got both or soon will have..
same casing ,,larger ld on the 308.. 150grn..
what im wondering is how the power end of these
bullets differ..the 243 are mostly 100 grn.
the brands that work well for me are winchester,
fusion and federal in the blue box.. all perform about the same..
by the way dicks sporting has a good deal on winchester
now... 12.99 with 5 buck rebate per box ,,but only 10 dollar total rebate per adress.

got both or soon will have..
same casing ,,larger ld on the 308.. 150grn..
what im wondering is how the power end of these
bullets differ..the 243 are mostly 100 grn.
the brands that work well for me are winchester,
fusion and federal in the blue box.. all perform about the same..
by the way dicks sporting has a good deal on winchester
now... 12.99 with 5 buck rebate per box ,,but only 10 dollar total rebate per adress.

If I owned comparable rifles in both calibres I would use the .243 for the tiny southwest deer and smaller, and the .308 for whitetais sheep etc. or larger, up to the big bears for which I would prefer something in the .338 Win. Mag. class.

the brands that work well for me are winchester,
fusion and federal in the blue box..

the blue box federals in .243 shot unbeleivable groups ou of my ruger m77 mark II.
my son used them to take his very first deer last year. just curious to how many others have used the blue box federals in .243 on whitetail and what their results/experiances where like and distance shot.

What is the effectivnees on making clean kills on deer up to 200 pounds. What would be the maximum yards you whould cleanly take a deer of 200 pounds?

Thanks,

Geoff Massa

I am not an expert by any means. But, a number of years ago I asked a hunting guide about using a .243 Win on deer. He said the .243 is good for any deer-sized game, including black bear. Darned if he wasn't right. In the past few years, using the Hornady Light Magnums in either 95 gr SST or 100 gr softpoint, my buddies and I have taken mule deer up to about 250 lbs and black bear; one of which was slightly under 300 lbs. All have been one-shot kills and all dropped where they were shot expect the large black bear and he only made 6 steps or so before he dropped. The longest shot was at 285 yards on a good-sized 4x4 muley. The big bear was at about 25 yards. All shots were right into the boiler room - that is, heart-lung. Now, this is only a sample of one and a universal truth should not be inferred, but I like the .243 for most anything I hunt. It is easy shooting and accurate. I hope this helps. Good luck.

By the way, the aforementioned hunting guide used a 300 Win Mag. I asked him why, and he said he used only because it was a gift.

i had a .243 fail badly on a big black bear when i was a kid. i have not shot a .243 since.

monty

The .243 as a black bear round??? Maybe on a perfectly broadside , close-in shot.........like over bait. MAYBE. In this neck of the woods blackies can run 500, 600, 700 lbs. or more. You wanna try to anchor a 600 or 700 lb. critter with a .243 you knock yourself out. I'll opt for a fit bear rifle.

The .243, IMHO, is a "sufficient" deer rifle. I don't consider anything under .25 caliber to be a "good" deer rifle. Angles are not always perfect. The .308 will wade a lot more deer than the .243

A .243 is a good Whitetail round, but it will damage more meat than a .308. I use 165 grain .308's on deer. I do use 150 grain in my 7.5x55 K31. The ballistics are very similar, but it shoots the 150 grain .308 bullet better ( I did not say cartridge). 150, 165, 180, The rifle will decide. I handload so I can't give advice on most factory ammo. A .243 covers allot of ground as far as game, but I think the .308 covers more, especially the edible kind. Jim

got both or soon will have...

If you've got both anyway, I would use the .308 for pretty well everything other than varmint.

the .243 isn't a bad round by any means, but just the same i do feel that it is overrated. it will do the job if the range is moderate and the game appropriate but when the shot is less than perfect there are better choices. i think in this situation i'd go with the .308, but if it were me i'd buy a 7/08, however, you'd give up a wide variety of factory ammo in comparison to the .308.
i have a .243, the only reason i own it is because it was practically given to me... the only reason i haven't rebarreled it is the fact that my 13 yr old son likes to shoot it and it's cheap to shoot. i just looked over at my bench, i have 13 sets of rifle reloading dies, they run the gamut from .223 rem to .405 win... the only belted dies are .300 winchester and none of them are short mags(never will be, most likely, unless someone gives me one) and there will be no .243 either. it really is unfortunate for the american shooters that the 6mm didn't carry the 8mm curse, the majority of american riflemen would be better off. actually i'd prefer that the 6mm carried the curse because it unlike the 8mm is more deserving of the bad publicity. as usaul tho, it was a way to sell more rifles.

What is the effectivnees on making clean kills on deer up to 200 pounds. What would be the maximum yards you whould cleanly take a deer of 200 pounds?

Thanks,

Geoff Massa

Use good bullets, preferrably 100gr. unless it's a real good controlled expansion design, like the Partition or Barnes X. On those you can go a little lighter.

I've used 100gr. bullets with complete satisfaction in my .257 Roberts and I'd expect the same in the .243, for good bullets anyway. The el-cheapo bulk pack Remington Cor-Lokts have done good work in my .257 as have some old discontinued Nosler Solid Base bullets.

I'd be very cautious about using any bullets with plastic tips. Have seen what they can do (or not do) in larger calibers.... big 'ol mess at the entrance hole, and shallow penetration. Don't shoot the parts you plan on eating.

Have been on one hunt where a buddy had a .243 fail to penetrate a deer neck. Unfortunately, I don't know what load it was, but strongly suspect it was one of the lighter varmit-weight bullets, maybe 80gr.

I have a 6mm Rem and haven't shot any critters with it, but when it goes hunting (maybe this year) it'll be with some handloads and 90gr. Partitions.