Buying new gun, heard some bad comments about this caliber but the ease on my old shoulder sure likes it. Deer out to 200 is the intended purpose. Thoughts?

Not my caliber of choice for mature bucks, but the .243, with properly constructed bullets, in an accurate rifle, will easily kill deer within your intended ranges. Nothing wrong with a .243.

Not a damn thing wrong with it just make sure you have good shot placement the margin for error is smaller with this caliber.

My granddad hunted with one for 30 years. He shot mature deer every year. Never had to trail one he shot. All shots inside 250yds

If you don't have a big ego its fine. I believe you dont have to have a .30 cal to kill deer just like you don't have to have a 50k 22' 300 hp bass boat to catch fish...

Have harvested several deer with one, dropped in their tracks. Most shots were 85-100 yards.

.243 is in my opinion the perfect caliber for Texas deer.

Ive Shot many of deer with my remmy 700 never had a problem..I love it..I keep mine zeroed in at 200 yards with the 58 grain for calling and throw the hornady 100 grain in and know exactly how much different it shoots. then when I climb into the blind

A family friend of our's Has an old Browning A-Bolt Medallion. First gun he bought in USA. Killed tons of deer with it, in Georgia. They have some tough deer.

Its a good round for deer. I'm going to get hammered for this, but it should get about the same penetration as a 2506. Here's why. The sectional density is actually higher in the 243. The 2506 has a speed advantage somit kinda evens out. This is for equal weight bullets. Don't be afraid to use the little 243 on anything in Texas.

X 2. May want to go 25-06 though. Little flatter and more punch and good for mulies too

I have a .243 that's taken more game than all my other calibers combined. (edit). I will say that there will often be little or no blood, so it can be difficult to track if it runs off. My seven year old uses the .243 now, and I use a .308.

Listen to your "old shoulder".

Not a think wrong with a .243.

I have killed several whitetails with my 243. It's a great whitetail caliber but would not use it on anything larger.

I'll probably get flamed for this, but after shooting a 243 for lots of years when I started hunting in the late 1960's I moved to a little larger calibers and settled on a 270 and never lost a deer after that.
The 243 is frequently called "an expert's gun" kinda like a 410 on dove & quail. Before the nay sayers repeat what they've already said, 'cause it is true, bullet placement with a 243 becomes a little more important...and my SAKO 243 in 1967 was good enough that I could "write" my initials on a business card with it at 100 yards...and I won lots of bux proving that....but 243's can be hard on barrels if you shoot one as much as I did in those days.

If you have shoulder/recoil sensitivity problems as bad as mine I feel for you. In the 2006 removal of a 23 oz aka "big as your fist" sized non malignent tumor from the right (shooting) side of my neck surgery, all 5 major nerve trunks from the back of my head down into the top of my shoulder were severed or torn loose from my spine or anchor points, and 4 months later my PT therapist said I would prolly be a cripple for the rest of my life and never regain full function or the ability to extend my hand fully in any direction, which was the condition I was in at the time. 18 months of "work" by lots of folks later I was cleared to return to work with no restrictions, with just an admonition about reaching overhead with just the one hand, or handling stuff over 50lbs with my right arm.

Your issues may not be relevant to mine, but the recoil of a rifle will be roughly the same if you have had major rotator cuff reconstruction, as all of my right shoulder from lattes & shoulder blade to cuff to collar bone joint to sternum were frozen and without functional movement.

Based on my unsatisfactory experiences on game critters with a 243 and the bullets available in those days, even with todays better ammo, after a years worth of lengthy research I decided to cut to the chase when I started shooting again with a low pressure aka low recoiling caliber 1st in a 22LR and then found a 6.5x55 Swede in a NIB Tikka T3 as my best option.

At 1st I pounded couple 3 hundred 120 gr'ers from starter loads to maxmax, 1st with a soft strap on Past shoulder pad, then just in a T Shirt, 1st with only 10 rounds at a time, switching off to the 22LR for the trigger & breath control discipline practice at 100 yards, then up to 60+ Swede rounds a session, and repeated the drill with heavier and heavier bullets...then heavier and heavier calibers.

I will never be able to shoot 2-300 rounds of CF Big Bore Magnums a day like I did once upon a time...but I'll be 70 next Fall too and the drive to Shoot and Hunt is still the same as I was at 25....I'm just a little smarter about it than I was then.

So based on this more recent experience I'd suggest a caliber with a little more bullet weight than a 243, but in a low pressure/low recoil caliber like a 6.5Swede or 7x57 Mauser or their American copycats in a 260 Remmy & 7-08 Remmy with both in 120 gr'ers then 130-140's etc, then if possible or desirable, move to a 270/308 and start to shoot or even stay with Low Recoil ammo which are GTG aka GoodToGo out to 250 yards On WTails & hogs. OBTW a 257Rbt's with 100gr'ers are also in the 243 recoil range and have the option of 120 gr'ers at a hair more recoil and would be a great choice with the bigger better sized bullet & softer recoil than a 25'06...BTDT with a Rbt's after my 1st & 2nd Cervical Disc Rehabs in the early '90's and shot one for a total of over 10 years until I wore the barrel out in about 2500-3000 rounds as my only shooter in those rehab years.

The Swede in factory ammo kicks like a 243 & offers heavier but slower bullets ( aka low recoil) capable for Elk out to 300 yards, with the Mauser you might be able to tell it had a scootch more kick and has a tad larger bullet weight range than the Swede, the Low Recoil 270 @ 115 gr's & the 308's @ 125 gr's are about like the Mauser in 120's for recoil.
Good Luck
Ron

It will work well. Just be darn sure to buy bullets designed for deer and not varmints.

I have killed around 50 hogs and 10 w/t deer and never had any problems doing it with my 243 , but like any gun shot placements got to be good .

Never failed me yet

X2

Been shooting my Remington 600 for 46 years. Never lost a deer. Rarely get a pass thru, that means not much of a blood trail, so shot placement is a must. Or, neck shot and done.

I have killed 3 hogs over 350lbs in the past two years with my .243 and killed probably over 100 whitetails from Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas over the years too. I shoot the trophy boars in the neck and the sows in the head. For Whitetail, I shoot them right in the heart. Most people are more accurate with them due to the lower recoil. 95% of hunters can't see their target through the scope after the shot on calibers with more recoil (.270 and 25-06 included).

Just got thru reading a training book for training my blood tracking pup.. The man who wrote the book has been tracking deer since 1972. Out of 1296 calls from hunters that needed help tracking their deer, 3/4 of the deer where shot with a .243.... Just something to think about. Everyone is human and makes mistakes on shot placement etc. Easy to do in the field. The ol heart starts racing and buck fever may kick in. I would go with a 25-06 but that is just my

Probably a misleading fact due to the fact that a lot of kids and inexperience hunters use a .243 and make a poor shot..

Darn good caliber, all I shoot. From my experience and the experience of my father in law, with good shot placement you can take any animal in the state of Texas with a 243. But don't take a shot your not sure of, I lost a deer this year because my shot was too far forward and it hit the shoulder, he limped off, found a bit of blood but he kept going, got so far away that by the time we found where he bedded down, coyotes had jumped him. 80 yard shot or so. This caliber bullet will do great, unless you hit bone, then you got a tracking job on your hands.