Hornady Custom Lite .243 warning

[Possum]

Last night my 9 year old shot a big doe with his .243 using a hornady reduced recoil load. I’ve been a big fan of this round up until now. His first deer the bullet made a great exit hole and caused major trauma. Second deer ran 50 yards and left a small blood trail. Last night deer ran 100 yards and didn’t spill one drop of blood anywhere. All three shots were perfect broadside double lung hits. The deer last night did not have an exit hole and the 87 grain bullet hole looked like a puncture wound from a 8D nail. There wasn’t even a drop of blood in my truck bed after she went for a ride. Next year we are going to practice with the Custom Lite rounds and I’m gonna slip a full load in when we are hunting. I would not feel comfortable now with him shooting a bigger deer, bear or hog with these light loads.

 

[NE GA Pappy]

IMHO .243 is marginal for deer anyway. Yes it will kill deer. and yes, if the shot is off slightly, the deer may not be killed, or if killed cover a lot of ground and not be found.

 

[TomC]

To say a .243 is marginal for deer is an extremely inaccurate statement. About the only thing certain in life is death, taxes and people questioning the 243. It is more than adequate with standard off the shelf load and with the right load is devastating on deer. To say otherwise is simply a misinformed statement based on my 35+ years of using one. I have just as much confidence with my 243 as my 25-06 as my 7mag to get it done. Give him another year and he will be fine with regular loads.

 

[Kev]

It's the caliber

 

[deast1988]

80gr ttsx
85gr partition

Don’t shoot a ligh constricted bullet, shoot a light bullet that’s built like a tank. The .243 is a great round some adults use it, my brothers been using his for years like a lighting bolt on deer. He doesn’t use lightly constructed bullets though.

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

Nothing wrong with a .243, killed a truck load with it. I've also shot several deer within 50-75 yards with a .308 150 grain core lok and recovered the bullet. Dead is dead. There are no certainties when you put bullet to flesh.

 

[lonewolf247]

Don’t sell your rifle, just buy some premium ammo like the ttsx or the partition as mentioned, for next year. The caliber is fine, sometimes weird things just happen, but the reduced ammo does limit it’s abilty, especially beyond 150 yards or so.

 

[Kev]

Need to shoot them in the ear with a .243

 

[Possum]

We aren’t getting rid of the .243! I just don’t know if I can get him to put in much practice with a stout load. I’m going to continue to use them for practice but when we are hunting I am going to put a regular load in chamber and I’ll bet he won’t even notice the extra 40% recoil.
The purpose of this thread is to warn guys with wife or kids using this round that it is not made for big game hunting.

 

[NE GA Pappy]

maybe marginal isn't the word I needed to use. Maybe limited is the word. or unforgiving

 

[lonewolf247]

We aren’t getting rid of the .243! I just don’t know if I can get him to put in much practice with a stout load. I’m going to continue to use them for practice but when we are hunting I am going to put a regular load in chamber and I’ll bet he won’t even notice the extra 40% recoil.
The purpose of this thread is to warn guys with wife or kids using this round that it is not made for big game hunting.

Practice with the Lite loads, or even a 22lr set up with a scope, if you really want to shoot a lot of rounds at the range, from time to time. Just check your zero on the .243 before taking it hunting. In a hunting situation, the youth won’t worry about the recoil, as their minds are on the Animal their shooting at.

 

[Possum]

Need to shoot them in the ear with a .243

You’ll find plenty of guys on here (me included) that will disagree that a .243 can’t put em down just fine. I got a lot of guns, killed a lot of deer with all of them. I prefer my .270. But for young kids, it’s hard to beat a .243 for a deer rifle. Just don’t use lite loads in em for big game.

 

[Dustin Pate]

I’ve had it happen with full power Hornady loads in my .243. I use Winchester Power Max now.

 

[GT-40 GUY]

I have killed more than 50 deer with my .243 reloaded 85 grain Sierra Game King HPBT bullets. Every one of them were dead before their knees buckled. The bullets enter about 2 inches then explode and turn the lungs, heart and liver into vomit the size of a soccer ball. Without any pass throughs. No blood trail needed because they drop in their tracks. They are devastating. AND they are as accurate as the Match Kings. I used to shoot crows at 300 plus yards.

 

[Kev]

You’ll find plenty of guys on here (me included) that will disagree that a .243 can’t put em down just fine. I got a lot of guns, killed a lot of deer with all of them. I prefer my .270. But for young kids, it’s hard to beat a .243 for a deer rifle. Just don’t use lite loads in em for big game.

It will put em down just fine in a perfect situation. Otherwise, you'll have to shoot em in the ear or have a good dog.

 

[Blackston]

Bought a 243 for my girl and she plowed a 3 yo 8pt this year with and as he dropped so did my jaw Im impressed and I carry it some times. Thanks for the warnin possum !!!

 

[kmckinnie]

It will put em down just fine in a perfect situation. Otherwise, you'll have to shoot em in the ear or have a good dog.

In the ear ? ??

 

[TomC]

I love 243 threads.........just hard to differentiate between trolling and pure ignorance

 

[tree cutter 08]

The 85 grain tsx loads in my 243 have been deadly on every animal I've shot. Recoil is very light. Sometimes they bleed good sometimes they dont. No worries because the bullet will exit no matter what angle, and as long as vitals are hit they won't travel far. I feel confident in saying this, I wouldn't hesitate to hunt anything in North America with this load.

 

[kmckinnie]

We use a 243 for the grandkids.
We have not had a problem. We use the 100gr whitetail hunter. I think is the name. 100 for soft points anyway.