Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Go to bullet for deer in 6mm?

Just bought one and have never hunted w/it? Won't hunt w/a bullet less than 85gr. 1 in 9 twist. Thanks in advance guys. powdr

I no ,longer have either, but I have owned a 6MM Rem and a few 243s. The one that I loved for deer the most was the 100 grain Nosler Partition.

There aren't many (if any) 85 grain+ bullets in 6mm that I wouldn't use on deer.

I've used 105 Hornady HPBT (probably my favorite), 95 grain NBT's, 100 grain Interlocks, 100 grain Federal Box, 85 grain TSX's, 95 grain Hornady SST's and 95 grain Federal Fusions from a fast twist 243.

They all kill deer, hogs and antelope quickly.

80/85 TTSX/TSX and 105 Horn HPBT.

I second this. While Partitions are seldom the most accurate bullets in any diameter or weight, they always seem to do what they are designed to do, expend and penetrate. I call it peace of mind, one less thing to think about.

I don't have a go to. Have used 100 grain core-lokt, 100 grain Hornady interlock, 85 grain Sierra BTHP, 95 grain SST and 100 grain Federal blue box. They all turned live deer into dead deer expeditiously.

The 95 grain SST and Ballistic Tip have worked nicely in my circle.

85 TSX and 90 Nosler BT.

I've used the 85 Sierra HPBT, 90 and 95 Nosler BT's, 95 SST's, and several different 100 grain SP's, all out of a 243. It's not so much what you're using, as it is in where you put it.

The old Horn 105 Amax has performed well for my son in his Ruger.

I still have 700 of them (I think, haven't checked) so we should be good.

Lots of deer have been taken by various 95-100 gr 6mm bullets on or around our hunting property. All worked well. I use the 95 nbt since sps had a sale on blems a few years back.

80 ttsx
95 Nosler ballistic tip
105 Hornady bthp

95 gr. Nosler Partician.

It will penetrate end to end if need be.

Partition for most reliable results, although I do like the Hornady 105 hpbt too. I’ve been on several 6mm tracking jobs that would have been easier if a Partition, E-Tip, TTSX would have been used. They dig deep.

If its a deer, you don't need much.. and Lord knows there is a host of them available.

I'm not much on the 85 grainers, although I know a lot of those that swear by them...

Any 100 grainer will work.... and I have used 90 grainers with great success...

that being said, I always have a couple of boxes on 100 grain Hornady SPs around, along with 90 and 95 grain Ballistic tips...
when the 6mm mood bites me...

I like the 95 grain Ballistic Tip.

90 or 95 gr Nosler BT. Both are extremely good at making venison.

GreggH

For me the .243 & .243 a.i. 1 x 8 twist the 105 Scenar, works well, in the old 6mm or the std .243 the SGK works well, what ever flavor of bullet you like should kill deer, with a well placed shot. Rio7

I shoot the Federal 100g BTSP carries a lot of energy a long ways, 1000ftlbs over 400y If I remember correctly

100 gr. hornady BTSP or 95 gr. NBT

Shot a couple of meat antelope 2 weeks ago with 95 grain NBT'S they work fine almost as good as the old 100 gr 243 SP hornady which the dumb boot lips assh*les at Hornady discontued. Yeah I said that
Mb

Will a .243 take a big deer reliably? I am in very wooded N. MN, hunt on foot and most all shots are <150 yards on moving deer. Taken a number of 225# dressed Whitetails with shoulder shots. I ask because I have a sweetheart of a Sako in .243 Win that I would like to use some. Thanks.

95 Nosler Partition in my 240 worked for me for years until I hard to go lead-free. I shot countless coyotes and a few deer with that bullet. Always dropped in their tracks. Funny thing with this bullet is that in almost every case it was hard to find an exit hole. I found that the 100 grain Nosler Partition to be much more destructive. Just my experience.

A bullet not yet mentioned that works well with a 1-9" twist is the Berger 95gr VLD, at it's best past a couple hundred yards on deer, several years ago shot an antelope past 1000yds with this bullet

I know you said that...............but what are you saying ??????
Guessing you meant discontinued

95g Hornady SST is awesome.

100 gr. Nosler Partition for me thanks.

There is almost always a possibility of something bigger then deer where I hunt so I like Barnes in our little guns. 85 TSX has been a consistent and reliable performer for my crew. If it will stabilize I have been loving what I have seen with the 95 LRX as well.

Bought my first .243 Winchester quite a while ago, and have used various other 6mm rounds since, including the .240 Weatherby. Mostly used the 105 Speer Hot-Cor in that first .243, but also the 100-grain Remington Core-Lokt.

Since then Eileen abd have used 85 and 100-grain Partitions, 90 E-Tips, 95 Ballistic Tips, 105 Berger Hunting VLDs, and whatever 100-grain bullet Federal uses in their 100-grain blue box ammo. All have worked well from .243 Winchesters and similar rounds, but preferred the tougher ones in the .240. The deer have run in size from South Texas whitetail does to mature Montana bucks (both whitetail and mule) weighing 200+ pounds.

The only bullet that "failed" was a 105 Hot-Cor (now apparently discontinued by Speer) that left the core at the entrance hole on an average Montana eating whitetail at around 250 yards. But the core continued on and dropped the buck anyway.

This one is easy.

The 85 grain Sierra boat tail hollow point Game King. It has a slightly thicker jacket than some of the other 6mms projectile offerings from Sierra (and other manufacturers) . It is very accurate, and quite devastating on everything that I have ever hit with it. My Tikka T3 6 Rem (rebarreled with a Lilja) pops them out there at over 3400 FPS and they smack the snot out of stuff.


I watched my oldest daughter schwack her first deer with it years back before switching her to a .308 and it was funny. The doe dropped so fast that my daughter thought she ran off. She was panicked for a second, asking where the deer was. The deer just flopped and had her legs in the air instantly. I had to tell the kiddo to stop looking through the scope and to look up, as the deer had her legs up for a couple seconds before she settled down and slid against some brush.







Great little bullet.

You say wooded?



Kills em as good as a big gun if you put the bullet in the right spot.

I have used 80 grain Sierra SPBT, 85 grain Sierra SPT, 85 grain Sierra HPBT, 87 grain Hornady, 95 grain Partitons, 95 grain SST, 100 grain SP and BT from Hornady and Sierra as well as some 100 grain factory loads.

Put the bullet where it belongs and I have seen no difference between it and 270, 30-06 or 300 Winchester Mag.

I have killed more deer with the 85 grain Sierra Spitzer than I have of the others, despite the Varminter name they spit right through most mature deer.The 100 grain Sierras kill instantly.

I have used the 95 grain Partition for the last 4 or 5 seasons, only had 1 deer move after the shot and he only went 50sh yards pouring blood the whole way.

I have some 90 grain Ballistic Tips loaded for this season. I loaded some last winter and my 6mm shot the best groups it has ever shot with those and 45.5 grains of IMR-4350.

I figure they will work about like the rest of the bullets I have ever shot from a 243 or 6mm.

If forced to pick one from the above I would lean on the 95 grain Partition.

95 grain Partition. Exit can be seen behind shoulder and high.

25 yard or so shot. I hit him about 6" farther back than I wanted, was trying for a high shoulder and he stepped forward as the trigger broke. Maybe a 50 yard dash.

95 grain Partition.

Another exit where hair is clumped up. 50 yard shot, dead in his tracks.

I have had only one failure on bullets in my 6mm, that was with 105 grain Speers. They didn't open up and left pencil holes through the lungs of a Pronghorn. They were however the most accurate bullet in that 6mm.
I think that heavy Partitions are always good in the smaller calibers such as 6mm. If I were to take a 6mm out for deer, I'd use 100 grain Nosler Partitons.

I’ve made fun of little bitty 243’s for years but that is what I bought for my son/grandson to hunt our little 115-150 lb California Pacific Mule deer and almost any bullet will work well up close & out past 300 yards. Southern whitetail won’t be any more challenging. I think it’s hard to beat a Nosler Ballistic tip for DRT deer. I’ve always used a 7 mag but the 243 results are similar.

Only "failure" I've had - hit a left rib and blew up on the inside of the right shoulder.


At ~ 7 yards.

Howdy,

I've run .243's and 6mm Rem's over the years, all love the Nosler Ballistic tips- Styer mannlicher model L, Sako AII, Sako 591, Armalite AR-10T, 2- 788 6mm's. The 95 gr work well on antelope and WT deer. That said, I've used 100 gr Speer grand slams to good success as well. They've even taken a few cow elk. Bullet placement, always important, is key with these light calibers.

For at least a decade I loaded nothing but 100 grain Hornady Interlock round nose for the 243 Win I used as my primary deer gun. It was a Browning BAR made in Belgium and it loved those loads. Worked really well on whitetails,

Hornady no longer makes this bullet but I've got 3 unopened boxes in the event I decide to reload again.

Nosler partitions or maybe Hammer hunting bullets

Easier to determine what doesn’t work after reading this thread.

Great collection of real on-game experience. I’ve still got 4-500 Sierra 85gr HPBT and several boxes of 85gr NP. Both have worked well for me over the years but I don’t have near the experience with the 6mm that others clearly do. Always surprised me how well the 6mm penetrates & kills.

I personally haven't had any problems getting deer on the ground with either the 243 or 6MM Remington. I used the 80 gr, Remington SP on a bunch of animals with good results. I preferred the 95 gr. Ballistic Tip and used the 85 grain Partition for a while. But for big moving deer in the thick I would pick a bigger round. If you have tracking snow that would make it better. I have a lot of experience finding deer for others who used 243 rifles. Not all hits were really bad just that the deer went 75 to a 100yards in thick briar brush with thin to very weak blood trails. We lost some.

Have it rebored to 358 Winchester!

I would lay money on it that most of those lost were shot with 100 grain bullets.

I don't have any issues with 100s on a high shoulder shot but through lungs I will take the 80-85 grain bullet every time. Those light bullets simply tear the hell out of things when pushed north of 3200 fps.

Partitions give me that super fast initial expansion of the light bullet but that rear base ensures an exit. Haven't busted lungs with them though, simply shoot high forward and eliminate that tracking bullschitt.

Let me resurrect an OLD post from a great guy, Steve Timm (dogzapper), that may help to answer your question:



The .243 95-grain Ballistic was designed by Gail Root. Gail was perhaps Nosler's most talented ballistician.

Gail is and was a .243 Winchester NUT and he designed the 95-grain to be HIS big game killing bullet. Goodness only knows how many big 6X6 bull elk Gail took with the 95 and most of them with a single well-placed shot.

I know of at least one record-class Nilgai bull that Gail killed with the 95. Nilgai have the well-earned reputation of being almost bulletproof. The bull fell at the shot.

Gail also used the 95 to collect his magnigicent B&C typical whitetail.

Gail was proud of the 95's performance of big game; it's great penetration, superb accuracy and killing performance is amazing. This is one bullet that never had to go back for re-design.

Yes, I've killed big game with the.243 95-grain Ballistic ... maybe thirty head of assorted mule deer, whitetail, antelope and one quite decent black bear. And, YES, one raghorn 5X5 bull elk that measured about 285 B&C. I've never had to shoot any big game animal more than once and the animals either dropped in place or struggled for less than 20 yards.

The single bull elk I killed with the 95-grain fell as if electrocuted. I was using a Ruger Number One in 6mm Remington Normal.

Naysayers will cuss and discuss the Ballistic Tip ... and that ain't my problem. I'm only telling you what I know for a fact and I have considerable experience with the 95-grainer and have found it to be a superb big game bullet.

Steve

PS. If I was shooting foxes, coyotes and bobcats, I WOULD NOT use the 95-grain Ballistic Tip. It is for this purpose that Gail designed the 70-grain Ballistic. Gail was justifiably proud of both the 95 and the 70 ... they each were made for a specific purpose and they both accomplish their goals wonderfully.

By the way, Gail pretty much killed stuff with two rifles. Literally ALL of his big game was slain cleanly with his .243 Winchester Normal.

And for prairie dogs, varmints of all types and predators, Gail shot a Remington 700 that he had barreled and chambered for .221 Fireball ... and he loaded 40-grain Ballistics.

Truly, many times, my friend Gail has whopped my ass seriously with his .221 Fireball rifle, while I was using my max-loaded .223 Ackley Improved. Gail will always have my total and utmost respect as a man, a ballistician and a stone-cold killer.

God bless,
Steve

Yep mostly in various factory loads. I really liked how quickly the 80 grain Remington PSP killed deer with broadside chest hits but I usually shot for the neck right in front of the shoulder. I think the problems my lease partners were experiencing were due to treating the 243 as if it were a 308 and taking less than optimum shot angles. The real issue to me was light to no blood trails. In open country, thin brush the 243 was just fine.

Powdr- look hard at the Swift scirocco. I’ve tried many many bullets and these seem to be the real deal and higher velocities.

Another vote for 95gr Partition. 100gr if I can not find the 95gr variety. Have yet to catch either in KY WT’s…

95 grain Nosler Partition. Have been loading it in my custom 6mm for 20 years. It got the nod over several good bullets mentioned here because of how it shot in my varmint barrelled Mauser: under 1/2 MOA all day long. A few years ago I bought a .243 and stayed with the 95 NP because I have it on hand.

Have killed several whitetails, several blacktails, black bears, antelope, one large bull elk when it was the rifle in hand and likely some I'm forgetting. The 95 NP is a consistent killer with deep penetration, plenty of wound along the way, and almost always an exit.

Only downside is boring consistency.

That is what we use. My daughter got a Savage 10 in .243W 20 years ago when she was 9 years old. We bought a box of Federal Premium in 100 grain partition and they grouped tighter than the Remington. Under an inch easily. Then my cousin taught me to reload and we came up with a 100 grain Nosler Partition load that was hot and just as or more accurate than the factory load. She has killed 22 deer with 22 shots with that rifle and we have not kept up with the number of hogs. Our biggest Russian hybrid hog ever was killed by my daughter with that load and that rifle. The load is just a tad over max of IMR4350. It clocks in the high 29s in cold weather and a little over 3000 in the summer.

Thanks for posting this.

One granddaughter killed her first mulie with a 95 gr ballistic tip pushed by my Rem 700 in 6mm-284.

I bought her a Ruger tang safety 25-06, so she does not need to borrow one of my rifles anymore. But her little sister walked out yesterday with my Wea Vanguard in 243 and 50 rds loaded with 100 gr Sierra SBT.

Either one will kill a deer quite adequately.

I've been very impressed with the 80 gr TTSX and have recommended it to several friends who have been equally pleased. Maybe it only works for women and children, but after watching my daughter shoot 13 deer in four seasons, I have no reservations with any deer, at any angle, at any sane distance.

95 grain NBT, one shot kills on many deer. For at least 15 years my son has used that bullet with success on whitetails, my handloads. Previous to that for a few years when he was very young he successfully used 100 grain Hornady Interlock on a few deer and one year killed a deer with a 100 grain Sierra GameKing bullet, again my handloads.
Honestly the only reason he switched to 95 grain Nosler BT was me wanting him to try it, it worked and from then on that is all he wanted. For a young guy, the NTB had a more "cool look" than the exposed lead tip of the Hornaday and Sierra!

Most dead in their tracks?

If not were there good blood trails?

Back before Barnes were an option (now my favorite bullet in any caliber) I used Sierra 100gr GameKings or ProHunters in both a 243 Win and a 6mm Rem. Glad Barnes came along...

Not to hyjack but I would think the Sierra 85 HPBT would be a good combo coyote/deer bullet? I used the 90 NBT from a 6mm/284 on a pronghorn and it was pretty nasty! I think it would also work well on coyote/deer in the 243. I only used the 90X in my first 240 wby, but it killed a big coyote easily. A second one used the 95PT. Many around here favor that 80 TTSX in the 243, etc,, but I don't normally use any 6mm for deer/antelope anymore, but when I did I used the 85xbt in the smaller 6mms. I do try to work on coyotes as much as I can...Back in the early 90's, I met two brothers out here who used the Barnes 100X in their 243s for elk! I have another friend who only uses the Hornady 100 SPBT in his 240 wby. He has killed many elk with it too.

A lot like the 85 hpbt Sierra but I have seen 3 or 4 deer and 1 coyote killed with em, too tough of a bullet for me.

The 85 grain SP Varminter gives me DRT results on both and exits deer better than 75% of the time.

That HPBT always exits deer but I saw runners on deer and with the 1 coyote he had a silver dollar sized exit about 1/3 of the way up the body maybe 2" behind the shoulder. Covered about 200 yards before going down.

If I were still shooting my 6mm on both coyotes and deer I would go back to the 85 grain Varminter SP or use the 80 grain Ballistic Tip.

I was about to ask if anyone was using the 85 grain Sierra BTHP. I've not used it but have heard good things about it.

Mine was the Speer 100 BTSP, though I didn't try many others. Antelope to elk and especially deer, it was fine.

The bullet is legit. It’s way tougher than the HP designation - punches hard and straight works. If you can find them I’d not hesitate. I mostly used them on hogs but most of the time they exited a multi-angle rib cage shot instead of blowing apart like many Sierra SP do. I still load them with confidence after about 20yrs of experience.

I must be unlucky as I think I’m the only one who has had a bad experience with the 85 HPBT from Sierra. My daughter splashed one on the shoulder of a little buck at around 135 yards. Other daughter killed it about 5 weeks later. Wasn’t going too fast as it was coming out of a 20” 6x45.

I sold off the 6x45 barrel, but still have 2 or three boxes of them, and the 85 Sierra SP Varminter.

90 Grain Swift Scirocco...

Barnes 95 LRX

that's a pretty strong recommendation. Thank you.

If you shoot shoulders, they usually drop. She mostly shoots lungs and we have 30-50 yard easy blood trails. Always have 2 holes......

In the right spot, yes. Big calibers /bullets in not the right spot isn't going to help much.

My wife took a moose - probably -1,000 lbs - at 70-80 yards with a 100 grain Corelokt, years ago. Missed rib both sides, pencilled through, turned lungs to bloody mush. Bull walked maybe 50 feet to behind a screen of brush, stood there for 30 seconds or so and tipped over. An Iwo Jima vet of my acquaintance had recoil problems (after that mortar round) and could not handle anything much bigger. To my knowledge, he took over a dozen bull moose - some of them really big to 1500# - with his .243.

Fast bullets on game tend to knock them down quicker in my experience -especially the lighter stuff. 20 of 21 caribou (similar size to your deer) shot with my 25-06 (120 grain Speer handloads) were bang flops - the first one took two. The first bullet entered at the shoulder/neck juncture, and lodged against the bone in the opposite rear hip. It turned him broadside, the second through the lungs knocked him flat, as it did with successive animals. Range about 200 yards.

The 6mm, 6.5mm calibers are excellent deer cartridges.

This.

A 270 Win is more than enough for antelope, but when I was guiding a lot I saw a guy hit an antelope six+ times with a 270 and the animal didn't go down. It was literally dragging a leg and it's guts across the ground.

On the other hand, all of the antelope I've seen hit in the chest with a 243 went straight down.

Where you hit them is the most important thing. The design of the bullet is the next most important thing. Everything else is a very distant third. Few understand this.

The only 243 kill that I would say had a bullet issue was with a factory remington loaded with sciroccos I watched an antelope take 3 to the chest and one to the liver at 300+ yards. He just stood there so the hunter kept shooting. After a couple minutes he just fell over, never taking a step. When we opened him up, it didn’t look like there was much damage but he drowned in his own blood. Had he run it might have been a long tracking job.

Is the Sierra 85 gr HPBT discussed here the product number 1530?

Yes

Thanks spud. Checked my shelf and I have five boxes. I use them for rock chucks. I'll give them a try on deer.

That's all I used when I was using and loading 243

I never had any problems with one shot kills or any
that needed a follow up shot. Through and through
every time

I MUCH prefer the 100g Hornady btsp over the Sierra bthp...in spades!

I’ve used the 95 ballistic tip in my 240 weatherby with excellent results on antelope. Yes they are a bit smaller than deer, but I’d not hesitate to use them on deer.

Doesn't matter. Making a CNS hit with any bullet does about what any 6mm is good for.

With the .243's I like that Sierra 85gn HPBT and and original 85gn Solid Base and used them on lots of game including some large pigs in the 2-300lb size.
With the 240 Weatherby, I like the 100gn Hornady, Sierra Flat Base and Nosler Partition. Superb for most anything.

I've always liked the 85 BTHP on game. And for most rifles, IME, That bullet over a max load of IMR 4895 could well serve as an accuracy check load. If it doesn't shoot well, you have a rifle issue.

It does great work with heart/lung shots, but I have had some serious blow-ups with hits on bone

And the .243 I've carried since the mid 90s prefers the 95 BT.

I loaded up some 90 nosler accubonds last year and can't say how they do cause haven't seen anything I wanted to shoot.

100 grain partitions

Only 2 deer for us with the .243 Win. A big doe my son shot was using a Speer 100 gr. boattail ( 1220) was the number . the bullet hit real high and forward but it went 40' and that was it. Mine was a smaller doe, 100 gr. Hornady interlock boattail ( 2443?) .

Only 2 deer for us with the .243 Win. A big doe my son shot was using a Speer 100 gr. boattail ( 1220) was the number . the bullet hit real high and forward but it went 40' and that was it. Mine was a smaller doe, 100 gr. Hornady interlock boattail ( 2443?) .

Single best bullet on deer using the 243 is a 100 gn round nose from hornady. Sadly, these have been discontinued, but if you can find them, they hit like a freight train!

Deer, first pick... Ballistic Tip.

I've loaded a lot of 243's over the years for deer hunting. For some reason or another, my most accurate loads have always been with the 85-95 grain bullets. I've never been able to get the accuracy I'm looking for out of a 100 grain bullet. My son has killed a number of deer, including a couple of big bucks, using the 85 grain Sierra BTHP, as his Model 700 really likes that bullet. I load it with an over max dose of W760, and it's really moving on. In the rifle my grandkids use, a Youth Model 700, I use a 95 SST or a 100 soft point. In my 243 LVSF, I like the 90 or 95 grain Noslers if I can find them, which I've not been able to as of late, so I use the 95 grain SST.

The 243 is no different from any other chambering, just put a good bullet where it's supposed to go, and it'll do the job. It's really not rocket science.

I handloaded the old Speer 105 Round Nose in my dad's .243. For those East Texas deer they were still too stout, or that Lot was tough. He quit hunting after that year and sold the rifle. I remember Byron Dalrymple's writings on the 243 and 80gr for the Hill Country deer doing better than the 100 even. These were small deer. I think thats what alot of folks don't realize why Texans like to use the smaller calibers...those deer just don't take much killing. Now, those big West Texas Mulies and south Texas deer can be bruisers, but they still die form 243s! I too prefer the 80-95 grains in 6mm rounds.

Here's a photo of a mature eastern Montana buck Eileen took with her semi-custom .243 Winchester Husqvarna a few years ago. He appeared near last legal light, near some very thick timber and brush (you can see the edge behind her) and she decided to use the high shoulder/spine shot to anchor the buck. He dropped right there, and the 100-grain Nosler Partition exited. She also used the same bullet in the the .240 Weatherby Magnum in an Ultra Lightweight Mark V, with similar results on both mule deer and whitetails.

The Partition shot very well in both 6mm rifles, but she'd been using the 100-grain TTSX in her NULA .257 Roberts for years now, with great results both on big deer and cow elk, because it shoots better than the 100 Partition in that rifle.

In my .243's I shoot the 100 grain Flat Base Spire point Nosler bullet .

I’m really liking the Sierra Gamechangers. They appear to hold together slightly better than the nosler ballistic tip and have superior BC. Inside of 250 yards any cup and core or mono will do the trick rather nicely.

Killed 10 or so Whitetails with the factory 90gr gamechanger from 40 yards to 436 yards and got exits on all but two which were head on shots. Great blood trails and all traveled less than 40 yards if they ran at all.

This year I’m hand loading 100gr Gamechangers and did a little water jug testing at 35 yards. Loaded down the charges to replicate impact velocity around 150 yards or so.

Results below. Velocity is 10 from chrono. Last value is retained weight in grains. The Core separated from the jacket on the BT and the Eld-x, but not that gamechanger. All bullets shown we’re recovered from the 4th (milk) jug. So penetration was adequate for all. Note- a 95gr Barnes LRX penetrated through the 4th jug and only dimpled the 5th jug and bounce off and I could find it in the grass. Folks smarter than me will say water jugs are tougher on bullets than deer bones.

Pic below is cold bore shots on consecutive days with a Tikka 6mm Creedmoor 22” @3100fps, at 236 yards, 4” gong. Still has over 1100 ft/lbs energy at 500 yards.

I'm really liking the 90 grain Gamechangers as well, running them at 3120 fps.

Im late to the party here but Ive killed a pretty nice sized pile of deer with a 243. I guess my favorite is the 95 NBT.... the 90 gr version seems to be just as tough and works as well. Thing is... Ive only really used one bullet I wasnt real happy with and that was a 100 gr Sierra BT. I have a large stash of 95 gr nbt's I bought up from SPS on sale a few years ago as well as a large stash or 100 gr SP Hornady's. Lot of things work well in a 243. Ive killed them with everything from an 80 gr ttsx to a 105 Speer.

My go to 6mm bullets for all deer, goats out here.
85g sierra bthp
90g sierra tgk
90g nosler hunting bt
95g nosler hunting bt

Same here.

Shot hogs with the 100g Hornady btsp...should tell you something. No flies on a 95g SST, great penetration and expansion on broadside shots. I shot a doe in the Azz as she walked away from me, about 100 yds, the bullet broke the front shoulder and was lodged under the skin about to exit....the ony 85g TSX I have ever found.

Deer shot with the 95g partition bleed less, but are running dead.

Nice one.

My .240 prefers the 100 NPT to all others. It's never a bad thing when a rifle prefers a Partition.

Terminal performance is legendary, has been for a LONG time...

My .257R does great with the 100 TTSX over a max load of H-100V. It kills'em pretty dead, too.

DF

I loaded up some Sierra 85 gr HPBT for a 243win several years ago after all the positive reviews I read. I shot a buck at under 75yds his back feet came straight in the air and when they came down he took off, 3 of use searched 2 hours before it got dark and 3 hours after dark, went back and searched 4 more hours the next morning, never did find it. The rest of the ones I had loaded up, near 100 of them made holes in paper and I reloaded them with hornady 100gr sp and no more problems like that.

I lived in MN for 15 years, and my wife was from Chisholm. I hunted with family north of there and was about half way up toward International Falls.
Same, wooded and swampy. The 243 worked just fine, even at 30 below. In those days I was just using factory 100 grain ammo.

Most of the bucks over that way, were pretty good sized animals... they 243 never failed me., and they weren't big tracking jobs.
had more tracking jobs with those in the party using 06s... but then I think that was more the fault of the shooter than the cartridge.

In 2019 Ruger did a special run for Talos Distributors of Varminter No.1’s in 243 Winchester with 1:7.7” barrel twist. I picked one of these up still NIB earlier this year at a local gun shop. Shoots great with N165 and the 108 grain Berger Elite Hunter. Have not hunted with it extensively yet but it did drop a nice 8 point whitetail handily with one shot at about 125 yds a few weeks ago.

I'm in the 90 gr, Nosler AB or 95 gr. BT crowd.
The 95 gr. BT is adequate for most things, but if I wanted absolute certainty of penetration and can afford loosing a bit of accuracy the 90 gr. AB is tough to beat.