243 Ammo for whitetail

J

Jevyod

New member
I was wandering what in your experience is a good 243 load? I don't have time to reload for this and was wanting to pick up a box at Cabelas. I have had some bad experience with the ballistic silvertip and want a good solid bullet that will hold together well and penetrate well at 300+ yards. I was thinking of 100 grn Hornady interlock or maybe see if i can pick up some Federal with 100 grn partitions. Any suggestions,thoughts?
 
I've tagged a couple of dozen bucks via the Sierra 85-grain HPBT (now offered by Federal). However, they were all inside 200 yards and I limited myself to neck shots or cross-body heart/lung shots.

For angling shots and on larger deer, many have done quite well with the old standby, the 100-grain CoreLokt.
 
My son shot several with a .243 using the Federal factory loads. 85 grain loads, not sure who's bullet it was. Shots were up close though, nothing was more than 75 yards away.
 
If they have it, Barnes Vor-TX.
The price will make you find the time to load your own though.
You can buy cheaper ammo but you can't get more effective bullets.
 
Let's do the algebraic math:

Fusion > Core-Lokt in performance due to true bonded core. Core-Lokt's fail.
Fusion < Partitions in price and >= in performance

sum = Fusion 95gr (and Winchester Powermax) best whitetail bullet period :D

I've got stories, pictures of entry/exit wounds, and a few trophy deer to prove this equation
 
Your personal opinion/experience and I respect that. I hunted for years with a Ruger M77/.243 using 100 grain Core Lokt pills and never had to track a deer more than 20 yards. My longest shot was about 120 yards. They've done me well, but what do I know :)
 
If you can't kill a whitetail with a 100 gr Remington PP or Winchester Super-X load, the 3-5 dollars extra for the bonded Fusion won't help any....

These bonded/solid/Partition bullets for whitetail are just silly, unless you are using a varmit caliber cartridge: they just are not that tough to kill.

Also, if you are using a bonded bullet, you have to take great care if the animal is facing you, or your center of the chest hit will carry on through to make field dressing a really crappy job.......

If you spend the money (ammo) to practice much with your deer rifle, spending the money on these superdooper bullets will cost you more than the rifle did......
 
Unfortunately, so many hunters think that picking up a box before deer season is all the ammo they need ...... "One Boxers" ....... (exits, muttering)....
 
I actually reload the .243 with 100 grain Hornady Interloks for my wife. They are wonderful bullets. Stick with the 100 grain in standard loads and shoot well, no problems. If you want to go lighter then take a look at the Barnes bullets, fantastic bullets. Do your part and most any of the 100 grain bullets designed for deer sized game will work fine. Assuming of course that your rifle likes that bullet/load and as you know there is no way to predict that. It may love the Hornady load and hate the Rem Cor-lokt or the opposite.
 
Thanks for all the imput! A disclaimer; this is actually for my brother. I know it seems weird to me to just go buy a box of shells but with loading for my own rifles, it just doesn't come high on my priority list! Hopefully till next year I can load a good load of Hornadys for him!
 
Make him come over and load them himelf. My brother used to do my reloads. I figured it looked like fun. And it is. But I also didn't realize how much work it was, so I feel bad for all the rounds he made up for me. Additionally, I don't want to think how either of us would have felt had a round been loaded wrong... at least now when I load my own, it' my own damn fault.
 
We use Berget 87 gr Hunting VLDs in my wife's Model 70 243 for Mulies and Antelope.

Never had to shoot one twice.

As a side note, they electrify coyotes at 100 yards.
 
I personally wouldnt waste the extra money on Nosler or Barnse. Way more money for no more performance.

The Horn 95gr SST's have worked perfect for us on MANY deer. Longest shot my middle daughter took was this year. 400yds, one shot and he was dead after 40 yards.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top