Enough Gun?

Since the introduction of the .243Win in 1955 it has often been seen as half way to nowhere cartridge, not quite heavy enough to be a real ‘big game’ cartridge, and not light enough for a true varminter.

With the ever-increasing popularity of the latest and greatest 6mm cartridges coming out of North America, I thought I would share my 2 cents on the humble old .243.

My introduction to the .243win started when I was teenager, my first rifle was a .270win and for a few reasons I just didn’t get along with it. I spent hours looking at charts and table trying to decide what cartridge would best suit my needs. My main game at the time was feral goats, red deer and pigs in open hill country. Flat shooting and light recoil made the .243 a pretty attractive option so with my pennies saved I purchased myself (at the time a new to the market) Tikka T3 camo stainless in .243Win.

This I soon topped this with a 4.5-14x56mm Leopold VXL and proceeded to put some hurting on a large number of Marlborough goats.

I have just re-barreled my .243 after some 2000+ odd rounds though the barrel. I am certainly no target shooter, so those rounds have all been shot whilst hunting (apart from the odd sighting in and load development). So, I have shot a a fair number of animals with the .243, ranging from rabbits to Red stags and most things in between.

For the young hunter starting out endless ballistics’ charts, BCs and ‘magnums’ make for a confusing decision around choosing your first rifle. But there is often a major factor which is overlooked, and cannot be easily measured in a chart.
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That is shoot-ability.
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At the end of the day a rifle must be held and shot, not off a bench, but in the field. In the rain, in the wind, off an old scrub bush, off your pack, on the side of a hill, in the mud, uphill and downhill.
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In real world situations a rifles accuracy is very different to what can be measured on the bench rest, and the most important factor is the shooters confidence and ability with their rifle, not the theoretical accuracy of the cartridge.
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It has often been said that 15ftlbs of recoil is about the maximum for most shooters to obtain ideal accuracy, which depending on rifle weight is about where the old standard .308 sits. The .243 with most loads will have around 10 ft lbs of recoil energy, and for the young hunter this is a big difference. See typical recoil here- https://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm

Projectile selection
The .243 becomes a very versatile cartridge when you start handloading for it, from 55gners pushing on 4000fps to 95/100gners at 2900+fps there really are a lot of options. Projectile selection in smaller calibers like the .243 becomes very important, and its not only the projectile weight that matters, but also the construction.

The light 55-65gn projectiles are true varminters and have limited application outside turning rabbits into pink mist at long range. I have limited experience with these, but I can assure you the 65gn V-Max is one of a Wallabies worst enemies.

70-80 grain projectiles start to become more useful and are a good option for someone dedicated to shooting wallabies and feral goats, they offer a great compromise between speed, BC and hitting power.

85-87gn projectiles seem to hit the sweet spot for my .243 and these are the projectiles I used most (87gn BTHP Hornady and 85gn Seirra HPBT). At around 3,200 fps these projectiles are very flat shooting, and plenty enough for the average Red hind, Fallow deer and dynamite on feral goats.

95-100 gn projectiles in the .243 are the best option for someone targeting bigger game (ie Stags, Tahr etc) and are still very flat shooting. Projectiles like the 95 and 100grain Nosler Partitions are a great option for reliable penetration and expansion on bigger game.

Monolithic- Solid copper expanding projectile like the Barnes TSX and TTSX and Hornady GMX really come into their own in smaller cartridges. You are guaranteed more or less 95%+ weight retention, deep penetration and reliable expansion. Weight is not so much of a factor with monos so you can stick to 80-85 grain weights and really drive the speed up. My first ever bull Tahr was taken with a 75gn GS custom, a monolithic designed in South Africa. Most people would laugh at the idea of using a 75gn pill on a mature bull tahr, but this tiny projectile punched clean through both the shoulders of my bull and dropped him on the spot, all the while with non-existing recoil.

For the target and long-range shooter there is now a growing range of 105-115gn match style projectiles which boast some impressive BCs. Most off the shelf .243s have only 1-10” twist barrels and will struggle to stabilize these big projectiles. If you’re looking for a custom long range gong buster, run some numbers on the .243. You might be surprised

Game killing

‍I have had numerous ‘debates’ with hunters over the years about the ability of the ‘tiny’ .243 to even kill a deer, let alone a big stag or bull Tahr. The fact is most of these hunters have not actually shot many animals, especially not with the .243.

Our game here in NZ are not particularly large, and they certainly are not armor plated. Between myself and my clients quite a stack of Stags and Bull Tahr have fallen. Yes, wounded game can and does happen, but I have seen more wounded game with .300 magnums than I have with the .243, and that simply boils back to shot placement and ease of shoot ability. Shot placement is king, and light cartridges make those awkward shots we typically encounter in the mountains a breeze.

Although the .243 is a flat shooting cartridge it does run out of energy for deer sized game rather quickly, and I would keep shots within 350 yards for deer sized animals, which is where most .243 loads will hit around 1000ftlbs of energy.

Would I recommend the .243 as an all round ‘big game’ cartridge? Probably not, there are better options and for the recoil sensitive hunter the mild 6.5s and 7mms are a more versatile option. But it also depends on what you call ‘big game’. For many hunters the average animal they are hunting is not actually all that big. The .243 excels on medium sized game from Feral goats and Chamois up to the smaller deer species( Fallow, Red hinds, Whitetail etc). The .243 also has quite a following in Africa for the smaller Antelope species, and African PHs shoot more game than nearly anyone else, they wouldn’t use it if it didn’t work.

Is the .243 the ultimate youth rifle cartridge? To me it is pretty darn near close. There are a few other cartridges that fit a very similar role (the mild 6.5s are another great option) and I really don’t think you can go wrong with the .243. Whether you’re a new hunter starting out, setting up a rifle for your kids or an experienced shooter sick of the big bang, take a good look at the .243, I don’t think you will be disappointed. There is a growing number of mild 6mms being produced in North America, but the reality is the simple .243 Winchester beats nearly all of them, and has been working for over 50 years.

For me the .243 Winchester came along at the right time and was exactly what I needed as a young hunter, my only real complaint of the .243 is that my barrel didn’t last longer!

Is the .243 the ultimate youth rifle cartridge? To me it is pretty darn near close. There are a few other cartridges that fit a very similar role (the mild 6.5s are another great option) and I really don’t think you can go wrong with the .243. Whether you’re a new hunter starting out, setting up a rifle for your kids or an experienced shooter sick of the big bang, take a good look at the .243, I don’t think you will be disappointed. There is a growing number of mild 6mms being produced in North America, but the reality is the simple .243 Winchester beats nearly all of them, and has been working for over 50 years.

For me the .243 Winchester came along at the right time and was exactly what I needed as a young hunter, my only real complaint of the .243 is that my barrel didn’t last longer!