Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Best 243 100 grain factory ammo for Deer?

I just bought a new savage 243 for the nephews to hunt with and don't know much about the round only what I have read sense I'am a 30 caliber fan. going to go wit the 100 grain for the thick woods around here in WV for Deer this fall and I need help deciding on what 100 grain factory load is best, you can read ballistics but actually talking to some one who has taken game with it is different especailly Deer. thanks for any info!!

Don't know about "best" but the potential good news is that the guys I've hunted with that use the .243 have all used the good old Rem Core Lokt green and yellow 100 grainer. All have had great results. Put the bullet in the right place and collect your dead deer. One guy we hunt with is a great field shot with a rifle and that's been his load of choice for a LONG time. Of course, he could also likely kill deer with almost any caliber given his field marksmanship.

Whatever you choose, best of luck in your hunt and enjoy that .243. My nephew started with his 2 years back and shot a doe opening day with the 100 gr Rem around 75 yards - she never took a step and he never noticed the recoil. Good kids combo as long as you get them the appropriate trigger time to practice and shoot well.

Lots of very good choices in standard (non-plastic tipped) 100 grain bullets. I have used Remington Corelokts, Federal Power Shocks (Speer Hotcore bullets) and Hornady Custom (interlock bullets). All of these have given excellent penetration and performance out of my 6mm. As good as these are, and even though I don't use them, I would say the best factory bullet in 100 grain factory offering is the Federal Vital Shock using the Nosler partition. I am thinking most will agree with this but would shoot whatever shot best of these, throw in the Winchester power points to boot, and not look back.

hornady interlocks work very well, and are sub-moa in my father's savage 99.

Another fan of the Hornaday 100 grn. interlocks. They shoot excellent in a rem. 700 of mine. I kilt many a deer wit'em.

BP...

I'm shooting the federal Fusion 95 grain in my wifes Montana this year, I think it should be close enough to 100!! Never taken a deer with it yet, but growning up I've taken plenty of our jackrabbit size whitetail using Remington 80 grain CL out of my Sake Forrester. I think the 95 grainers should lay some deer out!!

Black Hills Gold 95gr Hornady SSTs. First three shots is typical in my Savage. The forth shot was my fault. Haven't tried them on game yet, but I will in November.

How about settling on the load that shoots best in your rifle?

Me too. If I were looking at factory ammo.

RH

I second the 95 grain SST's it was the first load I tested in mt 243 and I coulda covered the hole with a dime at 100 yards. I haven't looked any further since. I'll try some of the 100 gr partitions before season, and keep them on back up but the SST's are where its at!

any

Also haven't found a Savage yet that didn't like anything in the Winchester Supreme line. The BSTs are deadly.

Remington green and yellow box express 100 gr core-lokts. I load them and so does my son. We've never used another bullet for deer in our .243's. Never had a failure,never needed a second shot.

I have seen the 95 gr Fusion in action, it would be my first choice if it shot well in my gun.

My daughter would say go with the Core-lokts. Her first deer dropped so quick she didn't see where it went. I've had similar luck with them for 35 years in my plain wrapper 788 in 6mm.

' Nother vote for Hornady Interlocks...

Ingwe

This guy got Core-Lokt syndrome in the Carolina pines. I've seen hill and hollow deer in WV become victims of the same illness with equal results.

I know a bunch of people who shoot 243's and they all shoot factory Remington 100g Core-lokt's.

Dale

I LIKE that....

Can we just refer to it as "CLS" in the future...or has that been used???

Ingwe

winchester power points