In Europe, however, the .243 suffers from the fact that only in Scotland does it meet the legal requirements for a big game cartridge to be used on anything larger than roe deer.
For small game and varmint hunting bullets in the 70-85 grain range are suitable, but normally the expansion of these bullets is too rapid to give the necessary penetration needed for quick kill on larger game from pronghorn antelope and upwards. For this bullets weighing 90-100 grains are a much better choice. Although one-shot kills have been made on much larger animals than Mule Deer, the .243 is not an elk rifle by any reasonable standard.
For hunting edible birds and foxes the full metal jacketed bullets will do a much better job than the equivalent bullets in .22-caliber does.
Norma Brass is the gold standard of cartridge cases.
