243 Winchester Caliber - Dual Purpose Caliber?

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 8/17/20 | N Krieg

[w1n1]

In the plinking and precision long range world we all like to talk about which gun or caliber is better than the other. This goes the same in the hunting world as well.
Something that hunters and semi-seasoned hunters talk about is the best or versatile deer rifle/caliber. For the non-hunters most will only think of the .30-06 or .308.
All the old favorites are normally there, like the classic Marlin, Remington and Ruger rifles. They go back and forth on what’s better between a .270 Winchester, a 308 Winchester and a 30-06 Springfield. But, some experienced hunters will tell you go with the .243 caliber rifle.
This hunting rifle may be smaller than most, but it packs a pretty good punch from varmints to medium-size game. Even if you're content with whitetail in your area, that is cool as well.

The .243 Winchester cartridge was initially designed as a target/varmint round, it may be used for animals such as coyotes, black tail deer, whitetail deer, mule deer, pronghorns, and wild hogs.

At under 200 yards the .243 may just be the most accurate round. Low recoil attributes to its high accuracy. Some hunters share the sentiment that the .243 just simple isn’t big enough for a true ethical shot. However, with the added accuracy of this round, shot placement is deadly with practice. Taking a shot from 200 yards is a common thing.

Loads
We mentioned the versatility of the .243 caliber. If you handload your own, you can try these loads:
-55-grain for varmints
-70-80 grain – will retain velocity and resists the wind better and a better choices for coyote, bobcat, and fox
-90-100 grain for deer and pronghorn.
-105-115 grain – Federal Hi-Shok, Remington Corelokts and Winchester Power points are to go with.

Bolt or Lever?
When we get into the .243 rifles, a classic bolt action usually leads to better accuracy with a Ruger American. Read the rest of 243 Winchester caliber.

[Augie]

I bought a Ruger M77 in .243 Winchester for Mrs. Augie shortly after we were married.

She has dispatched many whitetail deer with that thing in the 28 years since.

Last fall she killed three of them within half an hour on opening day.

[taxcontrol]

.243 is almost a 6.5, sooo sure, why wouldn’t be an effective multipurpose round.

[JD_UTDallas]

I’m a quarter bore fanatic. It’s a death day for long distance called yotes. It’s overkill in the extreme for prairie rats but the redmist show with Vmax tips is spectacular. For Texas sized white tails I have never had one move from where I shot it with 100gr core lokt same for Feral hogs if I’m being cheap and lazy to not reload for the 25_06 when I do load thst are A frames for anything above yote sized and Vmaxs for all small critters I don’t keep pelts to first sized exits are not an issue with yotes. I own four 308s mostly ARs 10.5” “pistol” light 16”, HB 24” and a M40 R700, R700s in 30_06, 270, 26” LR edition 7rem mag, Ruger precision in 300WM & 338LM but the rifle I pick up for most of my Texas hunting is my R700 in quarter bore it’s a Remage on it’s second barrel which blasting prairie rats at 4000 fps eats into a barrel but at 195 bucks and 10 min on my vice I won’t hesitate to redmist the buggers. Love LOVE my 25.