wife's rifle?

[Sourdough]

I am a shooting instructor and start kids out with a .243 when they move up from the .22RF.  My son started shooting his .243 when he was 8.  He used it to take a Caribou when he was 10.  The only drawback is the massive hemmorrage due to hydrostatic shock.  In other words the little bullet is going so fast is jellies a large area.  Recoil wasw noticiable and pretty heavy for my son when he was 8 (He is small for his age, takes after his mother).  The .243 would be a good gun, as would the 7mm-08.  The most important thing is to take it down and have the stock cut down  to fit her.  My wife is 4'11", and I have had every one of her guns cut down to fit her.  One sunsmith tried to talk me out of cutting so much off the stock once saying no one else would ever be able to shoot the gun.  If she decided to sell it no one would buy it.  I left and found another gunsmith.  I started my wife out with a 44Mag Carbine, low recoil and it served it's purpose of her becomming familure with guns.  Then she moved up to a 30-06, she felt she needed something bigger.  Now she has commendered one of my .35 Whelens and has had it cut down to her size.  She likes shooting our son's .243 but she wants something bigger since we are always in Bear country.  Now she is talking about getting a BAR in .338 and having it cut down.   

[30-30man]

The caliber is really a none issue in my opinion.  All of the ones mentioned will kill deer with a good shot.  No matter what gun she hunts with she owes it to the animal to shoot it well.  I hunt with a 30-30 not because I have to.  It is just the one I shoot the best.  Pick a caliber that you can find shells for if you don't reload.  I don't own a guin I have to mail order the shells for.  I wanted a 7m-08 and a 25-06 but my Mart doesn't carry the shells.  243, 270, 30-30 you will find anywhere. 

[jrnsuz]

so we decided she's going to use my .308 this year. we'll try those reduced recoil loads from
Remington and Federal and use whichever shoots best. thanks for all the input; interesting and informative as always.

[captdp]

got a Q for any interested parties. my wife has decided she needs a .243 for deer hunting based on input from a friend at work. wife is not large (5'2" and 130), and does not have much rifle experience.

the Q is, is a .243 a good choice? i personally think it's to small, prefer at least .26 cal for whitetail.

whadda ya'll think?  :?

 
\

Go with your feelings. I'll probably get flamed here, but to me the 243 is for experienced hunters using premium bullets. Most Texas ranch owners/ guides will tell you that they prefer a 257 or larger for their customers. capt david

[TCBrian]

My 6.5x55 is as easy to shoot as any .243, with a lot more punch and better  bullet selection. A .260 Rem would do about the same, both are excellent and there are many great 6.5 bullet choices. My wife shoots all my rifles and she thinks the .243 kicks harder than the 6.5x55, probably since the 243 is in a win 70 featherweight. She also shoots my 30-06 and with the limbsaver on it, can shoot it off the bench with no problems at all.

I personally like the 243, but I think it is too light to hunt deer with day in and day out. It works, but a little more bullet weight is a little insurance that a deer will not be wounded. Shot placement is still the most important thing, but why not have a little extra bullet weight, she will never notice it. I am odering my wife a TC prohunter in .280 rem. She wanted her own rifle she could hunt deer, elk, and maybe someday Carabou or African plains game. A .280 rem will do it all with quality bullets. If just deer are in the cards, stay with something in the .257 robert up to maybe a 7-08. Anything in between, should be comfortable to shoot and have plenty of punch. My personal choice as said before would be a 6.5x55 or a 260 rem.

Good shooting,
Brian

[Dave in WV]

My son and I both have .243s and never had a failure to drop a deer with one shot. We both use 100gr Core-Lokts in our handloads. I have a 7mm-08 and it's a dandy cartridge. In a 7600 pump from the bench it has more kick than one would expect. If you don't reload, .243 ammo is more easily found. The .260 is a good round but not common and the 7mm-08 isn't much better in many places. Many folks that don't like the .243 say you have to hit the kill zone (have t hit 'em right). To me that applies with a .338 mag too.

[handirifle]

Get your wife the mossberg in .270 and let her shoot the recoil management ammunition from Remington.  This way she will have a little better performance than the .243 with a little less recoil and still have the possibility to jump up to full loads if she wants to hunt elk.  

Brandon

I don't think so, neither does Remington.  This is the data fron their web site.

Velocity (ft/sec)
Cartridge Type Bullet Muzzle 100 200 300 400 500
(.243 Win)    Remington® Express® 100 PSP CL 2960 2697 2449 2215 1993 1786
(270 Win)     Remington® Managed Recoil® 115 PSP CL 2710 2412 2133 1873 1636 1425

 
Energy (ft-lbs)
Cartridge Type Bullet Muzzle 100 200 300 400 500
(.243 Win)  Remington® Express® 100 PSP CL 1945 1615 1332 1089 882 708
(270 Win)   Remington® Managed Recoil® 115 PSP CL 1875 1485 1161 896 683 519
 

Long-Range Trajectory
Cartridge Type Bullet 100 150 200 250 300 400 500
Remington® Express® 100 PSP CL 1.6 1.5 zero -2.9 -7.5 -22.1 -45.4
Remington® Managed Recoil® 115 PSP CL 1.0 zero -2.7 -7.4 -14.2 -35.6 -70.1

The trajectory figures favor the 243 even more.  If you're going to use the 270 then use regular loads cause these don't come close toe the 243, plus the 270 will be a longer rifle, heavier, and most likely more awkward to handle cause of a longer action.   I have a 243 and 30-06 and the 243 is much quicker to shoulder.  Both ar Savage 110 rifles, so it is a direct comparison.

[S.S.]

243 is an excellent whitetail cartridge in the hands of a competent shot.
It is not an easy cartridge to reload for because extremely minute differences in powder charges
cause extremely LARGE differences in pressure. This is one cartridge that I believe it may be better to simply stick with factory loads. Reloading does not improve it all that much to me!

[mjbgalt]

well i shoot one almost exclusively and i reload for it. got my browning down to 1/2" 3-shot groups, from 2 inch groups. it seems a little random to say that out of so many cartridges based on the .308 case, this one happens to be better off not handloaded.

-Matt

[victorcharlie]

The wife and I went to the gun club last weekend.  She doesn't go very often and took her Ruger 77 ultralite .243 with her.  She hadn't shot it sense I put a new Nikon fixed 4X on it.  She also hadn't shot it sense I put the limbsaver on it for her.  I had taken it a few weeks earlier and zero'ed it at 100 yards and it was shooting right at an inch.

We started at the 200 yard line with the .17 HMR which has a 4 X 16 Bushnell Elite 4200 cranked all the way up on 16X.

When she sat down with her .243 and fixed 4X her first response was I can't see with this 4X scope.

She then proceeded to shoot a 2" 5 shot group at 200 yards using Factory 100 grain Remington PSP's.

I wish I saw as poorly as she does.