Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting .243 questions

Hi. I recently acquired a 243 I plan to deer hunt with.im used to hunting with bigger rounds and am curious if the 243 leaves adequate blood trails with deer bullets. I'm using 95 grain nosler ballistic tips and 100 grain federal factory ammo. Should I have any problem getting blood trails? Or should I go back to using my 9.3x62mmMauser?

No. It will be more than enough. The 95 Nosler is money for deer sized game
You will be converted to the 243 club I’m sure after shooting one with it

You are going to get a lot of different answers here.


If I want somewhat consistent blood trails with a smaller caliber like .22, 6mm, or .257, I generally go for a controlled-expansion bullet to improve the odds of getting an exit. If it's more of a dual-purpose bullet, like something for a truck-gun or range toy, I may use a softer bullet that is cheaper or more accurate and just live with the fact that penetration may be more limited at times. I've had to run grid-searches in thick brush many times with deer shot with soft 6mm and .257 bullets that didn't exit on chest shots that weren't really hard angles. Not a fan for a dedicated deer hunting rifle. Make that same cup/core bullet a heavier 6.5mm or larger, and it'll likely punch on through. Same goes for a 6mm mono-bullet or Partition.

I load 80 TTSX for grandkids, punches through shoulders, lots of blood. They don’t go far, mostly DRT

You should have no problem. My wife has a 243, and I a 6mm Rem , we go out west for mule deer , we never have one go 50 yards, most went bang flop.

Ive used a .243 a lot and was never impressed with a good blood trail. On the positive side, like Wheleman says, they sure don';t go very far!

Made the switch to my [beautiful] Boat Paddle MKII .243 a few years back running Federal Fusions[95].
Tracking has not come up so far.
Of the 10-12 whitetails shot nary one has gone out of sight prior to going down.

If you want dead deer the .243 works great. If you always want a blood trail there are better options.

I have zero experience with the two bullets you mentioned but a fair amount of experience with Bergers (105) and Barnes (85 TSX and 95 LRX) and some experience with a couple basic cup/core soft points in the 100 grain range. These have been fired at deer/antelope from youth model .243s with stubby barrels and pedestrian velocities up to 6mm-06 speeds. Ranges from inside 100 to 400+

-Barnes gives two holes most of the time (I have caught two) but not particularly large holes so blood trails aren't always spilled paint bucket type deals. Caliber in, quarter ($0.25) out seems to be the norm.

-Bergers sometimes give one hole, sometimes two but tends to kill decisively even with just heart/lungs. On the occasions they do exit it can be dramatic, bordering on excessive.

-Cup/Core Soft Points often exit but not always. I don't remember any large exits.

YMMV

In my opinion try the 100 gr Nosler partition and you won't have any trouble. Just my 2 cents. Thanks & good luck.

A 243 Win just kills! And with today's bullet technology, you're good to go! Best to you and enjoy the results with a 243 Win!

.243 works well for me culling Whitetails, 100 gr. SGK Or 105 gr. Scenar, 1 serving per customer. Rio7

I can't say about a blood trail because I 've never lost sight of one I shot with my hand load with 100gr Rem Corelokts. YMMV

Your blood trails will be less and longer than your 9.3.

I shot a 243 Short track with the 95 gr bt a few years back when I was running dogs on occasion. The deer that wasn’t drt had plenty of blood to follow. I would shoot them without worries.

Yes, you may have problems if you need an obvious trail through heavy cover. Put it through the shoulder blades or neckbone so you don't have to worry about blood trails.

To put it another way, think more .223 than .25/06 when you consider .243 in terms of effect on game.

Pretty good testimonial there.

.243 is a good round for white tail. Have filled the freezer a few time with my ruger M77 and federal 100 grain soft point.

I've shot 4 deer with a 243...

3 were drt.. 2 head shots, 1 high shoulder shot and the last one went about 40 yards and watched it drop.

Yes you will get a blood trail. Sometimes not a great one.

Take a good shot and shoot to drop them where they stand. No worries.

Thank you all for your input. I'll use my new 243 with 95grain nosler ballistic tips and 100 grain federals.i may switch to 80gr ttsx bullets depending in the performance of the noslers.i have a feeling the noslers ballistic tips are gonna do fine.

Thanks!!

That's the exact bullet I use and of the 14-15 deer I have shot with it, none ran more than 50 yards, if they didn't drop there. No fancy shots, just boiler room hits and dead deer!