223 vs 243
Here in the West we think of the 223 as a varmint cartridge. Years ago I shot a small mule deer in the head with a 222 and that did the job. I and my wife have taken a number of both mule deer and black tailed deer with a 243 using 100 grain hand loaded Hornady bullets at a little over 2900 fps. That worked as long as we limited our selves to shots under 200 yards. I attempted to use the 243 in Utah on large mule deer back in the early sixties and was disappointed. Switched back to the 270 and was much happier. The past few seasons I have been using a 260 Remington with hand loaded 130 gr. Barn's X bullets and that seems to be better than the 243. But dead deer are dead no matter what you kill them with. Placing a bullet in the chest either getting lungs or the heart is important no matter what you use. A shot in the legs or guts means a long chase and possibly a lost animal.
Ed Hobbs
