Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .243 - Shoulder shots or lung shots?

Busted both shoulders on a nice buck at 100 yds
Via 243 w 95 BT. Killed deer using 70 TNTs thru 105
Amax. The 95 BT and 80/85 Barnes are my go to in 6mm

Prefer BT for longer shots.

From what i've read( alot) about the sierra 85 gr i'd have to agree about keeping them outta the shoulder. I'd think the hornady 100 gr rn i asked about (in therory atleast) should perform as good as the corelokt, maybe better.

In my experience, a 95NBT placed anywhere north of a deer's diaphragm is dead. Pass throughs and soupy thoracic cavity are the norm. I know the Barnes bullet has its following but I don't see a reason to switch.

I'm thinking the little fella on the left needs a bigger jacket! (grin)

Nice pics for sure.....

100 grain Partition did one heck of a number for a kid we guided in NE last year. Right behind the shoulder and it didn't walk. Well, maybe two steps, I can't remember.

I know that's not one of the options, but in my personal estimation, I think I'd go TSX or Partition in the .243 over Core-lokt. But that's just me.

Yeah, 5 year old's are easy, dads old USMC stuff is a big deal. Small buck for sure, but the trophy is the memory of the day spent with the boys and seeing how excited they are still when mom's frying up "their" deer for dinner.

I sure miss the old Speer 105 grain bullet.

Congrats erickg

My neighbor laments the 105 speer just about every time we talk about loading for the 243.

I could see busting shoulders on a elk you don't want to see go down a big ravine or fear of tracking a mean bear into a swamp, but ruining a good portion of the deer's meat and sending lead fragments all over to see that "dramatic DRT" shot isn't worth it. Seems stupid and on par with "hunting show" mentality where they only care about the antlers and not the meat.

Put it in the boiler room and you will find them quick enough.

105 'max recovered from neck/spine shot buck, found under hide on off side.
Weight is 45.5gr or 47% retention. Shot was 75 yards, so impact velocity was up there, no cup core separation.

Newsflash: Conditions in other areas are not necessarily just like your back yard. You have obviously have never crawled on your hands an knees thru the south Texas thornbrush, getting your arms and legs bloody, with the temperature in the 80's, and come nose-to-face with a curled rattler.

May seem stupid to you sitting on your couch, but I don't like chasin' 'em thru the brush. Open your mind, don't be so quick to judge, and understand that conditions may be different in other places.

Erick, the 105 that I spun out of an 8 twist 6BR at 2850mv, hit the spine of a doe at 200 yds, VAPORIZED in 1-2" - nothing left but lead/copper dust.......it was a rear raking shot, but don't trust an amax 105 to bust bone at high vel.....

Exactly, a 100 YRD sprint can be a game changer in some country.

Interesting, the varying results a bullet can give. One could always hedge I guess and shoot TSX's....

I've put the 85 gr. Sierra through a deer shoulder. It killed the deer but thoroughly trashed the shoulder for eating. Recovered what was left of the bullet just under the offside hide. It was mushroomed almost completely to the base and had lost alot of lead but the jacket and what little was left of the core were still together. I've put 100 gr. core-lokts through shoulders several times and wouldn't hesitate to do it again if the need should arise. I haven't recovered one from a shoulder shot yet {yes, all exited} but none went through both shoulders either. Of course you can't really go by my results, as I've also put 55 gr. Hornady sp's launched from .222's and .223's through deer shoulders before and after reading countless accounts on here of how tough deer are and how you need TSX's or partitions to shoot through shoulders I've come to the conclusion that the deer in my area are made of much flimsier stuff than most.

I hear you, I'm paddling the same canoe as you. The past two years I've used a .223 mostly shooting Sierra 65 gr. Gameking BTSP at around 2,900 fps to kill deer.
Went to a 6x47 Rem shooting 85 gr. Sierra JHPBT and its like I've gone to a big bore magnum.

Deer aren't that hard to kill, If one can shoot....

22 cal 62 grain TSX sails thru deer shoulders no problemo, why worry about a 24 cal 85 grain? I shoot the neck or shoulders.

The 243 100 grain CoreLokt is a bullet that gets it done just fine on deer, from most any angle or bone structure. It's well enough made in that combo to get the job done.

I shot a 180lb 8 point this year with my tikka and 80 TTSX over 43 gr H4350. High shoulder broadside about 110 yds. Entry hole looked like a pencil exit like my pointer finger. No bloodshot meat no shredded material. Dropped in its tracks Little bullet is bad ass!

The thorn brush would be nasty and I can see your perspective. On the other hand, you've never heard of the Minnesota "heart shot" either because I wouldn't destroy hindquarters... unless I was just after antlers. Different strokes for different folks there Willis.