Best Deer Bullet in .243...

[bowhunter223]

Went and bought me a Savage M16 in .243 Cal (For Yotes and a Muley or two) Anyway, what's the best bullet yall have found for deer in this caliber? I want good expansion, accuracy (the savage gun takes care of that though with their barel and accu-trigger)and a bullet that just plain does a good job on a muley.

 

[DallanC]

>Went and bought me a Savage
>M16 in .243 Cal (For
>Yotes and a Muley or
>two) Anyway, what's the best
>bullet yall have found for
>deer in this caliber?
>I want good expansion, accuracy
>(the savage gun takes care
>of that though with their
>barel and accu-trigger)and a bullet
>that just plain does a
>good job on a muley.


100grn Nosler Partition. Wifes been shooting them out of her .243 and performance has been exceptional. She even took a 350BC Caribou with her puny little .243 (full penetration). With a proper bullet its a great rifle out to medium ranges. I like a heavier bullet in a larger caliber when ranges get out past 250-275ish yards though.

-DallanC

 

[dl19]

Partition is the best period...but any of the non HP or ballistic tip style 100gr will work...my kids have used the 100gr Hornady interlock with great results...the gun does not like to shoot Partitions ut likes Spire Points....

 

[Kirby]

Another vote for 100gr Partition. I've taken a fair number of deer with my .243, I tried several bullets and found my rifle really like the partition, so I never used anything else on deer. Never had a problem, and never failed to put them down fast when I did my part.

Kirby

When in doubt, floor it.

Diplomacy is the art of saying "nice doggy" until you find a big stick.

 

[7wby]

My wife and I have found the 100 gr. hornady spire points to work really well out of her M77 compact.This year my daughter is going mule deer hunting for the first time and we're going to try the 90 gr. swift scirocco out of that same rifle.We've gotten just under one inch three shot groups @ 100 yds. with the hornadys, not bad for that light 16.5" barrel.

 

[bowhunter223]

Thanks for all the replies. I already had the Nosler Partitions in mind...just wanted to get some feedback. I went and bought a few boxes of Remington Core-lokt 100 gr. and took it out the first day a few saturdays ago. Once I got it on paper at 100 yds I put the cheep Simmons 8-point scope it came with on 9x. Best group that day, with a strong head wind......3/8" (3 shot group) I was impressed to say the least with the accuracy of this gun. What about shots at deer 300-400 yds.? Not that I'd often take that long of a shot....heck, I've never shot a deer over 200 yds...but if it called for it, would the .243 do well out to 400?

 

[Lien2]

I would say out to 350 yards, if you hit them right, they are done. Anything over 400 is stretching it IMO. Here's a picture of my wife's deer she shot with her .243 at 300 yards. She was using 100 gr Remington Core-loks, but I also think the Partitions are among the best.

Lien2

 

[ktc]

I am going the other direction than the previous replies.

I shot a .243 for years at deer. It was the best deer gun I ever shot. I was able to kill deer in one shot and they tipped right over.

44 grains of IMR4350 behind a 85 grain Sierra BTHP or a 87 grain Hornady BTHP.

It worked excellent on antelope and deer.

 

[BCHunter]

I asked this same question on here several years ago. I had several people tell me that they used the 85gr BTHP on MD and Lope's. I have taken 2 deer with that bullet and both of them dropped in their tracks. It's a great deer round.

ps: I shoot the Federal Premium 85gr BTHP-1" groups