Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Nosler Custom Ammo .243 Win.

Hello,

I would appreciate opinions on Nosler Custom ammunition in .243 Win. with 85 gr. Partitions for deer hunting. My son will be using his new-to-him .243 this year for his first deer hunting season.

Cabela's has a sale on the Nosler ammo for $33 per box. It was originally $42 per box. In addition, Nosler is running a rebate promotion whereby if you buy two boxes of ammo, they will send you a free box (no shipping charges, either). Therefore, I would get three boxes for $66, which works out to $22 per box (excl. tax & shipping, but I could pick it up in store and avoid shipping costs). This is actually less expensive than a lot of other factory ammo I have been considering, including the 95 gr. Federal Fusion at $25 per box.

One concern is whether the ammo will shoot accurately from his rifle, but, if not, we could always burn it up at the range. My main concern is whether the 85 gr. NP bullet is optimal. Federal loads their Premium .243 Win. ammo with 100 gr. Partitions, and I believe other brands of .243 ammo may use a 95 gr. NP.

What say you about Nosler Custom factory ammo and the 85 gr. NP on deer, in particular?

Thanks.

They aren't going to bounce off..

Nuff said

Are you sure? I've already handicapped my son by condemning him to use the "marginal" .243 Win. on deer. Any good reason to avoid saving a few bucks and opting for a heavier bullet?

BTW, other cartridges are on sale as well, and combined with the rebate, it appears to be a pretty good deal for those of us who are unfortunate enough to be running factory fodder.

make sure you have a sharp knife 85gr bullet is plenty

Thanks. I just found them at Cheaper than Dirt for $29.03 per box. That would be $58.06 for two boxes, and when I get the third box for free from Nosler, it's down to $19.35 per box. Not bad for "premium" ammo. Plus, if I get back into handloading or impose on a relative who loads, I should have 60 pieces of decent Nosler brass to get me started.

EDIT:
Scratch that. CTD wants $15.30 for shipping. I'll go Cabela's and have them shipped to the store for free. It's a 35 minute drive, but I've been meaning to get there soon anyway.

I only wish more could be so handicapped. I wouldn't use cheap soft points or varmint loads, but at the same time i would shoot any bull elk through the ribs, broadside with a 243 nosler partition up to about 300 yards.

If you go heavier, go with the 95 NBT.

hornady interlock or gmx or etip or ttsx-all can kill the deer beyond the one he shoots. These aren't grandads bullets. Many big muleys have been taken with less

Yep. My original plan was to have my son use 80 gr. Federal blue box for practice and 80 gr. Barnes Vor-TX TTSX for game. The lower recoil of the relatively lighter bullet was a plus, too, considering my 12 year-old son weighs only 70 lbs. However, at this price, I decided to give the Nosler ammo a try.

My job is to get him as much trigger time as possible between now and the season. I'm confident the cartridge will do its job.

My wife's 6mm Rem has been flawless on pronghorn and mule deer with 85 grain slugs. She uses Speers. Longest shot was 400 and some change on a mule deer. Out the other side and I called a miss when I saw the dust fly. Two steps later he tipped over.