Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 243 Bullet Suggestion

I'm in the process of putting together a Ruger Compact rifle, in .243 for my Nephew. He will be shooting deer in Michigan with it, at ranges from 50 yds. to maybe 150 yds. I'll be loading the ammo for him, but looking for your thoughts on bullets. I was thinking of the Nosler Partition in 100 grains.

Buy some Remington Core-locs or Federal Fusion, and let him shoot those before you work up a load.

I would suggest Fusions. I shoot fusions out of both of my 270s and i have never shot factory ammo as accurate as this stuff. It works awesome too. Just read some of the reviews of the Fusions on Midway. Everyone loves them and they are cheap too!

I use a .243 for deer sometimes, and I think you are on the right path for a deer load. I actually use 85 grain Partitions, they group better in my rifle. I think if you use .243 for deer, a premium bullet helps...a little extra insurance is never a bad thing.

Will

100gr Remington Core-Lokt

My 11 year old and I loaded 80 grain TTSX's for his .243 and they worked fantastic on his 5 pt. this year, plus they're easy on the kids shoulder.I was amazed at what that little bullet did to a decent size northern buck.

The TTSX bullet, this is Barnes, ,correct?
Thanks for all the recommendations guys.
I'm still listening.

High Brass and I load 100gr Rem. CoreLokts with good results in performance and accuracy. You may want to try a bit faster powder like IMR 4064 if the rifle doesn't want to shoot well. A guy at work loads for his wife's compact .243 and he couldn't get it to shoot well with powders in the 4350 burn rate range.

Another vote for the fusion if you are going to grab something off the store shelf. We have a couple .243 in our camp. I think my daughter uses 95 gr.

I think I've shot deer with the .243 with just about everything and I'd go with the Barnes 85 gr TSX or the 95 or 100 gr Partition.

The only one I would really stay away from is the 100 gr Sierra Game King.

I have found it a highly satisfactory round and see a .243 AI in my future since my last was given to a nephew for his first centerfire.

For shots at 150 yds or less, I'd look hard at the 100gr hornady RN.

My favorite for deer in the 243 is the Swift 90 gr Scirocco with IMR 4064

Dat would be a very good choice!

Dober

partitions are great on deer, I used a 95 grain SST on mine last year, dropped him in his tracks.

if its a youngster I would say an 85 grain partition would be perfect.

if you're buying ammo, then you can't go wrong with corlocts

i have shot a bunch with the 85 sierra bthp and 37.5 I-4064. i used that load for years for both coyote and deer. for strictly deer a 95 partition. 4350 for max velocity. i -4064 or varget for best accuracy

I vote for the Barnes 85 gr. TSX @ 3000 fps. One tough bullet, check out my post from a couple years ago. Barnes is the way to go IMO.

Barnes bullets on OK deer.

I agree although I usually run the Spire Point version.

Dale

I loaded 85g Sierra Gameking HPBT with IMR4198 (25g) to 2500 fps for my nephew (11yo) this year. He killed a nice whitetail doe at about 200 yards without incidence.

I loaded it down to 2500fps for the decreased recoil and because his shots will all be 150y or less. That load in his Remington 770 shoots really well with very little report/recoil. He is recoil shy and can shoot this load all day long.

85 barnes with a charge of 43 grains R19

90 grain nosler BT with 42 grains of R19






It works for my wife!

My Father and Uncle have been killing deer for 30 yrs with the Speer 105 grain RN. I load the 100 grain Hornady RN and Sierra GK in my 243.

I lent it to my friend for his 14 yr old daughter to use, and she killed her 1st buck with the Sierra. At 50 yds, it blew thru the chest, broke some ribs, and broke the off side shoulder before exiting the deer. Needless to say, the buck only went 3 feet. Down.