.243 effective on mule deer....yep!

[Selmer]

Well, we opened the mule deer season in SD this year with a good hunt.  We had four tags to fill, 3 any deer and one any anterless, and ran on to a group of 8 with three bucks and 5 does.  A couple of .243 Winchesters loaded with Nosler 100 gr. Partition bullets and 40.8 gr. of H380 accounted for the two bigger bucks (2x3 & 5x5), shot at 242 yds, one shot kills, complete pass throughs.  The other two fell to .30-06's loaded with 165 gr. Ballistic tips.  For those of your that doubt the effectiveness of the .243 Winchester on large deer, try it some time with a good 100 gr. bullet, Partition, Barnes, or TBBC, and you'll quickly appreciate it's efficiency and lethality.  Both bucks were shot in the shoulder, complete pass throughs and both fell within 5 feet of where they were hit.  I just can't ask for any better than that.  And no, it wasn't from a tower or any such contraption, we ran a successful stalk and shot well.  I'll try to get the pictures posted, but I have to figure it out first...
Selmer

[ccoker]

cool

[Savage .250]

     No surprise here about the .243.   Plus you said," you shot well."   That`s all it
     takes.

[Selmer]

Savage .250 makes a great point, we shot well, which is the key to any successful harvest, no matter how much energy a bullet has on target, it needs to hit the right part of the animal.
Selmer

[tuck2]

Over the years I have shot five mule deer and three pronghorns with a 243 Win . One shot for each with handloaded  Hornady 100 Gr bullets . I must like the 243 Win round there are Win Mdl 70 Varmint,and Sporter,Browning and Ruger No 1 B rifles in my gun case. Since retireing I have used other rifles to see how they compare to the 243 round but put a 243 bullet in the rib cage area and you will have a venison dinner.

[Slamfire]

I have to admit, the mulies I shot with one of the 6mms were all of the California desert persuasion. The big northern bucks were killed when I was armed for elk.