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

Whiskey is certainly not good for you. You should probably have an MRI to check for fatty liver disease and a liver function test. You're probably closer to 6 feet down than me.

Ain't sweating dying. Should of been shot off a bar stool years ago. Could have been dead many times already. The Grandkids are almost out of school. Pretty sure God wants me to live long enough to be really miserable before I go on to the next level.

Nah, it'll never work !

There isn't much mass left in the rear section of an 85 grain bullet when the front section of a Partition gets peeled off, which results in less penetration and odds of exit wound.

You may want to try slowing the bullet down from 3000 fps to 2700-2800 fps to reduces the risk of shearing off the front section. More mass left on the bullet will give more penetration and hopefully an exit wound for easier tracking. Try it on a couple of deer and see what happens.

I would also vote for the heavier (95+ grain) Partition or the 90 grain AccuBond, but slowing down the 85 grainer may give you improved performance - especially if a rib or bone is hit.

https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/.243+Winchester.html

Funny part about the 85 PT. My cousin has an old 700 243 he has had since he was 12-13. Rifle just keeps stacking deer up with the 85 PT and you couldn't tell him a bad thing about it.

85PT also does a fine job in a 6x47. Sweet little deer killer!

Don't overlook the Speer 90 grain hot core 0.243 caliber flat base spitzer.

I have had good luck with whiskey and a 100 grainer through the lungs. Not in that order, necessarily.

I killed two big does this afternoon with my .243 and 100 grain Federal factory loads. First one was 285 yards behind the shoulder. She ran 50 yards back into the woods, left not a drop of blood on the snow. Second was approx 100 yards behind the shoulder through the lungs. She ran 30 yards back into the brush. Again no blood on the snow.

Did you get exits on those deer?

Just finished skinning/quartering the 100 yard doe. Bullet hit behind left shoulder and went into the right shoulder. No exit. Haven't skinned the second doe yet. Will get to it tomorrow.

Thanks...

Blackheart,

I'm surprised that little ole .243 bullet didn't bounce off it's Wal-Mart's fault ya know. Rio7

One thing I have noticed with new snow a lot of times a warm drop of blood will drop into the snow not leaving a visible trail on top. That said with snow to track with a visible blood trail may not be a big deal.

I had two deer on the same day, same box of ammo. 6.5x55 bullet fragmented and although it killed both deer, did not exit at 2600 fps at 35 to 40 yards.

So it's not just the tiny bores that have weird stuff happen.

My son shot a doe the Wednesday before thanksgiving, facing him head down @165 yards and probably about 40' down in elevation. Kimber Montana in 308, 165gr Speer Grand Slam @2600 mv. The bullet was just in front of the hams. It took out about 6-8 inches of spine, bang flop. Bullet was a mushroom of sorts and weighed 112 grains.
Fast Fwd. to this morning, he shot a nice 8pointer@ 25 yards (Pics to come later in a new thread) slightly quartering away at the 3rd or 4th rib back, buck ran about 30-35 yards and fell dead. Sparse blood trail and the bullet was just under the hide in front of the left shoulder. It looks like it mushroomed fine and then rode the shoulder blade fwd, shaving off part of the expansion. Bullet weighed 125grs.

I believe we are going to try a different powder to get the velocity up to hopefully around 2800. Right now he's @ 43 grs. of IMR4064 and a CCI 200. 2.800 COAL. This shoots 1/2 MOA but we want the velocity up some especially for longer shots.

Contrast that to a couple of years ago I shot a smallish Doe @ 65 yards,110lbs or so with a 6.5x55 swede and a 140 Hor. Interlock. Texas heart shot and the bullet exited out the Rt front shoulder. Bullets do crazy stuff sometimes. Go figure.

I need to clarify, the doe he shot was hit between the shoulder blades and the bullet traveled through the body cavity at an angle to stop in front of the hamsdown low. Almost through.
I wasn't very clear about that in the original post.

Snow can be particularly handy when using a small bore. Though in an area with many deer and many fresh deer tracks, staying on the one you're after can be a challenge.

down here the 243 get a bad rap from stand hunters for not good blood trails from water . dog hunters like to use semi autos with lite bullets to keep deer in the scope . the dogs make up for the bad hits .

And to stir the pot a little more, A big bore like a 450 Bushmaster might fare real well in the high grass with more blood. I dont think it has the shock power though. No? Yes?? My cousin is going back to the 30-06 . She shot 2 deer and no blood at all. Found both though... Seems they always get found with the 6mm. though.

My least favorite place to do any tracking is east Texas thorn brush. Deer tracks everywhere, grass everywhere. holes in blackberry tangles suck to crawl through and usually wet. Don't take my 243 there.