Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles 10 Twist .243 Bullets

Folks ,
I've got a Ruger No1a 22" bbl . 1 in 10 twist .243 Winchester

Trying to find a good bullet for deer hunting , plus a powder combination .
On hand are 100 grain Partitions , 90 gr. Game Changers, 90 & 95 gr. Ballistic Tips , and 85 gr. Partitions .Sierra told me the 90Game Changers won't stabilize in a 10 twist as did Nosler with their 100s .

Also IMR 4350-4064-4831-4198 . Winchester 760 .

Shots will be from 40 yards to 250 . Most buck weigh 130 to 175 pounds .
I would appreciate any first hand information you can pass on to me .

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration .
Semper Fi
Soup

I’ve had no issues shooting 100gr NPs or 95g BTs in 10” .243s. Haven’t shot one with the BT as yet, but it’s very popular.

I get excellent groups with the NPs and 44gr of H4831.

LOL, love these threads. Load manuals for powders to bullets are worthless. Absolutely none of those powders have ever worked in a 243 Winchester.

On hand are 100 grain Partitions

Sierra told me the 90Game Changers won't stabilize in a 10 twist as did Nosler with their 100s .

Whoever at Nosler you talked to is just as worthless, look at the twist rate for 100 grain partitions in their own manual.

Swifty ,
Thank you for your reply .
I've looked at Nosler data many times . The 100 grain bullets they said won't stabilize were ELD . Although they are 100 grains they're a longer bullet , they didn't mention Partitions . I don't know but I'm guessing the 85 Partitions aren't a good bullet for deer hunting , perhaps Antelope ??
I've got about 2 boxes of 95 Ballistic Tips and maybe 1 box of 90 grain BT , plus 1 box of 100 Partitions . So I need to find something in this group . " I've got to dance with the girl what brung me " !!
Soup

Ok, my go to bullets for 243 and deer were 95 BT or 100 pro hunter by Sierra on top of H4831. A lot of Nebraska deer have been taken with 85 grain on up. Our bucks can get large, my biggest was one that field dressed at 230 lbs. 85 and up is just fine. Shot placement is key.
Have never found the need inside 300 yards for an ELD or expensive long range bullet as you actually gain very very little till past 300-350. In fact if it’s 75 yards or less I use a 41 mag, rifle just sits until past 100.

Thank you
Soup

Work up the 85 grain Partition with a crisp shot of 4064 and you'll have a nice deer load.

That 85 grain Partition on top of 4064 or 4350 will work just fine.

As will the 90 or 95 grain Ballistic Tip or 100 grain Partition.

Pick your poison.

Soup, you've been offered some advice by some senior members of the 24 hr campfire and I don't believe they would steer you wrong. There is a thread here on the fire that a discusses how excellent the Nosler 95 grain BT as a hunting bullet is. I can't find it but it was convincing enough that I ordered 2 boxes in for my various 243, 6mm Rem and 6mm Creedmoor rifles, all used to shoot Pronghorn and deer. Good luck.

I've load a bunch of 243s in my time...

Of all you mentioned, I have used enough of the following I didn't even have to think...

90 and 95 Ballistic tips, 95 and 100 grain Partitions...

powder choice except for reduced loads 4064...

for reduced loads for the Ballistic Tips... 4198....

Why wouldn't an 85 grain 0.243" diameter Partition be a good bullet for deer hunting?

Why would a difference of 5, 10, or 15 grains of bullet weight make a meaningful difference in terminl bullet performance on thin skinned game or varmints, assuming that all were properly designed/constructed? As a weight comparison, one Pringle's Potato Chip weights 27 grains.

About 65 years ago, Winchester and Winchester sycophants claimed that 10 grains of bullet weight made a meaningful difference in terminal performance and those (spurious?) claims were a primary contributing factor for the 243 becoming a huge success and the 244 becoming an even greater failure.

I've killed dozens of whitetails with 80 grain Federal factory loads in 243 and 6mm rifles. I was able to pick my shots, so precise bullet placement was possible. Given that experience with fragile varemint bullets on whitetails, I wouldn't think twice about using any weight of Nosler Partition since they tend to do exactly what they are designed to do, expand and penetrate.

Thank you folks
Bill

My thoughts exactly. I have had good luck with 100 grain bullets in the 243 and 6mm but my fastest kills were with the lighter 80 and 85 grain bullets, especially before I started breaking shoulders and trying for high forward shots.

Those light bullets or a soft 100 grain Gameking generally meant DRT kills.

When my step dad got the 700 BDL 6mm that I am now shooting he never shot anything but 85 grain Sierra Varminter SP due to everybody thinking you needed to shoot a light bullet in the 6mm. I couldn't even begin to tell you how many deer he killed with that bullet. Once I bought it from him I shot them for a while but soon started experimenting with other bullets that don't seem to work much differently.