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.

Good to read that "Any of the inexpensive factory 100-grain loads, whether Federal, Hornady, Remington, Winchester or whatever." which I suggested in my first post have all been endorsed by others since then.

JB, years back I had a Sako Deluxe Sporter AII, had a sporter bbl, thinner than the Foresters, it also had a 'ring' about a foot from the muzzle you could see on the outside as you looked down the bbl. I fired a 7 shot group one afternoon using red and white box Federal 100gr, and put 5 of 7 in 1.1"....oh, at 200 yds. '

Never shot a BAD group with any 6mm bore, or 243 for that matter. Shot many groups around 1/2" and some better around 3/8" - handloads at 100 yds. Yes, factory ammo works fine in most cases.

Mine really likes the 95 grain Federal Fusion. It worked really well on the only antelope we’ve shot with it. About $21 a box.

Since my reloading stuff is still packed away, my son will be using the same load this fall in WY. It's been great for us on whitetails, so I'm confident it'll do fine on pronghorn should he steer them in the right direction.

Haven't used it on Antelope, but they work very well on feral pigs and coyotes for long shots in both my .243 RAR Predator and my .243AI. Accurate and consistent. Not the cheapest, but great factory ammo.

Ed

Federal Fusion 95 grain is the most effective and consistently accurate that we have used on deer-sized game.

Quite an endorsement, must be great stuff.

The 95 Ballistic Tip has been my fave Go to bullet in BRs and 243s. Killed using several others, all work when put in vitals no doubt. Some just do things better, it's a balance of expansion which is needed in small calibers as we know, and penetration/weight retention to take out vitals from various angles. The 85 Barnes has quite a reputation, but so does the Sierra GKHP...just prefer more weight for longer shots, and tougher bullets for bad angles when one cannot get a broadside shot.

Jack O'Connor man-splained it about 50-odd years ago. People simply shoot better when they aren't worried about getting whacked with recoil. The most common cartridge fitting that requirement is the .243, though there certainly are others.

Yup. Same here, but in 6.5 Creedmoor 125gr. Really accurate and kills like a lightning strike.

I’d buy a box each of Browning BXR 97gr, Federal Fusion 95gr, Hornady American Whitetail 100gr, Remington Core-Lokt 100gr and Winchester Deer Season XP 95gr then let the rifle tell me what to use.

All of these factory loads offer nearly perfect performance for these applications and all are widely available and easy to find almost anywhere.

6mm Rem factory Fed blue box 100 grainers fired from a Rem 760 pump. Works fine on TX whitetails. Going to whack a pig with this load the next Campfire pig hunt.
Bob

Scoped and sighted in my uncle's 760 6MM w/same ammo and experienced similar accuracy. I was very surprised.

I tried the reg 100gr SP WW stuff in a 20.5" Ruger #1 RSI.
Deer was 50 yards, double lunged, almost broadside.
Rib hit on entrance.
Little hole in and out, he ran 50 yards, stopped for a couple seconds, and then walked 75 more yards and fell over.
So I went over and popped him again.

The ammo shot great in my rifle (cloverleaf at 75 yards.........only had 4X and was woods hunting so zeroed for that).

Switched to 95gr Deer Season XP and saw nothing big enough to test on the following yr.

Sold that rifle ( a little too pretty to push the creek bottoms) and got a beater .35 rem 760.
Still have a 700 in .243 though.

Reg 100gr WW.............only one kill. Not impressed.
Bought a few boxes of their 150 gr .30-06 stuff.

If raining I'll take my bad weather rifle out and give one a whirl.

+1 348, that is it in a nut shell. They are so easy to shoot well, you do. Only factory 243's I've ever used were 100 gr Corelokt's a guy could quit right there for 243 ammo. I didn't, I used to buy component 100 gr Corelokt's and load them to an honest 3000fps and they were even better. Over the last 40 years I've used 100 & 95 gr Partitions,105 gr Speers, 100 gr Corelokt's , 100gr SP & BTSP Hornady's. Far as I'm concerned the 100 gr SP Hornady was the best of all, I regularly ran them over 3000 fps by carefully loading them with H4831 and IMR 7828 with loads that are no longer listed in newer manuals. Not paper velocities but chrono graphed. Between the 243 and the 6mm Rem I've taken over 30 antelope and 1/2 doz deer. I've never noticed that the 25-06 kills them any deader only causes more meat damage.
I've a double antelope doe tag for this fall, my old 700 BDL in 243 with a M8 6x Leupold is ready to roll with whatever load I use. Just 1 month away and I can see, smell, and taste those bacon wrapped loin stks on the grill with a Bullit rye in hand. MB

An update on this 243........

I mounted a 3x9 Leupold and as suggested by several tried four factory 95 - 100 grain loads, 2 Federal, one Winchester and one Hornady. The 100 grain Hornady Whitetail was the best by far in this rifle with several 3 shot groups at 1/2 inch, some slightly less. And this from a $279 Savage Axis rifle! Performed well in the field also. One shot at just under 250 yards.

Nice job and antelope. Looks like you found what worked!

Congrats on the buck! I've killed several antelope and whitetail with the 100 grain Hornady Whitetail load.

It's a bit slow at 2784 from a 22" barrel, but it's cheap, groups well and has always left a quarter sized exit. I suspect it'd work well on cow elk too, but I haven't had a chance to try that yet.

yup....fully agree

Another vote for Hornady American Whitetail ammo.......And I've never even owned a 243..... This is based on a couple guys who shoot 243's at my clubs rifle range and that stuff really impressed me...... Accurate stuff that's affordable. If they were here they would highly recommend it.

Another vote for Winchester XP 95 gr..! Good stuff.