Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 243 Winchester factory ammo for Antelope.

I'm setting up a 243 for a friend to use for a antelope hunt this year and probably for deer in the future. I have no experience with the 243/6mm for this size game. Assuming acceptable accuracy, what's your recommendation for factory ammo. Shots would not exceed 250 yards.

Thanks,

Dennis.

Any load besides those designed for varmits. Although I had good luck with 70 grain BTIPS. Bang flops on deer.

I’ve killed a ton of whitetails and feral hogs with the cheap Remington 100 grain Corelokt factory ammo. And the 80 grain version should be fine for Antelope. It’s cheap and very accurate in my 243.

Tons of good ammo out there for 243. I’d highly recommend any of the Factory Hornady ammo also

Nosler’s 95 grain Ballistic Tip works well too.

Any of the inexpensive factory 100-grain loads, whether Federal, Hornady, Remington, Winchester or whatever.

Interesting response Mule Deer, I haven't used factory ammo in the 243 for over 30 years, but did so extensively before then, and found the 100 grainers really average killers of small game, on the other hand the 80s were outstanding

Good reply by Mule Deer.
The same for whitetails.

I really like the 95 grain Winchester/Olin Deer Season XPs for lung shooting. Quick expansion and energy dump.

EDIT: This factory load has also been very accurate in each 243 that I've shot it from, a Marlin XS7 truck gun, an RAR-P, and a slightly more expensive 700 CDL-SF.

As a general comment, I suggested 100-grain factory loads partly because the muzzle velocity generally isn't super-zippy out of typical .243 sporters, generally somewhere in the 2800's. This is still enough for a middle-chest hold out to 250 yards when sighted-in two inches high at 100, but doesn't tear up as much delicious pronghorn meat as lighter, faster bullets. And there ain't much meat even on a big buck, usually no more than 40 pounds.

Also, how quickly a certain bullet kills pronghorns is pretty much irrelevant. They live on the wide-open plains, not thick woods. So what if one goes 50 yards before dropping? In fact, we often used monolithic bullets for pronghorns. They may not kill as spectacularly with double-lung shots as plastic-tipped lead-cores, but even if they slip into a shoulder (whether due to wind, the shot angle, or shooter error, which would of course never happen to any Campfire members) the amount of meat-loss is minimal.

I've had both the 6mm Remington and the .243. I have .243 at present. We have killed deer and hogs with everything from 85 grain SGKs to 100 grain Winchester Power Point. The .243-6mms are very versatile and if you hit a deer or antelope in a vital area with just about any 6mm projectile it's probably going down, fast.

I've always had really good luck with 100 grain SGKs.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^THIS !^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

But I do have a preference of Hornady Superformance with the 95gr SST for heart lung shooting !

I have set out, attempted and tried on a few occasions to better the plain old blue box Federal 100gr loads and just really can't do it. They just work.

Yep!

100 grain Corelokt

Thanks for all the replies! I've ordered 4 boxes consisting of low end 95 and 100 grain Winchester, Federal and Hornady. We'll see what shoots best and go from there.

85gn TSX is a superb "Do-All" for the 243Win. They knock the snot out of deer with little meat damage and don't tear up coyotes. I load my own but a buddy uses the Barnes Vor-TX ammo and is very happy w/accuracy.

Federal Premium 95 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip.

'What shoots best' - is your answer Good hunting.

Hornady American Whitetail ammo with 100-grain Interlocks. This is not expensive ammo and shoots great in virtually every caliber that I have seen it used it. I always hand loaded, when I had a .243, but the factory ammo does well. Any of the above-mentioned ammo is good and all you have to do is decide which one works best for that rifle.

I wish there were some way to fully explain the phenomenon of the 243 Winchester, it just works.

Wife has had great results from Hornady SSTs, 95gr IIRC and Federal with 100gr Nosler Partition bullets. SSTs are "one ragged hole"/3 shots at 100 yards. Partitions, sub-1" group/3 shots at 100 yards.