Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Best single bullet for 243?

I swore by the 85gr Sierra HPBT for a do all in the 243 until I started shooting the 95gr BT. The 95gr BT is a great bullet is outstanding out of the .243.

my problem is, I can't think of any BAD bullets in 6mm from 85 grains to 105 grains....from any of the big manufacturers..

sure some may work better than others, but as far as I am concerned.. they work well enough, especially on deer sized game and down, that all the newer 'premium bullets' are over kill..

and of course there is a market for 'overkill' in the world of hunting... I'm not part of it, but won't knock the ones who are... at least not too much..

the best bullet for the 243 is the bullet that shoots best in your gun behind the load that will make it do so... and that can easily have More than one answer to it...

so look on the bright side, there is no real wrong choice... if only the rest of life was that easy to answer..

My .243 is my favorite rifle, and I have tried most of the bullets listed so far. They all work quite well. The one I settled on is the 70 gr. Nosler BT. I know its a varmint bullet, but it almost always exits on bigger stuff, and so far it is like flipping a switch when you hit something with it.

I loaded my first .243 round in 1976 with 90 grain Speer spitzers and simply shot stuff. It worked. Then I got a buy on a pile of Nolser seconds at the old Chet Paulson gunshop in downtown Tacoma. I bought enough to last for the next ten years and those worked pretty good, too. 4350 was the first and last powder I tried in the .243. Not a lot of expirementation but nothing to be unhappy about either.

85 grain Sierra bthp has worked great with IMR 4350 on everythign from coyotes, Whitetail and even a large hog. It is a favorite of old timers.

I like going to Midwayusa and reading reviews of different bullets.

I would like to hear more detail of your terminal results. There are a couple of others here who cite the same use and results as your report. I would like to know more, as I may load these in reduced loads for my daughter next year.

100 gr Hornadays and a jug of IMR 4350 will get er done.

I've killed deer with as little as the 70 HP - and don't recommend it, to the 100 gr NP. They all work, if directed properly and sensibly.

The Hornaday is inexpensive and works well...IMO

I've killed just about everything for years with the 85 grain Sierra bthp.
I've also killed a ton of hogs with a 100gr Remington Corelock.

Now I find the 80gr Barnes TSXbt is hard to beat. Also Partitions. Ballistic Tips are for Coyotes & Prairiedogs...

If I had to pick just one though, it would be the Barnes 80gr TSX

I run 'em at around 3400 fps (42 grs. Varget). I use that rifle for everything from groundhogs to deer, and a lot on coyotes. Terminal results are little stuff gets blown to crap, coyote and deer have a little hole in, vitals are sloshed and little hole out. And 4 legs sticking up in the air! I don't know that I would purposely hit a deer in the shoulder with one, but it ain't the end of the world if you do.

80 TTSX performs in a way that is out of proportion to it's weight.