Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 243 for deer

Where you live deer can get huge, so go with a tougher bullet.

95g Hornady SST is tougher than the 95g Ballistic tip, but my preference is with two other bullets that will get the job done in spades

100g Hornady spbt
95g NOler partition

We have taken a lot of deer over 200 lbs with both of these bullets and the partition will penetrate and break bones on quartering shots, with no fear!

We shot a hot load of IMR 4831 with a 9 1/2 primer with the 95's, but today I would start off with R#26 with a cci 250 or fed 215 primer.

Those Kansas and Nebraska Bucks we hunted were all over 200 lbs, with shots running 300-400 yards. No flies on the 100g Hornady, flat base or btsp version!

I've used most "big game" bullets in the .243 & they have all worked.

Currently using 95gr Hornady SST & love it.

I'm a meat hunter, so shots are always at stationary, unwary animals & always behind the shoulder & above the heart (if I can help it), deer go 0 to 30 yards tops.

Yes, a dime to nickle sized exit, same size through lungs. Sample of half dozen or so deer and 1 coyote. Bone may help them expand or maybe I had a fluke box of tough bullets.

No deer were lost but had a couple go 100+ yards. Blood trails were decent.

I just know with the 85s I load or the 100 grain bullets if a deer doesn't go down at the shot they might cover 25 yards at best.

Like I say a ton of guys like them just not my cup of tea.

They were still erratic probably 10 years ago when I finally quit gamekings.. I"ll use matchkings without a worry though..

Thanks everyone. I ordered the 95gr BTs.

My experiment ended with two this year. I had heard so much good I decided to try them. No more for me. I will go back to the Sierra 85gr HPBT which has always worked without question for me. The TTSX would also be a good one to try.

I too have had great success with 95 grain Hornady SSTs. From 30 to 200 yards, it drops whitetails like they got hit with lightning.

I'm not a fan either in .243. I too have had better success with the Sierra 85 gr HPBT.

Unless you have a grunge against the front end, I'd encourage you stay off the shoulders.

Scott: I trust your opinion, and your experience, but Im wondering about this...Ive had three instances where Ive shot shoulders with this bullet and got good penetration and performance each time on critters from 100 to 275 pounds....granted, its only a sample of three.....

Tom,
In my experience, it kill's 'em deader'n a doornail - it's the aftermath on the cutting table with copious amounts of strawberry jello / waste.

I may have got a bad box. They were some I had for a few years. I shot them out of the 6x47L. One fairly close and one at distance. I shot them behind the shoulder in the boiler room. Pretty much exploded on the surface puncturing a lung. Had to finish both off with another shot. Actually a friend finished one off after it got up after tracking it a quarter mile. His old corelok 243 worked great. Bad box or not, it soured me.

The 95 gr. Nos BT kills Whitetails as does the 105 gr. Scenar We use them in .243 STD and .243 A.I. results of 2 1/2 days hunting in Dec. 2017

THAT I will agree with that, but have experienced it with a few bullets in the .243...

The NBT has 'evolved' and gone through a number of upgrades as it were. If it was a number of years ago, try them again..

I swore off them shortly after their introduction till JB talked me into trying them again. BIG difference!

How so, Kemo?

Was just pondering those for a 6mm Rem noting the BC...

Not sure how old mine are but know they have some age. Were your early vintage results indicating they were not as tough a bullet as the current production?

I don't see a lot of difference in destructiveness between most .243 bullets, and consider the 100 partition to be as destructive as the rest. That front end is wicked. I only shoot maybe a couple of deer a year, on average, so FWIW...

Accuracy and performance, my top 3 picks are the 85 bthp, the speer 90, and the BT95...

While some bullets tend to aggravate meat damage more than others, about any bullet will cause some destruction, when game is shot in the front shoulders. I’ve even seen Barnes TTSXs cause a great deal of meat damage on front shoulder hits.

If you want to minimize meat damage, don’t shoot them in the meat.