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What bullet do you use for white tail in your .243. I just put mine together and want to try it for deer this late doe season. I had some 80g federal soft points factory loads laying around and they shoot tiny groups. Wondering is this is heavy enough of a bullet for clean kills.
...I use 85gr Sie. HPBT GameKings or Nosler 90gr BT's.. Both do the job... :)
I've been hunting with a 243 wssm for the last couple of years and have taken both deer and hogs using the Barnes 80 gr TTSX, my preferred 6 mm bullet for hunting. I picked up a 243 this summer and have loaded 85 gr hp SGK. I've shot one buck with them so far this season, went through the lungs, broke a rib going in and coming out and found very little blood.He only ran about 30 yards but it was through some thick stuff and took a while to find him
The 80 will do just fine with the right placement , that being said for deer in Va I like the federal 100 SP the cheap blue and silver box took a couple with them and the deer went no more than three or four steps
ive always had good luck with factory remington 100gr core-lokt. every deer ive shot with them has ran less than 20 yards, several bang-flop. I tried some hornady 100gr soft points 3 years ago and had a buck run about 50 yards so i went back to the core-lokts.
Used the 100 gr hornadys when I first started hunting and always had good luck with them. Now with the ttsx and accubonds and partitions etc. Can you really go wrong?
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I have used speers 80g jsp/ sierras 85g jhp bt/ nosler 90g partition/ nosler 95g hunting bt bullets in my .243 and they have all dropped Antelope with one shot out here...so they would be perfect for whitetail.
Sierra 100gr Game Kings are very accurate and very effective. Have shot a number of mulies with them out to 200 yards and never had to track a deer.
85 grn sierra's and 90 grn nosler ballistic tips both are great on white tail!!!
I have used 95 gr NBT and 95 gr ballistic silvertips with no problems.
For Deer like a quality 100 grain bullet and the Sierra game king is a good one and I killed two does last Friday using a reload with Hornady SST 100 grain bullets loaded to 2825 FPS and they both dropped in thier tracks.
When I was a kid, I hunted and killed LOTS of deer with a 6mm shooting Dads reloads using 100grn Hornady BTSP Interlock bullets. Never tracked more than 20 yards and most bang flop. Now I load this same bullet in my wifes 243. All her kills have been bang flop. Not gonna change what works great. Good luck and God Bless, tpepper
87 gr. Nosler Partitions work great. I am using the 95 Nosler ballistic tips right now. They haven't failed me yet, but I have had some concerns on penetration. I have never had one exit a deer. And this is at 100 yards. But, dead is dead.
I use the 105 a-max and the 95 gr SST.
I just shot a doe last night at about 230 yards with then 85 gr SGK. She ran about 50 yards down the field at full speed did a banking curve and ran back to where I shot her and dropped. Lung shot and lots of the red stuff.
I shoot the 85gr Barnes TSX out of my .243. Farthest any deer has gone has been about 20 yards. Most of the times they are a bang flop. People tell me I shoot a kids gun and should step up to something bigger. I just tell them that I dont like tracking my deer and my kids gun works just fine!
For deer I prefer Remington Cor Lokt. I'm not a fan of the ballistic tips, but I also hunt the woods. One of my best friends shoots I believe Hornaday ballistic tips and will shoot nothing else.
My hunting partner Ron killed 6 Whitetail deer this season with his Remington 700 in 243 and he never had to track one more than 25 yards so yes they will kill a whitetail deer. Now we do live in Arkansas and our deer run much smaller than the Midwest and Western whitetail deer so in those areas a larger caliber like 25-06 or 270 might work better. I lived in Colorado for 21 years and the 25-06 and 270 definitely work on mule deer and Antelope.
My choice of bullet in the 243 was a 100 grain Sierra game king BTSP.
I've been fortunate to take three deer with my Savage Weather Warrior in 243 this season while shooting a 100 grain Nosler Partition bullet: doe (115#) at 200 yards; 6 point (165#) at 125 yards; 8 point (170#) at 200 yards. All three shots were high shoulder with a result of bang/flop.
i am shooting the berger 95 hunting vld. super accurate out of my savage 243 and devastating on deer.
I shot a sow hog a couple nights ago, probably around 175-200 lbs, ranged her at 265 yards , shot her with my 243 85 gr SGK. She dropped right there.
Every deer I or my daughter have shot with .243 has been a bang-flop, except one (poor shot by me). We've always used 100 grain, but everything from Winchester Silver Tip, to Remington Core-Lokt, and now Hornady Interlock Soft Points. Doesn't seem to matter much what we use.
For those that shoot the shoulder, or high shoulder, how much meat loss do you end up with?
...If it's a high shoulder shot you'll lose some loin...Depends on how far back you hit-em...With the 85gr Sie. HPBT-GK or Nos 90gr BT I like the neck shots myself DRT...I don't do shoulder shots..Lungs or neck...I use the front legs for berger anyway so I guess it would'nt matter too much...A shoulder shot will lose alot of meat with those bullets...
90 or 95 gr NBTs; the latter is VASTLY under rated in my opinion.
The gentleman who designed it was a 6mm fanatic and made it TOUGH AS NAILS, shooting elk & bear w/ it as well as whitetail.
If I were going w/ one bullet for a 6mm hunting rifle (.243 Win, 6mm Rem, 240 Bee) I'd do that 95 if it'd shoot. If it wouldn't I'd do the 90, which has performed very nicely on deer, varmints, paper, and steel through my 6mm-250.
+1 for the neck shots! My first few kills with my 243 were shoulder shots with the 95gr winchester ballistic silvertips....man do they drop them in their tracks! But I also noticed a lot of meat damage, so I switched to neck shots and that changed everything! I shot one @ 160yrds on the edge of a field right at dusk...headed down to the edge of the field and walked the woods to track her, but couldn't find any blood...anywhere, so I went back to my stand...noted where she was when I shot her and walked straight to that spot....very easy tracking job from then on...she didn't even fall over. All 4 hooves were on the ground (in the same direction that she was facing when I shot her), but her knees were bent and her nose was in the dirt. She actually scared me, thought she was trying to hide. I've been shooting neck shots from that day forward.Quote:
Originally Posted by 1Shot
My older Model 110 shoots the factory Winchester 100 gr Power - Point (X2432) well.
Never had to track a deer when shot with the Win. PPs all DRT. I have a place in the Southern US and it works on the 150 lb. deer there and on the 300 lb deer here in Canada
I may try some reloads for it because ammo is quite higher here and I reload for the .223 anyway.
Regards,
85gr Nosler Partitions...
in the big ass game sub forum, there a vid posted last year of an Elk (cow) shot with a 243 at 600 yrds or so.
so Nosler partitions might be overkill for bambi unless you are shooting a 500lb Mule deer ;-)
How about a link to the video
i assume this is the video being mentioned. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY0w1c-gf18 kasandra cow elk at 688yds. is the title on youtube.
95 VLD. Worked great in my 6BRX striker to 500 yards
My last antelope was dropped with a 95g nosler Hunting BT at 120 yards & it was to much IMO as it ruined one whole shoulder at a low but very accurate 2600 fps.
This year my load will be the sierra 85g GK or 80g nosler PT.
I'd be pushing the 80gr Barnes TTSX very fast.
Shoot for the shoulder to break them down fast if they need to be anchored.
How about a factory box bullet?
I use the 95 grn ballistic tip Nosler.
I use the Barnes 80grain TTSX factory load. Works great on deer and shoots 3 shots into less than an inch at a Hundred yards out of a Remington 7600 with 4x leupold.
Craig
85gn Partition. I've got some 100gn Partitions but don't have time to work up a load for this year's season. You're less likely to destroy a lot of meat if the bullet holds together. There's no such thing as "too dead".
105's in both the AMAX and Berger VLD's.
For 4 years only 95 Berger bullets at near 3000fps. Nothing walks away, not deer or hogs. Of course, I love those Bergers, only thing I shoot anymore in 220 swift, 243, 260, 30-06.
Same here. I use a Berger in everything and the 95 or 105 would be my pick with the 100 grain sierra game king being my second choice.
100g core-lokt's on coastal blacktails are positively devastating but, blacktails are much smaller than whitetails. Large ragged exit wounds. Very flat shooting. Longest take was 550yrds down hill pretty steeply on a 120lbs buck. entered left shoulder, exited the front of the chest and left a hole you could drop a tennis ball through. No really excessive meat damage for all the dramatic outward appearance of the wound. I've taken a few bucks with .243 at much closer ranges and never had any fails to penetrate clean through. I don't know if a 80gr would be as tough.
All the 80gn bullets that I have are varmint bullets but I wouldn't have any reservations using the 80gn TTSX. I just don't have any. The 85gn partition will get the job done.Quote:
Originally Posted by r3dn3ck
Wife and I have killed a ton of deer with 85gr Sierra Game King, BTHP, with 36.gr of IMr 3031 under it, worked this load up over 20 years ago. A year or so ago, Brian Pearce in Rife magazine stated that this same exact load was the utlitmate whitetail round for a .243!
Just got back from early buck and elk season. My daughter wacked another whitetail with the .243 Hornady Interlock 100 grain. Nice little 4X4, with a funky looking left antler. She hit him in the right shoulder on a quartering shot. The bullet passed through the right shoulder into the chest cavity, hitting the heart, and exited on the left side near the rear of the rib cage. The deer then took off and ran about fifty yards before crashing. Love these "cheap" bullets!
I'm gonna write that one down.Quote:
Originally Posted by skoger
to the OP, who started this thread a year ago, I typically use a 100 g hornady or sierra flatbase softpoint. 40 g of H4350. I have some nosler brass for the .243 that is really pretty decent. has required very little trimming.
I always used nosler partitions in 100 gr in my 6mm remington. Tough bullet. I always heard the lighter bullets that werent a solid copper or partition heavy jacketed bullet type could fail when hitting tough shoulder bone. 100 grain corelokts were my practice and groundhog bullets and they seemed to open up quickly... Wouldnt feel as confident on deer in thicker wood areas where i hunt.