.243 Winchester

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The .243 Winchester is a very popular sporting rifle round. It is very effective for deer hunting and long range pest shooting. It uses what is basically a .308 cartridge case necked-down to accept a .244 in/6mm bullet, and the .243 is well known for its accuracy, very flat trajectory and relatively mild recoil compared to other deer cartridges. The .243 Winchester produces a velocity of 2960 feet (902.21 meters) per second with a 100 grain (6.8 gram) projectile from a 24-inch barrel. Commercially loaded .243 ammunition is available with bullet weight ranging from 55 grains up to 105 grains, and the cartridge's most efficient and accurate performance comes with bullets of c. 75 - 90 grains.

This cartridge was first introduced in 1955 for Winchester's Model 70 bolt-action sporting rifle, and it quickly gained popularity among sportsmen worldwide. Even Winchester's chief competitor, Remington, was quick to chamber rifles for the .243 round, and all mass-market riflemakers have followed suit. Many companies offer a selection of rifle models chambered in .243 Win.

The .243 has gained very substantial popularity in the international hunting world, and commercially loaded ammunition is easy to find in almost any gunshop. Along with the .270 Winchester, the .308 Winchester and .30-'06, it is amongst the most popular and widely available of all centrefire cartridges. The .243 is a popular and successful choice for all but the very largest deer, small to medium sized antelope, and for varmint hunting.

Since the enactment of the 1963 Deer Act in Great Britain, which stipulated a minimum bullet diameter of .240 in together with minimum levels of muzzle velocity and bullet energy, the .243 Win. has been perceived by UK sportsmen as the "entry level" calibre for legal deer-stalking; and since the 1960s the .243 has been by far the most widely used calibre for shooting small and woodland deer in the UK.

In a non-sporting, non-civilian context, bolt-action rifles chambered for the .243 Win. were utilized by the Los Angeles Police Department's Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit during its early years.

[edit] External links

• .243 Winchester Cartridge Guide by AccurateShooter.com