Thread: Cow Elk 688 Yards With a .243

Originally Posted by chainsaw

yeah/nah - its nothing to do with ft lbs, its about respecting your quarry and making sound/ethical judgements. Hell, if you want to be a hero get your mate to wander out to 688 yards and stand there holding a 6 in gong while you take "the hero shot".

Its not about being a hero.

Understanding the science behind ballistics, having good gear and practising enough to make a clean shot is respecting your quarry.

Distance has nothing to do with it. I have seen plenty of fuckwits wound deer up close....

I think if we were to be honest each and every one of us has wounded an animal be it deer pig goat bird or whatever at least once

Originally Posted by northdude

I think if we were to be honest each and every one of us has wounded an animal be it deer pig goat bird or whatever at least once

Yep. I have. You slink off home a bit green around the gills, think about how you should've been more disciplined, and how not to do it again.

For the 243 users: what kind of range would you draw the line at for a no bullshit shot at a large animal, eg an adult red?.

I don't shoot past about 150 with any of my rifles as I like the stalk and makes it easier to find it if I'm closer in saying that I've done longer shots a couple of times but it needs to be perfect conditions but I don't make a habit of it

Originally Posted by Max Headroom

Yep. I have. You slink off home a bit green around the gills, think about how you should've been more disciplined, and how not to do it again.

For the 243 users: what kind of range would you draw the line at for a no bullshit shot at a large animal, eg an adult red?.

I shot heaps of Reds and Tahr around the 350 yard mark with my .243. Some a bit further out to 400 or so.

Knowing your shit and having a bit of patience are important.

I've had no less stuff ups with the .223 and .243 than I have with bigger calibers.

Just saying. But what I do in the privacy of the mountains isn't up for debate really. Its between me and the trees.

Yeah, we all can, and probably all have, stuffed up shots and wounded animals at a variety of distances. Up to the individual to set their own limits and make their own judgements. For everyone there must come a point (due to the physics of the shot and the limits of accuracy) that the probability of failure outweighs the chance of success.
I often wonder how many long range videos never make it to You Tube because people aren't so keen to show off their failures.

Originally Posted by Tahr

I shot heaps of Reds and Tahr around the 350 yard mark with my .243. Some a bit further out to 400 or so.

Knowing your shit and having a bit of patience are important.

I've had no less stuff ups with the .223 and .243 than I have with bigger calibers.

Just saying. But what I do in the privacy of the mountains isn't up for debate really. Its between me and the trees.

Spot on

If they can bowl a deer over at 688 with a 243 how far can I get the mighty 308 too , im thinking 1200

Originally Posted by Max Headroom

For the 243 users: what kind of range would you draw the line at for a no bullshit shot at a large animal, eg an adult red?.

Me and the wife both shoot .243 for reds and fallow. For our regular 1:10” twisted 20” barrels, 400yds on a perfect day in a perfect position is our max. 400yds will have to be no wind at all, relatively level-ish shot, say +/- 10°. 100gr ProHunters. Lots of practice in the 300-400yds kind of range, shooting a 6” gong. Keeps us in the game.

I think there's a good probability the rifle in the video is a custom 1:8" twisted job. Living in the States with my rellies, I got a helluva education in long range .243 Winchester. They used them as coyote guns mostly, shooting way out there, well past what this girl in the video shot the elk at. Their .243s were all 1:8" twisted custom Savages, shooting the Berger VLDs and 105gr A-Max. Far out they were accurate rifles. Custom 1:8” twists were popular and quite common, before the 6.5 Creedmoor came along.

My cuzzies, that shot those rifles regularly at coyotes at those kind of ranges, and more, would back themselves any day of the week to make that shot. Whether they would take it with the .243 is a different matter, my guess is no, they wouldn’t, as they had guns for coyotes, guns for whitetail, guns for ground squirrels, guns for elk…

If that’s the case, if it is a custom job, it doesn’t really compare to the sensible max for a bog standard factory .243 Win. I wouldn’t even think of trying that on a red at that range, with a regular 100gr softpoint. My 1:10” barrel won’t shoot a long VLD type bullet, nor would my 1:9.25” Remmy, nowhere near well enough for a shot like that.

Originally Posted by Boaraxa

If they can bowl a deer over at 688 with a 243 how far can I get the mighty 308 too , im thinking 1200

Next to the 6mm 105 vld with a .545 bc at 3000fps Im thinkin you have one to many zeros on your 308 estimate.

Originally Posted by sneeze

Next to the 6mm 105 vld with a .545 bc at 3000fps Im thinkin you have one two too many zeros on your 308 estimate.

Fixed it.

Basically these idiots got lucky, maybe they didn't also as I have seen an animal shot high in the spine like that (shooter error) dropped like it was hit by a freight train, then get over too it and it's very much alive just paralysed. There looked to be no reason why they couldn't have got closer to take a shot at one of those animals if they were so hell bent on using their peashooter to do the job, typical chest beating asshole americans need to bulldoze them all off a cliff somewhere.

Originally Posted by gadgetman

Fixed it.

Now your just being silly, he said 308 not 270

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

Basically these idiots got lucky, maybe they didn't also as I have seen an animal shot high in the spine like that (shooter error) dropped like it was hit by a freight train, then get over too it and it's very much alive just paralysed. There looked to be no reason why they couldn't have got closer to take a shot at one of those animals if they were so hell bent on using their peashooter to do the job, typical chest beating asshole americans need to bulldoze them all off a cliff somewhere.

Just to keep things in perspective. The video was made to promote a business - which appears to no longer exist.

Whether you like it or not, and excluding the ethical debate of using a .243 on an animal of that size at that distance, the video would appear to have achieved it's intended purpose - to promote the business of Grey Bull Precision - at that time.

Yep I had one of those f##kup's a month or so back on a large red hind. First saw them over 600 mtr away.
Had a good clear shot at 300 meters but we decided we could get closer, I was a little concerned about the wind and rain plus my mate would also have a better chance of getting a shot off as well. (Mob grazing on a grassy headland) Dropped down and climbed back up to them on the grass. The grass was too long for a prone shot.
We got to about 30 mtrs away and I lifted up to a kneeling position and nailed it, got that good solid thump of a sound hit. But she made it 20 mters to the bush and disappeared. We walked up and down the game trails in the bush. My mate also clean missed his first shot and then had a missfire. (he nailed one the previous evening at 150 mtr)
Zane