The .243 Winchester is undoubtedly one of the most popular cartridges around. It is regarded by many as a rifle for “all seasons”, use it for varmints in the summer and “big game” in the fall.

To me, it is one of the more difficult calibers to make shoot well, or as I would call it “non-user friendly”. I very much dislike that short neck on the case, and much prefer the 6mm Remington case to work with.

Here is the tip of the day: NEVER MAKE 243 CASES BY NECKING DOWN 308 WIN BRASS WITHOUT NECK REAMING THEM.

If you remember nothing else I write about, remember that. The reason is that when necking down a case that far, the neck tends to get very thick, and when you fire the rifle, the thick case neck is jammed in the chamber neck and will not release the bullet. Hence very high pressures result and some guns have been known to “disintegrate.” This is particularly true if you use “Military” 7.62 brass as it is very thick to start with.

The .243 Win has just that sort of peculiar case to bore relationship that it just cannot decide if it wants slow burning powder or faster ones.

I have used 4320 in one rifle with good success and had it fail to perform in another. The same goes for 4350 and 4831, you just have to experiment with everything in order to attain good results. Usually Reloader 19 will save the day and shoot the best.

As I mentioned in an earlier paragraph, many shooters think the .243 Win is the “answer” to everything. I for one, take serious exception to the .243 being a “big game rifle.”

For example, the .243 Win with a 100gr Spitzer has 1684 ft-lbs of energy at 100 yards. At 200 yards it has 1411 ft-lbs, and at 300 yards it only has 1174 ft-lbs left.

Now, compare that to the simple .270 Winchester with 130gr bullets. It has 1712 ft-lbs at 300 yards.

This is close to the 1614 ft-lbs the .243 Win has at only 100 yards. So why is it that so many people think they can be taking game at 200 and 300 yards?

“Unless” the shot placement is perfect, 1174 ft-lbs is not enough to get the job done cleanly every time. I really feel that 1700 ft-lbs is the minimum mathematical number that can effectively take deer size game cleanly.

The .243 Win is a very reasonable caliber; just don’t ask it to do what it is not designed for. If I would limit my shots from 100 to 150 yards, it should do just fine on deer or antelope, but it is NOT an elk cartridge.

The bullets are too light and just do not have the penetration required for animals the size of an elk.

Speaking of “elk” cartridges, the .300 Wby and .300 Win are two of the most popular in the country. And for good reason, they perform!

Referring back to the previously mentioned 1700 ft-lbs of energy level, the .300 Magnums with 180gr pointed bullets will still retain 1727 ft-lbs of energy at 500 yards. Now I am no fan of shooting at game at 500 yards, for obvious shot placement reasons, but the bullet is delivering a lot of energy that far away.

To complicate matters a bit more, I feel 2,200 ft lbs of energy is minimum for Elk. Put all that energy from the 300 Magnums to work at reasonable ranges, and the Elk die quickly.

The 300 Win has a short neck like the 243 Win, and the bullets usually must be seated quite deeply in order for the O.A.L. to fit in the magazine. If you happen to be reloading for a Remington M 700, you can usually seat the bullets further out, as their magazine is plenty long. Just be sure that they do not hit the lands when chambering a round.

As long as you feed the 300 Magnums SLOW powders, like Reloader 22 and 25 or IMR 4831 and IMR 7828, getting them to perform is no major task.

Actually I feel the 300 WBY is a bit more “friendly” and I certainly like the longer case neck. Seldom does one ever have to compress the powder charge in the Wby case, but Magnum primers are a MUST in both magnums with 75-85 gr loads of powder.

Due to the high velocities of these cartridges, it is certainly a good idea to use “premium” bullets that will stay together. Almost any bullet will stay together pretty well when its impact velocity is 2,500 fps or less. The real problem occurs when such a high velocity magnum is used on something at close range where the impact velocity is still close to 3,000 fps.

Very few bullets can withstand a 3,000 fps impact and not come apart. In tests that we have done, only Barnes TSX bullets and the Winchester Fail-Safes retained 99% of their weight. The next were Trophy Bonded Bear Claws, Swift A-Frames, and Woodleigh Weld Cores all with 90% + weight retention.

Be sure that your 300 Magnum has at least a 24” barrel and 26” is even better. I am reminded of an incident just this week at the range. Seems a young man came out with a European Manufactured rifle with only a 22” barrel in a 300 Win Magnum. On top of that he had a 30mm 3.5x to 10x 50mm scope in extra high rings.

Who ever sold him that combo really saw a green horn coming through the door. His brother was with him at the range, and had a normal 24” barrel on his USA manufactured 300 Win Mag.

We ran a few factory 180 gr loads over the “Chrony”, and the 24” barrel produced 2733 fps, which is none too high in the first place, but that short 22” barrel only achieved 2622 fps. Heck, the 30-06 with a 22” barrel can do that. Needless to say, he was very unhappy with his new purchase.

I just wanted to remind you of the facts on barrel length on magnum calibers. Sometimes people buy a Winchester or Browning with a BOSS on it, which is 26” long when including the Boss. But that only leaves you only about 23” or 24” of real barrel length. If you happen to buy a rifle with a 24” including the Boss, I feel that will be too short for practical performance.

The 300 Magnums are not too bad on recoil with 180 gr. Bullets or lighter, but some of the Mark V Weatherby guns are a bit light, and can boot you pretty hard.

If you absolutely need to reduce the recoil, you are only left with the option of a muzzle brake of some sort, or go back to a smaller caliber, and crawl up 100 yards closer to your game.

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to write Terry at tblauwkamp@superior-sales.com or call days at (616) 896-6500.