Your opinion of the .243AI

[Greg Duerr]

In your opinion what would be your max range for deer shooting a .243 Ackley 26" Barrel shooting the 105gr Berger at close to 3300fps................???

 

[digger11]

How far away can YOU hit the vitals.. That"s really all that matters.

 

[Greg Duerr]

What is the minimum velocity and energy

 

[vikingsniper]

Meh, I wouldnt pull the trigger after 700yds to be honest with you. But thats in perfect conditions. Wind is hell on 6mm

 

[MudRunner2005]

I've never owned a .243, but growing up my best buddy had one that he deer hunted with. Judging by velocities and reading about the caliber, I'd put it in the same category as my .25-06 AI, and I wouldn't really feel comfortable shooting deer past about 500 yards with it. But that is just my opinion, which is only worth as much weight as someone wants to put on it.

 

[steeltraps]

I had a 591 Surgeon Action 243 ai with a Broughton barrel that would shoot 115 bergers at 3100 fps with a BC of .550 i would not be afraid to shot deer out to 800-1000 yards. The one i had was a 1/4 moa gun, but a friend offered me more money that i could turn down!

 

[Jim See]

Greg, 20 years ago I used a 243 with 100 grain sierra gamekings and killed half a dozen deer between 350-450. I think that load was around 2950 in my gun. I would think at 3300 you could go a ways out. My choice of bullets may differ from yours though. My son uses 105 a-maxes with a muzzle velocity of 2600. It has showed reliable expansion at 2200-2400 fps which equates to the ranges it has killed coyotes and deer. usually at those velocities we end up with very nice mushrooms on the off side hide.

 

[bigngreen]

At my elevation (5600ft) with that bullet and velocity I'd take it to about a 1000 yards on whitetail, still over 1900 fps and 800 ft lbs of energy. A co worker has shot a pile of deer an antelope in the 600 yards range and several elk with the 105 Berger hunting bullet and they perform very good on game, one of my favorite bullets for hunting, they'll mess up antelope with a 6Br also which is MUCH slower than your running them.

 

[Outlaw6.0]

I have not experience with the 105 but I do have experience with the Ackley. As a team, I don't think 700+ is out of the question at all. The 243 Ackley is a great little cartridge, efficient & fast. How can you go wrong?


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[steeltraps]

Before i sold my 243 ai to a friend i killed a doe at 577 yards with a 115 berger vld. DRT never moved, was in a long soybean feild down in south alabama.

 

[Brewer]

I've never owned a .243, but growing up my best buddy had one that he deer hunted with. Judging by velocities and reading about the caliber, I'd put it in the same category as my .25-06 AI, and I wouldn't really feel comfortable shooting deer past about 500 yards with it. But that is just my opinion, which is only worth as much weight as someone wants to put on it.

OK Mud, I am going to pick a friendly fight with you again. The .243AI and the .25-06 are maybe more different than you are letting on. the .25-06 shoots a heaver bullet and holds more powder. I don't have the numbers in front of me right now, but owning a .25-06 and having slaughtered several deer with it, 800 yards is not out of the questions with the 25.06, but the .243AI is on the edge there I think. I am a minimalist, you know that, but with a 6mm, even if it in the 06 case, you are running out of juice at that 600-700 yard mark and you really gotta hit um where it counts. but you have a few hundred more yards with the .25-06.

so... to answer the OP, 600 yards. if you have a 6mm-06, maybe 700, but I would probably have to try to kill a few deer and see how they died before I would be comfortable taking that kind of a shot...??!! kidding...

of course, for most guys, 750 yards is a long way out there, it is for me. just saying.

OK mud, I have my armor on, I am ready for your reply!

 

[MudRunner2005]

OK Mud, I am going to pick a friendly fight with you again. The .243AI and the .25-06 are maybe more different than you are letting on. the .25-06 shoots a heaver bullet and holds more powder. I don't have the numbers in front of me right now, but owning a .25-06 and having slaughtered several deer with it, 800 yards is not out of the questions with the 25.06, but the .243AI is on the edge there I think. I am a minimalist, you know that, but with a 6mm, even if it in the 06 case, you are running out of juice at that 600-700 yard mark and you really gotta hit um where it counts. but you have a few hundred more yards with the .25-06.

so... to answer the OP, 600 yards. if you have a 6mm-06, maybe 700, but I would probably have to try to kill a few deer and see how they died before I would be comfortable taking that kind of a shot...??!! kidding...

of course, for most guys, 750 yards is a long way out there, it is for me. just saying.

OK mud, I have my armor on, I am ready for your reply!

I agree that the .25-06 can reach on out there alot farther than 500 yards. But that is where I feel most comfortable at stopping my shooting for whitetails with it. That is just my personal preference. I have other calibers that will reach out much much further out.

There's folk shooting .257 Wby and .25-06 AI's out to 1000 yards. And for coyotes, I wouldn't have a problem shooting a trash animal that far out with mine, but as a game animal, I wouldn't risk it, especially since I have other viable options in the stable.

Once again, it's all just my opinion. And also, we don't disagree on anything. That's a miracle.

 

[Brewer]

A miracle indeed!! good to hear from you again.

 

[steeltraps]

Both shooting a 115 gr bullet. 3100 fps with a 115 berger in 243 ai and 115 shooting 3200 fps in 25-06 will be about the same knock down! Example= 243 ai shooting 115 berger 550 BC at 3100 fps has 800 ft lbs of knock down at 900 yards.