Talk to me about .243 Winchester

Ckgworks

Ckgworks

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I have a Remington 600 with a 17" barrel chambered in .243. I built a youth stock for it, and it was supposed to be the "do all field gun" for home......the max yardage we can shoot here is 250 yards, game ranges from deer on down, with the occasional cougar passing through so I figured the .243 was the perfect candidate. After my kids shot several deer with it, I was left rather underwelled in the results.....No exits, and what I would consider long distance traveled for the shot placement..... Don't get me wrong, they all died and not one made it out of site, but some were close to
making the tree line. About that time I built a youth 6.5 grendel and it really seems to kill better (deer drop on spot or within feet) with the same shot placement, plus I get exits which makes me feel better with kids shooting should I need to track......Anyway, the 243 sits now and I have contemplated rebarreling to a slightly larger caliber, however I have been re-looking at the 243 and wonder if I have it all wrong. I always loaded it with a heavy soft point loaded to accuracy, and with a 17" barrel I'm sure my velocity is way down. I never bothered checking it, just loaded for groups and went for it. So my question for you 243 fans out there......In the above senerios, if I went with a light mono at max speed, would the .243 outshine the 6.5 grendel like it seems like it should? I mean really, if you put the cartridges side by side I can't believe I'm gravitating towards the Grendel........
 
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I read a post once on the .243 by a guy from Arkansas and kept track of a lot of deer shot by kids and .243. He had similar results as you with the slower heavy bullets. Said he then tested super fast Ballistic tips and said they did better on stopping deer. Ultimately he recommended getting kids to shoot a 308 (suppressed if you can) and it did way better at dropping deer.

I have shot a few deer with the 243 and monos- Barnes and Hammers. Maybe look at the 69g Absolute hammers, said it can get up to 3900fps !! That will give some shock. Also I always aim for bone with the mono bullets.
 
Your results with the 243 are exactly the reason I don't recommend it. I've recovered too many deer (also lost some) with little to none blood trails with well placed shots. I would highly recommend a 308 and shoot lite recoil ammo (125 sst) or download it with a 120 gr accubond. This cartridge grows with shooters much better than most.
Its interesting the small bullet diameter increases make such a huge difference in terminal ballistics. Neck up the same case to .25, .284, or .308 and it's a far more effective round.
 
Ckgworks said:
I have a Remington 600 with a 17" barrel chambered in .243. I built a youth stock for it, and it was supposed to be the "do all field gun" for home......the max yardage we can shoot here is 250 yards, game ranges from deer on down, with the occasional cougar passing through so I figured the .243 was the perfect candidate. After my kids shot several deer with it, I was left rather underwelled in the results.....No exits, and what I would consider long distance traveled for the shot placement..... Don't get me wrong, they all died and not one made it out of site, but some were close to
making the tree line. About that time I built a youth 6.5 grendel and it really seems to kill better (deer drop on spot or within feet) with the same shot placement, plus I get exits which makes me feel better with kids shooting should I need to track......Anyway, the 243 sits now and I have contemplated rebarreling to a slightly larger caliber, however I have been re-looking at the 243 and wonder if I have it all wrong. I always loaded it with a heavy soft point loaded to accuracy, and with a 17" barrel I'm sure my velocity is way down. I never bothered checking it, just loaded for groups and went for it. So my question for you 243 fans out there......In the above senerios, if I went with a light mono at max speed, would the .243 outshine the 6.5 grendel like it seems like it should? I mean really, if you put the cartridges side by side I can't believe I'm gravitating towards the Grendel........
Click to expand...
What bullets are you shooting? I have found the 243 to be about as efficient a deer killer as there is out to about 350 yards. All of the ballistic tip weights, 85 grain sierras and Partitions, 90 grain Accubonds and Swifts all very fast killers of Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana, Virginia, W virginia, and N Carolina deer of all sizes. You may be getting underwhelming results from the 17" barrel and factory options if that is what you are shooting. If you load, try the 87 grain Bergers or 80 grain Ballistic Tips pushed with 4831, H414, or Super Performance.
 
I've took a couple deer with a 20" 243 and 95gr ballistic tips. I didn't loose either one of them. One went about 60 yards and the other was drt. We've also took several deer with the 25-06 and several types of bullets. I can't really say the end results were much different. I think it just boils down to finding what bullet works best for you from a terminal performance standpoint. It's still hard to expect 30-06 performance from a 243. And I'm not saying anything negative about the 243.
 
I have only shot one deer and one pronghorn with my 243, and both went right down. It is a Browning BLR with a short barrel. I used Speer 90 grain hot cores. The lungs were destroyed and both had exit wounds, though no tracking was required.
 
sierracharlie338 said:
I think there is some more info needed to evaluate your performance from that rifle like load data, shot placement, etc.

That being said I'd look really hard at the 7-08 for a rebarrel. I have a Grendel as well and if I was in your situation the 7-08 is where I'd be headed!
Click to expand...
7mm-08 is a nice do all round. Great terminal performance. Can be loaded with 120gr to 162gr bullets.
 
I can't say that I was super impressed or disappointed either way with the performance of the 243 that I had. It got the job done but didn't leave me saying wow. I do believe the 7mm-08 is more reliable round from a terminal performance aspect. Im gonna give 6mm one more try. I've got a cartridge that should push a 110 gr 6mm bullet to around 3400fps. I'm going to see how that works out. Doing it just for fun mostly.
 
It has been said that if you load up a 223 w/Barnes 62g TTSX, it'll hit deer like a 243...and if you...load up a 243 w/Barnes 80g TTSX, it'll hit like 6.5CM.

I grew up w/Remington 600 in 6mm and I once asked my gunsmith why my Ruger 22" 243 (sold it) wouldn't group like my Rem 600...he said "Remington tried to fill a niche with a cheap carbine rifle and ended up with one of the most accurate 18" barreled rifles they ever built".

You have in your hands a Remington masterpiece. Before you rebarrel it, I'll buy it, as is! Don't ruin it by modifying it...it sounds like your solution is a better bullet selection.

Blessings,

Donald Baldwin
Liberty PA 16930
Text...#312-617-4711 (if selling it)
 
My UP Michigan friend says bunch of women like the .243 up there and kill them deer good. I wouldn't use a 243 on IL deer though. I prefer the 290gr Barnes muzzleloader sabot bullet for "die on impact" hits. 300gr .429 XTP with 50cal sabot kill with 25yd death trots.

The 7mm-08. I saw the Vortex Nation pod cast and this is quite the diamond in the rough round. a 7mm mag takes something like 41% more powder for only 9% gain in velocity.
 

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