Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Top 3 .243 ammo for deer?

I got a $200 gift certificate from Academy and I,m just gonna go and buy a few boxes of ammo for my .243 I want to but good ammo and price doesn't matter since they are free. Can you guys help me decide on good ammo? And ammo just for target practice. By the way this is my first hunting rifle so don't know much about good ammo or bad ammo although I believe you get what you pay for. Thank in advance.

Elliot
Grab the blue box Federal. Generally one of the least expensive so will give you more range time .It will be just fine for your area and am willing to bet it will shoot well in your rifle.
GreggH

Any of the big mfr's cheaper ammo will be fine. I also like Federal (blue box or non-typical)....but Winchester and/or Remington will do the trick. Whitetail are not that hard to kill.

I bought some $12/box 95 Gr SP Hunting Shack ammo recently at Midway....but they're sold out.

1. Federal Blue Box 100gr sp 2. Winchester 100PP 3. Federal Premium 80gr TTSX ( or whomever is loading it.)

If you "know" which brand of ammo your rifle likes, get plenty of it. If not, get a box each and experiment! Have a ball dude!

95 grain Federal Fusion has been very good in my camp.

Cool thanks for the tip. They not that expensive like other brands.

Thanks, you're the second person that picks Federal.

Thanks man, seems everyone likes those federal blue box.

Federal again, never saw this coming. Thanks.

+1

Federal Fusion is always a great choice IMO. It's always done us right and have been accurate in everything I've EVER shot it in.

The HSM ammo with the 87 grain VLD or the 95 grain depending on your twist. They work great for me.

The blue box shoots better than I can reload in my .280 Rem.

Hey guys what about Hornady Superformance SST.243 Win 95-Grain ? Or are they just the same as Federal blue box ?

Hornady ammo and SST's are good and a step up. But probably won't kill a whitetail any deader. You might buy several different kinds to see which shoots the best and then go back and spend more of your gift certificate on the winner.

I'd go with the Fusion or the Barnes TTSX mentioned above. I like a sturdier bullet in the .243win when it comes to dedicated big game use.

My rifle has a slow twist, 10 or 11 to 1, and shoots the Superformance 80 grain GMX very well. It's a tough mono-metal bullet, but expensive and not something I'd waste at the range.

What is your rifle? Ruger, Remington, and Savage all have a faster twist and would probably shoot the 95 and 100 grain bullets better than a slower twist rifle would.

I thought anything under 95 Grain was not good for deer.

I agree. I have used the 243 for whitetails and blacktails at ranges under 200 yards. The point of diminishing returns definitely applies. 95gr Fusions have worked great.

Black Hills ammo is amazingly accurate in my .243 rifle.

Sherwood

The Academy by me has Remington Core Lokt 100gr 243 Winchester on sale for $14.99 a box. $200 should get you 12 boxes plus the tax.

Another vote for Federal Fusion. Nephew shot his first deer with same in November. Hit shoulder and spine. Bullet was recovered under the hide on far side. Bullet was mangled, but held together. While I am partial to Nosler Partitions, no flies on the Federal Fusion bullets for deer hunting.

I would second the idea to use this as an opportunity to try several different flavors of ammo to see which is most accurate in your rifle. THEN, buy a case of whatever your rifle likes best.

Some people would like to believe that but have never shot anything under 95 or 100 grains.

I have shot em with 70 grain bullets on up to 100. Have yet to lose a deer although with the light bullets a shot through the ribs behind the shoulder is a must.

I am currently using a 95 grain Partition in my 6mm but would have mo issues going back to an 80 or 85 grain SP on our midwestern deer.

100 grain bullets may be best if you cannot pick your shots carefully or for extra insurance with youngsters.

It depends on which bullet.

Blue Box 100’s are sleepers.

Agree on try a few to see what your gun likes. I shoot the Hornady American whitetail 100gr which you can find pretty cheap if you look around.

Wow guys thanks for all this valuable information, joining this Forum after I bougth my rifle ( did I mention is a 9.25 twist rate 22 inches barrel? ) was the best thing I done. I hear a lot about 95 grain also hear that for the twist rate I have 100g works best on the twist I have.

My rifle is a Remington with a 9.25 twist rate. And a 22 inch barrel. Thanks.

I could be mistaken, but I believe Remington is a 9.125.

Regardless, it should shoot the 100 grain pointed soft point and the 95 grain tipped bullets into a tighter group than my slow twist 243 does.

I don't shoot 243 factory ammo often, but when I do, I prefer to shoot the 95 grain Winchester/Olin Deer Season XP. It has proven itself to be accurate in each rifle that I've shot it in and deadly on each animal that I've shot it at. It isn't a deep penetrator, so POA/POI placement should be considered before squeezing the trigger.

Wal-Mart sells it for under $20 per box.

I think that any 243 factory load with bullets weighing 90 grain or more would be a good choice for shooting medium game, just buy the brand and bullet style that you like and then see how well it shoots in your rifle.

Winchester 100gr powerpoint.

This and when you find which is more accurate try to get boxes with the same lot number. The premium bullets of 80 grains+ work fine on deer too but I mostly shoot 95 or 100 grain loads. Seems like when the 243 was introduced there were a lot of softer varmint bullets and only the 100 grain pills were designed for deer but now there are lots of choices suitable for game. If big hogs are a possibility I would pick a slightly tougher bullet but this isn't imperative.

Thanks for the tip, I think I'm gonna stay between 95 and 100 grain.

100gr federal blue box. practice and hunt with same ammo. easy, peasy, and kills deer as well as any out there imo.

We have used both the blue box federal and the fussions out of our .243 over the years and have been more than pleased with both.if I had to choose only one of those two I would lean towards the fussions. It’s performance has been stellar. I just feel it is a tad tougher bullet based on the pass through we’ve experienced.

I have heard lots of good reports on Federal Fusion ammo, especially in 243 Winchester.

Fed Fusion

I've had much better accuracy with Federal blue box & fusion ammo across several rifles, than any other brand. As has been mentioned, many times it was so good I wouldn't bother with reloading for that particular rifle. If you stick with the 95 grain & up offerings, I doubt a .243 could stress 'em enough to have bullet problems.

On a whim, I once ran some Remington & Winchester factory rounds across a concentricity gauge, and found the results to track exactly with the accuracy I'd seen from them. I didn't have any Federal ammo on hand at the time, but I'd bet a Happy Hour beer it would be fairly concentric.

FC

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My 45 year old Rem 700 shoots most any 100 gr. well, including Hornady whitetail. Now that I finally got the right fore-end pressure on it!

It definitely does not like the 95 gr. I tried (Rem??) - I don't remember)) , which surprised the heck out of me. Lighter bullets it does not like nearly as well as any 100 gr. - so like the man says, buy a box of several and see what it likes. Good use for free stuff!

Having used Superperformance 150's in '06, I think for actual hunting in the .243, I'd shy away from it. It makes BIG holes at short ranges with my '06. Very fast expansion until it gets out about 300 yards and sheds some velocity. That is in my '06., used on over a half dozen caribou. Never used the SST's in .243 on game, so can't help you there with real life.

Still worth a try, both on range and in the field to see how it performs for you and your needs.

Federal Fusion have given us great results, both accuracy and terminal.