this^^^^^^^^^^^I bought my wife a nice 243 a couple of years ago. She took a heavy bodied west TX wt and first shot placement was perfect, right behind the shoulder. The buck rocked back and forth and was gathering his energy. I told her to take another shot and placed once again right in the boiler maker. We were using 100gr. bullets. 243 may work for some but if I am going to have to opt her shooting head and neck shots more so on WT, I will get her another rifle. The next one will be a 7mm08. BTW, jut for grins, the 223 is not a WT round either, jmo.

My personal upper limit for the 243 is 180 lbs field dressed or about 215 live weight. If there's a chance, an animal will be bigger, I choose a bigger cartridge. I refuse to be handicapped by a marginal cartridge.

Case design or capacity does not determine accuracy. The 7mm-08 barrel looked much better with the bore-scope, the .243 barrel had significant button-rifling chatter, making it look like corrugated iron inside. I have heard many shooters refer to the 7mm-08's tendency to finicky-ness as to how it is loaded, and what it is loaded with. Most of these stories end with a really good load being discovered... I ran out of patience before I found that load.

There were no such difficulties in working up an accurate .243 Winchester load. - Several of them with different bullets, in fact.

My first rifle as a teenager was an 1895G in 45-70 and I've been a big-bore magnum fan for years. Recoil is not an issue here, particularly with anything built off of the little .308 Winchester case... Once I mastered the lightweight 45-70 as a kid, I never developed and flinching tendencies after that.

On the other hand, I have never owned or used anything more powerful than a .375 H&H, either.

Case design has a lot to do with accuracy potential. I've never heard of a 7mm08 being finicky at all. It's been no more difficult to find a load for than any other 308 based round.

I think 243 is the right call.

I'd pick .243 over 7mm-08 for a 12 yr old girl - or boy. Not a lot of weight or upper-body development at that age, and a bit too much recoil can undermine shooting confidence. Always give a kid a break.

The deer won't know the difference, it's lights out in either case.

I Agree with you
1

Yup.

For me, I'm actually looking for another 7mm-08 so I can shoot 120 grain handloads exclusively with it. It'll be my varmint/truck rifle. Trying to decide between a T3 (my wife has one in 7mm-08 and loves it) and a X Bolt (I have one in .270 Win. and it's awesome).

7mm-08 is a great rifle. i shot my first deer with one when i was 8 and it did wonders. The good thing about it is she can use it the rest of her life.

My grandfather hunted his entire life with a 243 win. Age 16-70 and never had a need for anything else. A deer isn't going to know the difference between a 100 grain 243 and 120 grain 7mm08.

Uh You might want to think about this... it might make a difference between a 100 gr 243 and a 140 or 160 & mebbe 175 gr 7-08... don't loose sight of everything available in a 284's versatility range that a 243 cannot ever reach, just 'cause TxWhite tails don't weigh much over 100-130 lbs on avg. So IMO, for a One Caliber Lifetime Gun purchase IMO the 7-08 is by far a better choice between these 2 calibers....but then only owning a single caliber in a Lifetime these days is very rare, with our Kleenex Culture of gun ownership.

This is why I have moved to a softer recoiling 260, with my advancing Geezerhood's creaky bones that in many ways resembles a young pre or early teenager's physical aspects from my old TX Standby 270 WCF for a Do All TxWhitetail shooter, with common WTail capable bullets from a "243 like" 100gr's - at more MV's than a 243 can provide -, to a "270 like" 130 & 140'grs and even a tad heavier in some bullets in the "7mm like" 156gr & 160 gr stuff. Reloading, as always, allows the maximum amount of flexibility within a caliber in bullet selection ... and even more so with today's broader range of bullets to choose from in a given caliber.

IMO it's always been about the bullet chosen to do the job required, and then choose the caliber & cartridge needed to deliver that bullet payload to do the job most efficiently @ the highest % of success and least amount of drama involved.

FWIW a 243 was also my 1st real deer rifle in the late 1960's and I shot it long enough to learn it's pro's & con's on Texas WT's - believe it not we did not have the bullet proving ground to experiment on called HOGS back then, moved on experimenting with several other calibers, and settled on a 270 in the early 1970's and have always had one since then and still do, despite my change in concentration into 6.5's.
JMHO & YMMV
Ron

Your grandfather?? Wow, I'm feeling old. I remember when the 243 was introduced.

Yup told the story many times how him and his brothers ran trap lines for furs to buy it.

I shot a .243 for a long time and took probably over 100 WTs with it and my dad has taken more than that with his. It is certainly a capable gun and I still have my 1979 Rem 788. I also own a .308 and recently bought a Ruger American in 7mm-08 because it was a great deal and I always wanted a rifle in that cartridge. Despite being pretty light weight the 7-08 had surprisingly limited recoil both with 120 and 140 gr loads.

The OP got a great deal on a gun that they can use for a long time, and in the event they move on can sell it and not lose much if anything on the deal. But I feel like Wiley above; the 7-08 is a much more flexible cartridge. It can do everything the .243 can, from low recoil shooting with managed recoil/lite loads up to 160+gr loads capable of taking much larger game or taking game more cleanly depending on size/distance. And there are plenty of OTC offerings for the 7-08 if you don't want to handload.

My experience with reduced recoil loads is they are less functional/effective than smaller caliber rounds using full power and good bullets.