243 rifle

[Sportdog]

Originally Posted by anon

Reading his post.... the first line starts off with justifying the shot due to money and antler size. That is the part that strikes the nerve. Whether it is a puny buck on your first morning, or a trophy at the last minute, using $$ and antler size to justify a shot is BS in my book.

I guess that I took it to mean that you need to hunt with equipment that will get the job done in all hunting situations that you may encounter and not let your choice of rifle/cartridge limit your skill level. Anyway his hunting decisions are his and mine are mine.

[alhungie]

I've got a .30-30 Model 94 (early 50's manufacture- thanks Dad) and a 7400 30.06 carbine. Both for deer, .06 for moose. Looking for a bolt varmint/flat land deer gun. Like the .243.....

[buckrodgers]

25 06 for me or 270 because that's what I own and can shoot well. I have personally seen a young cow moose killed with a 22lr by a native coworker, mind you it was laying down sleeping and he was 10 ft away! As long as you hit the vitals who cares!

[Phil T]

The only advantage to smaller cartridges is lesser recoil. Therefore more precise shooting is possible. However, unless there is a lot of practice with that rifle, shooting will not be more precise. Practice, practice, practice.

Many years ago, I clipped an article from a gun magazine entitled "Deer Rifles to Start With and Stay With." The author, John Wooters, was not only a gun writer, but the owner of a south Texas ranch where he operated a whitetail outfitting service. The smallest cartridge he recommended was the 257 Roberts with a 120 grain bullet. The largest was something less than a 308 Winchester. He had had to track too many deer that had been shot poorly with 24 caliber rifles, and the 308 was where he noted inexperienced shooters flinched. Almost no one makes rifles for "the Bob" any more, so Mr. Wooters would be restricted to 260 Remington through 7-08, including reduced recoil factory ammunition for 270, 308, etc.

[suntracker]

problem with many years ago the bullets were not designed as well as they are today. Do the ballistics on a 257 roberts shooting a 120 vs a 243 shooting the 105 berger at 3100 fps might be rather eye opening. jbm ballistics is a good place to start....

[Phil T]

Wooters didn't like 100 grain bullets. My Bob and I loved them.
And, how many fathers are going to supply their sons with ammunition loaded with premium bullets, especially for practice? what the bullet does after impact is much more important than how well it flies before impact. The Bergers have nay-sayers as well as fans.

[suntracker]

every bullet manufacture has that so nothing new there. I guess i am the one father that loads what flies best and it is important how it flies getting to poi because if it does not make it, how it then performs does not matter as it is a miss. I guess i will take the best of both worlds of both external and terminal ballistics if i have my druthers. But most of this is of no concern to the average person who wont take a shot past 300 and in most cases for the animals sake should not.

[Phil T]

For recoil numbers, go to www.Huntamerica.com and use the recoil calculator on the homepage. Use a rifle that's chambered for 243, 260, 7-08, and 308. Maybe an inexpensive one like the Ruger American. A constant rifle weight simplifies things. Secondly, you need a bullet weight. 100 grains for the .243, 130gr for the .260, 140gr for the 7mm, and 150gr for the .308.
Powder charges for each cartridge/bullet weight can be found in the Hodgdon reloading site.
After entering the data for each deer cartridge, it's bullet, and powder charge, you will be able to compare the total recoil, and the recoil velocity (which I find more uncomfortable than raw recoil).
For a power comparison, www.Hornady.com homepage has a tab on the left called ballistics resources. Click on the tab, then on HITS from the dropdown menu. Enter bullet weight, bullet diameter (7mm=.284 & the 260 is really a .264 bullet) and velocity. You will get a number that is good for comparison to other HITS numbers. It is excellent for its purpose.

The worst kicking rifle I ever shot was a light Remington pump carbine in 308 Winchester that a man bought for his son. That metal butt plate hurt! Of course, the Dad had a recoil pad on his Remington full-size pump gun (it weighed more) in 30-06. His skinny son had tears after shooting the rifle that was bought for him. After shooting the carbine, I agreed with the son. The teen even found my 338Win Mag (heavy rifle, soft recoil pad) more comfortable than that hard-butted carbine.

[suntracker]

Ya that guy was a jack wad for making his kid shoot that. my 9 year old really enjoys shooting the 6.5 creedmoor shooting the 140 amax at 2710 but a ruger its not. this site will give a little insight to the type of shooting i partake in http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=541 now once the suppressor gets here it is going to be even better. Thinking of having a 6mm creedmoor built for the kid for his birthday he can then have my scope and i am going to up grade to the gen 2 vortex 4.5-27 razor. this would be a great fathers day present http://www.vortexoptics.com/product/...c-mrad-reticle

[law57]

When I started hunting I had a .32 Winchester. As I got a little older I got a 30-06. It killed deer dead. But it didn't always stop them like my .32. The 30-06 bullet often went thru-and-thru. Some poor tree on the other side got killed too.

So I got a 6mm Remington. I love that caliber. I have two of them - Ruger and 788 Remington. I'd like to hunt that 788 but it's un-fired - have the box too. So I got a .243/788. That's what I've used for years and years. Those 788's are about as simple as a gun can be - form follows function. The deer now drop in their tracks again.

Brush? It's been proved pretty conclusively that there really is not 'brush'. Any bullet can and usually will be deflected by brush/trees. As with you all, I cut shooting lanes near my stand.