Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mule deers thought s on a .243

With the 95gr NBT you'll get expansion at 1,600fps. 1,800fps is a solid place to be.

For conversation-




95NBT, 427 yards..... By a girl.







"Foot pounds of energy" as an indicator of terminal performance, means dick. Terminal performance is measured by the size and depth of the wound channel and what the channel destroys. Choose a bullet that gives you the type of wound you desire and make sure that it arrives with sufficient velocity to upset.

That tells me the 95 BT will wreck innards out past where I'll shoot. Given how one took out a big hog for me at a little over 100 yards while still moving fast, this bullet covers the deer hunting spectrum for me.

I've no issue from the muzzle to around the 600 yard line with 95gr NBT's on deer sized animals..... Even big ones. Which means it will cover everything but the specialized long range work. And then substitute a 105gr or 115gr VLD and it'll cover that as well.

Formidilosus,

Did you all get an exit on that buck at that range?

O......GOODIE,
Wow the .243 now is a choice rifle for even large deer out to 600 yards or so!!!!
And that is not all of it folks, this is written by an ex spurt.
Anyone take it out to 800 yards? Come on folks!
I am looking forward to the next episode of "As the bullet turns".
Wild show folks, do not miss it.

Are all of you snowbound mofos azzholes? A 243 might not be ideal for deer, even less so in your AO where a whitetail can have the same rack as a TX buck and weigh half as much, but the countless number of elk that have been dumped with 6mm slugs is OLD news.

Twit

Actually that is the only one that I have seen caught in just shy of a hundred deer with that bullet. She took a high shoulder shot at a weird angle. Penetrated the near side humorous, spine, clipped the front of the offside shoulder and was caught under the skin. Impact velocity was around 1,700fps. He of course did the AMAX flop.








Probably a pretty safe bet that I've killed more with a 243 than you've killed..... Ever..?

For info - my son shot another whitetail buck this year with his good old 6mm Rem, a near ballistic twin to the .243 Win. Here's the recovered remnant of the 95 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip:





Recovered weight is 49 grains as seen, with a little deer mung mixed with the copper & lead. Expansion was nice. Range was about 70 yards. MV was about 3,000 fps. This is the ONLY time we've recovered one of these little 95 grain Ballistic Tip bullets. Normally they expand well, yet pass on through. This buck was facing almost straight on. The bullet went in high in the chest, struck the spine, tore the top of a lung open and was found lodged against the skin, in the ribcage. Drop & death was instant, as we've come to expect from this rifle & bullet.

FYI, Guy

Another internet blowhard !

Succinct. I like that.

My experience with the .243 Win is limited to the 105gr VLD but it seems to work OK.

Desert Bighorn @ 500yds.



Muley Buck at 620yds



Whitetail Buck at 400yds



Whitetail Buck at 350yds



Antelope Buck at 600yds



Antelope Buck at 710yds



Muley Buck at 450yds

[img]http://i1205.photobucket.com/albums/bb428/GreybullPrecision/1d354c1a.jpg[/img]

Muley buck at 75yds

[img]http://i1205.photobucket.com/albums/bb428/GreybullPrecision/JohnKevinTimberlineMulie-1.jpg[/img]

2 of these cows at 550yds

[img]http://i1205.photobucket.com/albums/bb428/GreybullPrecision/DSC00279_zps1f1d6838.jpg[/img]

I did loan the Tan 243 Win to Ray Hatfield for 2 elk hunts and it took bulls at 760yds and 900yds but that is sorta stretching things.

Ray falls in the expert category.

If a fella struggles to kill deer inside of 600yds with the 243 Win it might be better to work on your shooting than to buy a bigger gun.

Just my .02.

John were all those animals shot with the 243 and the 105 VLD ?

In my country, a 243 with a 105 is about perfect for alpine buck hunting.

Formidilosus,

Have you worked much with any of the 105 grainers? How do they compare in terminal performance to the Nosler 95BT?

yup.

Wow, now that's impressive!

Here are 2 of the 105gr VLDs that Ray Hatfield (Nature Design Taxidermy) recovered from his big bull elk last year.

The range was over 900yds. He shot the bull 5 times with 5 shots. 3 bullets exited and 2 were found under the hide on the far side.



The bull never moved after the first shot but Ray kept hitting him until the bull collapsed. He said he could cover the 5 shot group on the bulls ribs with his hand.

I am not recommending anyone shoot elk at 900yds with the 243 Win, just relaying a story and showing the recovered bullets.

I think it is possible some of the bullets that exited did not expand but that is just speculation on my part. I have had good expansion on coyotes at over 1000yds with the same load and rifle.

Here is another 243 Win/105gr VLD Muley Buck taken at 500yds. I was not there but I did build the gun.



A nice Antelope Buck taken at 470yds .243 Win/105gr VLD. I got to watch this one. That is a factory Rem 700 .243 Win SPS barreled action in an A-3 stock.



Another Bighorn with the 243 Win /105gr VLD. Custom 1/8 twist barrel. 300yds.

Cool stuff John...love the videos also!

So......

What then does the 260 offer over the 243?