How many .243's are Deer legal ?

[finnbear270]

What about a Welshman then Virbius, what if they decide to bring in their own deer act? I enquired out of curiosity and it's perfectly possible that they could do so.

Mike, the quarry in their country are short , white, & wooly.... & the accepted minimum cal is a size nine dunlop.

 

[splash]

I agree with your original point at the start of the thread, it certainly was interesting to chrono my own reloads as a result . I am sorry if I have offended you but in all honesty you point about lesser calibres and fmj to my mind is just confusing the issue. I certainly don't agree that the .243 is barely adequate as this very much depends on having the correct powder & bullet combination specific to the individual rifle used and properly testing before use in the field. Of course observation of the reaction of the deer to the shot, entrance & exit wounds and carcase damage follow directly on from this. atb Tim

Hi Tim
I'm not offended, and my point on smaller/illegal bullets was proberbly a crap way a way of saying what a mine field the debate on the .243 exposes. as you put on your previous post that even if BH is correct that the .243 is Not legal as defined by UK law. it still kills deer.
That would make your stance on the .243 illegal ? clear as mud.
Regards
Splash

So glad i started this thread it's been fun !

 

[Thar]

Crosshair makes a valid point, before the deer act came in a 22-250 was considered a perfect calibre for red hinds, while the 22 Hornet was fine for roe. In NZ millions of red deer fell to a 222 rem in the hands of cullers and farmers and we are not talking head shots only. The 243 win was designed to take White tail deer and varmints, white tail weigh similar to Fallow and red hinds. Went the deer act came in they had it about right stipulating the min’ levels of energy and bullet weights, the chaps involved were not stupid. While I have no doubt that some short barrelled rifles will not be big deer legal, it would not be enough to suddenly to make taking a deer with this rifle inhumane IMO.

If you really want to talk about a marginal deer calibre let’s talk 6mm BR.

ATB

Tahr

 

[Brithunter]

I noticed a comment about the power that be making the laws clear ............................................................ don't be silly. They are purposely written woolily so their buddies in the funny wigs can make loads of dosh in court debating it at "your" expense.

 

[willyroe]

oh god..... 243 rant time. The .243 is not anything more than a foxing calibre that's good for roe. Comparably a 17hmr shooting roe deer is more powerful than a 243 shooting a red stag, here's you maths and no I'm not saying it is legal or acceptable to shoot a deer with 17hmr:

17hmr v's 40lb roe deer (assume for the story it's a 'hunting' style bullet not v-max)

Bullet energy at muzzle 240 ft/lb
Deer live body weight 40lb
Energy delivery = 6ft/lb per live weight pound

243 v's 300lb red deer (assume the bullet actually meets legal energy in England for the large deer 1,700ft/lb)

Bullet Energy at muzzle 1,700ft/lb
Deer live body weight 300lb
Energy delivery = 5.7ft/lb per live weight pound

Er hello, your .243 kung foo is not strong..... it is weak like baby mouse!

If you don't believe me about the energy to live weight correlation then consider the reaction of the example deer shot with the energy discussed assuming a 'good' chest shot. Both deer will jump and run before collapsing shortly after, but hit them badly and you're looking at a wounded and suffering deer if a lethal follow up is not made.

I disagree with your view on the .243 because i feel it is ample to do the job with a correctly placed shot. Equally, please do the sums for a .270 on a 300ib beast. Id like to see the percentage increase for interest.

 

[gixer1]

It's odd that the restriction on the deer act was ever placed at .240 and the M.E it was as this is way past what's needed to kill every deer on the planet humanely, I know some will disagree but you just need to look at the volume of deer killed with bow's....and I suppose the fact that the bow record was a woman dropping a bull elephant with a compound bow - not saying that's morally right but it shows how little energy can kill with a projectile - yes the elephant bled out but from what I understand it bled out very quickly.

Also I believe the rangers in NZ were issued treble 2's for culling and didnt seem to have problems.

Regards,
Gixer