New bullet for deer

[6fatrat]

100 gr hornady interlocks
100 grain Nosler partition
The heavy Nosler baqllistic tip, 90 or 95 grain can't remember which weight is correct.
Have used all 3 on a truck load of deer, with the lighter bullets if you hit a shoulder by mistake it might work good or it might not!
Steve Bair

 

[markT]

I have never been to SC but have been in Alabama, the deer seem half the size of the deer in Mn. If you have never had a problem with your current load, why change. I don't think I would consider the vmax to be a deer bullet here, at least I would go to the Nosler bt. Do the vmax exit on rib cage shot deer?

I've never had a bullet exit.. They just explode and "blenderize" the heart or lungs.. The reason to change is I'll be hunting a little farther out this year about ~180 yds max. I would like to not mess up the shoulder meat so I'd like a bullet I can be "off" some or have a larger area to shoot.. I'll try and find some of the suggested bullets.. Thank you.

 

[Racebannon3855]

Twenty years ago I was reading Ken Water's Pet Loads and he liked 3031 for the 85 grain Sierra BTHP in the 243. I started shooting it in my late 60's 700 and it made a real coyote hammer out past 300. The 3031 load is about a grain off Max because I shoot it all year. It is not unusual for a coyote to be over 60# on our farm and the 85 gr BTHP really flattens them. When our son started hunting I picked the 85 gr BTHP and went with a reduced load of H4895. He shot it moa in his rifle so we went with it. Previous to this I had never shot a deer with a 243, only tracked ones that others had wounded with a 243. Most of them were really bad shot placement, but I still had my doubts. Our son had no doubts, he had loaded his own ammo and shot all the vital organs out of two different cardboard deer.

Opening morning we both had doe permits and an empty freezer. Three barren does hung out in front of us for a little too long and he took his first doe with a 135 yard shot. We were above the deer so the bullet entered close to the spine, mushed a lung, got half the heart and expended itself without exiting. As I watched in amazement he said "Dad, take the rifle, If we gotta skin one we might as well skin two.". Following his lead I waited till another doe settled down and made a heart shot at about 120 yards. My son replied that his deer was deader than mine, my doe kicked for a few seconds while his collapsed. I recovered my bullet and it weighed around 60 grains if memory serves me correctly. As he got older he started shooting a 7-08 with 120 gr Federal Fusions and never looked back.

Two deer is not alot of data and our shot placement was good. If I was starting over I would try something from Barnes. Our state is leaning toward non-lead and I think the 85 gr TSX could be driven fast enough to create a large wound and still penetrate on a bad angle. I have tried the Nosler E-Tip and it does not get along with any of my 243s. We also shot some 85 grain Partitions and they grouped Ok, but nothing like the 85 gr Sierra BTHP.

God Luck and make room in the freezer!

 

[markT]

Ok, Which one from Hornady? I'm kinda fond of Hornady... NOT that there aren't better bullets..

 

[billshehane]

I have had great luck with Hornady's GMX on deer. In 6MM and 6.5 Creedmore

 

[markT]

Some quick reaserch for pricing:
GMX 90gr Hornady 2444 $37.98 for Qty of 50
SSt 95 gr Hornady 24532 $30.59 for Qty of 100

 

[waverly]

I've had good luck with both 90 Scirocco's and 95 SST Hornaday in 6 Remington, and 6-47L.

 

[fyrewall]

Some folks say the .375 H&H is the best all around rifle and will kill anything on the planet - elephants to tiny antelopes (smaller than whitetails). I used a 100 grain .257 Barnes TSX to shoot my last deer (a big mule deer)at 357 yards and it went thru 3 feet of deer and killed it within 3 seconds. If I had to shoot another deer I would look at the .243 95 gr. LRX bullet.

 

[dedogs]

im looking for a deer bullet for a 243.

28 replies and only one referring to twist rate. (Good on ya Kurz!) Hard to make a good recommendation without this info. dedogs

 

[fyrewall]

28 replies and only one referring to twist rate. (Good on ya Kurz!) Hard to make a good recommendation without this info. dedogs

Better late than never - 8 twist, deers, long skinny 6mm, 95 Barnes LRX, 8 twist also shoots 87 VMax well for real big rodents.

Looking at the 6mm Barnes LRX, Miller Sg 1.57, @ 35*, 3200 fps, length 1.27, tip length .15. One box of 50 on sale at one of my LGS.

 

[markT]

I tried to find the twist rate on the factory barrel and could not.. I ran a brush through the bore and came up with 9.99 at best I could figure.. Maybe its is 1:9 or 1:10?

 

[Knotwild]

MarkT, I had a friend that killed a truckload of deer with the Nosler 85gr Partition. I can't count how many I killed with the 85gr Sierra. Either would be great at the 200 yard mark. Shot placement was key with either. I don't know what your rifle is or the barrel length, but a short barrel (20-22) isn't going to give you velocity in the 3000 and up range with 95-100gr bullets. The Nosler Partition is famous for not being the most accurate bullet due to it's construction. I like (and I quote) blenderized deer internals. When I pull the trigger I prefer they drop in their tracks. I am also in SC and nothing is more of a pain than tracking a deer in the dark and that is mostly when our shots are taken. I have a 9 twist Remington 600 - 20" barrel that shoots 95's and 100's well, but they are slow. I also have a 20" .243 Ackley 10 twist that is finicky and likes the shorter bullets like 85's. When you go to a monocore bullet, they will be longer per weight than lead, which means velocity and the proper twist becomes even more important.

 

[markT]

Oh forgot to measure barrel. I’m pretty sure it’s 26”.

 

[2506]

I hunted deer in North East NC for over 30 years and did crop damage for 15 years on a big farm. Any of the 100 gr soft point bullets seem to work very well in a 243 Win. You don't have to spend a fortune on a bullet to kill deer with. I have killed a bunch with 100 gr. Rem. core-lokt (got 1000 at a give away price years ago) with IMR 4350 and Accurate 3100 powder. In the late evening if you don't want to be crawling around in the jungle and swamp with the cotton mouths trying to find a deer shoot them in the center of the front shoulder. In SC you don't need to worry about meat loss you can kill so many.

 

[1K6BRA]

An 80 grain Barnes TTSX at a reasonable velocity at reasonable ranges placed correctly will not take any prisoners at least they have not for me.

 

[H2OBUG]

I shoot the 87 Gr Berger VLD in my 700 .243. Great accuracy and I get the same POI with the 88Gr Berger High BC varmint bullet using the same charge of H4895. Mine shoots sub .75" with the factory barrel.
My second choice would be the 85gr Sierra HP.

 

[markT]

Well I just ordered the Nosler Partition 85gr / Midway USA / est Sept 17 delivery.. ouch... Gonna put Varget behind it and see how she does. Thanks

 

[K22]

First, no bullet no matter how good will overcome poor shot placement.

I've been shooting and hunting with the 243 Win since the late 60's. I've hunted deer, varmints and predators. I've tried a lot of bullets and there are a lot of good choices out there, especially now with the development of the premium bullets.

The bullet I like the best is the 85 grain Sierra BTHP for all hunting applications with the 243. The powders that have worked for me with this bullet are IMR 4064 and IMR 4350. Varget has also work well for me with this bullet. I prefer Federal 210 primers. This bullet shoots like a match bullet and has excellent terminal performance even on deer if shot placement is good.

I've shot several deer with this bullet and while I don't claim to be an expert, I never lost a deer to this bullet if I hit the deer. The one piece of advice I would offer is keep the shot broadside behind the shoulder in the vitals. The ones I've shot either drop where they stand or run a few yards and pile up.

This bullet is also very effective on varmints and predators. If you hunt year around using one bullet in one rifle has advantages of becoming familiar with the rifle / bullet combo's capability building confidence and skill. For the one rifle hunter (deer / varmints / predators), the 243 Win shines in this capacity.

 

[MikeT49]

Well I just ordered the Nosler Partition 85gr / Midway USA / est Sept 17 delivery.. ouch... Gonna put Varget behind it and see how she does. Thanks

From my experience you will like the terminal performance of the 85 Partition on deer. The last two bucks shot in our camp with 243s didn't go far. I shot a 2 1/2 yr old forky that was about 160# field dressed. Went two feet straight down. The other one was a 5 1/2 yr old that field dressed 187#. He carried that "heavy" bullet about 60 yards and got aguainted with the ground. (These are Northern WI whitetails) Varget will work. Get em up to speed and voltage. With that 26" barrel you should be able to do 3300 fps without leaning on it too hard. They can be surprisingly accurate. Good luck finding an accurate load. The deer won't like it much, however. Edit to add:. As has been mentioned, we shoot our deer to eat them, broadside, both lungs. Never ate a lung. The front shoulders make excellent roasts. Mike

 

[Kurz]

I tried to find the twist rate on the factory barrel and could not.. I ran a brush through the bore and came up with 9.99 at best I could figure.. Maybe its is 1:9 or 1:10?

It depends on the make and model of the rifle. This from my list of commercial makers:

243 Winchester - 1 in 9"....Rem 660, 700, 788 (1969), Ruger 77
243 Winchester - 1 in 9-1/8"....Rem 700, 7400, 7600, 7;
243 Winchester - 1 in 9-1/4".....Savage (present)
243 Winchester - 1 in 10"......Browning; Colt; FN; H&R 300, 308, 360; HVA; Mannlicher-Schoenauer; Interarms Musketeer; Mossberg 800; Rem 700, 40-XB; Savage 99, 110, 111, 112-V, 116 (old); Sako Bolt & Lever Actions; Schultz & Larsen; Stevens 110; Win 70, 88,100,670,770; J.C. Higgins 51-L; Ruger #1, 77; Wichita; Weatherby Vanguard; T/C Rifle
243 Winchester - 1 in 12"...Steyr SSG-PII

Enjoy!