Thread: BSA 243

Originally Posted by gundoc

I bought a near new BSA .243 Majestic when I was working at West Arm, Manapouri in 1967, the only .243 I have ever owned. I shot three deer in the first week, all chest shot in the bush at about 40-80 metres range, and never recovered one! The blood trails petered out in the wet bush fairly quickly. I promptly sold it on and got my father to put my old .30/06 Garand and a couple of packets of ammo on the Road Services bus for me (different attitudes in those days!). I never had a problem after that, and still use a .30/06 today. I had a hunting mate who swore by the .243 but he lost about 50% of the animals he shot. There is no doubt they would have died but a long way from where they were shot! The .243 was developed for shooting ground hogs and that it is the best use for it in my opinion!

yeah I hear ya- I have a 300wsm for the far things- cos I believe in bigger holes in things- and a 308 for close big things, and this one hopefully for Sika inside 100. Projectiles available now days would be worlds different to the 2 types available in 67 though?

Originally Posted by ANTSMAN

yeah I hear ya- I have a 300wsm for the far things- cos I believe in bigger holes in things- and a 308 for close big things, and this one hopefully for Sika inside 100. Projectiles available now days would be worlds different to the 2 types available in 67 though?

Yes, I am sure the projectiles were the problem. I was shooting factory Norma 100 grain ammo which had the tri-clad steel soft points and I am sure they were just zipping through with minimal expansion. My .30/06 ammo was Winchester 150 grain silvertips which gave much better expansion.