Favorite 100 gr+ .243 Bullet For Deer?

[Kachok]

100gr 243 my fist choice is the Nosler Partition, but I am just crazy like that I like plenty of peneatration and rapid expansion. 100gr Core lokt have a decent reputation too though they can come apart on close range shots, though they still drive deep enough to blow up in the vitals, that usualy make for a quick kill even if it won't leave an exit. Grandmother used Power Points in her 243 and never had an issue.

 

[41 Mag]

I fail to understand why anyone loads for accuracy in hunting loads. I'll bet I've killed 100 deer with a .243, and the only thing I gave a damn about was that the bullet held together at high velocity. A .243 needs all the velocity it can get, and since it's light you shouldn't be shooting beyond 300 yards since the round doesn't have the kinetic energy to assure a kill at long range.

You should load for terminal performance, period. A 2 MOA group means that at 300 yards your slug will land within 3 inches of your crosshairs. What more do you want?

By your logic, why should anyone even try and attain any accuracy, but simply load to the max velocity and go hunting. Most hunters cannot use the accuracy a factory off the shelf rifle can give in the first place. They simply do not put enough rounds downrange to get anything out of it. This said, there are folks out there who DO care about how much they can get, and strive to get it all.

Also a 2MOA group at 300yds is just a tad over 6" and I sure as hell want all of my rifles to doing MUCH better than that. But your right, it should hit within 3" of your cross hair, but in which direction, and that DOES make a difference.

For my money (and I'm very experienced with the .243), nothing beats the 100 grain Nosler Partition. Most of the deer I killed with a .243 were with NP's. I never once recovered a partition. Not once. The .243 with a high velocity NP is pure deer poison with an exit wound that's damned near fist sized. I always loaded to max velocity even though that was never the most accurate.

I won't doubt your experience, and I sure won't say anything bad about a Partition, but it is not the end all bullet for every situation or need. It is certainly not needed for a whitetail nor an antelope, or even things a bit bigger. What is needed however is to be able to put the shot where it needs to go and not HOPE, is the one which will hit where I aim or is it the one which is going to be off to the right, the left, up, or down, by 3" or more.

 

[Kachok]

While I don't use a 243 much anymore, I do load a small caliber (6.5x55) and I do load for accuracy. Fortunetly my fastest load is well below MOA (46.5gr or RL22 and CCI primer pushing a 140gr SST) While power in important shot placement is vastly more important especaly in smaller calibers. I might be able to make it shoot a mm tighter by playing with different primers and tenth of a grain powder charges, but that is already much more accurate then I can shoot in the feild and pushing what I can do off the bench.

 

[Yarddog]

I Bought a old Savage 110 E Button mag release years ago. It shoot great 3/4 in @ 100 yards & that's with the cheapest Factory load Power Point ; ) PS Good Luck & Shoot Straight
Y/D

 

[KodiakBeer]

I don't want it to go all the way through tho. I want it dumping all of its energy in the body cavity.

You're not grasping the physics. The energy is expended in traversing the medium. Assuming the same expansion, the bullet that travels the furthest through the medium expends the most energy. In other words, the bullet that exits has dumped roughly twice the energy of the bullet that stops halfway through.

You always want an exit wound with a hunting round. Exit wounds bleed and entrance wounds don't, or at least not very much.

 

[KodiakBeer]

By your logic, why should anyone even try and attain any accuracy, but simply load to the max velocity and go hunting.

With a .243, yes, that is exactly my advice - along with the proviso that you use a bullet that will hold together. The .243 is inappropriate for long range shooting, that being the case you might as well play to its strength which is velocity. Kills with a hot .243 (and a good bullet that holds together) are nothing short of spectacular. If you put it through his ribs, he's going down right there.

You don't have to put his eye out, just put it through his ribs.

 

[HOWARD J]

Whe I use Winchester cases in my Savage edge 243--I can see a slight
stretching of the case at the web.
When I use Prvi-partizan ammo there is no stretch mark--looks like it was never fired. It weights 15 gr. more than Win. case.
Both 100gr. bullets
Do you see any bulge or stretch looking mark when you fire your 243 ???

 

[kingmt]

You're not grasping the physics. The energy is expended in traversing the medium. Assuming the same expansion, the bullet that travels the furthest through the medium expends the most energy. In other words, the bullet that exits has dumped roughly twice the energy of the bullet that stops halfway through.

You always want an exit wound with a hunting round. Exit wounds bleed and entrance wounds don't, or at least not very much.

I don't think I am. Have you ever seen how a bullet reacts in gelatin?

As far as blood trails go the only one I ever have is the one from the gut pile to the truck. If the don't run they don't leave much of a trail. Most of my shots are head shots anyway & I do fell the need to hit them in the eye is important. It doesn't ruin any meat & when the grass is still in there mouth I'm sure it didn't suffer.

 

[Kachok]

Bullets that fail to pass through do "dump" more energy but since that is a more blunt effect due to it's increased surface area it is using that energy less efficiently, though it does make for a nice pressure wave. High level pressure waves can make for quick shock kills but if that fails you won't have much blood to follow. A bullet that expands quickly but retains enough weight to pass though is the most reliable killer in the hunting world. Now to make it even better a high SD bullet that can fragment some of it's weight, make multiple nasty wound tracts and still have enough mass to keep going does both very nicley (100gr Partition for example). The last thing you want is a fragile bullet that will end up "dumping" all of it's energy into the shoulder, that is what gave the 243 a bad reaputation in many circles for many years. As long as your bullet is reaching the vitals before dumping you should be OK just watch your off angle shots.

 

[kingmt]

I have never taken a deer with a 243Win but I have with several calibers. I have seen them run for ever after a double lung & sometimes heart shot from a 30-06. I have used & seen use some very small calibers including .17 & I can't remember one that wasn't DRT.

My deer since I've been about 25 don't really count because like I said I take head shots & a deer with soup in its skull doesn't go far unless it down a hill.