re: I’m seriously thinking of making a .243 AR10

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White Bear

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Action shot.

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With an adequate caliber, you don't have to watch the buck of a lifetime walk away. You can reach his good stuff no matter what angle he's at and still get an exit.

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I learned the hard way that this is wrong. Had a doe quartering hard towards me uphill of me. Normally I'll shoot that in the neck, but I was offhand with no opportunity for any kind of rest and didn't like it. No problem, my .30-06 will just bust through everything. Doe dropped where she stood, all good. Until I went to get her and she got up and ran off. Raining...never found her.

I now shoot a .243 and take better shots.

Everybody gets hung up the caliber..... it’s the bullet that makes the difference. You want to shoot a deer through both shoulders or a hard quartering away shot? Buy premium bonded ammo! You can’t trot out there with a regular ole cup and core or the flavor of the month ballistic tip and make those shots on the regular. Spend the money, buy premium ammo and shoot any caliber your comfortable with.

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No amount of horsepower will make up for not landing the bullet where it needs to be. Taking a bad shot and making a bad shot are not the same thing.

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Kind sound like the shot that White Bear made?

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The way the thread reads he just needed to slow it down so he could run over it with the combine.

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Nah man, another dude finished the deer. This one instance aside, I've kilt many other deer cleanly and efficiently with a .243.

All that 30-06 recoil will do that to ya

Close friend of mine has one for his kids first deer rifles before he upgrades them to bigger calibers. It’s a heck of a pig gun and fun to shoot. .243 gets a lot of hate here that is completely unjustified in my opinion. I’ve seen hundreds of deer cleanly killed with them.

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243 gets a lot of hate here that is completely unjustified in my opinion. I’ve seen hundreds of deer cleanly killed with them

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People with a .243 need to pass up shots that people with a .30-06 and good bullets can take. That's the difference. When I am 1400 miles from home on a hunt, or I see the biggest buck of my life at home and am not given the good shot, I want adequate horsepower and penetration to take the bad shot with confidence.

Also, when your kid puts the 90gr bullet on the shoulder knuckle at 100 yards and you don't get an exit, your kid might not get that deer. When he does it with a 140gr bullet, you have a better chance of getting an exit and a better chance of finding the deer. I'm not sure i could find anybody who doesn't have experience with a .243 failing to exit. Its a light fast bullet.

Sure it works great when things go right, much better than a .338 win mag will most of the time. That doesn't make either one ideal. When it comes to shooting deer, it has no advantage over the 7mm-08, but clear disadvantages.

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People with a .243 need to pass up shots that people with a .30-06 and good bullets can take. That's the difference.

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I could make the same argument for 30-06 and 338 Lapua. Why not take a Lapua and have even more confidence?