Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Best Bullet Choice For Whitetail (.243 or 6.5 CM)

My son will be hunting with a 7mm-08 this season. Thanks to some sage advice by a man named Mule, here, I ordered him some 120 Ballistic Tips loaded by "Choice Ammo" to 2950.

For my .300 Win Mag, I chose the 180 TTSX from the same company, rated at 3020. I have never used a Barnes rifle bullet. Mine are scheduled to be here tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it.

Now the seperate issue, my wife has decided she wants a rifle of her own, and to hunt with us. The rifle she picked out is the Savage 110 Apex Hunter in "Muddy Girl" camo. It comes in 243, 6.5 CM, 7mm-08, and .308. She has a stint in her heart, and takes blood thinners, so any recoil is out of the question. This is the reason I'm asking about the .243 Win. She will be mostly hitting paper, or rock hunting.

So naturally I always go to Nosler, so I'm thinking a 90gr Partition would be perfect. But I'm also 10 years behind on bullets and their technology. So would she be better off with the .243 for less recoil, or is the difference even noticable?

95 grain Nosler BT work famously in .243.

I can't really tell a lot of difference between my 243's and my 6.5 CM as far as recoil goes. If recoil is a concern, you can always load down to a milder load. My grandkids hunt with a 243, and I've always reloaded the ammo, and I usually use a milder load, and it kills deer just as good.

As far as bullets go, I like the 90 and 95 Nosler BT's, and also the Hornady 95 SST's. But, I load a lot of the Sierra 85 grain HPBT's, and they have always worked good on deer. The 12 year old granddaughter just took her first buck this past Saturday with a 243 and the 85 Sierra. There are a number of bullets that will work well in the 243, and for that matter in the 6.5CM.

If health risks are that big of a concern, tell her to find something she likes in .223.

I was shooting my daughter’s .243 700 youth the other day with 90gr/3,000fps loads. Surprisingly gentle with the Supercell pad.

If you're not loading but buying ammo you might consider this, along with picking shots carefully:

https://www.hornady.com/ammunition/rifle/243-win-87-gr-sst-custom-lite

I know it's not what you asked about...but if recoil is truly a concern, get a .223 Rem

My neighbor's son uses that load and they say it has worked great so far.

I really like the 6.5 mm 130 Gr AccuBond.

In a 243, my wife has great luck with 95 gr Berger classic hunter

I have a 700 police that weighs 10 lbs. The recoil on that is nil. Something similar with a decent bullet may be just the ticket.

Barnes 80 TTSX in a 243. Grandkids shoot these. They have little recoil, 7 year old has one this year, he shoots it fine.

I'll be shooting those myself. Got them sitting on top of a dose of RL17.

Way back in the late 70's, my father had Asbestosis cancer so he lost 40% of his right lung along with 3 ribs. He was right handed. After about a year, he was ready to hunt again ( East, Texas) and we had traded for a Ruger 77 in .243, 2x7 Redfield. It was a heavy rifle, but had that hard red recoil pad. I had to load down the Speer 105 round nose for him. It worked, but was no long range load, but no problem , heavy woods. Point being, a regular load with Speer 100BT or the 105 "hurt him". If you can find a .243 that has a very thick, soft recoil pad, and some of those Lite loads, you will be fine. IF you live in an area that allows .224" caliber rifles, a .223 is not a bad one, "maybe" a 22-250. Wives are hard to come by, and one that "wants to be with her boys" is a Treasure! So be gentle with her. Have a ball dude!

I'd go with the 6.5 Creedmore. Buy or load ammo with 100 gr bullets and recoil is very light, and my wife will agree with that statement. Later, if you want, you can move to heavier bullets.

If you reload ---- https://www.hodgdon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/h4895-reduced-rifle-loads.pdf

If not I'd go with a 22-250. My Ruger American has a fast 1:10 twist, standard is 1:14. I shoot 60 gr Hornady hp's and they are magic on whitetails.

My daughter started with 85gr TSX in her 243 when she was 10 or 11, she is still stacking deer up with them in her 243 as a 21 year old college student. Made me a believer in the 243 for deer.

80 Barnes TTSX

Actually, that looks "quite" good, only about 300fps reduction over the Superformance offering.

2800fps aint no slouch, with a decent MPBR !

This. Barnes or similar bullets and its good a long ways for almost any shot at any deer. Works way better than most even give it credit for.

That said my buddy has the stent etc... shoots a 300 win mag....

243, reduced, there are blue dot loads out there. IIRC we use a mild one at times. Its been a long time because we moved to 300/221 subsonic suppressed for a lot of deer and it never fails to impress me that a fairly quite round kills so quickly with little recoil. 194 Lehigh but I digress.

Used 243 with 80 ballistic tip varmint bullet BUT at around 1700 fps. Have done only rib shots with it but almost to 200 yards. works really well. Fairly quiet, and little recoil

One thing you have to watch with factory as the bullets get lighter the speeds often get faster and there can be something of a trade off. IE fast recoil hurts me more than slow. Not that 243 has a lot either way, but its not always as much reduction in recoil as one thinks it might be

The 100 gr TTSX in a .260 has produced very consist terminal results for me on small bodied does up to large bucks weighing 230# on the scales, as well as hogs which are more challenging for bullet performance. The 6.5 100 TTSX produces noticeably better penetration and larger wound channels than the 80 gr TTSX from a .243.

For .243, the heaviest Partition the rifle will shoot well is the way to go, but the 6.5 TTSX is noticeably more effective having used both. Recoil is very pleasant, but teach her to lean forward from the waist into the rifle to help control recoil.

I didn't think my 6.5 creedmoor kicked any more than my .243 until I shot them side by side, one after the other. While the 6.5 isn't what you would call a "hard kicker", it definitely does kick noticeably more than a .243 and both of my rifles are very close in weight. This was shooting full power loads with 100 grain bullets in the .243 and 129 grain in the 6.5. Personally, if it were my wife and there was any concern about recoil, she'd be getting a .223. Mine sure seems to kill deer every bit as dead as my .243.

I also shot that 100TTSX in a .260 for a while and it was a good killer at 3,200fps. I passed it on to a buddy's son who will hopefully get a chance to put some of those loads to use this year. I doubt he'll be able to catch one in a broadside deer or hog.

I watched a guys shoot a mule deer years ago with a 22-250 using 55gr soft points. I thought he was crazy when he brought the gun out, after gutting that deer and seeing the damage in the chest cavity I changed my mind. Now, he did wait for the deer to turn broadside because he wasnt shooting through the shoulders.

A 62 Barnes out of a 223 will punch through the shoulders of a 200 lb pig at 200 yards. That bullet in a fast twist 22-250 would be hell in deer.

90 gr deep curl in 243 would be my pick.
or 85 gr HPBT
or 90-95 gr Nos part....



several good choices see what shoots for you and go.

If it’s legal in your state and you are hunting just white tails or pigs, the 223 is a strong contender. Lots of good choices even if you don’t reload.

Yes!

Virginia doesn't allow deer hunting with calibers under .23, so I'd roll with the .243 for her. I'd also make sure the stock fit her properly and has a great recoil pad.

I'm assuming you don't hand load since you ordered the 120 grain 7-08 ammo for your son.

For factory ammo there are a ton of 243 offerings, but I'd probably hand her a couple boxes of Hornady's reduced recoil 243 ammunition for plinking/getting used to the rifle. It's great that she wants to hunt!

The 80 & 85 grain bullets will have slightly less recoil. The 85 Partition is a classic and can be loaded down. I am giving the 85 Lehigh a try this year. The 95 BT has been a mainstay and it to will work well down loaded slightly.

2800 fps is not bad and at one point some factory loads were only doing about that much even if the box said 3070 fps on it.

For the 6.5 I have been using several different 129-130 grain bullets with good success. Lots of choices.

Fast and small and light beg for mono bullets IMHO.

I'd have her use the Hornady Custom Lite in .243 for plinking AND hunting.

An 87gr bullet at 2800fps is in classic 250-3000 territory - a very light recoiling cartridge that has proved its worth against deer for many, many years!

In my Tikka SL 243 I bought a couple different types of ammo. The first ammo I tried was loaded with an 85ish gr Barnes bullet. I had the rifle zeroed and shot and shot a three shot group in under an inch in 9 shots. The rifle shot those light rounds so we'll I didn't see a reason to mess with the others. The recoil is mild, the round is accurate, should be ideal for me during rifle season in Michigan this year.

Several years ago, I bought a bunch of 90gr Speer Deep Curls on sale. they shoot lights out in my RAP. For my hunting of hogs/deer, I really don't need anything else (OMG, did I just say THAT??)

I shot this very load this weekend in a full size M700, .243 and the recoil to me was like a .223. Others have posted it kills well.

My son was able to notice a difference shooting them SxS also. The .243 had 100gr bullets and the 6.5 was 143gr.

85 grain Partition slowed down a little should yield minimal recoil.

I loaded up a variety of loads for a 7,7lb .243 not too long ago, being 85 NPT at 2,800, 95 NPT at 2,650, and 90 E-Tip at 3,000. The first two were purposely loaded a little lighter, but there wasn't really a big difference in recoil in jumping up to the full-house 90gr loads, so we are going with those for my 10 year old daughter.

The thread could have stopped right there. Partition is never the wrong answer for game animals.

i'd go with the 7mm-08 to keep commonality and shoot the hornady custom lite 120 sst and just keep the shots to broadside and i feel you would get exits most of the time. if i'm not mistaken the 120 sst custom lite load in 7mm-08 is clocking around 2,675 fps mv. a fine bullet at that velo.
Big Ed