I primarily hunt with a .243 for deer. It's the rifle my dad bought me and my brother to start hunting with. My brother always had great luck with it and was somehow able to drop deer quick and a few times even in their tracks. Me on the other hand, I've pulled that off once and the deer still took a couple minutes to die. I want some opinions on what .243 bullets have given you the best performance over the years. I have tried Hornady 100 gr sp which is what worked well for my brother. I've also tried their 95 gr SST's which at close range blew a hole out the other side, and Barnes 85 gr tsx which took me 3 reasonably well placed shots to finally kill the deer. I've thought about just using my dad's .270 but I can't seem to get the accuracy I want out of it even though I can fairly consistently hit a 6 inch gong at 300 yds with it. Maybe I'm blaming the bullet for improper shot placement. Any idea's?
Deer bullets for a .243
- Thread starter Varhunter
- Start date
6mm Remington
Very Active Member
I've used the 100 gr. Nosler Partition with great results for years in my 6mm Remington. The 95 or 100 gr. Partition would serve you well. I have also done some testing with the new Accubonds and killed a deer with one in my 30-06. That being said, the new 90 gr. Accubond in your .243 should work also. I also have had great success with the 90 gr. E-tip in my son's 6mm Remington. With that bullet he has taken 3 antelope, a nice mule deer buck, and a very large cow elk. All with one shot each!!
David
David
Yeah I've considered Nosler Partitions. How did all those do for meat damage? Were those one shot kills pretty quick? That E-tip looks like a pretty nice bullet. I'll have to check them out.
6mm Remington
Very Active Member
None of them did any more meat damage than is about usual. I've used the Partitions for years and have really liked them. In my opinion they are still one of the best bullets out there. The Accubond is a great bullet also, but then I sure am impressed with the E-tip in my son's 6mm Remington. It has worked terrifically in his rifle.
Here are each of the bullets listed shot into gallon water jugs at 400 yards. I did a whole heck of a lot of testing from 25 to 500 yards.
25 yards E-tips, Partitions, Accubonds
Jeff and his cow elk with one 90 gr. E-tip taken at 350 yards. She went 20 yards and tipped over.
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I think the 350 yard elk has me sold on trying a box. I've heard of 200 yards on an elk with a .243 sized caliber but never anything that far. Was it a shoulder shot through the lungs on the cow?
6mm Remington
Very Active Member
The blood spot on her left shoulder is the exit wound. He hit her on her right side tight behind the shoulder in the lungs and it angled forward and exited her left shoulder. She was turned just slightly. It's light for elk granted, but with good placement it works. I have also taken one spike bull with my 6mm Remington and the 100 gr. Partitions. He was only about 30 yards and I shot him in the shoulder and it exited the off side just in front of his other shoulder. He was dead on his feet but I still put one more at the base of his ear as I didn't want him going any place.
I've already dressed him out, that's why all the blood on the snow.
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shootbrownelk
Veteran member
I loaded some Barnes TSX bullets in .243 for a young lady on her first elk hunt. She managed a 1 shot kill at 250 yds, through both lungs. A complete pass through....24 cal. entrance hole and a half-dollar sized exit. No-leads work well in marginal calibers.
It's stories like these that make me wonder if it's just that my shot placement is a little off. If people can take elk at a good distance with one bullet when with that same bullet it took me 3 to kill a medium sized mule deer with, it wouldn't make too much sense for it to be a bullet problem. I do know I don't want to keep using the 95 Hornady sst's with the massive hole it blew out of the stomach muscles on my last deer. I shouldn't be able to put my fist through a hole a .243 makes at any range in my opinion. It seems like all the deer I've shot recently just don't want to die and need one or more follow up shots.
ElkTrout
Veteran member
Another thought for you might be the 100 grain HSM round with the Berger bullet. That bullet has been great for me. A decent exit wound and does a tremendous amount of internal damage. Also has a very high ballistic coefficient.
Musket Man
Veteran member
I have killed many deer with my 243 with 100gr remington core-lokts and 100gr winchester power points or soft points (cant remember exactly what the winchesters were but they got the job done) and probably some others I cant remember. Back then when I was growing up we used whatever others that came hunting at our ranch gave my grandfather. My grandfather and great uncle never worried about what they were and as long as they fit the gun they were what we used. The only bullets I ever had an issue with was a box of federals (dont remember what type or weight). I hit a couple deer pretty well with them and I did get the deer but they didnt die as fast as they should have and I found some of the bullets in them broke up and the lead separated from the jacket. When I started buying my own billets I always used 100gr rem core-lokts. Just because the deer doesnt drop in his tracks doesnt mean it wasnt a good shot or the bullet didnt preform well. On a well placed double lung shot its not unusual for them to go a little ways before they die. In my experience you usually have to hit them in the head or neck or break their spine to put them down on impact. Meat damage comes more from shot placement then the bullet or caliber. Any quality around 100gr bullet designed for big game will get the job done with a fairly well placed shot.
I've been having a problem with deer being able to walk again after going down for a second. I hit my buck this year and his back legs gave out and he went down immediately. Then for whatever reason he learned to walk again and started limping down to the bottom of a draw. He got out of my sight and them popped up around a corner walking to me probably about 75 yards away when I put another one in it with a very hard quartering to angle if it wasn't straight on. This shot blew out the big hole in the stomach muscles but it didn't blow a full hole out of the skin. So it seemed to not do enough to the deer to kill it very quick but it also did a lot of damage. I might just try the Hornady 100 grns again if I can't find a box or a load for the E-tips and see if they do better this time.
6mm Remington
Very Active Member
Check this site every couple of days. You can get some screaming deals on 2nds and over-runs.
http://www.shootersproshop.com/nosler-products/nosler-blemished-2nds/nosler-blemished-bullets.html
http://www.shootersproshop.com/nosler-products/nosler-blemished-2nds/nosler-blemished-bullets.html
I'm in the Nosler Partition camp, 100gr. My son took his first moose with a .243 at about 125 yards with one shot. It ran about 50 yards and died. He took a caribou with the 85gr. Barnes TSX and it killed the bull but required a follow-up shot and didn't perform as well as I expected. Lots of people seem to love them though.
I've never had a Partition fail to work as expected. I used a 180gr to make a 1 shot kill on a Grizzly. The bear dropped in his tracks.
I've never had a Partition fail to work as expected. I used a 180gr to make a 1 shot kill on a Grizzly. The bear dropped in his tracks.
Topgun 30-06
Banned
Hornady SP and BTSPs are all I reload with for my .243, 25-06, and 30-06s and they have never let me down on antelope, deer, and elk.
jims
Member
I agree with others that the 100 grain Partitions are a very good bullet in the .243. I used these bullets in handloads for several years for whitetail hunting. Some resulted in deer dropping instantly, some not. Depends on shot placement. With the .243 being on the light side for caliber, I always wanted a well constructed bullet that would retain a high % of weight for maximum penetration. You get that with Partitions.
Musket Man
Veteran member
Where exactly did you hit him the first time? Did the first bullet go all the way through? If the second bullet didnt exit the deer were you able to recover the bullet? If the bullet did alot of damage but didnt kill the deer very quickly I would guess it did not hit in a very good place. When I was younger I hit alot of deer in alot of poor places. Some went down and never moved, some I had to track a ways, some took more then 1 shot, and most of them had quite a bit of meat damage. As I have gotten a little older and calmed down a bit I have killed most deer with 1 shot and they havent gone very far or had alot of meat damaged. Provided the bullet retains its weight fairly well a deer hit well in the vitals (heart, lungs, liver) isnt going to live very long.
I've never recovered a bullet from a deer but I'd really like to. My handloads are pumping usually around 3,000 fps so I seem to have more pass throughs than not. All the deer I can remember field dressing have had heart or lung damage. I don't remember ever shooting a deer very far behind the shoulder to the point it misses any vitals. But that doesn't mean I didn't slip a bullet through one of the little area's of dead space between the vitals. I think I'm going to have to really keep records on this stuff. I really should keep a couple journals like they say you should when I hunt so I can write this stuff down shortly after it happens.
Musket Man
Veteran member
If the bullet went through I would think it held together pretty well. If it only hit 1 lung the deer could live a while on the other lung. That usually comes from shots that are quartering pretty hard. I seem to hit alot of animals in the liver, not that Im trying to, but they never go very far!
Yeah I've never really thought it was a problem with bullets fragmenting or anything crazy but they just don't seem to work for me. I hear plenty of stories about them dropping anything in it's tracks, but for me, doesn't happen. I'm leaning towards shot placement is my problem more than anything, but with the 85 gr tsx I do feel that is too light for mule deer or elk. If they still made the 90 gr x in a tsx I'd definitely give that a try. I'll probably pick up a box of partitions and a box of E-tips and try those out. I really need to look into why each deer I get in the future reacts the way it does after the shot. I need to figure out just what I hit and how and use that to better judge a bullet for me to finally feel satisfied with a bullets performance. I'm a very particular guy when it comes to my accuracy and the performance of certain equipment I use.