Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats 243 win 1-8" twist deer rifle

Experienced fast twist users, what bullets do you use for your dedicated deer load? I'm hopeful to get my Rock 1-8 in the next couple weeks.

I have a couple .243 1-8" twist. Been using 95gr Berger VLD's- 40grains of imr4350.

How is terminal performance on em? I've mostly used 95 Nosler BT's for my 243s. The Bergers and Amax appeal to me assuming they kill as well.

I've shot more deer using 95gr BT's like yourself. Recently switched to the 95gr VLD due to the accuracy offer thru my .243's. I've shot alot of game w/155gr VLD's and have no doubt they will match the BT's in killing performance.

1/2 of these deer were killed using a 243win- 95gr BT's. Berger's will be flying this year.

That's a cool pic

Yeah I bet the wife loves it too....

Hey man, happy birthday!

I took a small mule deer buck last year with my 8 twist 243 and a 105 vld hunting. It worked well and I would use it again. I generally run the 105 amax in that gun on varmints but I wanted to try a vld on deer so I switched it up. I run the same load with both bullets.

Bb

Heck yeah Happy B Day, hope you got some shooting in!

Thanks fellas!

With a 1-8, the 105s would be perfect. Amax, Scenar, or VLD. I've killed deer with them all, and they all do great. I even hunt in mountainous terrain with them, where shot angles are often less than ideal. Hunt with confidence with the 105s.

The 105's are good, but since killing a few with our LR rifles and 115gr DTAC's I'm having a 1 in 7.5in twist barrel screwed on a Model 7. The 115's have performed very well so far.

Exit wounds?

What round/speed? Thanks.

OP - I would use above recommendations esp. on longer shots. Anything up to 400 or so yards a 95 BT will handle fine, depending on what round it can do the job further somewhat, but the 105s take over as the range grows and you have less worry about bullets coming apart as the slow down a bit.

FWIW - I vaporized an amax on a direct spine hit at 200 yds, but at 400 double lunged, it gave a golf ball sized exit. Only managed to go about 25 yds, but struggled to stay on it's feet after hit.

The 95 BT is my fav all around, as most of my shots are not extreme ranges. Next, I plan to try some 80 TTSX. They are not what you want for LR shots as they lose momentum faster and are 'harder' so may not expand great. But since most of my killing is done under 200 vs. over 400 it's not an issue for me.

I have had some 95 BTs do .2 - .3 moa in both 6BR 10 twist and 243 9t. Sure they will also do well as an option in your 243/8t if you have some hunting done up close and want to punch shoulders. I busted/exited said shot last yr at 100 yds.

243 Win. Muzzle velocity has been between 2,950 and just over 3,100 fps. From around 80 yards to right at 600. Impact speeds have been between 2,900 or so and 2,000 fps.



LOVE the 95gr NBT. It is THE bullet for medium game IME out of 6mm's out to 400 or so. The longest for us was 427 yards on a very big rutting buck.

Good to hear. I bought a 1,000 of them from Shooters Pro Shop when they had factory seconds available...

No doubt the 95 is a killer. Thanks for the info.

So the 115s working near and far, good to know. Love to see the factories mfg. 7.5 ROT rifles OEM, the 243 has plenty to drive them.

"LOVE the 95gr NBT. It is THE bullet for medium game IME out of 6mm's out to 400 or so."

Agree!

Dude, I would have loaned you a super-wide angle lens to capture the photo and saved you a lot of time taking them off the wall

Lol - Dave - Stoney just built a new house complete w/trophy room for those