Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting The @#$&* 243 Winchester

My boys have probably killed 20 to 25 whitetail deer with 243 Winchester and 85 grain partition over the last ten or so years. When they first started killing deer with 243 I was amazed at how well it kill and even posted about how impressed I was with the little bullet. The more they use it the less impressed I am with it (deer always run even when one or both shoulders broke, skimpy to nonexistent blood trails, etc).

The only load they’ve ever used on game is Nosler 85 grain partition loaded to right at 3,000 FPS in a Remington model 7 with 18 1/2 inch barrel.

Several years ago I bought 1,000 of partition 2nds cheap.


I realize my issues started when I started using the new lot of the partitions 2nds. Anyone think it’s possible that this lot of partitions aren’t expanding? Or maybe after they don’t have enough base left to leave good blood trails after the front blows off? Or is it simply bad luck?

Thanks

It’s junk. Sell it to me.

I think you’re arguing with your own success.

Only way to know is a handful more hunts with firsts. Or wet newspaper tests or something similar.

You may have answered your own question.

("I realize my issues started when I started using the new lot of the partitions 2nds.")

There had to be a reason they culled that batch and sold them cheap as seconds. anything is possible. I guess you wont know for sure until you do some testing. I would try to find some partitions (not seconds) and load them up and see If your results are any better.

Bad bullets. I will buy em.

PM me.

Placement trumps all else, I'd bet little less than perfect placement there than bad bullets. You did ask..mb

I have seen many deer run quite a ways from a perfectly placed shoe, and I've seen deer drop in their tracks from a shot that was not so perfect. Each situation is different.

Try the 95 gr nbt perhaps.
When something works but then doesn't work after you change something, then look at what you changed.

Like saying you have a hammer that doesn't work worth a crap after buying discounted nails, then blaming the hammer.

There is no magic bullet for the .243 but the 100 gr SGK 95 gr. Horny S.P. will do the trick in a hand load, Federal Blue Box 90 gr. or 95 gr. ?? can't remember which, works great also, It Ain't the ARROW it's the Indian, when using a .243. Rio7

No cartridge or bullet can or will, guarantee that you get a bloodtrail 100% of the time.

I repeat.....NONE!

Stick with what you've been shooting and don't overthink it.

I’ve never seen a deer “run” with both shoulders broken more than a few feet… and that just hindquarters-driven plowing ahead. Are you losing deer or just having to find them? If, up to recently, they’ve been dropping in their tracks and now they’re not it says to me you’ve been breaking shoulders or spine and now you’re not. Have you been examining the bullet path after gutting and skinning them? As someone mentioned above, often well-hit deer don’t leave much blood trail, there are a lot of factors involved in whether or not you get a good blood trail.

My problem with the 243 is that many time folks use the absolute lightest “varmint” bullet to deer hunt with. Then wonder why it doesn’t kill as effectively as their friend Bubba’s 243. I’ve helped a ton of folks blood trail deer shot with a 243. Use a bullet property designed for the job at hand and, bust that oil pump and you won’t have any problems.

I haven’t used the .243 a bunch but enough. I was very skeptical of it when I was younger. My buddies wife shot a buck with one and it bled as much as anything we’d shot with a .308 or a 30-06.

Colorado has probably used one more than anyone I know and he’s used it successfully on many critters.

Shots placed high in the chest or shoulder, above the center line/curve of the body take longer to provide a blood trail, regardless of what you hit them with. Might not even get one if the deer falls fairly quickly, and they can travel pretty far in short order. A hit low in the chest takes out the heart, major vessels, and gets lungs too, and the blood flow starts quickly because the holes are low and the chest doesn’t have to fill up. Partition exit holes are small because the front end blows off, leaving the shank. If the innards are soup, the bullet expanded. A conventional soft-point may give you a big burping exit wound, but also may not give one at all, even in a larger heavier caliber. No deer I’ve hit low has gone more than 100 yards, most fell within 50 feet, and Andrea Bocelli could follow the blood trails with one eye closed.

If you want to shoot ‘em high, go high enough to break the spine and drop them right there, but that gets tricky with angled shots.

I have not had an issue with a 243 not killing especially with today’s bullets. I use Barnes TSX or TTSX. The only issue I had was one TSX that shed its petals from a point blank (less than 2 yards) shot. The shank and petals all went into the deer’s heart and did not exit the deer. It ran without a blood trail, but not very far.

Yes I've seen great results with the cartridge but always with 100 grain bullets

suppose Id purchase 50 new partitions & do some water jug test to compare to your factory 2nds. If the 2nds are a problem Id suspect the lead alloy to be the problem causing either too little or too much expansion. seems like you are suspecting to little expansion.

May wish to start shooting for more surgical shot placement in the mean time. Study up on brachial plexus shot effect.

I’d use the seconds for practice and not sweat it.

What bullet performance were you looking for instead?