything in the UK no fuss & no bother. Why not? ATB

 

[AN DU RU FOX]

i maybe trying the 243 and 270 side by side next month so i should have a better idea , now watch sabian or paul will pop up with something else, not on deer i might add just paper ,thank you eric,

 

[JMS906]

JMS

Sorry but .243 is like a one inch cock, right at the bottom end of things for large deer. Would you be happy with it or do you want a real one?

I didn't realise we were in a competition of that kind. You don't know your Shakespere.

Long and thin
Goes straight in
But doesn't please the ladies.
Short and thick
Does the trick
And gives them
All the babies.

While it can do the job on large deer with a prime shot sure, if the bullet is off and not in the heart/lungs then the relative damage is very low. I've watch reds with a .243 stay on their feet for over a minute with a 'good' but not prime strike. Why shoot large calibre deer with a small calibre cartridge?

You're not about to tell use that the same shot shot with a (slightly) larger bullet would make any difference, are you? I too have seen a hind run off from a poorly placed shot - my friend brought his POA just a touch too far back - from a 243. But the same shot from my .30-06 wouldn't have anchored the hind either. What did anchor her was a snapshot shot into the back of the head from about 80 yards. I've also been responsible for a warthog running off following two hard hits with a .375H&H. That warthog wouldn't have been stopped if it had been hit by a .458 instead of the .375 and I doubt the red you saw run off would have acted differently if it has been hit by a .308 Win. A poorly placed shot is a poorly placed shot.

This will hurt your feelings.

On the contrary, I don't take it personally. I don't have a hobby horse cartridge to defend - I like them all. Well, maybe not so much the .270 <ducks for cover>

On big park reds a .243 at legal minimum is less powerful than a HV .22lr would be on muntjac based on relative energy per live weight pound delivered
FACT

Oh dear. Apples and oranges. No argument at all.

Read my original post again. You'll see that I'm not recommending the .243 on stags (on hinds I certainly would, ideal for them) and that I have a 7mm as my woodland rifle and on stags I use my .30-06. When I've been asked to recommend a rifle for general stalking, I generally suggest anything in the 6.5 to .308 class, starting with 6.5x55 at the lower end and .30-06 at the upper end. But if someone owns just one rifle, and that rifle is a 243, it is certainly capable of dealing with all deer in the UK.

-JMS

 

[Sabian223]

how about going old school with a 45/70, next to no meat damage

 

[Taff]

although I use a 270 now, a 243 is more than adequate for all deer at the right distance and the right shot, and I have plenty of evidence for that statement, calibres are just a fashion which come and go, generated by gun manafactures to get your money, it will not be long before the old 303 comes around again, in some fancy metric conversion, if we all had bows and arrows, think of the fun you would have tryin to get that elusive deer, compared to leaning on a gate at 300yds.

 

[robert1666]

A wise old man once told me that if i got a 243 i would need to get a pink laminate stock , paint my finger nails before i went stalking and call myself roberta !!!! grow a pair and get a mans calibre lol

 

[Dagben77]

So could someone please clarify, what's the answer????