Whitetails at a distance and 243 Win

I just got accepted into a new Hunting Club. It's mostly opened farm field shooting. A lot of nice deer come off this club. I'm getting over a pretty significant shoulder injury and I'm a little apprehensive about big bore shooting. The shots in this club can be out as far as 400 to 500 yds. What do you all feel about the effectiveness of a 243 Win on whitetail bucks (4 1/2 yr olds or better) with a 243 at these distances? I have a Model 14 that's a great shooter, its a 243. I'd look to use a round that close to 2900 fps out of the barrel.

500yd is a fair poke at a whitetail, but a quality bullet from a 243 should be just fine.

The bigger issue is not going to be caliber or bullet weight, but rather your ability as a marksman to accurately estimate distance and wind and make the applicable corrections to ensure a hit in the vitals at those ranges.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BoilerUP

500yd is a fair poke at a whitetail, but a quality bullet from a 243 should be just fine.

The bigger issue is not going to be caliber or bullet weight, but rather your ability as a marksman to accurately estimate distance and wind and make the applicable corrections to ensure a hit in the vitals at those ranges.

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Big +1

If you think that most of your shots will be in the range of 400 to 500 yards, I would sight in at 200 yards instead of 100.

Dean

With a 1:8 barrel swap, you bullet choices will be improved. The 95gr and 105gr Bergers will be on the list. 105gr Bergers have been used to take cow elk. Have a good quality rangefinder, a way of measuring wind speed, a ballistic calculator and practice extensively beforehand. A good rest will be important. I'm assuming you will be hunting from a blind ?

My solution was to get a Kestrel wind meter with the ballistic calculator built in (also measures station pressure and temperature) but then I do not own a smart phone or a fancy rangefinder. A scope with target turrets to dial the corrections is also highly advised, vs a capped scope.

I haven't used a .243 but where I hunt, desert southwest chasing little bitty ninety pound coues deer, the 25-06 is great out to 400, or so, Yards pushing a 100 grain Nosler Partition.
I don't see why an accurate 6mm/.243 couldn't do the same.

Well i would agree that 500 yds is a fair poke at a whitetail "with a 243".
Id sooner it be a 260 or a 7/08 or a 308. Reason being more energy from larger bullets.
Fact is with the proper setup 500 yds is not beyond the ability of any decent shooter.
If you can shoot a 1" group consistantly @100 yds you will have no trouble killing a deer@ 500
probably on the first shot. Dont think your going to take a stock 243 rifle with a wally world scope
and do that however.
If a picture is equal to a thousand words, then how much is seeing it happen with your own eyes worth?
For the distances your talking you need NOTHING by way of special equiptment including a rangefinder.
You will need a good but not necessarily the very best scope on your rifle. Something on the order of a
nikon buckmaster with target turrets will suffice. I would advise some type milldot reticle. You will need
a low or medium low bipod for your gun. Shoot from a bench not your belly. Park your ego somewhere
and shoot from a bench. A folding workstation from home depot will suffice for now. An upside down bucket
for a stool while glassing and shooting and carrying bullets and stuff works well. Since your on private land
this stuff can be brought and left the day before at your location. As for ranging, either pickout or if necessary
place referances at various locations where you will be shooting. Before the season, shoot at those references
and make note of the ammount of scope clicks required to reach them. Or make note of the milldot in the scope you used.
The more you shoot the better and more comfortable you will become doing it.
Id suggest you have a spotting scope for evaluating horns. a buddy system is best as one can watch thru the spotter as the other shoots.
A whitetail can take a good hit sometimes and run off as if not touched. A spotter can minumize the chances of a lost animal due to that.

All good advice! The best advice is "TRIGGER TIME, TRIGGER TIME, and MORE TRIGGER TIME" with the exact rig you'll be hunting with. Shoot targets at all the ranges you possibly can and that the shooters in your club will tell you are the most common ones. Get trigger time in nasty weather and blue bird weather. You can find the "average" temperature swings during the deer season in the county you'll be hunting; punch a lot of paper at or around that average.

Yep practice is huge. I like the 95 berger vld hunters i limit the range to 300 tops, granted the 243 can perform at much greater distance but that just my max I will take it

Think of it as groundhog hunting for deer. Because thats essentualy what it is. If you can hunt groundhogs there this summer do it.
You will have a leg up on deer season. If theres no groundhogs, then improvise with plastic milk jugs. Your biggest problem
will come from the least suspected place. That being other members. The more successful you are, the bigger the problem will become.
Keep a low profile and dont be flaunting any success you have. Not unless you like the idea of being on your favorite spot at 4 am so
somebody else dosent beat you there.

Go out and shoot your .243 at 500 yards and then decide if its the way you want to go.

Guys thanks the model 14 is a 9 1/4 twist. So it should be good for the heavier bullets needed for deer. I'll be using home brew 243 Win (Varget under a 100 gr Hornady Interlock) that I know works great in that rifle. At 100 yes, which is no where near my the 500 yd outside odd distance, I can cut the same holes. More than likely my shots will be more akin to 300 or 350 yes. Still a stretch, but more attainable. This was as per another member's phone call today. 500 yd would front of stand to far edge of field/tree line. At any rate, this might be the news I needed. Hopefully I'll have favorable wind for these opportunities as well. With any luck I'll have some once pics of 140 class bucks to show off come Nov.

I have shot more than one Wisconsin Whitetail at 350+ yards with my stock Rem 700 in .243. You will need hand loads that will group less then 3/4" at 100 yards. You will need a scope that will let you clearly see your target out to 500 yards. As people have said you will need a bench or something sturdy to shoot from(you need to respect the deer enough to make a well placed shot). Practice, practice, practice. We have a range here that will let us shoot out to 600 yards. You will need to know your bullet drop out to what ever range, you feel is the max distance, you are comfortable with. I used 100 gr Sierra SPBT because they grouped the best in my rifle with the powder I used. All of my shots were broadside and I got complete pass thru with this combination. Does a .243 have the energy to kill a Deer at 400 or more yards, if you put the bullet thru the ribs it will do its job, I can tell you that for sure.
Good luck it sounds like a great opportunity.

22 Mag

in 1980 i killed a buck 488 long steps with a 6mm rem. my load was 100gr sierra btsp and a dose of 4350 powder. i had it zeroed at 100yds i was useing a 4x bushnell. i held over the top of his back, the bullet hit the bottom of his chest and went through. nowdays i use a hornady sst 95gr. with imr 4831 and my wife shoots a 95gr. berger and imr 4831 out of her 243 the hornady holds together better than the berger. both are fine bullets.

100g Nosler Partition with a 200 yard zero and good shot placement will do the trick. Do you hand load? That would make a difference. If you don't try and borrow a Chronograph and record the speeds of the factory ammo in your rifle. That way you can confirm you dope and hold overs. My 100g Partition loads are running 2900 out of a 22" barrel. With a 200 yard zero I am 1.73" high at 100, 7.33" low at 300 (2.33 MOA), 21.62" low at 400 (5.16 MOA) and 44.23" low at 500 (8.45 MOA). The bullet still hits at 1850 FPS and 770 ft/lbs of energy at 500 which is plenty. Wind is the killer though as the bullet only has a G1 BC of .384. Max PBR is 276 yards which is excellent.

The 243 will work just fine on deer out to 500. As mentioned trigger time and a good scope is a must. Pick a bullet with a high BC and the heaviest weight possible to maximize potential and provide the least amount of wind drift. The berger 95 would be my first choice followed by the 105 Amax. I know a factory 9.25 twist barrel will shoot these extremely well and they will provide the most devastating performance at that range. You want to be able to dump the most energy possible into the animal and these bullets work best for that. Good luck on your hunt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY0w1c-gf18

I run the nosler 95g Hunting BT bullet (.379 BC) in my 22" all stock .243 to 700 yards at the range and have taken antelope at 447 yards w/ 1 shot, took 3 steps and dropped.
I do shoot every week from 100-700 yards so I know what I can do daily. I reload & chrony my loads, shoot 100-700 yds and make exact notes to what it takes to dial up on them as well as using the mil dots at a specific power to see if it matches the ballistic programs on the web.