Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 243 and 75 gr Hornady HP

Anyone ever used this combo with success on deer?

Good to be loading some for an older friend ( retired Marine) who has just had shoulder surgery, and also retinal surgery on his right eye recently...

Doc told him to retire his 30/06 and take up golf... he already golfs anyway, but his son picked him up a 243 Weatherby Vanguard...

he shot some of my handloads and liked them... now the question is if the bullet is up to the task... I am sure it is, but that is speculation... proof is even better...

if that doesn't work, maybe I can talk him into shooting a TTSX in 80 or 85 grains... or my second choice was the 85 gr HP Sierra...

Haven't tried that one on deer but you might try the 85 Nosler Partition.

I have ran a couple of boxes of those thru 243s in the past.. doesn't matter how good of a bullet it might be once it hits the deer... but for accuracy, that bullet sucked in my 243s... it did patterns instead of groups...

but thanks for the suggestion..

I ran 70 grain NBT's last year and both my wife and I killed 3 antelope and 3 deer with them, all DRT. pushed at 3000 FPS range was 75-225 yards. even flopped a 4 point buck with a head on shot. I bet even loaded slower they would be great. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again, although I switched to the 95 NBT this year, wife will use the 70's in her lefty mini mauser 6x45.

I scored about 1k of those in blem form here back in 08 when I found my 6-250 loved em so much. I shoot water-filled recyclables at distances from 250-400 yards running them approx 3250 fps out of the gate. I've gone through about 900 of them now. They regularly leave behind jacket shards and lead dust, disintegrating almost completely. On dry phone books I've been unable to find anything but 6mm diameter jacket-bases when tested around 100 yards.

I really like frangible bullets on deer and lean toward NBTs over TSXs and these punch TINY little clover leaves through my rifle so I know I could put em where they belong.

All that having been said I'd not choose them or the 85 gr Sierra (which I've tested through water-filled laundry detergent jugs and found it to be lacking), especially in a 240 Weatherby. An 80 gr GMX (which MidwayUSA has in their blem selection right now!!) or a TTSX of the same weight would be the places I'd look.

YMMV

Last fall while hunting coyotes, I filled a whitetail doe tag with a 75 grain Horn. hollow pt..from my .243..Chest hit, she ran maybe 50 yards..blood trail was easy to follow..I usually opt for a heavier bullet, but it worked that time..But one shot doesn't prove much..these bullets have been accurate out of all the 6mm's I have owned..I suppose maybe 7 or 8..A real coyote killing bullet, placed behind the shoulder, it should work fine on deer...

Loaded up to the max, they are serious chuck bombs, minimal hazard as they pretty much detonate on impact. Backed off a bit they would certainly do the trick for your friend, but a
shot quartering on or away might not be so good.

If you haven't spent the money yet, the 85gr Sierra BTSP works real well, and is designed as a medium game bullet. I found it a bit frangible on close shots with full power loads, but great on antelope at 200yds +. A medium dose of 4895 or 4064 for 2800fps or so might be just the ticket. If you can find some.

Our family had been using this bullet for what seems like years. As long add I cab remember. 20+.... I couldn't even to tell you how many deer these have killed out of our. 243s. I would venture to day at least 2 deer a year and some years several deer and several antelope. It even accounted for an elk. I would not recommended it for that though.

Same circumstances. Shoulder surgery and couldn't shoot a mag. But drew a great tag. .243 to the head on a rag horn and that was all she wrote.

I highly recommend this bullet.

After shooting coyotes with them I would pass on planning deer hunting, but I'm sure they would work well doing head/neck shots.

I hunt places where seeing a big buck traveling through brush is a real possibility and wouldn't want to take a long shot on a windy day at a moving, quartering animal.

I agree with Tman about them being like a bomb on chucks. I have shot the HP variety of the 75's for about 15 years. A couple of things they do well. One they seem to give chucks flying lessons, gut them and dismember them, all in one shot.

I would not hesitate shooting deer with the load using lung shots or neck shots. After all, in my young adult years, I shot quite a few deer with a 22 LR. Never lost a one.

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Well, it's hard to argue with that much experience, far more than mine to be honest.

My first trip for WY antelope was with a .243, was in the 70's, it was a gold standard. (It still is, but apparently the antelope these days need way more power). The Sierra's these days bounce off, shed their cores, etc. Not mine BTW.

For a shooter that doesn't feel the need for a bullet that can penetrate from the hind quarter through the front shoulder, ruining most of the meat to get the horns, the 85gr Sierra is one of the quickest deer/antelope killers out there.

A local shop has a nice used 700 ADL in 243 for $399, I am afraid I may have to buy it.

I agree so much!!! We all need .338 cannons to take them out!!!

The 85 BTHP is a go to bullet in our family. Ever rile we have (6 .243's) shoot them sub MOA and one drives tacks with them(2 inch at 400 yards)!!!

I can not say enough good about them!

Haven't used it on deer, but the Hornady Custom 75 gr HPs (flat based) I bought shot 3 rounds inside a dime at 100 yards out of a Stevens 200, 22 inch factory contour barrel, with no accutrigger and a 3X9X32 Tasco scope, so I would call that accurate. So I went a bought a box of 250 bullets to work on duplicating that load. All I can say about it is it is any awesome target round for 100 yards out of the cheapest gear you can find.

Thats the bullet i use in my 6WOA. I run them about 2900 fps though. Very accurate and ive had good success with the gameking. It doesn't take much to kill a deer, just put it in the right spot.

Between my family and myself I’ve seen around 12-15 deer/antelope fall to the 75gr hp. One of two things happen. They drop on the spot or they run 35-50 yards and fall. Nothing’s gone over 50 yards. They rarely exit, but it’s happened a couple of times. I have a friend that’s hunted with only that bullet in a 243 for probably 15-20 years. He’s killed deer about to around 600 yards. I don’t recall him losing a deer, but he also isn’t just throwing lots of lead out there. We all pick our shots and are confident in our ability to hit what and where we’re aiming.

We’ve probably killed about 20 deer with them. No complaints,they don’t seem to run much,if at all after the shot.

I often wonder why when I read threads referring to lite caliber and or lite bullets for any game hunting. Why not just go up in bullet weight such as this op 75 to 100 gr well constructed bullet, recoil difference is almost nil.
Will it kill deer sure it will but so does a .22 short if placed properly.
I have had 2 shoulder surgeries in my life one was a total replacement to my butt stock shoulder three months prior to hunting season all I did was go from a 300wsm to a 257 Roberts with 117 gr8 bullets that season to kill 4 deer.

[quote=eyeball]After shooting coyotes with them I would pass on planning deer hunting, but I'm sure they would work well doing head/neck shots.

I completely agree here , not a bullet I would put high on the list for deer. Not with so many better options out there.. for punching paper or wackin varmits fire away.