Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 243 and 6mm kills - do tell

243 Win with the 80 GMX @ 3050fps on a decent doe around 60yds shooting slightly uphill. That's the exit in the pic and I will certainly be using the 80 GMX again.

A 243 will work if you get close enough...

A few 6mm kills from over the years. I like the 100 gr Speer BTSP. Never a tracking issue for me when put through the lungs.

Shrapnel - that looks like a real goat - rope, so to speak!

Dog Hunter - that's one heck of a muley! Congrats!

Guy

I have all three of those bullets, in addition to the 95 Partition, and after the season is over, I intend to find out more about them. I will use the 80 TTSX this year, and have complete confidence in it's ability to exit.

I see so many endorsements of the 95 NBT that it is next on the list for live testing. I still have time before the firearms season here in Va. to compare to the TTSX for accuracy.

I know the Partition will work, I just wonder if it's accuracy would compare with the TTSX, and based on reputation, the NBT.

Over the years I've made three one shot kills all does. Not a lot to tell two were under 50 yds one head on center of the chest one right behind the shoulder both drt . The 3 rd was probably 180 -200 yds. Thru the shoulder again drt. This shot resulted in the only bullet I have recovered. A perfect mushroom under the hide on the offside again drt. All bullets were hand loads using 100 gr Remington corelokt bullets.
Last year went with a friend that was always a big rifle sort of guy but due to a shoulder problem couldn't use his normal 30-06. I convinced him to take a 243 and he was skeptical of his chances. However when he got a chance at about 250 yds he made a nice shot behind the shoulder. I asked what happened and he said it was like someone pulled the rug out from under the deer. I believe he was using 100 gr fusion ammo.

I shoot a deer or two off and on with a .243, have done so since the fifties. I really like the 80 grain TTSX and the 85 TSX. Very accurate and kill very well.

I shot one with a Howa 1500 .243 that was the nicest job any .243 has ever done for me. I was looking for a nice fat fawn on the last day of the season for one last tasty one in the freezer. Almost at the end of shooting light one walked out and immediately turned and just walked straight away. It just kept going until it got to about 150 yards then it froze looking at something about 500 yards across the field. The rifle was really accurate, no wind, so I settled the crosshairs at the base of the skull and he did one of those slow motion tip overs.

I've never stopped a Barnes of any caliber, including .223s, in a deer. From the holes in the deer, there's no way I'd even consider guessing what caliber did it. They all look the same to me. Some bleed, some don't. I have seen poor blood trails with 250 grain 45 caliber Barnes and with .223 and 53 grain TSXs. What I do see is uniformly destroyed chest contents, big calibers and small. I look at it like if I drop blood pressure to zero instantly, I shouldn't be expecting a blood trail and Bambi isn't going to make it past 50 yards 95% of the time and never past 100 if he does run. So far none have violated that rule.

Nearly mirrors my setup except I use Varget. My model 7 is actually my Daughters and is the older 18 1/2 inch barrel model. She, I and others have killed a pretty good pile of deer with it, and I don't recall one ever being hard to find. I do not hunt with it much but do not feel handicapped when I do. miles

I took a small 3x3 white tail in WY in 2013, using a Tikka T3 Lite .243 Win shooting factory 95 gr Fusions at 295 yards. Shortly afterwards I took a mule deer doe at 185 yards. Both were one shot kills, with the bullets passing through.

Eric

243 Win worked fine on an antelope doe this year.
95gr Ballistic Tip/41.5gr H4350 @ ~3070 out of a 700 ADL.
At 242 yards the bullet entered the right side of the quartering away antelope. It broke a near side rib, clipped the bottom of the backbone and punched through the left side shoulder blade. It appeared to exit in one piece.
I have no complaints.

100 gr. NPT at 3,250 fps out of a .240 is good WT and Pronghorn medicine. Good entrance and exit holes, lots of messed up stuff in between. Hits hard. They don't go far, mostly DRT.

DF

Hunted with the 243 Win for years. Never had bad results, even with Winchester power points on deer. The closest thing to a 'problem' I had was a big doe that I hit perfectly through the lower heart but missed bone. That deer ran 70 yards, but was easily tracked.

More recently, I've used the 95 Partition and lately, the 85 TSX. Boringly positive results on deer. I have not used the 243 for anything larger than Antelope or deer, but I would not hesitate to use it on black bears, goats etc. at reasonable (~300 yards) distance with good bullets.

Meat on the ground! Good to know. I currently am using the 85 TSX, but have a box of GMX 80s to load and try.

Damn nice bucks!

Lee....thats long before you met me, about 60 pounds ago...and I had hair!

And it was brown!

243 win 95 gr ballistic tip. One shot in the heart and he went down like a sack of taters.

Not ALOT of hair...

That top Mulie is uber. All are nice bucks! 270 win?

Nice!

That is a Grand buck

Nice bucks for an OLD man.