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W.T.F.?

80/85 (T)TSX and 4350 or 4831 turn the .243 into a giant killer.

Sometimes its best to just not ask.....

Lost my coffee!

No further data needed. LOL

lol! I have called him a little booger before.

The 100 grain Hornady Interlock has never let us down.

A excellent cartridge. I have killed a truck load of ground hogs and crows with the 243 and a couple of deer all with excellent results. While I have killed a few groundhogs with 100 gr bullets I really like the 75-85 gr varmint bullets for varmints and feel the 90- 105 gr bullets are preferable for deer. Both deer I killed were with remington core loct 100 gr. both were DRT. I found that with 100 gri got highest velocities easier with slow powders like 4831.

Started using a .243 about 15 years ago, it has done easily 90% of my hunting.The 95 gr. NBT is as good as it gets, although I have a lot of affection for the 85 gr TSX if "bigger" game is on the table.

I've killed countless deer with the 243 and 99% were with the 100 gr. Hornady or the old Nosler solid base. I've used the 95 gr NBT in a pinch 4 or 5 times and it worked fine. One and done.

I've got some nosler brass, 95gr btips and 80gr ttsx on the way. Just need to pick a powder. I have varget and rl17 on hand for starters.

RL17 with the TTSX was a very accurate combo in my Howa .243.

They don't work so good anymore, it became a .308, so the bullets don't fit as good as they used to.

As has been said..... 95gr BT over 4350 is magic. My tikka shoots this combo very very well. So does my Remington. Can't go wrong with this combo

Casey I forgot to mention that those 85 GK get a bad rap pretty often, but I used that bullet on about 20 or so corsican (and the like) rams and hogs over a year or so while guiding on a high fence outfit. Most were finishers so most were amped up at the shot. More often then not the animals dropped where they stood, shot through the lungs. I ran out so I went back to my solid bases and Hornadys. Just a little added info.

Nice, but I shoot heavier calibers because I never want to find my bullet. I want two holes for more blood trail.

Considering all the testimony to bang flops and me seeing them more often than not, I would argue the opposite point saying I'd rather shoot a lighter faster bullet so I don't have to blood trail. I hate it when a deer makes a death dash down a ravine or canyon. I prefer to have them drop where I want. ymmv

FWIW I've had a lot of them flop without a high shoulder shot. the impact in the ribs must have been enough to jar them and plant them there where they expire. and that is exactly why I use the 95 gr NBT

I guess it's a long winded version of speed kills and shot placement counts.

I think you can find many other gun combinations with heavier bullets that will produce a good hydrodynamic shock.

I asked my gunsmith about how he liked his 243 and sucess and he said its good, but he had one situation where he was in a tall deer stand and his deer came in close and he shot at a steep angle. Shouldnt be an issue but the bullet never exited and he tracked that deer a 1/4 mile with little blood because the chest cavity had to fill to the top.

You can say bullet placement and performance, but the story would have been different if he was shooting copper bullets or a heavier caliber bullet.

Imagine if your a new hunter and your picking a rifle and you have a choice of having to buy expensive limited choice copper bullets to make a 243 perform or get a bigger gun where any $18 box of shells (think 308) will do the job... why under size yourself?

Having said that... my 35 rem and 300 savage has dropped more deer in their tracks and they are not speed queens.

Your mileage may vary. I never want to recover my bullets. That means they didn't have enough gas left in the tank to do the job when shot angles get tough or distances get long.

I would add 4350 and 95 nosler partition.

I have to add my support for the 80 gr TTSX. Results have been impressive.

Had good groups with 45 and 46 gns RL-17 with the 80gn ttsx.
46 was smaller of the two groups but only slightly.