243s much like 25-06 are a shock kill caliber, they do not have the standard twist rate to handle heavy for caliber bullets, but both do a great job of shooting relitivlty light bullets at ultra sonic speeds. These create a large cavatation effect on impact, the resulting pressure wave can cause in instant KO and the deer will bleed out right where they sit. The only problem is when they are not knocked out on impact, the shock wounds tend to be much more shallow and my not have damaged all the vital organs. I tend to perfer very heavy for caliber bullets, they are less dramatic in their killing I rarely get that instant flop, but my 140gr 6.5mm bullets will make a substantial wound through any deer and always blast through the other side. Over 20 years of hunting and I have never recoverd a bullet, and never lost a deer.
Kachok,
I might disagree with you a bit on the 243 and a 100gr bullet. I have shot one since 1970, and put more than my share of deer and hogs in the freezer. As I mentioned to the OP, it is a shame that Nosler discontinued the 100gr Solid Base as, IMO, I feel it was probably the best bullet ever built for this particular caliber. I'm not saying that there aren't plenty of others out there that won't do just as good a job, but I personally haven't found one. This said, if choosing bullets for it today, I would go with either the Hornady or the Core Lokts, as I have had excellent performance from them as well. Kept within around 2800fps these bullet will penetrate deep and not blow up excessively on most game even if hitting dense bone. Cranked up to the upper ends though they can get a bit wiggy. I load for accuracy most of the time and settle for the velocity I find it at more often than not.
My oldest grandson, is now the proud owner of a little Sako Forrester I picked up second hand, and I am loading the Nosler SB for him. The loads are running right at 3100fps form the 24" barrel and it is simply a lightning bolt when it hits. There isn't wide spread destruction of tissue like with a varmint weight bullet, but simply a nice 1" hole about an inch or so under the skin followed by mush, and that is followed by an exit hole of about an inch in diameter.
I DO agree with you on the 6.5x55 and a 140gr bullet though. It does thing all out of proportion for what you would think. I got one for my daughter and found that the only bullet it would shoot was the 140gr A-Max. Since hers was an older milsurp, I only loaded it to around 2650 tops, and it dropped everything we put it on for quite a few years. In fact the same grandson used it to get his first doe with, loaded with factory Privi 140gr SP's which we found will group even better than the handloads.
On the 25-06 yep another of my fav's. I found that there wasn't much that the 115gr Partition leaving my barrel at 3150fps over a load of RL-22, couldn't accomplish. I have shot everything from fox squirrels at 200yds, to whitetail at 400+ with it and nothing has walked off from them yet. I prefer the Partition over the BT's due to the chances of something coming out at 20yds , and I don't like that big of a mess. There again, I shoot the same load as the Partitions with the 110gr AB, and it shoots awesome as well. Both the daughter and the above grandson got their bucks this past season with the same rifle and the 110's. It's actually her rifle now, I finally gave in and conceded it to her after years of bickering. Can't let them know your that soft or easy, or they will rob ya blind. LOL
Feel free to have a look,
[URL="http://s49.photobucket.com/albums/f285/41nag/]My Pic's[/URL]
This one will shoot the 110's like this at 250yds, one low fouler after cleaning and two for checking the scope. Wind was about 18-20 cross range so I didn't bother tweaking the scope.
