Hunters of /k/, please explain this round's popularity in

>>33469834
My dad always told me .243 was for pussies.

>>33469834
it's light recoiling, flat shooting, fast as fuck, more than adequate for medium deer or smaller, overbore status is somewhat irrelevant in a deer rifle
i prefer 270 for the same niche but to each their own.

>>33469895
> more than adequate

How secure do you feel about a 100gr bullet making it through a whitetail's far shoulder? Wishing you had something around 120gr or heavier then?

>>33471071
I've never had a .243 not drop a deer. To be fair most of my shots have been under 100 yards.

.243 is great for kids and wives.

Every 12 year old should use one. Light to carry, flat shooting, low recoil.

>>33471071

Deer shoulders aren't particularly dense anon.

Bullet selection is critical in any caliber and I think that's the source of your horror stories. I don't see any reason why a bonded 90+ grain 6mm projectile wouldn't do the trick. Better still, use a monometal bullet.

>>33471268
That's what I always hear about .223 as well, just use a bonded/copper bullet. But I never seem to hear that cup-and-core bullets in .260/6.5s, .270, or .308 are insufficient.

>>33471071
Have you never seen the video of a deer being hit with a .50bmg before it takes off running?

>>33471343
Are you actually trying to form an argument or are you just being dense, case you're bordering on the logic of guys still using 230gr ball because early HP ammo sucked

Isnt 6mm the preferred choice of long range shooters?

>>33471438
no, give sauce. you should google on my behalf.

>>33471454
Apparently either an extra 20grains or another .17" diameter does something to result in far less risk of no exit wound, especially where shoulders are involved.

My argument is that considering this, most hunters should stick with .25-06 and up for deer, and leave .243 and the .22 for varmints, unless they have to use one rifle for everything.

>>33471454
wut?

Far to many opinions by what appear to be nonhunters. 243 works great on whitetall, muley, antalope, coyotes. Ive heard it does fine on cow elk. Never shot elk with one myself.
Btw dont shoot shoulders. Shoot lungs/heart. You wont waste as much meat

>>33469834
It's a great gun for a certain niche of hunting as well as getting women or kids interested. I've actually found that under ideal circumstances (broadside shot) it will perform more effectively than my favorite brush rounds.

>>33469834
6mm/.243" is legally required in my state.

>>33471071
I deer hunt with .257 wby mag 100 grain bullets. Shot a mulie once from the front. The bullet expanded a few inches in and stopped in the hip bone.
Don't be fooled by light bullets.

Is that g1 bc or g7?

>>33473323
G7, most likely. I thought everyone posted G7 for boat tails.

>>33473323
>>33473427
Nevermind, I'm a twit. A quick comparison with Hornady shows it's G1.

>>33469834
>it has a sectional density closer to a .223
Totally irrelevant on whitetail, elk, antelope, sheep, and [everything else on any continent other than Africa that isn't a grizzly or polar bear].
>it burns out barrels in as little as 1500 rounds
Normal lifespan is between 4000-5000 for hunting accuracy (~1.5 MOA 3-shot), the "in as little as 1500 rounds" is what happens when varmint hunters get trigger happy with their 60gr screamers at beyond-book-max loads. Also 99% of hunters will never fire 4000 rounds from one hunting rifle in their life, and most hunting rifles can be rebarreled for as little as $200.
>it has barely over half the mass of a .308
Yet has 95% of the kinetic energy and leaves a far more devastating wound, since it's significantly faster.
>For every successful hunting story online you'll find another story where a whitetail runs over 200 yards with no blood trail
That's true of all calibers. People miss when they think they hit, people gut-shoot animals, people are stupid. Furthermore the killing of things is an imprecise science and there ARE times when even your belted magnums and ultramags don't DRT game animals they really should.

>>33471071
I'm 17/17 for full exits through both shoulders with Fed Fusion .243 at ranges between 250 and 330 yards on whitetail, so 100% confident.

>>33469834
My first really nice bolt rifle was in .243 and it was awesome.
I like .243 quite a bit, the lighter bullets moving close to 3200+ fps pack one hell of a punch. It hardly recoiled at all and ammo was pretty available anywhere. I know it's anecdotal evidence but I shot several groundhogs and coyotes with mine and it dropped everything I hit right in it's tracks. .243 in my opinion makes great sense for 120 white tail deer here in NC, I've seen many hit with .223 and it pass through one shoulder and stop up against the other. Like one Anon said deer shoulders aren't very tough really.
I'd be perfectly confident taking a .243 hunting anything under 250 pounds

>>33471510
No. All that does is ensure that the most retarded of people allowed to own firearms don't go shooting at big whitetail with 60gr hollowpoint ammunition, because it doesn't exist in those calibers.

>>33473427
G1 is more appropriate for hunting bullets because any velocity under about 1800fps is totally irrelevant as you start losing the ability to expand them.

>>33473459
Jesus, WTF is wrong with that thing? 6mm is supposed to have decent BC.

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>>33473512
Great illustrations of this are two of my somewhat recent hunts.
>went elk hunting in Colorado
>guy DRT'd a nice 5x6 with a .257wby using 90gr Nosler BT handloads at a hair over 400 yards
He neck shot it, but the round was obviously up to the task.
>went antelope hunting in WY
>shot this fucker with a .300wm at 321 yards and it ran about 200 yards despite mushing the heart/lungs and the right shoulder, and breaking the left shoulder
There was a HELL of a blood trail and bits of lung in a clear splatter pattern 10 feet out the back side of where I hit him and he still ran that far, with a belted magnum.

>>33473558
I thought the bc models were based on bullet geometry. What does velocity have to do with it?

>>33473595
It's in the middle of the pack for weight and it's a hunting bullet with a focus on expansion.

And that's not a bad BC at all, even compared to 6mm target bullets.

>>33473595
95gr sst, sd of .230, g1 of .355
108gr eld, sd of .261, g1 of .536

>>33473627
G1 differs on velocity and goes in bands (>2900, 2899-2200, etc). G7 is an average from 3500fps-0fps. It's two different ways of measuring the same thing, and yes it is based on bullet geometry.

Because of this, G1 is more appropriate for people who will never strike an animal with a bullet going below ~1800fps because it would be unethical, and G7 is more appropriate for long-distance target shooters where the bullet may be barely supersonic (~1250-1300fps) when it gets to its target.

>>33473644
I guess that does make sense now that I think about it. I was comparing it to the ELD target bullets I use. 140gr 6.5mm bullets with a .620 G1

>>33469834
.243 is a shitty cartridge. If you want intermediate caliber in a durr gun, get .270 Win.

>>33473644
> middle of the pack for weight in 6mm

Fuck man, what heavyweight bullets are you shooting in 6mm?

>>33473691
I shoot 115gr DTACs, 108gr Bergers, and 107gr SMK's. JLK has 145gr VLD's but fuck that, they won't load to mag-length even in a 6mmCM because they're almost as long as the brass is.

>>33473686
> disparaging comment
> call .30-03 necked down to .277 intermediate

I like your style, anon.

>>33473691
...you....uh. You do realize that almost all factory .243 and all factory .260 ammo is loaded with 95+gr bullets, right?

>>33469834
>In all but the most heavy loads possible, it has a sectional density closer to a .223 than a .308. It burns out barrels in as little as 1500 rounds. It barely has over half the mass of a .308. For every successful hunting story online you'll find another story where a whitetail runs over 200 yards with no blood trail.
it shoots flat all the way out to 415yds was the big hype when it first came out. Its not a 'take it to the range and plink' kind of rifle, its a 'get it zero'd and use it to put food on the table' rifle.

>>33473760
My comment was aimed at 95gr .243 being middle of the pack. Almost all factory .243 is not loaded past 95gr. Lots and lots of varmint loads and hunting rounds at 85gr and below around here.

6.5mm, yeah, is a different story.

>>33473679
Yeah, 6.5's are way out ahead of everything on BC. Hell even the 6mm 107gr SMK is only .490 G1.

>>33473814
Why are people running 6mm's in competition if they have such inferior BC then?

>>33473807
>Hornady American Whitetail-105gr Interlock bullet
>Hornady Superformance-95gr SST
>Federal Fusion-100gr Speer Deepcurl
>Winchester Super-X-100gr Powerpoint
>Winchester Deer Season XP-100gr [whatever they call it]
>Remington Core-Lokt-100gr Core Lokt
>Remington Hypersonic-95gr Core Lokt
>Federal Power-Shok-110gr generic
>Federal Vital Shok-100gr Gameking
Almost all factory hunting ammo is 95+gr. Yes, there are a FEW factory varmint loads out there with <95gr bullets, but they're far eclipsed in number by deer loads and they all EXPRESSLY advertise as varmint rounds.

>>33473834
Because they have a much much higher muzzle velocity, which means significantly lower flight time, which means less wind drift.
>a max-book-load for the 95gr TMK in plain ol' .243win will have 1.7 mils less wind drift than a max-book-load 140gr ELD in a 6.5CM in a 10mph 90* wind at 1000 yards, despite WILDLY differing ballistic coefficients
That extra 400fps MV means a lot.

>>33471491
Yes, 6mm creedmoor and 6XC are dominating PRS shooting right now. Keep in mind these people change barrels every season or 2.

>>33473834
>If you could have just one rifle to slay varmints, hunt white-tails, shoot paper at long range, and duel in tactical matches, it would be hard to beat the .243 Winchester. This versatile "little brother" of the .308 Winchester is a true triple-threat as a match cartridge, varmint cartridge, and game cartridge. With 115gr DTAC bullets, a .243 rivals a 6.5-284 ballistically out to 1000 yards.
First paragraph of
>http://www.6mmbr.com/243Win.html

Velocity counts for more than BC.

>>33471491
And close-range shooters. 6mmBR and 6mmPPC have dominated 300yd and 100yd benchrest, respectively, for close to 45 years straight, and some flavor of 6mm holds every accuracy record at every distance out to and including 1500m.

>>33473865
http://ammoseek.com/ammo/243-winchester

Granted, a lot of 100gr on there, and a whole lot of 90gr and below as well. But pull down that weight drop down and tell if 95 is in the middle.

>>33474018
Each and every one of those categories below 95gr has 1 or 2 different loads though. Whereas there's about 10 different 95gr loads and 100+ 100gr loads.

The vast majority of .243 ammo produced by both SKU and round count is deer ammo, and as such 95+gr. What are you not understanding there?

Yes, one company loads 55gr ammo commercially. But one company also loads 145gr JLK's commercially (swampworks).

Guess what the median between 55gr and 145gr is? That's right, 90gr.

>>33474018
And tell me, when's the last time you saw anything other than Fusion, Super-X, Core Lokts, and American Whitetail on a gunstore or walmart shelf?

Do light varmint loads exist? Yeah. I've stated as much in literally every one of my posts. Are they common? Fuck no.

>>33473621

ಠ_ಠ

>>33474093
I haven't bought ammo in a brick and mortar in 5 years, so I have to admit your likely right on the default loadings.

>>33469861
My dad told me that your dad sucks dicks in the interstate rest area just outside of town. Sweetest little mouth he's ever had, he said.

>>33475085
Damn son

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I just use my 6.5 swedes for most anything

>>33473621
Sometimes animals just don't know they're dead yet, and they're so fucking stubborn that they run anyway.

I had a complete lung-heart-lung pass through with a .270 on a small-ish whitetail, it still managed to run about 100 yards and jump in a creek.

>>33472338
You mean .243 minimum? Sorry, not well versed in hunting law, not being a hunter (yet).

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>>33476941
6,5x55 my nigga

>>33479871
No, it's only 6mm/.243" or 7.62mm/.308"

You can't use anything else. Well there are different caliber requirements for handguns.

Remember, these are calibers. They are not cartridges.

>>33475085
Are you two gonna become best friends now, since you both have gay dads

>>33471510

.25-06 ammo is sold in many loadings that are totally inappropriate for deer. So is .270.

>90gr varmint loads out of my tuhsebendy are bad for deer
>thus the caliber is bad for deer

6mm bullets work great for killing deer. 6mm frangibles that are trying to be pelt friendly do not. Guess which you should load.

>>33473686
>.270
>intermediate
>"x is shitty" with no explanation given

It's almost like you have no idea what you're talking about!

>>33480245
Wait, so .25-06, 7mm-08, 7mm mag, .270, and all the 6.5's are illegal to hunt with? What state is this?

>>33480245
What state?

What retarded state doesnt let you shoot in .30-06?

Washington's law is nice, you need anything larger than .240

>>33471071
A 70 grain bonded bullet out of a .223 will break both shoulders on a 200 lb live weight white tail at 200 yards.

>>33481413
Indiana. Yes, those would all not be legal to hunt with. Bizarre but that's the way it is.
http://www.in.gov/activecalendar_dnr/EventList.aspx?view=EventDetails&eventidn=8974&information_id=18905&type=&syndicate=syndicate

I'm not a hunter, so I'm not sure, but I think it wasn't legal to hunt with rifles until this time.
>>33481423
You can use .30-06, since it is .308" caliber.

I remember hearing about this. Hearsay was they didn't want to allow long range rifles at all due to the flat field shooting. How they decided .243, .308, and .30-06 weren't long shooting is beyond me.

>>33476941
>>33479891
How's the PPU ammo and especially their brass? I'm looking at a Tikka hunter in 6.5x55, and I tend to feed my reloading habit with commercial ammo at first, but all the US manufacturers want $1.25 a round, which is stupid.

>>33469834
>you'll find another story where a whitetail runs over 200 yards with no blood trail.
I think these stories are generally the abridged version where they leave out the part where they shot it in the gut or leg.
Put almost any bullet where its supposed to go and it will put a deer down in short order.

>>33471071
I wasn't aware I needed complete pass through to kill a deer.

>>33481287
Only if he likes to bottom.

>>33481580
As factory ammo it's meh. The brass is trash.

>>33481692
Complete pass through is totally unnecessary for killing the deer, but helps with the blood trail (2 holes>1 hole). Unfortunately a lot of the time the tradeoff for that is less-than-optimum expansion.

>>33481478
Stop confusing calibers with cartridges.

>>33481451
>Indiana
That is some Illinois tier lawmaking right there. Still, its a start. Better than shotgun only I guess.

>>33481765
I think you're the confused one.

>>33481765
I didn't, unless .243 and .308/.30-06 started using something other than the legal 6mm and 7.62mm bullets.

>>33481580
The brass isn't trash, but it also isn't Lapua.

It's fine for reloading hunting ammo or practice ammo, but I'd buy different brass if I was going to be competing with the rifle.

>>33482059
Prvi brass IS trash, it's brittle and thin. You'll get half as many reloads out of it as you would basically anything else.

>>33473706
145gr in 6mm is so crazy I demand proof sir, 6.5 sure but not 6.