One of my favorite loads for my 240 Wby was with their 105 spitzer, a very good bullet for deer but…….discontinued a while back. 😡
Yeah, the old .243 cal Speer 105 gr HotCor spitzer was a great deer bullet out of .243s, 6mms, and the 240 Wby. I guess the next best one they have now for deer in that caliber is the 100 gr Grand Slam.
I was one of the main wounded game trackers in our old hunting club and I don't remember ever having to track one shot with the Speer 105 gr HotCor, but LOTS shot with other .243 cal bullets (except for NPT's). This was back before bonded core and good monolithic bullets were generally available. Unless a person was somebody known to be a serious hunter that was very careful with shot placement, I hated to see folks show up with anything .243/6mm cal.
Bonded and mono mean tougher, no thanks, not on a small animal.
Last thing I want in a bullet killing an animal of 250# or less is tough.
If a person isn't getting DRT or a 20 yard death run with a 243/6mm he isn't hitting the animal correctly or is using a railroad spike tough bullet.
Give me a semi soft bullet in any deer cartridge and tracking becomes a non issue if one must shoot "for the lungs".
My personal feelings are the .22 and .24 calibers get a bad reputation because people want to use a tougher bullet because it's a smaller caliber. If I want a decent sized hole in a critter from a smaller caliber I need a bullet that opens somewhat in a hurry, not explosive but quick expanding.
Quick expansion=quick kills. Part of the reason Partitions are quick killers, that front core is very soft.
Don't even begin to tell me about the "excessive" meat loss. I hardly consider 5# at most from a larger deer excessive meat loss.
I grew up seeing deer killed with 222 and the hot 22s through .243/6mm. The big gun to me was a 25-06. All killed pretty quickly with the 243/6mm and a 100 grain BTSP Sierra or 22-250 with a 55 grain BTSP Sierra. The guys used the same rifles and bullet that they coyote hunted with when running hounds. Nobody seemed to complain that they needed more horsepower or a "tougher" bullet.
My favorite still to this day for my 6mm Remington is the 85 grain Sierra Varminter SP, kills like lightening and will fully penetrate on 99% of broadside shots. If you trail it's about a 20 yard walk and really don't need to follow blood although it is there.
