Most whitetails are killed at 100 yards or less and mule deer at 200 and under. Occasionally, you might take a shot at longer range—300 and 400 yards. Any competent rifleman should be able to hit just about every shot at 200 yards or under, but at 300 it really gets tough, and at 400 yards the odds are not good!

Today, 03/04/07, I just saw on the Men's Channel - Dish-TV CH 218, a massive old Elk shot at over 200-yards & dropped in his tracks with a .243-Winchester with open iron sights. They did not mention the  bullet weight or construction type, however, it proved to me that a Well Placed .243 bullet at 200-yards will deck the biggest Elk that walks. Therefore, my 243/06 Wildcat ought to do the job on big Whitetails, big Mule Deer and on Elk with the Grand Slam bullet.

All those hunting programs should give all the fine point details about the rifle caliber & bullet weight and construction type! That would make those programs much more interesting to all of us.

One hundred yards will be the limit for most hunters on running deer. You must have a safe clear shooting situation! DANGER! Do NOT shoot at running deer in the Midwest & Eastern states unless the SHOT is totally safe to take!

Coordinating Trigger Squeeze with Sight Alignment
It is very important to practice squeezing the trigger gradually as you are aligning the sights at the point where you want the gun to fire. The nanosecond that the sight alignment is right the gun should fire! Aligning the sights first will often result in coming off the target during the time it takes to squeeze off the shot. Practice dry firing until the firing pin falls the instant sight alignment is right!

Wind drift: A  45-degree wind drift angle isn't half the drift of a 90º-angle, but is three-quarters the drift. It has a 70 plus percent effect, even though the angle is only halfway between no drift effect and full drift effect. The drift effect is not proportional, due to the aerodynamic ballistics of a bullet in flight. Just remember that halfway between full and zero effect is nearly three-quarters the drift of 90-degrees.  Memorize these aerodynamic ballistic realities.

I ran a terminal bullet performance test at 25-yards with the above Hornady Interlock BTSP 100-grain bullet in my 243/06 Wildcat, and I like its performance for deer.  It blew the hell out of the first two plastic gallon milk jugs of water and went through the third one. The load was 58-grains of H-1000, with Federal 215 primers.

Testing the terminal performance of my 243/06 wildcat today 10/31/04, I tried 55.5 grains of IMR 7828 with Federal 215 PRI, at only 16 yards it blew up two jugs and pieces of the jacket went into the third jug.

On 10/17/04, I filled 3 one gallon plastic milk jugs with water lined in a row at 15 yards and shot them using my Remington 722 with a 22" BBL, in my "243 Winchester" using the Hornady 95 grain SST bullet and 44 grains of RL 19.  It blew the first two up big time and went through the third one gallon jug of water. This should be a very good broadside lung shot terminal performance bullet on deer in the 243 Winchester caliber cartridge.

Rick Jamison writer for Petersen's Hunting Magazine, July 2002, p- 20, Guns & Loads Article Long Rangers, - http://www.huntingmag.com  says in essence that for deer sized game you need a minimum of 1000 ft/lbs of energy and 2000 ft/sec velocity at the impact range for adequate bullet expansion. The bullet needs a sectional density between .215 to .265 and a high ballistic coefficient for long range shots. This is a great Hunting Magazine, I subscribe through the local school magazine drives.

Since Whisky Chamberlain of Idaho took 15 consecutive big bull elk, all one shot kills, with a straight .243 Winchester, --I believe with the right bullet and will placed and proper ranged shots, the .243 Winchester and .243/06 Wildcat ought to be adequate on elk. I don't want to buy a new larger caliber rifle just to go elk hunting a time or two. Therefore, the .243 Winchester should be considered adequate for light boned light-weight whitetail deer as well as for the largest buck mule deer. Shot placement along with the bullets terminal performance will always be the key to quick killing proficiency. 
===================

You can look at the various ballistic tables I have on the Net and determine the approximate outer range limit your cartridge and selected bullet will be capable of killing a deer with a well placed shot. If you can't put the bullet in the vital kill zone don't take the shot no matter how capable the cartridge you're using is at that range.

Only the Running Leads are all 85 grain Sierra HPBT loads, which are very close to the 100 gr. Hornady Interlock BTSP #2453 loads. Remember lead figures are always in feet, and you are always figuring your lead from the heart/lung area. It is better to over lead than to under lead, miss clean or drop them in their tracks. The longer range leads beyond 150 yards are merely for illustration purposes and normally should not be taken! Shooting at running game is more dangerous, don't take the shot unless you know it is safe! Your proven range shooting skills on moving silhouette targets will help determine the shots you may take in the field. One hundred to 150 yards will usually be the limit.

Position your feet and body properly before you attempt the shot. If you shoot right handed the left side of your body should be towards the target, weight on the balls of your feet. Practice your stance and body pivot every chance you get with dry firing. Swing the horizontal cross hair through the center of the deer's body, squeeze off your shot when the lead looks right, and be sure to keep swinging, —follow through during and after the shot.

Always swing through from behind so you are following any vertical angle of ascent or descent of the moving target.

Keep this lead information in your head and practice visualization leads in your own mind and with your rifle, squeezing the trigger and following through! It works for me and it will for you, too! Visualizing in your mind the various combination of shots and angles—conditions your brain's reflex habits and will make a huge difference in your shooting abilities on running game. I no longer claim to be a sharpshooter as I have a lot of handicaps these days.

 I've probably made a lot of enemies posting the reality concerning leading running game, as I have heard every imaginable story of how, "the critter was running at top speed 300 yards away broadside and I held on his nose and blew his brains out." "Oh yes, this ultra mag bullet gets there at the speed of light." Well, if you  were shooting the above 7mm Ultra Mag with a 140 grain Nosler Partition bullet @ 3425mv and the deer was running broadside at 30mph/44fps at 300-yards (no cross winds) bullet flight time is .296-sec X's 44-fps, you would have to lead his brain by 13' feet! That's pure unchangeable ballistics math that can't be modified much by a mere miscalculation of what happened. At any rate what I put on the chart is very close to the required lead, barring a lot of other factors I won't list here; you can probably think of a number of them.

This Sierra 85 grain HPBT bullet was rated as a number one quick kill whitetail deer cartridge bullet combination! The 95 grain SST's didn't group as good in my .243 Win., so am going with the 85's or the 100 grain Hornady's in it. Therefore, for the 2002 deer season, this 243-06 Wildcat 100 gr. Hornady Interlock BTSP #2453 | B.C., .405 | will outperform the flat based 95 grain SST, which groups good but does not have the energy at long range that the 100 grain Hornady Interlock BTSP #2453 bullet using 60 grs. of H-1000 has in this Wildcat cartridge.

This up-coming 2006 WI deer season I will use the 100 grain Hornady Interlock bullet in both rifles on Whitetail deer. In heavy timber and cover I will use my lighter .243 Winchester with its 22" barrel, now mounted with a 4X power weaver scope. 

Hunting more open areas with long range shooting opportunities --goes to my deadly 243/06 Wildcat rifle with 100 grain Hornady Interlock bullets, with the Bushnell 4-12-40mm scope.

Sectional Density
Rick Jamison says a Sectional Density of .140 is the minimum for coyotes, 6mm SD's: 55-gr .133 -SD a little low for big coyotes. A .210-SD is the lower limit for deer! A 150-gr .308-Cal, SD is .225; 165-gr has a .248-SD.

When it isn't too windy I'm going to use this 55 grain in my .243 Winchester with a 4 by 12X scope for fox hunting and anything smaller. The 55 grain Nosler ballistic tip bullet doesn't hold up in the wind and its energy drops off rather fast. I believe the 55 grain bullet is too fragile and lacks SD for large dog coyotes.

Sectional Density (SD) is the same irrespective of bullet shape, here is a list of 6mm SD's: 55-gr .133 -SD; 70-gr .169; 75-gr .181; 80-gr .194; Deer, 87-gr .210; 90-gr .218; 95-gr .230; 100-gr .242. Here's the SD equation: SD is the ratio of bullet weight to the square if the bullets diameter.
Example: | .243 X's .243= .059049 (65-gr  / 7000 grs per pound= .0092857 / .059049= .157-SD) Figure your own caliber/bullet SD.

The 6mm 55 grain Nosler bullet ( .133-SD) has a higher BC than the 55 grain bullet .224 bullet which has a higher .157-SD; 60-gr  is .171-SD. Otherwise, it's my 243/06 wildcat 95% of the time on coyotes, with the 87 grain V-Max bullet, SD .210, BC .400.

Many deer have been dropped in their tracks when shot with .243's 6mm rounds. Shot placement means a lot, bullet construction is critical in smaller diameter bullets, however adequate sectional density is  important in any bullet for large deer. The .243, even shooting 100 grain Hornady Interlocks hand loaded with mild not hot loads, will go through a shoulder into the vitals for a kill at most reasonable ranges.

I need a 100 grain Grand slam, 95 grain Fusion bullet for my 243/06 Wildcat for penetration on deer due to its higher velocities at closer ranges.