243 Winchester Ballistics Chart | Ballistics 101 (2024)

FAQs

What is the effective range of a 243 for deer ballistics chart? ›

The 243's effective range is much shorter when antelope and deer hunting: typically about 300 yards. You can stretch it to 400 yards when varmint hunting and about 750 yards when target shooting.

no point in worrying about that to be honest, you just need to put the rounds into the killing zone, a . 243 is flat as a pancake out to 100 yds, 1" ish drop to 150, then 3-4" at 200...

The cartridge can be extremely accurate to 300 yards (270 m) and beyond, but may not retain enough terminal energy to reliably drop medium game at that distance. Highly experienced hunters use the .

The most common factory load in this weight range is the 80 grain. Although they will do the job if placed well, most bullets in this weight range are not constructed stoutly enough to be recommended for deer and antelope.

Holding to the belief of the . 243 Win as a dual-purpose cartridge, Hornady manufacturers four, . 24-caliber V-Max varmint bullets. Ranging in weight from 58 to 87 grains, the 75-grain variant is the standout.

243 is a good long range shooter with a flat trajectory. The lighter bullets shoot very flat but are best on small game. The heavier bullets are fine for larger game. They are a common round and recoil is light.

243 has about 25” of drop compared to the 6.5 Creedmoor's 30”. However, as we get out to long ranges, the increased energy of the Creedmoor gives it the advantage: the calibers have the same bullet drop at 700 yards, and at 1,000 yard we see the Creedmoor drop 322” and the . 243 drop 353”.

243 drops about 35 inches while the . 30-06 has dropped about 40 inches. You won't hit the deer with as much power, but you have just as good a chance at hitting it in the vitals–which is more important than bullet energy, anyway.

Adjust your 243 so that it is hitting just low at 25 yards(anywhere from dead on to 1/4" low). Then go to 100 yards. Sight your rifle dead on at 100 yards if you are a woods hunter. And sight it 1-1/2" high if you are a field hunter.

What is the lethal range of a 243? ›

243 Win. load will reliably kill a deer out to 500 yards.

243 Ackley Improved is one of the best long range varmint rounds going, and can add some extra punch for your light big game rifle as well. One would be hard pressed to ignore a cartridge as versatile as the . 243 Ackley Improved. In a long-range varmint rifle, speed kills.

That extends the maximum effective range all the way to 350 yards, depending on your velocity at the muzzle. The . 243 Win.

243 bullet will have a “maximum point blank range” of 296 yards and hit roughly 3″ high (2.7″) at 100 yards. This 25 yard zero will allow you to aim dead on target all the way out to 300 yards. Sure, I've taken deer at 200 yards with mine so it is more than adequate.

243 will dump almost all of its energy in the target where a . 270 or 7mm mag punches right through sometimes. You should have no reservations using a SP . 243 100 gn or better bullet to take deer sized game out to 300 yards.

243 bullet is hauling 522 f-p more energy than the much heavier 30-30 slug. At 400 yards the puny, ineffective 243 is still packing more punch (1,077 f-p) than the 30-30 at 150-yards, what many consider “dead deer” distance for the famous 30-30.