Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 243/6mm Bloodtrail Questions

I have always wanted to own a 6mm or 243 for deer hunting. After a week of hauling around my 264 Win mag deer hunting last week I want a lighter weight rifle even more. I hunt very thick country, full of briars and cutover. I pretty much have to have a blood trail if the deer runs more than 10 yards or so. What has your experience been with blood trails from the 6mms?

Do the TTSX's normally provide a decent blood trail?

TSX 85 gr. @ 3100 fps

243 is a good rifle, and can drop deer quickly. I carry my 243 when conditions permit on hunts that could yield a 200lb+ buck of the B&C variety up here in Alaska. We do "thick" rather well, and I hear you when you say that a blood trail is necessary.

TTSX is a good shoulder breaker. I've killed a handful with the 85gr TSX, no problems. I opted away from them as they are expensive and didn't have the BC I was looking for.

I went the other route, and use the 105 Amax and Scenar. I scramble lungs/heart with a frangible bullet. Average distance traveled is about 10yds. Exits aren't a sure thing, but usually get them. Put a 105 into the vitals and an animal can't make it very far.

have only used Hornady interlocks, and lately Nosler partitions
in a 6mm Rem, actually my kids last few years shooting it.
Really can't complain, have had good exit holes and blood on
all but one - girl shot one head on at close range, bullet was
wadded up under hide on it's rump. She broadsided several from
50 to over 300 yards, some shoulder some lung, one spined -
all good sized exits. I really like the partitions

Thanks fellas. Calvin, you make a good point. I fully believe a frangible bullet will put them down quicker, but, if they run off 50 yards without a blood trail I am screwed.

I shot a buck high in the lungs last week with my .264 win mag and it took me a long time to find even the first drop of blood. In fact, I had searched high and low for him thinking I had no blood and could not find him. I went back to square one and finally found some blood and got on the trail. Once we got on the trail we slowly but steadily found blood and recovered the buck. I know I can't really expect much from a high lung hit but it made me realize that without blood I would have lost him.

You know it' pretty hard to say about blood trails with any caliber as there are so many variables. My buddy shot a deer this weekend with a rn 30 cal bullet that made a quarter sized hole going in and silver dollar sized going out. when I field dressed him the heart was literally in two pieces. It ran about 30 yds with almost no blood trail. the Deer prior to that he killed was hit in almost the same spot with a 6.5 rn bullet and Ray Charles could have followed that blood trail but it was close to 100yds. The only thing different that I can figure is on the first deer the heart was gone so blood pressure was zero while on the 2nd deer the heart was missed and a artery was cut and the heart kept enough pressure to force the blood out. I can share with you 3 deer kills with a 243 and 2 left good trails and one was drt but I could hardly find the bullet hole. It went thru the near shoulder and was under the skin on the far shoulder in a perfect mushroom. Go figure, but I consider the 243 an excellent deer cartridge with good 90 -100gr bullets.

I've had more drop right the [bleep] now with a Barnes than anything else.

Im quite confident in the Sierra 85gr HPBT for deer with a well placed shot...they disrupt the internal operations real quick...not a popular choice but my .02

I nearly always had decent blood trails with the 95gr Partition. When I tried the 95gr Ballistic Tip, I caught a lot more bullets but dropped more deer on the spot. Still, the ones that ran often left me nothing to go by.

Good topic/timing.

Saturday morning I shot a big bodied Ky. 8 pointer. Around 230 live weight.

Federal Fusion/40 yards/ mid lungs, quartering, in last 2 ribs out right over top leg bone/ quater size exit. He ran ~70 yards. Very little blood till the last 30 yards. The body cavity was full of blood. The trail was mostly dime sized flecks.

I like a bigger blood trail myself, time for a new load. Dang shame, this Montana loves Fusions.

I think we all need to become better trackers, versus blood trailers. Usally, a well wounded deer will leave more then blood.

They stager, leave drag marks, piss and poop all over, sometimes regurgitate.... Look for blood on the briars and such, at the level the wound is. Some blood doesnt make it to the ground. I've pulled some deer out of nasty thick laurel and briars, with 243 win/100 gr CoreLokt combos.

There is more to finding deer then just finding blood. My Dad used his 243 with 100 gr CoreLokt factory ammo for 40+ years. Never lost a deer to that combo.
I usally used a 308 in PA, with 150 PMC loads (150 GameKing) and had mostly DRT results.

If you don't want to track, put a 95 gr partition though the shoulders and walk up on him. Deer dont run too well with no from shoulders.

I use a 95 NBT, they flop when I shoot them, so I don't know about blood trails from them.

you're punching a hole in a critter, the variables will dictate a blood trail more than the diameter of the bullet.

That about wraps it up. Ive killed beau coup tonnage with a .243 and 100 gr. Hornady Interlock.some left a good blood trail, others didn't...just as if I'd shot them with anything else.... but like Colo1135 said, the vast majority didn't need to be trailed....

I've killed a schitton of deer with .243 and various .22 centerfires. They do kill deer with gusto but ARE NOT as dependable at leaving a blood trail as the bigger calibers. Nothing is 100% of course and much depends on location of hit. The best you can do is play the odds and when it comes to consistent blood trails the odds all favor bigger bullets.

People just need to learn to track.

I killed a buck last week with a 7mm bullet. Not a drop of blood until I got to the kill site. It was obvious at the shot I hit the deer, but it left only scuff marks in the grass to start off on. There was bark ripped off a tag alder further in that I figured was him busting through the brush. Another broken branch led me in the same direction until I found the buck.

They leave clues but not always blood.

A .243 kills the heck out of deer.

Exactly!

Shot my first "243" deer last weekend in northern Minnesota. He came walking towards me so I slowly raised my gun but when I looked through the scope I could see lots of branches in my way. So I lowered myself down to one knee...as I was doing that he saw me and froze. As I lined up the cross hairs between his front shoulders (head on shot) he got nervous and started to turn as I shot. It was about 75 yards with a 100gr Nosler partion and the bullet hit his upper right front leg. It hit bone and nearly took his leg completely off. He ran about 80 yards pumping out nearly all of his blood. Very easy to follow. I am now a 243 fan because of what it did to that deer. I know if he wouldn't of moved he would of been DRT with my frontal shot.

I never needed a blood trail (always had blood on the ground) because they never went more than 40'. Almost all of our deer were DRT. My son & I load 100gr Corelokts.

I've had great blood trails the few time I needed to follow a deer that I put a 6mm bullet into. The majority of the time-approx 75%-the .243 has resulted in DRT. This with 100 gr partitions, Sierra Gamekings, 90 gr Speer Hot-Cor and 85 gr Sierra HPBT.

The .243 Win. punches well above its weight.

I wouldn't count on good blood trails with lung shots from the 243 TSX. Very sparse in my experience.

If you want blood trails from lung shots from the 243, you need some good expansion--like the 95 BTip, 100 CoreLokt, or the 85 Sierra. The 95 Fusion is good in factory form.

I was going to try the 85 Interbond this year myself, but didn't draw a tag and never worked up a load.