I usually don't buy a specific firearm or different caliber unless I know something about them. For example, I've walked away on a couple of genuine Luger opportunities because I just don't know anything about them.

Anyway, I ran across a heck of a deal today on a unfired new in the box Remington model 700 with synthetic stock in .243 Winchester. I'm very familiar with the model 700, but have no experience with .243. Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to do with it.

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- Change it back -

I have a 700 in .243 and love it. I'm not into real long range shooting or long guns that much. I picked the .243 because you can still push the round out passed a 223 and they are a lot less expensive than a 308 or anything bigger. And I'm not really a hunter.

Friends don't let friends buy Taurus.

I love the .243!!! In my opinion, one of the great unsung calibers.

I had a Ruger Hawkeye Compact in .243. Accurate as all get out with factory ammo (1MOA). One day, one of my grandsons called. This would be his first hunt and he happened to draw out for coues deer. He wanted to know if he could borrow the .243. Of course.

He took this little buck in its bed with one shot at 232 yards.


This past fall, he took this mule deer buck in its bed with one shot at 193 yards. He politely informed me that I wouldn't be getting my .243 back.


Don't let anyone kid you about the .243 not being powerful enough. I can't say enough good about the cartridge. But, that's just my two cents worth.

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Pack light and cinch tight.

Literally my favorite bolt action caliber - owned several but only one now. Planning on shooting it more if I can fit it in all the other gun projects. Wasted more 'jacks, yotes, rodents and most other varmints with the .243!

Fantastic cartridge in all regards! Does a great job on varmints, deer, antelope and I know of many elk taken with a .243...(not my 1sf choice for elk, but if Mr. Wapiti shows himself here in Montana and a .243 is all that I have....well then I will make that shot.

Randy

The one gun I regret selling.It was a ruger ultralight that weighed six lbs and it was easy to work up a varmint and a deer load for it

Yep - legal in Oregon for Elk - but lots of naysayers - back to shot placement and reasonable range.

I sure like my Sako Forester, taken quite a few whitetails without any issues. I'd rather have my old pre '64 model 70 featherweight, but it's gone.....

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Halfway and one more step

I am a life-long fan of the 244/6mm Rem. But a few years ago I picked up a 1957 made Sako L-57 with the original Colmorgan Bearcub 4X scope.

That little 243 is amazing. It will shoot 1moa groups with reloads or factory ammo. I use it here in the Texas Hill Country where the deer are small and the ranges short (always under 150 yds).

We have a state permit to shoot a lot of does and I can usually make neck shots. When I have to make a heart shot, they run about 25 yds and drop - just like a 270 heart shot.

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6/23/2022

As some of us get older, the recoil on that round becomes a lot more tolerable than the bigger stuff. Some of the old Sakos shoot very tight groups as I'm sure other make do also. I'm reloading components I bought 20 years ago at a cost of about 7 cents a round. A Sako heavy barrel I have was getting groups of 1 1/4". Not so good except that was at 250 yards. I really like that caliber!

243 win is a great caliber for long range target shooting as well as being a versitile hunting round.
243 is also a handloaders delight with a plethora of bullet weights, profiles, and powders to choose from depending on your quary.

Dandy for deer and smaller animals (varmints) to most sane hunting distances, not the best for long range work.

I bought just a few months ago a Rem 700 varmint model (26" bull barrel) in .243 Winchester. I *love* it. It's the first and only .243 I have.

I'm not a hunter. I wanted a fast, larger-than-.223 bullet for paper punching and steel pinging out to 500 yds. And, as someone else said, something that didn't beat the you-know-what out of my shoulder.

It's performing fantastically well with the reloads I've made for it.

It's a great gun and a great caliber.

OR

The one thing I don't like about the 243 is when the manufacturers cheap out and build 308 based cartridges in 30-06 length actions. Adds extra weight for no good reason and I think a lot of manufacturers have done this. You can tell if there's a spacer in the blind magazine. Sometimes there's no rhyme or reason to it. Just depends whether long actions or short actions are in production at the time. You could find a 243 in long or short action from the same make & model.

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NRA Benefactor

My Model 700 in .243 is my favorite rifle.

A 243 in a Remington Model 7 would be my next purchase for a deer rifle. Fired a Ruger in 243 and what a sweetheart it was.

we have had a lot of deer taken here on the farm with a 243 with only one issue one guy used a light weight varmint loading with a polymer tip

he hit the shoulder and it did not break the shoulder or penetrate pass the bone but it was the bullet selection not the caliber that was the issue

other guy hit same deer with a 257 Roberts and it dropped in its tracks both bullets recovered

after moving to a reliable weight core lock no farther issues for that hunter

I have a new 243 weatherby vanguard 2, with a 24" barrel, that I recently won on a punch board, I first thought about selling it, but knowing I only have 1 buck in the rifle, I ordered a new vortex 6x18x44 from gov-x for $149, so with a pair of vortex rings and mount I will have less than $200 in the rig

so after shoulder surgery recently I am going to put in the rotation this fall

When I first started hunting my dad and grandpa HATED the .243 and just LOVED the .250-3000 Savage. They are both deceased so I cannot ask them as to WHY they hated it so much.

I bought into that until 2 years ago while out antelope hunting with a very dear friend who made a text book perfect 147 yard shot on a VERY nice Montana buck....dropped it with one shot like it was hit with a bolt of lightning...Text book perfect bullet performance as well.

I still have Grandpa's Model 99 Savage, shot a nice 4x4 Mule deer at 140 yards with the open sights this year.....same result as the .243 however.

Grandpa always called it his "Meat in the pot gun" He was right...

Yeah, I bought a Savage Axis in .243 from a local pawn shop for 275.00 with an inexpensive Bushell 3x9 on it....dialed it in with the same reload recipe my friend was using and it too shot under a MOA.

Randy

I would not take a 200yrd shot on a whitetail or elk with the 243. I just think it is too small for that and there are better choices with low recoil like any of the 6.5's.

I have a couple and I like them. Great target rifles, great for smaller bodied game and little recoil.

I bought a Ruger American in .243 last year cause I didn't like shooting my 30/06 any more. I got it with a 3-9 Vortex scope for a little over $500. It shoots 1moa and did the job on the 1 deer I shot with it.

Thanks for all the feedback guys!

I've decided to give the .243 to my son for his birthday later this month. I only paid $250.00 for the new in the box Remington 700 short action with all weather stock so I went ahead and splurged on a Leupold 2-7x scope and rings to mount on it.

We're going on a hog hunt in south Arkansas in May so he'll get to take it a long for a pre-deer season test.

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- Change it back -

I like the .243 caliber and it is one of those rounds that is almost always very accurate no matter what rifle you buy and some of the most successful deer hunters I know use it. I don't like 30-06 recoil any more especially firing a box or so of ammo from the bench, and I thought many times about getting a .243 but just decided not to at the last second. I always worried I might see the huge, "buck of a lifetime" that was at longish range and was quartering away and the round might be a bit too small so I decided on a 6.5 Creedmore.

Back in the day when Browning's BOSS was introduced, I bought my son an A-Bolt in .243. To this day, a pretty good shooter using factory ammo.

For completeness (since there are quite a number of .243 fans in this thread - including me) I thought I'd mention a somewhat-common complaint about it:

.243 barrels tend to get shot out relatively quickly. I presume for most hunting situations this shouldn't be a big deal since the total round count isn't that high. But for someone putting higher volumes of rounds through it (competition, pinging steel/plinking, etc.) I hear barrels tend to get shot out after 1,600+ rounds or so.

OR

I had a .243 and didn't like it sold it years ago. But others seem to like it and I am sure it can be accurate.
My beef was that it is on the very light end for deer, even though I shot some with it. And its overkill for coyotes and way over kill for prairie dogs etc.
It is a pretty popular cartridge so I am in the minority.

I've found the 243 Win a great all around cartridge for my area. It kills deer dead, works great for coyotes as well as groundhogs. I've yet to shoot one of any brand that wasn't amazingly accurate. The ammo is available anywhere that sells ammo, and for the reloader, there exists a great selection of 6mm bullets from which to choose.

My wife bought me a Kimber Classic Select in 243. it is accurate... and a very pretty rifle. I load my own and use 95 gr Partitions. Mainly cause they shoot well and have never failed on a critter. I use other bullets on varmints and the rifle is extremely accurate with 75 grainers. And yeah..if necessary I'd shoot an elk with it.

Mine is an old Model 600 Rem. Great little rifle with mild recoil even in this little rifle and it hits where you aim it. Most of my deer hunting has been in Georgia and South Carolina and the deer there are normally not that large although there are some taken over 200 lbs every year. The ones I have taken with the .243 have always dropped either in their tracks or very close by. It's a great round and I love it and really good in the little Model 600. Wish they still made it. Got another one in .308 and it will rattle your bones all the way to your feet, a bit much for the little gun but it is accurate as well.

I have a heavy barrel Rem 700 in 243 Win. that has been used for rock chuck hunting since 1962. I quit keeping track of shot number at 3k. It is close to 4k now. Yes, the accuracy has dropped off from about 1/2 moa to near 1 moa. But, it is still 'good enough'. There have been far more high power rifle barrels worn out by improper cleaning techniques than by shooting.

I built myself a 'walking around' prairie dog rifle on a Rem 722 action. I used a short Hart 6 mm barrel that had been a bench rest rifle barrel. I tapered and fluted the barrel. It shoots most any light bullet handload into the 1/2 to 3/4 moa. for three shots. It is in a lightened but glas bedded Rem wood stock. With scope it weighs under 6 lbs.

I built a matching rifle in 250-3000 Ackley Improved that weighs about one lb. more. It is good in windy conditions out about another 100 yds. Darned if I don't like the 243 Win. better for most shots. And I can always buy off the shelf very accurate ammo for it. ....

Most factory Rem 700s in 243 Win will shoot the heavier weight bullets very well with the standard 1 in 10 rifling twist. For the hogs, I would go with the heaviest weight bullet available. Nozlers always have performed for me.

The only 'triple' on prairie dogs I have ever seen (I was spotting for him using really good binocs.) made was with a Rem 700 standard weight hunting rifle shooting the 243 Win. cartridge. The range was right at 180 yds. measured. The bullet was an 80 gr. WW factory load. The shooter was a WW II vet and survivor of the Battle of the Bulge. While there and surrounded by the German Army he shot a Red Deer with his Browning BAR because they were starving. He was more proud of that shot on the P. Dogs than that one on the Red Deer. .......

But it has been in my sights for a long time. 6mm is the minimum I can do everything around here with and it's a common round and easy to reload for without having to load .22 bullets for AR 15 or an elephant gun. I have a 30-06 (which is plenty for me) so my next logical choice would be smaller. The 243 has a great reputation.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Great round giving much utility for critters ranging in size from coyote to deer. I know it has worked great for smaller and larger critters, but these are critters I've taken with it.

I've had a Remington 700 in .243 since about 1975/80. It shoots better than I can hold, since I've got old and shaky. Always good results with IMR4350 or 4895. It's just a good rifle.

Took me 7 shots to knock these five shotshell hulls over at 50 yards, last summer, shooting some 35 year old reloads. Told you I was getting old. This is not nearly as impressive as Muleygils grandson's photo though.

Have had a .243 in the stable for 50 years. Also known as "The Killer of Many". Truck loads of coyotes & couple of deer. Started with plain 700 BDL and have had a Varmint Master for last 30 years. My favorite rifle caliber.

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SWCA LM#2190 SWHF#414

If the price is right on the Remington; buy it.

I've been shooting a Ruger M77 .243 since 1975. It has take plenty of mule deer (none near as nice as Mule Packer's Grandson...the kid could be ruined for life. it could be a life time before he gets another that nice). All the deer were one shot kills and none took more than a few steps after being hit. Ranges have been as close as 40 or 40 yards to out past 300 yards. The Nosler 100 bullets have always been great performers in my .243 and I wouldn't hesitate to shoot and elk with them; as long as it was under 300 yards or so.

I've always shot 100 grain Nosler Partitions through my Ruger. Here is a recent group shot over the hood of my Toyota FJ.

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Bill Bates

And nice choice of scopes. That will be a great combination. I am a huge fan of the .243. It will shoot a large range of bullet weights usually very accurately.
My Tikka deer/varmint rifle is a .243 and is everything I need to hunt both with either 100 grain soft points or 75 grain V-maxs.
My stock class competition rifle is a Rem 700 VLS in .243 and loves 68 grain Eubers and Varget powder. JA

My first and only deer rifle is a Remington 788 in .243 Winchester that I bought new in 1978. Very pleasant to shoot and plenty power for deer size game. Texas deer anyway.

Not being much of a deer hunter I've never had a 243 but used to work and hunt with a guy that had one. He carried it everywhere when we worked in N. AZ. in the 70's. We were surveying in some pretty remote areas. He never passed up a coyote even at 300 yds. That was the only rifle he owned and he shot it very well. We bagged three bucks one morning near Jarome in about two hours of hunting. He shot two (one with his wife's tag) and I shot the third. You could get away with that back in those days as long as the person with the tag was with you.

I've known several hunters from WY and MT that used a 243 or 6mm exclusively for deer.

The 7mm mag and 300 mag seem to be the choice of western deer hunters these days but I think they are mostly buying into the marketing hype. I had a 7mm mag and gave it to my brother who hunted elk in WY. Never was a fan of the mags, too much recoil, and because a 6mm is plenty for deer, even in the west. I don't have to read about it, I've seen it with my own eyes.

That's one big muley.

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That's just somebody talkin.

Forty-plus years ago I had a Remington 700ADL in .243 that I absolutely loved. Used it mostly for groundhogs out to 400+ yards. Took one eight-point whitetail with it, very quick kill, before I foolishly sold it while drunk.

It was a nice rifle, mild-recoiling and very accurate. With handloads pushing an 85 grain boat-tail hollowpoint it was sure as poison on varmoints.

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Oh well, what the hell.

Bought my wife a Savage Axis .243 on Black Friday when I got a Axis .308. The $240 pricetag was too low to pass up. Out of the box her .243 shot a .86in group using an old Tasco scope I had. I've had rifles 2-3X as expensive that didn't shoot that well.

Had my second Ruger 77* in .243 since the early 80s...18" barrel and weighting in at 6.5lbs ..... it's has an International/Mannlicher stock...........with 100gr bullets good for Pa white tails ........ and a good varmint round with 80 gr loads.


*first was a used 77; .243 heavy barrel varmint

a little research will show that a lot of big African game fell to the little 7mm mauser including bull elephants before I was born,(1952) so a 100 gr 6.2mm traveling at 3000+ fps will drop anything in the US.

its all in the bullet placement, and a accurate rifle with very little recoil is a very shooter friendly platform, that can lead to confidence in shot placement,

I own savage FP tactical's in 223,308,7mm rem mag, and a pre 64 Winchester target in 30-06 all of these bull barrel target rifles will shoot extremely precise and small groups, but I don't want to pack them on a deer stalk in rough country
and my deer rifle for years has been the 270 in a old model 700 ADL but I am looking forward to setting up my new 243 weatherby.

the scope Vortex 6-18x44 ao, arrived yesterday and as soon as I can lift my left arm after my shoulder surgery I am going to see just how accuate it is

DPMS


Ruger No. 1


Winchester Model 70
Winchester Model 88
(the 88 has now left the fold)

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Buy American
Vote Responsibly

My daughter killed her first deer with a .243 savage 99A. Here are a couple more.

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.243 BDL Varmint master. Also known as the "Killer of Many". Coyotes fear me. .5 MOA at 100 yds. Best shootin rifle I ever owned.

-don

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SWCA LM#2190 SWHF#414

my son was off today so we set up the new vortex 6x18x44 (dead hold BDC) on my new weatherby vanguard 243

squared up the mounts, lapped the rings, torqued down the scope

then we rode to the farm and he did the shooting, we zeroed at 100yds.

for dead on hold. and the rifle will shoot.

he ran a total of 45 rounds through the rifle in 3 shot groups, shooting it with Winchester 80 grain and hornady 87gr factory ammo, not a single group fell out of the 1" mark even when hot
the best was a 5/8" grouping, and we had a 5 to 10 mph quartering wind
all afternoon

at the end we set out 3 water filled gallon milk jugs at 150-225-325 yards with their 3x5 labels (our target) facing the shooter

he had no problem hitting the jugs, center of label impacts on the closer jugs, and dead center 1" low impact on the 325 yd jug label

this thing will shoot

I bought my son a cheaper Remington 710 in .243 when he turned 12. He shot his first whitetail at 185 yards with it and it dropped. I've since sold that and replaced it with a Tikka in .243. What an awesome rifle. He has added many deer to his "collection" since then with that rifle. It's bagged a few coyotes also. We reload and only use the Combined Technology ballistic tip 95 grain bullets. Drops them I their tracks. Can't say enough good about it.

Your local coyotes had nightmares last night and felt a shiver run up their spine. Go find some!

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Possum—The other white meat!

Your local coyotes had nightmares last night and felt a shiver run up their spine

yep! we got em on the run

Just thought I would share a pic since I had some other guns or if the safe. My 243 in Rem 700.

Friends don't let friends buy Taurus.