Just wondering what's the lastest and greatest that works well on whitetail. Got a new M18 243 and everything I've tried so far shoots sub moa @ 100y. Hornady 100gr interlock, 95sst, Rem 100gr cor-lokt, Peters 95gr btp, this rifle just flat out shoots. Thought about trying Barnes 80gr tsx but really don't know if i need to look any further. Let's hear what you 243 fans like 👍

winchester 80gr's give em a try

I've never shot a deer with a .243. I have one now and sighted it with the cheapest ammo I could find. It happened to be the .243 Win Power Point 100gr bullet. They shot 1/2" at 100 yds. My first try on the reloads were not that much different.

100gr Remington Corelokt. I also load the 100gr Corelokts.

From 0-500+ yds, the WW 95 Ballistic Silvertip is a top choice.

0-300, perhaps a bit more, the Barnes/Vortex 80 TTSX..just runs out of steam faster, and needs more speed to open well being a mono.

Many others work......Factory Rem Corelokts clocked surprisingly slow in my gun........

Hornady 95grain SSTs knocks whitetails pretty dead, in my experience.

Good, they shot really well, 3 shot 3/8" at a 100. I also have some Remington accutips but don't know the weight or anything about them. My nephew was using years ago and killed his first buck with an accutip.

Here's my first 3 shots with some old core-lokts i had laying around, i was surprised.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

It's my current go to.

Have shot them with about every factory "big game" variant, & they all worked.

Federal Premium 100 gr Nosler Partition. Never gone over 3/4" for 5 at 100 yds from a WBY Ultralight. Had planned on loading for it, but there's just no point.

I wouldn't hesitate to use a core-lokt. Especially if it groups like that.

Don't be afraid to give the Federal Fusion a try either. It's usually my "go-to" for anything new. But in the case of this .243 I have, the loads were already worked up. I just wanted something cheap to sight it in with.

Yep, sage advice, it's my number 2 choice. Always have some on hand.

The Remington 100 gr CL is really a good bullet. Don’t underestimate it
GreggH

100 gr Remington Core Lokt has felled a sh*t ton of deer in our hunting camps. Fusion is a solid killer as well.

Federal Blue Box 100 grain SPs and Federal Fusion 95 grain. Pure aresenic on whitetails.

My wife likes Nosler 90 grain Etips!

100gr Win PP’s

People actually have favorite factory rounds? If true, why the snarf isn't more reloading components available............?

😀

+1

This got me thinking. After years of hoping to run into the perfect 6mm Remington, I finally succumbed to a .243, a 60s Sako Forester about 10 years ago. Gave that one away, and four others have since stayed here for a while, all purchased new. None of them has ever seen a single factory round, except probably the Sako in its former life. The new one seems like the most accurate of the bunch, and with all the components acquired for the others on hand, it'll never run dry.

Based solely on comments read here over the years, if forced into using factory stuff, I'd probably start with Fed blue box, which seems to be pretty popular, and cheap.

Federal Premium 95gr NBT

I've only shot two deer with the .243, and one of those was with the 100gr. Winchester Power Point. Deer died, what more could you want?

Hornady 100g factory

Hornady 95 SST

Win 95g Ballistic tip

I think from my own experience and that of friends I have factory 243 95-100gr loads for the 243 are all good.40 years back a coworker fell in love with a plain barrel 16 ga M37 Ithaca I had, he wanted to trade me for it. So I said what you got? I had just picked up a used M700 bdl in 243, he knew that. He said 200 rds of factory Remington 100 gr Corelokts, 200 (4 boxes) of 100 gr NPT's and $50 cash. Was all worth more than I had in that 16. So we traded. 40 years a go, still have some of the fac ammo and NPT's left, of course the cash disappears like water. Still killing whatever I shoot with it and all the handloads I've run thru that same bdl. A good friend swears by Federal Fusions and others can't find anything wrong with 100 gr fed blue box ammo. Don't know how you can do wrong with what's offered today , a bigger problem will be what's actually AVAILIBLE right now. MB

I think the .243 is one of the most underrated killer rounds out there. They just plain work.

100gr federal blue box. my grandkids have killed many, many whitetails with that round.

I have gotten some consistent, small groups with the 95 grain Federal Fusion.

Truth. I wouldnt hesitate taking a good broadside shot on a bull elk with a Hornaday interlock or NP.

Ain't that the truth.

Win 95 nbt silver tips. Always shot good for me and killed everything with ease.

100 core lokt always did just fine as well

I believe the 243 to be the Mike Tyson of the smaller calibers.

95BT are my go to, they just work and they are on sale right now on SPS!

Don't have one, if you ever get into handloading:

WW or RP cases
100gr Partition
48gr H-1000
CCI-BR2
COL 2.685"

Is a bughole shooting sombuck in my pre-64 featherweight, have only hit what had to be a 175lb giant doe deer and two football pigs, DRT's with complete penetration, buddy up in Alaska knows a guide/hunter up there that has used the 100gr partition on everything in Alaska, something to consider if you want to buy factory loaded ammunition with 100gr partitions.

I've had good luck with these, also. Cheap, accurate and effective.

Well picked up a box of Barnes TTSX BT 80gr that I'll group next week hopefully. Got a bud that upsets real easy if anything bigger than a possum is put down with the ole 243, big bore syndrome i believe.

243 plentiful in my area, stange how that works.

My Model 99 seems to like the plain ol' green box Remington 100 gr. loads. No complaints here.

I have several 24 count boxes of Federal Blue box 100grain from the 1990s (FIL gave them to me). He has stickers on them with date and price ($8 a box 😜). They shoot sub-MOA easily out of my T/C Icon 5r.

I have had great luck with Federal Fusion in three different .243's.

HeavyBarrel

80 grain Barnes

Federal 95 GR Fusion but I doubt you could go wrong with a Nosler Ballistic Tip or Winchester combined tech of the same weight.

Blue box 100 grain.

Only .243 round I use is the Remington 100 grain Core-Lock. Kills deer pretty dead, and in some 40 years of using them, never a failure.

Fed Blue Box 100’s.

Nosler 95 Ballistic Tips

Yep, the little 243 kills things, is accurate and low recoiling.

It's been a lot of years since I've hunted with factory ammo. In fact almost as many since I even shot factory ammo. That said I tend to try new product's based on what many people have to say about them. Took a lot of years just to try Reloader rifle powder and still have only tried 19 and 22! Then I pretty much stay the course forever more. If I was to use factory ammo for deer hunting in a 243, it would be 100gr Core Locks hands down. That is not to say there is not ammo out there as dependable as Core Locks but I don't see much of anything getting the reviews they get after a heck of a lot of years.

100 grain federal blue box. A couple years ago with a combination of a federal rebate, and a walmart clearance, they paid me a couple dollars a box to take them out of the store. I have a whole bunch of them, my kid kills stuff with them frequently.

100gr corelokt

Fed Fusion

Federal Blue box 80 grain snaps them pretty hard.

A 100 gr Core-Lokt is my go to .243 ammo, it gives a deer a bad headache.

I think at this point it’s “whatever you can find”