Is the .243 Win Obsolete ?

[XTR]

Grits is like a lot of things, some are better than others. There is the stuff that you get in your generic chain diner in the south like Waffle House, Huddle House, etc; which are usually edible, but nothing to merit comment one way or the other but do serve the need with breakfast. Basically they are the Jim Dandy Quick Grits variety, which is about the only brand you will find anywhere outside of the Deep South. Then there are good grits, they are stone ground and more coarse and take time to cook. I personally prefer Yeltons. When I had to relocate to the north I brought 20 lbs with me. It is a standard part of my breakfast when I cook. Come to think of it I may have to bring another load with me when I come back this way from Gulfport at the end of the summer.

Then there is that most awesome of meals... Shrimp and Grits. If you are ever in New Orleans you owe it to yourself to go out for "second breakfast"** every day at around 0900 or 1000 and try the different versions you can find, because like gumbo, everyone makes it differently, from lightly sauteed in butter and bourbon with scallions, and spices served over a dollop of cheese grits to a remoulade sauce served with fried grit cakes. (damn I'm getting hungry) Most restaurants have it on the lunch menu, but if you ask they can be very accommodating.

Some of us peckerwoods like them with fish or with fried squirrel and gravy.

As for the 243, any bets or predictions as to it's demise will not be settled in the lifetimes of the people posting here.

**when visiting in NO you should try to eat about 5 meals a day. My routine is something like beignets and cafe au lait at 0700, shrimp and grits by 1000, lunch around 1230-1300, oysters at 1500, dinner, and then sometimes oysters late after dinner.

 

[Dgd6mm]

Shrimp and Grits for breakfast, yum ,yum. Plus love the .243 "FOREVER".

 

[Legionnaire]

For precision (and we all like precision, don't we?), the .243 may be obsolescent, but it is not obsolete. And I don't mind if others are passing it up for something newfangled. I just found a 1980-ish 700 BDL in .243 that I would be surprised if it had more than two boxes of cartridges through it; got it for a song. Definitely NOT obsolete around these parts!

Oh, and I like grits, too ...

 

[bench]

if its between Grits and a 243 I will take the 243

 

[Bogusname]

I’ve lived in the Deep South most of my life. Grits, eh, not my thing. The .243 I built for myself is a lazer beam. 110 SMK’s and 3025 FPS..... just great. It’s my new favorite. Good brass available, powder....

 

[msinc]

As a non Southerner and as a non American, I've seen hundreds of references to grits in novels and elsewhere. But what ARE they, other than an (alleged ) form of food?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grits

It's just dried coarsely ground corn. You "re-hydrate" it by boiling it in enough water to make the consistency that you want. There are many ways to fix it though. It's kind of considered a breakfast food and probably most popularly eaten with eggs and bacon. By and of itself, grits are kind of bland to me...I like to add some chopped onion and salt, pepper and mesquite flavoring to it. Many folks like to add milk, sugar and/or syrup/honey to make it sweet so it's almost like a desert. The closest I get to that is when I pour half a bottle of Jim Beam Maple in a bowl of grits and eat it for breakfast. Sometimes leftover grits are patted up into cakes and fried then eaten at a later meal. The following kind of sums it all up:

"Similar to cornmeal, grits are made from dried and ground corn, but are usually a coarser grind. Grits are often made from hominy, which is corn treated with lime—or another alkaline product—to remove the hull. ... Stone ground grits are whole grain and retain the germ and all of its nutrients."

I have to admit, I have enjoyed grits all my life, mostly with whiskey...but until just now I never understood the term "hominy" as it applied to grits. Only a full blown hillbilly can claim such!!!

 

[#40Fan]

The .243 is like sex. Might not be the latest thing on your mind, but when you take it out to use, you wonder why you don't use it more often.

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

The .243 is like sex. Might not be the latest thing on your mind, but when you take it out to use, you wonder why you don't use it more often.

hahahahaha

 

[msinc]

Northern Girl Says: You Can
Southern Girl Says : You a'll Can

Not exactly...NG: you-ins' can.....SG: yall' can
All the girls I know: forget it boy!!......My wife: I am going to kill you!!

 

[KMart]

Grits should have a place on your reloading shelf. Specially if you are a wildcatter. Use it instead of that nasty COW for bulletless fireforming of cases.

 

[snert]

Till today I NEVER considered eating grits...but after hearing about REAL grits and shrimp, whiskey, onions, etc, I might be convinced. I guess it is like thinking all hamburgers are McDonalds. Yuck

 

[JLT]

Grits should have a place on your reloading shelf. Specially if you are a wildcatter. Use it instead of that nasty COW for bulletless fireforming of cases.

Yep. That's what I use.

I can't bring myself to use the stone-ground, honest-to-goodness variety for fire forming - that's what Quaker Quick Grits are for! And I use them to fire form one of my favorites - .243 AI!

With regard to the question posed . . . Obsolete? What's out there in the universe of large case capacity 6mms that is so superior as to render the .243 Win./.243 AI not worth the time or the effort?

 

[Sniper338]

243 is obsolete for me... personally... 6XC is where my breads buttered!!!

 

[pirate ammo]

Grits should have a place on your reloading shelf. Specially if you are a wildcatter. Use it instead of that nasty COW for bulletless fireforming of cases.

just seen all this grits thing,,I was raised on them,,grits and eggs,grits and fried mullet,even fried grits,,damn I'm hungry now,,,

 

[270WinDude]

I really doubt it is going anywhere. I keep reading and hearing that the two "most popular" based on ammo sales are the 270 and the 30-06. I have heard and read this all my shooting life which is over 40 years now. You don't really hear much about the 270 anymore with it's limited bullet selection {especially compared to 6mm and 7mm} and just try and find some once fired 30-06 brass.
I have many hunting rifles, from 22 magnums to the 325WSM. My Cooper Excaliber in 243 will put 90 grain Berger's in the same hole at 100 yards just as easily as it will with 70 grain Ballistic Tips. It gets used often for anything from woodchucks to black bear. I actually got it for my daughter to use...she has never fired it. One of my hunting buddies has matching Tikka's like yours. We can hunt with any caliber made, but typically use the 243.
The 243 shoots flat, accurate and it don't kick much at all. It's an easy gun to shoot. Not so much easy to reload for sometimes, but honestly, what else does the average non-Alaska hunter really need?? I don't know if I would use it for elk, but strike out the big bears, elk and moose and you got a winner. All that said, if all I had was a 243 and saw an elk and they were "in season" I bet I try him!! Especially when I think back about the damage it did to the last deer I shot.
243 going somewhere??? Not any time soon. Another way to look at it is that for every 6mm double xx whizbang c-42 shooter out there with the same bullet, velocity, twist, and trajectory, there's probably 50 others that just buy a 243 Winchester and go shooting. Another thing is that most guys wont admit to using the same rifle they bought for their wife....I'll fess up...I'll fess up to liking Mexican hookers too.

However the .277 ammo is growing. Although, not sure where you heard about the 270 sales being high... at cabelas here they have several rows it seems of nothing but 308 and literally 2 boxes of 270win ammo and about 4 different bullets, although sportswarehouse has more .277 bullets then about anything else. They do make the LRAB, VLDs, ELD-x, few specialties, etc for .277. Bergers hybrids started with the .277 I think (shows that bullet makers are aware of the untapped market), I'm pretty sure that it at least came before the 6.5 and the .284. I need too read through the whole thread here but... If I were the powers that be in manufacturing I'd statistically wait till the 6.5 craze stagnated in growth then hit up some hot new .277 or 6mm to jumpstart sales and would be incredibly easy from a logistical and marketing standpoint. The 270WSM was alright but not enough to compete with the WIN for whatever reason, and even more puzzling, is it's wildly popular to neck the 270wsm up to 284 in competition to take advantage of the moderately better manufactured bullets with higher BC. The OP seemed to think that the 243 will die out with the following generations, not if it's obsolete with us due to other chamberings. To that question, only time will tell, WAY too many variables, from a marketing standpoint I fell like I could jumpstart 243 sales, it's a classic and who doesn't love any 6mms.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Grits (girls raised in the south) the only grits i want

 

[pirate ammo]

grits and eggs with hot buttered bisquits and real fig preserves,can only be done right by your grandma,,

 

[Intheshop]

Shrimp and grits at the Library in Charleston SC is 5 stars.

Got a few 243's the only one not shooting cast is a '68 ADL,wearing a '69 3-9x40 AO Weaver(first year issue).43.5 g of IMR4350 and a 85g Sierra..... 'bout as classic as the above restaurant recomendation.

 

[Dgd6mm]

Shrimp and grits at the Library in Charleston SC is 5 stars.

Got a few 243's the only one not shooting cast is a '68 ADL,wearing a '69 3-9x40 AO Weaver(first year issue).43.5 g of IMR4350 and a 85g Sierra..... 'bout as classic as the above restaurant recomendation.

The Early Bird in Charleston SC.....Shrimp and Grits, took my wife there for her birthday a couple of years ago. It was one of the places out of Charleston that was featured on DDD. Wife had to go and it was definitely worth it.

Back to shooting, love my .243.. going to get another barrel to have ready when it comes time.

 

[Intheshop]

The interesting thing about Charleston (and like calibre's,they ain't alone in this).... from a historic standpoint, there's a definite "line".Meaning you cross such N such street and you'll be immersed in historic pres.

Different from say Savannah.... and Creedmores,haha.Where it's a mix,new and old.Folks/shooters need to learn this.They both have their places..... just don't confuse them.