The 243 Win might be the best Coyote/Deer One Rifle Compromise Ever.

johnlittletree

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It shoots almost as flat and with more punch than a 22-250 with more bullets to chose from for all manner of varmint to medium size game like deer.

It has very low recoil making it great for kids and women both small stature and larger.

You can find all kinds of variety of ammo just about every place that sells ammo.

Components are common and never sold out. Not real picky about powder or primers almost anything can be made to work very well.

Can be had in bolt actions, pump's, and semi-auto's so you have a lot of choices.

In sports while it might not be ideal compared to newer and older specility cartridges it has been used by world class rifle men in silhouette and F-Open amount other's to win and for a long time. Mr. Tubb was using it before his XC and Creedmore came along.

On Varmints depending on the bullet being used it can easily be used 600m-1000m. On deer it is not at all hard to call it a 400m and under deer killer especially with 100gr. bullets. In a pinch with the really tough 100gr.-105gr. hunting bullets you could use it for Elk and if need be Mouse but you would need to be much closer than 400m to guarantee a clean kill so long as your shot placement was right on the money! No I would never recommend it as a first choice for anything bigger than deer but sometimes we do not have the choices we would like!

With some of the newer powders you can really push this cartridge to all new levels of performance. I have always in my mind thought of it as a 5.56 Magnum not because it is 5.56mm in diameter but because you can push bullets about 2X as heavy as the 5.56 NATO at higher velocities when talking about 5.56 NATO with 55gr. bullets! So things that might be "questionable" with the 5.56 NATO or .223 Remington are easily done with a huge margin with the .243 Win.

An AR-10 in 243 Win is a very light, handy coyote and deer rifle with a very fast follow up shot if you need it. Before the 260 Rem caught on it was a great compromise from an AR-10 in 7.62 NATO or 308 Win.
 
Don't know who Spoomer is but I do know after over four decades of experience with the 243 it is just flat great for a lot of things! From varmints to deer, and yes elk, it will get the job done just fine.
 
Love the 243, it has served me well on a wide variety of critters at a wide variety of ranges. My daughter took her first deer with it last fall and I had to stop and wonder why I bother shooting a bigger cartridge myself. It always seems to make things big and small dead quick and with minimal recoil! That being said, I draw the line just below elk for the 243, even though I know it would work in a pinch.
IMG_20181012_150516_972.jpg
 
I picked up a savage model 10 "used", but brand new from one of my dads friends, in .243. I slapped on a cheap redfield scope and have had more fun with that rifle, and shot more critters then any other rifle in my safe. It's cheap to reload for, low recoil, lightweight, and just a fun gun to pack around the woods. It has killed everything its put a bullet into from coyotes to mule deer. It's probably time To put some money into it though. (New barrel, new stock, upgrade to a better scope, and trigger) Its just what I could afford 12 years ago when I bought it, and I don't regret it one bit.
 
It shoots almost as flat and with more punch than a 22-250 with more bullets to chose from for all manner of varmint to medium size game like deer.

It has very low recoil making it great for kids and women both small stature and larger.

You can find all kinds of variety of ammo just about every place that sells ammo.

Components are common and never sold out. Not real picky about powder or primers almost anything can be made to work very well.

Can be had in bolt actions, pump's, and semi-auto's so you have a lot of choices.

In sports while it might not be ideal compared to newer and older specility cartridges it has been used by world class rifle men in silhouette and F-Open amount other's to win and for a long time. Mr. Tubb was using it before his XC and Creedmore came along.

On Varmints depending on the bullet being used it can easily be used 600m-1000m. On deer it is not at all hard to call it a 400m and under deer killer especially with 100gr. bullets. In a pinch with the really tough 100gr.-105gr. hunting bullets you could use it for Elk and if need be Mouse but you would need to be much closer than 400m to guarantee a clean kill so long as your shot placement was right on the money! No I would never recommend it as a first choice for anything bigger than deer but sometimes we do not have the choices we would like!

With some of the newer powders you can really push this cartridge to all new levels of performance. I have always in my mind thought of it as a 5.56 Magnum not because it is 5.56mm in diameter but because you can push bullets about 2X as heavy as the 5.56 NATO at higher velocities when talking about 5.56 NATO with 55gr. bullets! So things that might be "questionable" with the 5.56 NATO or .223 Remington are easily done with a huge margin with the .243 Win.

An AR-10 in 243 Win is a very light, handy coyote and deer rifle with a very fast follow up shot if you need it. Before the 260 Rem caught on it was a great compromise from an AR-10 in 7.62 NATO or 308 Win.

I love the 243. Have owned a couple, currently own 1. I was going to make an argument for the 25-06 being better, but then you threw in the AR-10 platform. I am not an AR guy, but for those who are, being able to have one in a 243 is sweet.
 
My 243 has killed a lot of critters. It is a youth model savage 11 with a vortex diamondback hp 4-16x42. Small, compact, lightweight...I originally bought it for my kids. It has taken a few Mule Deer, 1 really nice 4 point. All between 300-400 yards. My son who was 10 at the time smoked a nice black bear at 300 yards with it, and I also shot a black bear with it a couple years ago. Because it is so small and convenient it gets the nod a lot of the times - its my kid gun, my truck gun, my horseback riding gun etc. I think it is one heck of a cartridge. I went back and forth for months deciding between a 243 and 25-06 in either the VSSF II or the Sendero SFII for a new coyote/deer gun for myself. At the time, neither were being manufactured, so I was shopping the used market on gunbroker. I found a 25-06 first so I grabbed it. I would have easily been just as happy with a 243. One of my buddies just picked up a CZ557 Varmint in 243. I can't wait to hear how that gun shoots. It's a pretty rifle...
 
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