Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles remington ,243, 80 gr. psp's

i usta shoot these a looooong time ago, and can't remember how they performed on game.

anyone still using them, on what, and how /what do they do on game ?

According to their website, Remington makes 2 80gr bullets for the 243, a power-lokt and a PSP...no core lokts.

I believe these bullets are designed for vamints.

I dont think Remington makes a 80g core lock but they do make a 80g soft point. I know that Barnes has come out with a 80g TTSX. I use the soft points for my daughters in the off season for target practice. Very cheap to load.

changed it, psp's..
i'm tired of spending big bucks just to punch holes in paper most of the time, and trying to go "old school" and use cup an core bullets again.
things dies just as well with the old stuff as they do now with big money controlled expansion bullets.
specially for thin critters like antelope and deer.

I'm sorry I can't comment on the Remington bullet, however, your stated intention of using an "old school c-n-c bullet" made me think of the 85 gr. Sierra HPBT Game King. That doesn't break the bank either and has a wide following for general purpose uses in the .243/6mm rifle cartridges. Just a suggestion to think about also.

i shot a doe years ago when i lived in montana with an 85 gr bthp, drt, like god struck her.
just saw the ad down in the classified's for 500 of em, and was asking in case i wanted to get em.
got a new 243 coming in and need some bullets for it.
i only shoot 70 gr. nbt's out of my old "varminter" now.
i have some different bullets, not many, so askin just in case.
the new one will be used for antelope and deer only, my old hb is still used only for coyotes.

Behind the shoulder drops them dead. I have taken about 20 deer with them in the 6mm Rem. factory loadings before I started reloading. Same effect as a ballistic tip

just looking for a comprimise between heavy and light.
i think an 80 will get up n go up to a 300 yard distance limit i will have for these. would like to keep the shots, closer, but we all know sometimes things don't always work that way, and may have to take a longer shot.
here's the deal, i am getting a 243 mannlicher just for hunting lopes and deer. no need for me to waste money on premium bullets when the old school stuff still works.

so i want to have some bullets on hand besides what i have, for load testing, and if one shoots better than the others, then i don't want it to be a varmint bullet, unsuitable for big game.

I used the 80 gr PSP on a javelina at about 100-125 yards from a .243 and it worked just fine, as I expected it would.

I tried the 80 grain Rem softpoints last year on a doe at 80 yds. Failed miserably. Never did find her. They're good on coyotes though.

Classic, if you never found the doe how do you know? I have used the Remington 80 gr. PSP in my 6MM Remington on a bunch of deer before I switched to the 95 gr. Ballistic Tips (big sale at Nosler pro shop) and found them deadly. I wouldn't know about shoulder hits as I never hit a shoulder bone on impact. I shot for ribs or the neck just in front of the shoulder and always got the deer. These are an earlier designed bullet and they are very similar in action to the 85 gr. Sierra BTHP.

Classic? Well let's see. I verified zero in the morning, everything's fine. Stalked to about 80 yards of some bedded does, and when one stood up, I laid it in right behind her shoulder, right in the lungs. Good shot, felt great, doe stands there and starts to walk off. My son was with me, and I tell him to watch, she's dead and doesn't even know it yet, she'll fall down in a second. Nope. I sent 2 more her way before she followed the rest out of range. I tracked her for abour a mile and a half, keeping her in sight as best I could, but eventually lost her. Too much sign to follow prints, and no blood whatsoever. Afterwards I checked zero again at home and it was still on. So yeah, I say it failed me. Granted it was a big mulie doe. I shot a coyote last winter with it, 150 yards out maybe can't remember exactly now, facing to me. It flipped him over on his back and did not exit. So in my experience with that bullet it's great for 'yotes, but not deer. If you've had better luck with it than great, use it. I won't, and if someone asks about it I'm going to tell them how it performed for me. I listened to guys on the Net before I loaded them up, who said it was a great deer killer.

Still if you don't have the body (habeus corpus) you don't have a case. The last deer I shot with the same bullet out of my 6MM was maybe 80 yards out, hit right behind the shoulder blade. The bullet blasted rib bone down into the chest, and as she was angling toward my right traveled back thru at least 6 inches of spine and blew bone along with whatever was left of the bullet out the far side. The doe of course dropped and was done moving before I got to her. I was somewhat below her and to avoid meat loss I shot where I did but I sure lost some backstrap! My load was a max level load using H414 so I'd say it was going near 3300 fps when it hit her. I can't explain why your deer left never to return but neither can I immediatly blame the bullet.

I'd have to look up my load, off the top of my head I can't remember the grains, but it was H4350. I wasn't getting max velocity, out of a short Remmy 600 barrel, but it should have done the trick. If it weren't the bullet I've no idea what it was. But that same load failing to exit on a coyote tells me it's not holding together enough for deer. Maybe if I tried again next year with it, it would do what I asked of it. But I'm not going to risk either a lost animal, or multiple hits and PITA tracking jobs when I've better tools for the job. You have a point in that without a body to dissect and look for wound channel and weigh bullet fragments it wouldn't pass in court. Honestly I have no other explanation for it. Was it the only deer to defeat that bullet? maybe, but I doubt it. Regardless, the original post asks for input on that bullet and I gave mine. It's only a small sampling, but valid none the less. If you like it have at it, but don't take offense because my experiences don't mirror yours.

Rest assured no offense. I often wonder about the comment there are no seconds from Remington. I have had different results with different lots of bullets from Sierra and I don't know why the same thing couldn't happen from Remington bullets. I usually used this rifle and bullet to fill doe tags where placement was usually perfect broadside half way up the chest right behind the shoulder. Didn't always exit but the deer always went down and the bullets I found were mostly the intact over expanded mushroom I usually get with any Remington pointed bullet. I got a good deal on the Nosler 95 gr. Ballistic Tips and this really is a better deer bullet. I havent recovered one yet.