Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 105 A max

I found an old box of .243” 105A-max bullets in my stash. It’s about time to do a deer depredation hunt again and was thinking of trying these out on out west Tn whitetails. They shoot verywell and at a SWAG of 2750fps I got center mass hits on my gongs at 200,400,600. Anyone know how they perform on deer?

Thx. Ben.

The 105 gr. A-Max, Has worked real well for me culling Whitetails, but hey have become very hard to find, switched to 105 gr. Scenar, they are comparable for culling the Scenar, is a little more accurate on paper and longer ranges,I shoot them from a .243 A.I. at 3050 fps. Rio7

They have done great on a couple deer inside 100 yards with a 2,900 fps launch.

Thanks for the input. I shot two deer last year on the cull with 105 Bergers (not the hunter but target)and they seemed to drill right through so I quit using it. To my knowledge they quit making the 105Amax a few years ago. The 105Amax ammo I have was 6x47 lapua loaded probably 12 years ago for a p dog shoot. It was pretty rough on them so I figured it would expand but was concerned about poor penetration.


I also fount two boxes of Sierra 107 match kings. Anyone have experience with those on deer?

If all else fails I’ll use my 6AI with 70BT. I switched off to it last year and was shocked. It killed every deer like a bolt from above.

Benbo, The 107 gr. SMK is a very poor bullet, for game, it either blows up on contact or pokes a pencil hole thru, depending on what you shoot, I use them for long range steel out of a 1x8 twist .243 A.I. they are a kick ass LR bullet, Have you thought of trying the Hornady 87 gr, Sp , I have found it to be a good bullet for predators and pigs. YMMV Rio7

I'm sitting on several hundred - almost 1k of them. Son uses them in his 243 on deer.

Tracking distance in single digit feet with him behind the trigger.

They just work. I'm not scared of them on deer, shoulders or just behind.

Just my experience, but to me the 105gr A-Max is the most frangible bullet I have ever used regardless of caliber, I tried them in a custom 6mm-284 and only about 50% made it to target the rest blew up coming out of the muzzle.

I had better luck with the 105gr VLD Bergers hunting model (never tried the target ones)

My favorite is the 107gr SMK.........never seen one "blow up on contact" as RIO7 described, may be an occasional pencil through but I think they work great

The 105 AM is relatively soft, but works well on deer, whether at 40 yards or 500.

I am a very big fan of the 105 Amax (as well as the 75 and 162gr versions of same).

I have shot deer and bears with the 105 from 40 yards through 600+ yards, and have zero worries about breaking shoulders when started at 3100+ fps from my 243AI.

On big Northern Canada whitetails and muleys they have proven to be a devastating bullet, time and again.

The factory loaded 6.5 Grendel 123 Amax kill pigs, albeit at a lower velocity than a .243. Wish they still made them.

Used them exclusively for a few years. Probably my favorite hunting bullet for 6mm. Wish I had of stocked up on them.

Never really found them all that soft. Had exits 95% of the time, even when breaking both shoulders.

Pass throughs on all these 100%, at 2950 MV. Don't have pics of entrance and exit though.

Eddybo got me started on the 243AI with the 105gr Amax. They just work!

105g Hornady bthp is a great bullet on deer and hogs, don't over look the bullet if you can find any.