Is .243 big enough???

I know a few guys use .243 on sika because that's what they have. It does the job but unless you pin, head or neck them they generally head for the thick stuff after a hl shot. Hit them with as much as you can and not as little. Sika deep in the sitka is bad newseven with a dog. Open ground with bleed out space is a little more forgiving.
 
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? FACT

Ah so it is all to do with Ego then !
A 1" cock with the correct sperm count and put in the right place will do the same job as an 8" one.
So the bottom line is, if you want to be all flash and cocky go big but if you want to just get on with the job get a .243 :thumb:
 
I once chatted to an old highland stalker and he used a .222 for his hind culling , head shots I suggested , aye if i'm sure otherwise I just bang them in the chest came the reply ! I was surprised but it just goes to show that no animal is bullet proof !

a 243 will be fine , personally I prefer a little larger but the 243 will do the job perfectly well.

oh and if your in the queue for willys , which do you choose a 1" one that will do the job when everything is perfect or a slightly larger model that will work even when not every thing is perfect ?

cars , guns , engines and willys , bigger is better!:D
 
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oh and if your in the queue for willys , which do you choose a 1" one that will do the job when everything is perfect or a slightly larger model that will work even when not every thing is perfect ? cars , guns , engines and willys , bigger is better!:D

If you are paying by the inch and aren't in the 'pin up' trade then anything that does the job is good enough :shock:

Oh, Just spotted that Gary. I'm not chopping 3" off of mine for anybody :D
 
If you are paying by the inch and aren't in the 'pin up' trade then anything that does the job is good enough :shock:

Oh, Just spotted that Gary. I'm not chopping 3" off of mine for anybody :D

what about if your PAID by the inch.............
 
Calibre choice is a personal preference on which there will be no overall agreement. That's why there are so many calibres available! Off the top of my head, of the guys that I shoot regularly with, 6 have .243's, 1 has a .270 and one has a 6.5x55. These are all guys that have been stalking for years, who live and stalk in Wicklow, one of the best Sika areas in Britain and Ireland. They shoot a lot of Sika. The situation in Ireland is slightly different with regard to calibre choice. I started off using a .22-250 because that is all we were allowed. When larger calibres were permitted, it was a Henry Ford situation in the local gun shop, a cz rifle in .243 or .270! I picked a .243 as did a lot of others. It has worked well.

Larger than .270 wasn't initially permitted but that was relaxed later. 6.5x55 was slow to gain momentum but is popular now. Now people who are newer to stalking or looking to change have a full range of calibres to choose from day one. Maybe I'm growing old and settled in my ways! A .270 or a .308 is great on Sika but it won't make them any deader than a .243!

Now what about the 5.6x57 RWS on Sika.......:-D
 
An keeper in Scotland once told me... ".243 is a roe gun, for reds two shots with a .243 makes more damage than one shot with a 30-06"
 
Ah so it is all to do with Ego then !
A 1" cock with the correct sperm count and put in the right place will do the same job as an 8" one.
So the bottom line is, if you want to be all flash and cocky go big but if you want to just get on with the job get a .243 :thumb:
yer but nobodys keeping anybody happy with a inch cock lets face it they wont hold on to a woman for 5 mins :rofl::rofl::fib:after shes finnished laughing that 1inch will probably never work again
 
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Just get a .308 and have done with it... you'll never *need* to question your choice or replace it for something bigger no matter what you shoot in the UK..... .243... nowt wrong with it but you could find yourself questioning your choice at some point... buy once and be at peace with yourself! :thumb:
 
Calibre choice is a personal preference on which there will be no overall agreement. That's why there are so many calibres available! Off the top of my head, of the guys that I shoot regularly with, 6 have .243's, 1 has a .270 and one has a 6.5x55. These are all guys that have been stalking for years, who live and stalk in Wicklow, one of the best Sika areas in Britain and Ireland. They shoot a lot of Sika. The situation in Ireland is slightly different with regard to calibre choice. I started off using a .22-250 because that is all we were allowed. When larger calibres were permitted, it was a Henry Ford situation in the local gun shop, a cz rifle in .243 or .270! I picked a .243 as did a lot of others. It has worked well.

Larger than .270 wasn't initially permitted but that was relaxed later. 6.5x55 was slow to gain momentum but is popular now. Now people who are newer to stalking or looking to change have a full range of calibres to choose from day one. Maybe I'm growing old and settled in my ways! A .270 or a .308 is great on Sika but it won't make them any deader than a .243!

Now what about the 5.6x57 RWS on Sika.......:-D


Them were the days. The good old 5.6x57RWS It worked fine when you only had the choice of this or the 22.250
I know some Red deer stalker in Donegal and Galway who still use the 22.250.

Glendine.
 
Them were the days. The good old 5.6x57RWS It worked fine when you only had the choice of this or the 22.250
I know some Red deer stalker in Donegal and Galway who still use the 22.250.

Glendine.

one of the most common rounds in NZ for red
 
There's not really much to add to this thread regarding calibre choice. The sides are far too entrenched!
However, what I will say is that I know a lot of people with bigger Calibers who struggle to shoot them accurately from sub-optimal positions. The .243's light kick is a definite advantage. (And another reason it doesn't massage some peoples ego's as much perhaps??)
 
There's not really much to add to this thread regarding calibre choice. The sides are far too entrenched!
However, what I will say is that I know a lot of people with bigger Calibers who struggle to shoot them accurately from sub-optimal positions. The .243's light kick is a definite advantage. (And another reason it doesn't massage some peoples ego's as much perhaps??)


Well said. I know guys who use a grain weights big enough to kill a deer with a near miss.

Glendine.
 
I used ot have a .243 very good on Roe, but you do get a fair amount of meat damage. I have used it on Red's and shot placement is key, I have seen a red hind shot with a .243 using 100grn Fed Power shock and it stood as if it had been missed cleanly, second shot dropped it when we got to the larder we found 2 holes next to each other straight through the heart, the stalker we where with witness it and he though the hind had been missed by the first shot as well and was very supprised to see two holes therough her heart, with no obvious signed of expansion. I have also had some shot through were the bullet hasn't expanded with federal power shock in roe as well.

.243 is a good calibre but you need to place the shot carefuly and/or reload using softer bullets than the fed factory stuff (100gr Speer SPBT work well).


Jason
 
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