Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting First Year with 243

Killed a lot of deer with Remington 100gr. Core-Lokts in the 243win before I started reloading the Barnes 80gr. TTSX.

buckman- you do not say where you are; or what you are shooting at. the whitetails here weigh 60-80 pounds. the ones in Canada sask weigh 300 pounds and cost 7K to hunt. I have shot antelope, whitetail , 20 mule deer , a couple elk and 130 coyote with a .243. they work real well. a 100 grain Hornady or a 95 nolser partition for deer. awesome.

I have opted this year to go old school with the Speer 100 gr BTSP. It has a really good BC for the price point and I've found a great load with it and H4350 where ES was single digits. I'll be deer hunting with it out to 400 yards.

Speer has been pretty optimistic in their BC claims.

Our "The 243 is a magic death ray" thread is early this year. Usually it's not here till August.

Yeah...but the deer don't really seem to care...

Put me in that group as well. We’ve killed over a dozen or so with that round over the last 10 yrs or so as my kids got into deer hunting. Other rounds will work too I just haven’t had any excuse to try anything else. Never recovered a single bullet on any of the deer we shot but the exit hole says it performed very well every time.

Factory 95 or 100 grain 243 loads are all more than adequate for deer. Some of the ones I've used: 100 grain Federal Blue Box, 95 grain Federal Fusion, Federal Premium 95 grain ballistic tips, and Hornady Whitetail 100 grainers.

They all worked well on whitetail, hogs and antelope. There's no reason to be nervous.

This is all good to see, if such a thing as this thread could have been posted 50 years ago it would be full of " the .243 is too light for deer" comments...

This one has pretty well been a glowing recommendation for the .243


As it should be.

And I believed that too - growing up hearing from grandpa, uncles and friends that .30-06 was the minimum deer cartridge and 7mm Mag or .300 Mag was mo' better.
Funny thing though, since I started shooting 'em with a .243 and .223 they die just as dead.
Here's my wife's buck shot with a .243 and 95 grain Hornady SSTs at, if I recall, 135 yards, or so. Right side entry and blew up inside with massive internal damage. The buck didn't take a step, but went right down.
That is the biggest bodied buck I've ever seen killed. Though we didn't weigh it, I weigh about 300lbs and she's about 100lbs. It was much closer in size and weight to me than her. Matter of fact, we couldn't drag it and had to call our son to come help.

I can remember 50yrs ago, there was only 2 guys in town that even had a .243. Funny things is, right about that time or a bit later, the 6mm Remington really took off! this was in East, Texas, well, our part of it. 100gr Remington factory corlokts. The only rifle it was "desired in" though was the Mod 742! MY BIL had a nice Mod 788 that took him years to sell! I think the biggest issue was not the 6mm but that the 788 was a bolt gun. They were not that popular there at that time. leverguns or autos. But the 6mm users sounded a lot like the 6.5 Creedmoor users today, ha.

We have always hunted thick woods where 70 or 80 was a very long shot. Most shots have been 40 yards or so and quick. My personal longest was a lasered 65 yards.


Our family has killed around 20 deer with the 100 gr federal blue box. They have been from 70 +/- yards to 12 feet, and from 60 lb yearlings to a 130 lb buck at 12.feet. only bullet I have recovered, that I can remember from this load was a perfect mushroom that went through both shoulders and poking out the hide on the far side of the 130 lb buck.


Shooting this load in 5 or 6 243s, we have decided if the gun wont shoot it well it may not shoot anything well. We love the Federal 100 grain blue box ammo.

Federal blue box 100gr has never let me down.If you lack confidence,Barnes Vor-Tx 80gr will make you a believer...

I had never fired a 243 until about 3 weeks ago. I bought a Savage 99 in 243. I have loaded a bunch for grandkids. They have no problem with pigs and deer with a 80 grain TTSX. I’m gonna try it myself this hunting season.

Like so many others have posted, I like the Federal 95 grain Fusion in factory 243 ammunition. If that isn't available, I'm as happy as a clam to shoot Federal Blue Box, 100 grain soft points. Whitetails get sick and die very quickly if you shoot them in the armpit, shoulder or neck with either of those loads.

Yeah no kidding.
I was on a deer hunt in the state of Washington, about 38 years ago. I was hunting with some friends and their family members. They were telling me my 243 was going to bounce off the deer with no injury to the deer.
A few days later, I let the air out of a nice buck. They all had long faces.

The 243/6mm is still getting it done.

I hand loaded 95g partitions and 100g Hornady Interlock flat base and boat tails...fabulious on large 200+ lb deer.

this is a great factory bullet, for coming and going from any angle

https://www.federalpremium.com/products/rifle/premium-centerfire-rifle/nosler-partition/p243e

Shots with deer walking away or coming to you can be tricky with some bullets. Partitions will never fail you even if you have to shoot them in the butt hole walking away from you!!!

The bullet is the cheapest part of the hunt.

Friends report great results shooting the 80g ttsx, but I have not shot them on deer or hogs.

For flat lands In OK, wide open spaces, years ago, all I shot was the 85g Speer btsp, great deer bullet, not a varmint bullet.

Buckman,

This past season was my second to use a 243 win here in Missouri. Like you, I was a little bit nervous, using only 7-08 or larger rounds previously. I took a nice mature buck each season with one shot using hand loaded bullets. A 100 gr Partition in 2017, and a 95 gr Ballistic Tip last season. Neither buck went over 35-40 yds. Internal damage and deer response was the same as I'd seen with 7-08, 284 win, 308 etc. If I was using factory ammo, I'd go with the BT or the Fusion. And shoot with confidence It will get the job done quite efffectively.

Good hunting,
bludog



2017, non-typical 5x3, 100 gr Partition



Last season, nice 8, 95gr Ballistic Tip

We get to hunt during the rut. Deer are often chasing does, so the normal broadside shot is not always possible. I need to have the confidence to shoot them quartering walking away or coming to me.

95 and 100g Partitions do not fail.

also, R#26 gets the 100g up to 3150-3200, but most of my life, I have shot them in the 2950 fps area on a 24" barrel.

As a recovered "243 is too light for deer" 243 shooter I have used a lot of bullets over the last several years and all have worked well.... They include...

80 gr ttsx
90 gr NBT
95 gr NBT
95 gr SST
95 gr NPT
100 gr Hornady BTSP
100 gr NPT
100 gr Sierra Pro Hunter

My fav is the 95 gr NBT. Works great from any angle and very easy to make shoot well. R-23, R-26 and either 4831 have been my goto's. Just like Keith i get 3150-3200 with 26 and about 75 fps slower with 23. The 4831's both run around 2950-3000. Go forth and kill stuff... it works...