by Rod_outbak » 24 Nov 2018, 7:38 am
bigrich,
[Caveat: These are my experiences; we dont have grain or farming in our district, so somewhat different to people down in farming country]
For many years, most properties around here had an old .303 hand-me-down of questionable accuracy, and usually a .243 for day to day use. I recall Dad and the overseer of the day; shooting feral cattle when there was a Brucelosis outbreak(~1976?), and there were dozens of feral bulls/mickeys put down by 100gn pills from either of the .243 rifles here.
They were pretty much the darling performance cartridge for an all-rounder, when I was first interested in shooting(late 1970's).
When I was growing up, most of my shooting mates would buy a .30-30 first(shooting pigs along creeks/scrub), a .243 next (distance shooting of pretty much anything else), and if you were lucky enough, a .357 revolver (when hot pork got nasty).
At that time, the .22 caliber cartridges were seen as too light for pigs, and really only for roos. And a lot more sensitive to wind.
I wish I'd realised just how effective the .22 cal cartridges really were.
But at that point, we did very little roo-shooting, and most of our focus was on pigs, as we had a lot more of them(boredrains).
Very few rabbits, but cats and foxes as well, which the .243 handled well.
Roo-shooters tended to have .222s, or 22-250's, or those new-fangled .223's, but properties usually had a .243 as their go-to rifles.
I'm not sure if I'd consider myself a devoted fan of .243; if I was buying a new rifle around this caliber, I'd probably lean towards 6.5mm, though thats more due to slightly heavier projectile options, rather than better ballistics.
And you could probably do much the same job if you went a tighter twist on the .243 barrel. When I was having my Krico M603S re-barrelled in 2013, I would have preferred a tighter twist than the original 1:10, as this would have given me a bit more range in the heavier projectile weights. It ended up where it was much quicker and simpler to re-barrel with the same twist, and I havent regretted it.
The superb accuracy from the new barrel has more than made up for it..
A large boar pig covered in mud can often take a .243 round in the shoulder and keep going, but I've seen the same result with a .303Brit running a 180gn Taipan BTHP at ~45 metres.
Shoot the same pig in the head with a .223, and he goes down like a sack of spuds.
In that circumstance, about the only calibre that I've used that will ignore the mud, has been a .30-30 150gn RN, though I'm sure a .45-70 would do the job as well.
But the .243 will be my preference if we meet the pig at 150 metres, rather than 50...
For every large boar we see, we would see 15-20 small to medium sized pigs. So, for 99.5% of the shots I've taken on pigs over the past 35+ years, the .243 with 87gn BTHP or Vmax pills, have been devastating.
I dont think I'd be choosing a rifle based upon the game that isnt going to be a regular customer.
Myself; I'd be choosing something accurate, that is plenty heavy for the majority of the animals encountered, but with enough grunt to still nail larger game (with careful shot placement).
They fly pretty flat, they are very accurate, they hit pretty hard (if you choose suitable projectiles), and they arent overly flighty in wind. Hard not to like the .243.
A .243 with a 1:8" or 1:9" twist running something like a 103gn ELD-X, would have to be hard to beat...
My 2 cents.
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Sharing the extreme love with cats in Outback QLD