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Posted: 9/11/2016 5:57:47 PM EDT
[#1]
Quoted:
I just got a new 243 and was wondering what the max lethal distance you guys would recommend for shooting a mule deer. I usually use my 30-06 but decided to go with a lighter rifle this year since I'll be hiking in farther. It's a Ruger American rifle and I'm surprised at how accurate it is. Shot it for the first time today and got it shooting moa with 95gr federal fusion. 250 max maybe 300 on the safe side..a .243 has roughly 2000lbs of energy at the muzzle 1000-1200lb of energy is recommend on deer at the minimum, so a 300 yard shot would be under the recommendation but doable with a good bullet. I would go with the '06 and be able to shoot shots that maybe needed. how heavy is your 30-06? |
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Posted: 9/11/2016 6:34:03 PM EDT
[#2]
Quote HistoryQuoted: 250 max maybe 300 on the safe side..a .243 has roughly 2000lbs of energy at the muzzle 1000-1200lb of energy is recommend on deer at the minimum, so a 300 yard shot would be under the recommendation but doable with a good bullet. I would go with the '06 and be able to shoot shots that maybe needed. how heavy is your 30-06? Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: I just got a new 243 and was wondering what the max lethal distance you guys would recommend for shooting a mule deer. I usually use my 30-06 but decided to go with a lighter rifle this year since I'll be hiking in farther. It's a Ruger American rifle and I'm surprised at how accurate it is. Shot it for the first time today and got it shooting moa with 95gr federal fusion. 250 max maybe 300 on the safe side..a .243 has roughly 2000lbs of energy at the muzzle 1000-1200lb of energy is recommend on deer at the minimum, so a 300 yard shot would be under the recommendation but doable with a good bullet. I would go with the '06 and be able to shoot shots that maybe needed. how heavy is your 30-06? Dang. I was hoping for more. Lol. I didn't get a chance to weigh both rifles but you can tell the difference just by picking them up. |
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Posted: 9/11/2016 8:12:45 PM EDT
[#3]
Good video on youtube of a 1000 yrd coyote shot with a 243... DRT.. But you are going for deer..
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Posted: 9/12/2016 11:11:34 AM EDT
[#4]
I'll go along with 300. Makes sure you put in some range time at that distance if you are going to take a hunting shot there.
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Posted: 9/12/2016 12:11:18 PM EDT
[#5]
Longest shot I've taken on game was from 245 yards on a hog. One shot to the head with Winchester 100gr Power Point and the hog went down on the spot.
I expect the cartridge is effective out to about 300 yards but I don't have the equipment or the skill to shoot that far. |
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Posted: 9/12/2016 12:29:17 PM EDT
[#6]
Dropped a 150 hog @ 310 yards. One round. I see no reason not to get 400yards out of it. Still pushing just shy of 1000 ft/lbs of energy @ 400. Be a good shot. 243 is susceptible to some Wind Drift issues @ long range. Plenty of Antelope taken well past 400 with it.
Enjoy |
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Posted: 9/12/2016 1:43:12 PM EDT
[#7]
How far are your shots usually?
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Posted: 9/12/2016 3:02:29 PM EDT
[#8]
here is a good write up on the .243
.243 |
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Posted: 9/13/2016 8:44:47 PM EDT
[#9]
I agree with others that anything over 300 yards would be pushing it. If you use a tough bullet you won't get much expansion out past that and you need a pretty tough bullet to bust the shoulder of a large mature mule deer
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Posted: 9/13/2016 10:10:17 PM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I agree with others that anything over 300 yards would be pushing it. If you use a tough bullet you won't get much expansion out past that and you need a pretty tough bullet to bust the shoulder of a large mature mule deer I have to look at western game differently than a lot of deer hunters. our deer in SE OK are the Texas Strain and even B&C will only top out at 130-140lbs during the rut. I would think that Muley's would need a cartridge that could handle their body and any angle they might show. if I lived out there and could hunt every weekend, I would have no problem using guns like .243 and 25-06 but in my frame of mind the trip is too expensive to blow not taking a gun with more than enough gas in it. |
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Posted: 9/15/2016 10:17:00 PM EDT
[#11]
If you reload then I would recommend the 105gr Amax. With the higher BC it will retain velocity and energy a bit further out than standard loads. If not then the 95gr SST Superformance loading is a decent round for longer shots. I wouldn't put it on the shoulder as the SST is pretty frangible at higher velocities. I shot my first Mule deer and First Elk with a 243WIn with factory loaded Remington Core lokt ammo. Both were one shot stops but they both were no farther than 150yds.
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Posted: 9/16/2016 8:43:49 PM EDT
[#12]
Quote HistoryQuoted: How far are your shots usually? It all depends on where I go. It can range from 50 yards out to 500. I've shot a 6" gong at 400 yards consistently with my 30-06 so I'm pretty confident with it. I guess I'll pick whichever rifle depending on where I go. I'll have to keep shooting the .243 and see how it performs at longer distances. |
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Posted: 9/26/2016 4:47:21 PM EDT
[#13]
I've never shot a .243... I usually hunt in MN so I would be weary to use that caliber. Very likely unfounded but no one up there uses anything smaller than a 30-06. Park Rapids, MN area.
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Posted: 9/28/2016 6:49:39 AM EDT
[#14]
Quote Historythanks for the link; that site makes chuck hawks look like a nursery rhyme blog,,,,, 
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Posted: 9/28/2016 7:04:35 AM EDT
[#15]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
thanks for the link; that site makes chuck hawks look like a nursery rhyme blog,,,,,
Quote HistoryQuoted:
thanks for the link; that site makes chuck hawks look like a nursery rhyme blog,,,,,
I stumbled unto it one night, pretty good stuff. |
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Posted: 9/28/2016 7:46:43 AM EDT
[#16]
Quote HistoryQuoted: thanks for the link; that site makes chuck hawks look like a nursery rhyme blog,,,,, Quote HistoryQuoted: thanks for the link; that site makes chuck hawks look like a nursery rhyme blog,,,,,  |
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Posted: 9/28/2016 1:28:58 PM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryI question the assertion that a 100 gr bullet isn't good at killing past 50 yds. I load a reduced load under a 100 gr Hornady BTSP for a friend's kids. It has put four deer on the ground at ranges from 60-150 yards. Only one of those has run more than 20 yards. After seeing those results and what my wife has done with her Axis 243, I'm a real believer in the cartridge. |
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Posted: 9/28/2016 2:24:12 PM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
If you reload then I would recommend the 105gr Amax. With the higher BC it will retain velocity and energy a bit further out than standard loads. If not then the 95gr SST Superformance loading is a decent round for longer shots. I wouldn't put it on the shoulder as the SST is pretty frangible at higher velocities. I shot my first Mule deer and First Elk with a 243WIn with factory loaded Remington Core lokt ammo. Both were one shot stops but they both were no farther than 150yds. I wouldn't shoot either of those bullets into a mule deer shoulder though. Sure the amax will kill really well out past 300 yards but you are just as likely to get a tough quartering shot at 75 yards. |
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Posted: 9/28/2016 2:27:31 PM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I question the assertion that a 100 gr bullet isn't good at killing past 50 yds. I load a reduced load under a 100 gr Hornady BTSP for a friend's kids. It has put four deer on the ground at ranges from 60-150 yards. Only one of those has run more than 20 yards. After seeing those results and what my wife has done with her Axis 243, I'm a real believer in the cartridge. Quote HistoryQuoted:
I question the assertion that a 100 gr bullet isn't good at killing past 50 yds. I load a reduced load under a 100 gr Hornady BTSP for a friend's kids. It has put four deer on the ground at ranges from 60-150 yards. Only one of those has run more than 20 yards. After seeing those results and what my wife has done with her Axis 243, I'm a real believer in the cartridge. Its a good low recoil cartridge. Premium bullets up what it can do. It pushes those bullets fast enough but with standard or ballistic tip bullets they can fail when hitting large bones and the tough bullets won't open up as well on rear lung shots. Thats why 250 to 300 is a safe max distance. |
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Posted: 9/28/2016 9:13:16 PM EDT
[#20]
I shot my first and only double with a .243.. 2 does. I marked them (walking, no range finder) at about 275 yards. One was DRT. other went about 250 yards through hell of woods. The one that was DRT was a 1 1/2 yr old, the nanny doe made it a ways. After that point I decided to keep it under 200 yards. YMMV.
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Posted: 9/28/2016 10:49:08 PM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I question the assertion that a 100 gr bullet isn't good at killing past 50 yds. I load a reduced load under a 100 gr Hornady BTSP for a friend's kids. It has put four deer on the ground at ranges from 60-150 yards. Only one of those has run more than 20 yards. After seeing those results and what my wife has done with her Axis 243, I'm a real believer in the cartridge. Quote HistoryQuoted:
I question the assertion that a 100 gr bullet isn't good at killing past 50 yds. I load a reduced load under a 100 gr Hornady BTSP for a friend's kids. It has put four deer on the ground at ranges from 60-150 yards. Only one of those has run more than 20 yards. After seeing those results and what my wife has done with her Axis 243, I'm a real believer in the cartridge. it didn't say that a 100gr pill wasn't a good killer, but that it could be a slow killer in terms of dramatic shock value of the lower velocities at ranges past 50-100. the .243 to me is at its best under 100 yards. ( which has been 50% of my shooting) the 100gr pills tend to have a tougher jacket when combined with the lower velocity aren't as impressive as the 80 grain bullets. that Hornady bullet is an excellent bullet and we reload that at the farm for rifle duty. I'm like you it does a great job on deer out to 200 if you don't compare it to any other cartridges. if God himself came down and told me that I had to deer hunt with a .243 the rest of my life, I could adapt and make it work. its tough when you deer hunt with .444, 30 cals and various 7's to look at smaller cartridges without a level of cumuppance. speaking of toned down bullets and velocities. I've always noticed that reduced recoil Remington loads are lighter weight bullets than normal and always got the feeling they were lighter weight in the jackets to assist in mushrooming at lowered velocities. on the 100 gr H bullets with the reduced loads have you been able to recover the bullets? it would be interesting to see what they look like. our loads in them are stout. good killer and slow killer are two very different things. |
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Posted: 9/29/2016 8:25:29 AM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
on the 100 gr H bullets with the reduced loads have you been able to recover the bullets? it would be interesting to see what they look like. our loads in them are stout. good killer and slow killer are two very different things. No, everything has been broadside through the lungs. The longest shot was the most devastating, dropping the deer where it stood (big 4.5 yo doe). There wasn't much left of the lungs. I don't have a chrono, so I don't know what the bullet is doing. Based on Hornady's info in the manual, should be around 2500. My friend goes on and on about how good the load is. When his daughter shot one Sunday, his friend was amazed at the exit hole. Thinking they were shooting some big load. Nope, 31 grains of 4064. Loading that round and 270 for the same friend has made me a big believer in a reduced load. The same basic 130 gr Hornady bullet in his 270 has been great on deer. Supposed to be around 2700 at the muzzle. This friend hunted with a 300 Win and a 7 Mag when he started hunting with me. The 7 beat him to death and he missed a lot. Once he switched to the 270 he started shooting a lot better due to the reduced recoil. |
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Posted: 9/29/2016 9:39:00 AM EDT
[#23]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
No, everything has been broadside through the lungs. The longest shot was the most devastating, dropping the deer where it stood (big 4.5 yo doe). There wasn't much left of the lungs. I don't have a chrono, so I don't know what the bullet is doing. Based on Hornady's info in the manual, should be around 2500. My friend goes on and on about how good the load is. When his daughter shot one Sunday, his friend was amazed at the exit hole. Thinking they were shooting some big load. Nope, 31 grains of 4064. Loading that round and 270 for the same friend has made me a big believer in a reduced load. The same basic 130 gr Hornady bullet in his 270 has been great on deer. Supposed to be around 2700 at the muzzle. This friend hunted with a 300 Win and a 7 Mag when he started hunting with me. The 7 beat him to death and he missed a lot. Once he switched to the 270 he started shooting a lot better due to the reduced recoil. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
on the 100 gr H bullets with the reduced loads have you been able to recover the bullets? it would be interesting to see what they look like. our loads in them are stout. good killer and slow killer are two very different things. No, everything has been broadside through the lungs. The longest shot was the most devastating, dropping the deer where it stood (big 4.5 yo doe). There wasn't much left of the lungs. I don't have a chrono, so I don't know what the bullet is doing. Based on Hornady's info in the manual, should be around 2500. My friend goes on and on about how good the load is. When his daughter shot one Sunday, his friend was amazed at the exit hole. Thinking they were shooting some big load. Nope, 31 grains of 4064. Loading that round and 270 for the same friend has made me a big believer in a reduced load. The same basic 130 gr Hornady bullet in his 270 has been great on deer. Supposed to be around 2700 at the muzzle. This friend hunted with a 300 Win and a 7 Mag when he started hunting with me. The 7 beat him to death and he missed a lot. Once he switched to the 270 he started shooting a lot better due to the reduced recoil. that is very interesting. I know the most violent kills I have witnessed from the .243 have been 80 gr Ballistic Tips right behind the shoulder into the lungs. do you think that stout loads behind the 100gr bullets are creating too deer penetrating and the major wound is so deep that a majority of the energy is being released past the exit wound? and by decreasing the load it harnesses that power to within the confines of the dimensions of a whitetail? |
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Posted: 9/29/2016 10:21:09 AM EDT
[#24]
One would think that a faster bullet would dump more energy quickly as it passed through the chest.
Last year I used the Fusion 95 gr in my wife's 243. She shot one at 60 yards, right through the lungs. Clean pass through, no ribs touched. Made a .243 hole in and. .243 hole out. Deer only went 40 yards, but almost no blood. I'll either load the 100 gr Hornady BTSP or a similar weight Nosler's BT for her this year, leaning towards the Hornady based on the aforementioned performance. I'm convinced the 243 is a great deer cartridge. Enough so that I've thought about switching from 270. That said, I do have a couple of spots on the farm where 300-375 is possible. |
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Posted: 9/29/2016 8:34:49 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted: One would think that a faster bullet would dump more energy quickly as it passed through the chest. Last year I used the Fusion 95 gr in my wife's 243. She shot one at 60 yards, right through the lungs. Clean pass through, no ribs touched. Made a .243 hole in and. .243 hole out. Deer only went 40 yards, but almost no blood. I'll either load the 100 gr Hornady BTSP or a similar weight Nosler's BT for her this year, leaning towards the Hornady based on the aforementioned performance. I'm convinced the 243 is a great deer cartridge. Enough so that I've thought about switching from 270. That said, I do have a couple of spots on the farm where 300-375 is possible. Interesting. I've been using the fusion 95gr for sighting in and it's been shooting very good. I'll have to look into other factory loads. Reloading is not an option right now. |
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Posted: 9/29/2016 10:07:51 PM EDT
[#26]
we bought about a half a case of that fusion but have yet to even shoot it until our BT are used up. federal ammo has always been the best bang for your buck in rifle ammo.
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Posted: 9/30/2016 9:27:42 AM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryQuoted: we bought about a half a case of that fusion but have yet to even shoot it until our BT are used up. federal ammo has always been the best bang for your buck in rifle ammo. I've been getting really good groupings with the federal fusion. |
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Posted: 9/30/2016 12:08:28 PM EDT
[#28]
It 's not like a certain bullet will work every time at 250 yards but will not work at 275 . It is a margin of error type of thing . Big mule dear have a reputation for being somewhat tough .
I often wonder if that is really a thing or mostly because they are larger? I am thinking if you use a premium bullet load instead of the wall mart value ammo and be carefull with your shots you would be ok on out to 300 (if you have the skill to land the shots where you want them). Of course you have the risk of standing there with your 243 when a really nice animal only offers you a raking shot at 350 and your 30-06 is back at home in the safe |
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Posted: 9/30/2016 2:44:15 PM EDT
[#29]
I've taken whitetail at 350 with my 243 and my handloads using a 95gr nosler.
.243 out that far is really going to need some good placement. Fusions are what I used before reloading for the .243, although never took game past 100 yards with that bullet (lack of opportunities) |
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Posted: 9/30/2016 11:14:12 PM EDT
[#30]
Quote HistoryQuoted: It 's not like a certain bullet will work every time at 250 yards but will not work at 275 . It is a margin of error type of thing . Big mule dear have a reputation for being somewhat tough . I often wonder if that is really a thing or mostly because they are larger? I am thinking if you use a premium bullet load instead of the wall mart value ammo and be carefull with your shots you would be ok on out to 300 (if you have the skill to land the shots where you want them). Of course you have the risk of standing there with your 243 when a really nice animal only offers you a raking shot at 350 and your 30-06 is back at home in the safe I've been thinking about that a lot and I think I'm going to suck it up and bring my 30-06 with me. It's not much heavier but you can tell the difference when holding on to it and carrying it around. |
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