Difference between .243 & .308 cal. in

[ShootnStr8]

Tom,

Thanks for your post.  I'm sorry that I can't offer any firsthand experiences, but I do believe that you are considerably better off with the .308 providing that you can shoot it well.  I would like to point you to the Thompson Center Handgun forum where there is a thread entitled "243 Barrel."  One contributor posted the following and there are other comments there that may be of interest.

Blessings!

ShootnStr8

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I shot two deer with a T/C Encore with a 15in. .243 this year. The first was about 10 feet from the base of my treestand. The other was at about 65-70 yards. The first one I just shot down through it's spine and kept on hunting. The second one was another story. The deer came in behind me, stood broadside looking back over it's opposite shoulder. This gun will shoot sub 1 1/2 'groups at 100 yards. I braced the gun against the tree, squeezed the trigger, and this deer hunched up, kicked at it's side like it was hit hard, and ran off with it's head and tail both down. Well, the first blood didn't show up till after about 80 yards, and the deer was alot further then that. The 90gr. bullet hit a couple of inches above the heart and sealed back up. This is a relitivly small fast bullet. I have had bigger bullets hit further off the mark and knock deer right off thier feet. I love my .243 rifle, but decided to trade off my Encore barrel and got a larger caliber.

[teeball]

That was me who posted story referred to above. Maybe it was because I was useing Ballistic Tip bullets and it didn't have time to open up. I didn't hit any bone going in or out. What ever the case might be, I am in the precess of buying a .308 Striker. Good luck in finding what best suites your needs.

teeball :grin:  

[fennell]

You are better off with the 308 for a wider field of use. It has some great bullets for hunting with a hand gun. I have dispatched many deer, hogs, one buffalo, and one Moose with this round in a Competitor Pistol. The factory 150 gr does well on just about anything from elk down , if you use a good quality bullet on the big stuff. I reload for it and use the Hornady 130 gr SSP pistol and the  Nosler 125 gr Ballistic tip for deer behind 50 gr of Varget. The 130 Gr ssp or 150 gr Boat tail of various makes behind 46.5 gr of Varget ,Hornady and Serria prefered, for deer, hogs, Up through Carabou. 150 and 165 Gr Hornady or partitions for the Buffalo and Moose ( 46 gr of W 748 in the 165). My gun gets 2900 from the 125 and 130 gr, 2700 from the 150, and 2600 from the 165 in its 18 in barrel. in the 14 in barrel about 200 fps drop has occured so I do not go any heavier than the 150 for it. all loads use WW brass and WW standard primers. Remember always start 10% reduced loads and work up. However the factory loads work well also if you want to go that way. My hunting buddy uses an Encore in this caliber and has taken everything I have with factory loads in his 15 in pistol With the 150 gr Interbond, interlock or the partition of the same weight.

Hope this helps

fennell :-)

[Lone Star]

While the .243 is an okay deer cartridge in a rifle, it's performance degrades in a handgun.  In the story above, a 90-grain BTip bullet will certainly open up at 80 yards as long as the velocity was over 2000 fps.  I've experienced similar questionable bullet performance in the .243 rifle and went to Partitions at first, then just retired the rifle for game use.

I've shot and seen shot dozens of Kodiak Island deer with .300 Savage Contenders with outstanding results.  I've used the Nosler 150-grain Ballistic Tips exclusively and they have never failed to perform perfectly.  The .308 will only work better due to its higher veelocity (although you can certainly load it down to .300 levels and still have a "better" handgun than the .243, IMO anyway).  You got the right one for what you want to do.

[sawfish]

I have a .308 Stainless Striker, and my particular gun produces slightly better accuracy with heavier bullets.   I like the Sierra 165 gr HPBT in the Striker because I have shot it in my 30/06 rifle for so many years.  My favorite factory load is the WW 168 gr Ballistic Silvertip.  I have also taken a couple of deer with the 180 gr. Norma Oryx factory loads, but they do not feed well from the magazine because of the flat tip.