I would absolutely recomend the .243 win. My son has hunted with one since he was 6 yrs. old (he is 13 now)and has averaged 8 to 10 deer a year with it. He killed his personal best last year deer wise and shot distance wise. 8pt 208 lbs. 198 yards and the deer took a dirt nap right there in his tracks. Since then he has made me video most of our hunts so he can watch himself on action.
I use a .243 some times, I use a Hornady 100 GR SP. It definitely does the job but I do prefer a .270 over the .243 seems to drop them a little better. Much faster of a kill.
I was recently with one of my buddies (texas) and he shot a doe with a .243 and we ended up tracking it for about a good 300 yards and still never found it, even found pools of blood, with lung tissue in it. his neighbor found it the next day, it was a good lung shot but just didn't cause enough damage to bring it down quickly. i'd recommend a bigger caliber just cause i like to walk up to my deer right where i shot it not chase it 300 yards and have meat go bad. But that's just my one experience around .243.
I still haven't got a chance to try our .243 but hopefully I'll get a chance this weekend. I'm a pretty good shot and don't plan on shooting over 100 yards so o think it'll be ok.
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