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If you need to visually select columns in vim, just type:
^V
Then you can use arrow keys (or other motion commands) to select the text you want.

But maybe you just need to cut the first 43 characters of each line in a file. Although you can do that using Vim, a much simpler way is to use the cut command, as in this example:

cut -c '43-' original.txt > new.txt

There’s a more complete post about vertical selections in the vimrc dissected blog.

For those who don’t know diddly about vim, take a look at these links:

• Essential vim
• Vim Commands Cheat Sheet
• Vim Reference
• Vim Wiki