Best .243 bullet for marginal shot on a whitetail deer

[andora]

I have a very specific situation and I am looking for advice on what would be the best bullet to use.

I bought a savage .243 for my son (9) and daughter (10) to hunt whiletail deer in Pennsylvania. The typical weight for doe is 70 to 100 lbs. A typical buck is 95 to 125 lbs, with a mature buck being 150 to 175 lbs. Yes, they can get larger, but that is uncommon. Also, in Pennsylvania, most deer are killed inside 100 yards.

I am not concerned about a good shot, because the deer will be dead. Nor, I am concerned with a bad shot, because in all probability the deer will not be recover by typical tracking and recovery techniques.

The focus is on a marginal shot, because with kids there is a fair probability that it will happen. Yes, my kids practice a lot and shoot very well for their age, but, they are only 9 and 10.

With a marginal shot I am presuming we will be tracking the deer. Fyi … I do a lot of archery hunting and have a lot of experience tracking deer and in Pennsylvania, dogs are not permitted to track deer. From my tracking experience, a general rule of thumb, the less distance a deer travels before dying, the more likely you are to recover it. In addition, the more it bleeds, the easier it is to track and recover. That translates in expansion / damage (shorter distance) and penetration / damage (shorter distance, plus an exit hole that produces more blood). I am a big fan of exit holes (more blood on the ground), especially when hunting from a treestand, because the exit hole is typically lower on the body of the deer then the entrance hole, thus it typically drops more blood to the ground then entry hole.

I am going to define two different types of marginal shots with different characteristics and I am looking for a bullet that can perform well in both scenarios.

Scenario 1 - Hitting the Shoulder Blade
Being a .243, penetration is key. With adequate penetration, this would not be considered a marginal shot, however, without adequate penetration this would becomes a marginal shot were I may have to track and recover the deer. Ideally, the bullet gets good penetration and I do not have to track the deer.

Scenario 2 – Soft tissue (liver or stomach)
Here you need to maximize expansion to increase damage. In this scenario, you will have to track the deer to recover it. What I am looking for in a bullet is one that can produce a lot of damage to soft tissue and create a big exit hole. Reducing the distance the deer travels and increasing the amount of blood dropping to the ground. Let’s avoid getting into tracking techniques, that another topic for another day.

Thanks

[steveNChunter]

I recommend the 85 or 95 grain Nosler partition. The 85 gr is what I'm currently loading in my 6mm rem and my wife's .243. It has enough penetration to make it through both shoulder blades on a broadside shot, and good expansion due to the partition's construction and the fact the 85 gr leaves the muzzle at ~3300fps in a .243 with a 24" barrel.

I load a starting load of W760 under the 85 gr in my wife's model 7. It's not traveling that fast especially from the short barrel, but its low recoil (which tremendously helps her accuracy and confidence) and it gets the job done.

If the partition isn't your cup of tea, the 80 gr Barnes TSX or Speer Deepcurl would be good choices, among others

[myfriendis410]

80 gr. Barnes TTSX would be my choice. It is an outstanding performer.

[jimbob86]

You hit a deer in the guts/stomach with a .243 (or pretty much anything short of a cannon) and you'll need to pack in provisions before you find him..... and where I hunt, the coyotes will find him before you will.

Spend your time and effort in practice (and make the practice practical- in field positions, under time pressure, with efforts to get their heart and breathing rates up) for the kiddoes, and don't allow them to take shots at ranges or situations they can not make in practice, and you'll be less likely to have them make marginal hits.

I know, they are kids, and stuff happens (Eldest daughter backed the minivan into the Toy-(i)ota this AM, in the driveway) precisely because of that. That's why you have a rifle and a permit- the kid makes a bad hit, you drop the animal before it goes out of sight........ that's the way we've handled it in the past.

[reynolds357]

There are two ways I look at marginal shots. Barnes X will most likely give you an exit wound and thus a blood trail. Berger will give you a controlled depth bullet explosion that will yield massive tissue damage, but you most likely will not have a blood trail with the .243 Win. You can get some massive shock wave entrance wounds with Bergers, but I doubt the .243 Win. will generate one.

[243winxb]

Sierra GameKing #1530 Bullets 243 Caliber, 6mm (243 Diameter) 85 Grain Hollow Point Boat. Hand loaded with IMR 4350-42.0gr-CCI BR2 primer Win or Rem brass. Also available in factory ammo from Federal.

[jason75979]

Develope an incendiary round, or spend a bit more time at the range/stand with the kiddo punching paper or eradicating hogs.

[jimbob86]

or spend a bit more time at the range/stand with the kiddo punching paper or eradicating hogs.

I find kids do better with reactive targets...... we don't have wild hogs here, but gallon milk jugs full of water will keep them shooting a centerfire until either the ammo or the jugs are toast.

They are just about the right size, too, being about the size of a whitail's boiler room.

[jason75979]

Originally Posted by jimbob86

I find kids do better with reactive targets...... we don't have wild hogs here, but gallon milk jugs full of water will keep them shooting a centerfire until either the ammo or the jugs are toast.

They are just about the right size, too, being about the size of a whitail's boiler room.

That sounds like a good idea. Tannerite sounds like a good alternative to mimic the sensation as well. Seems to me some time at the "range" with either could possibly "break" the kiddos of the bad habits that hunting can invoke naturally.

[jimbob86]

If you have kids, you already have a steady supply of gallon milk jugs.

If you have kids that shoot, you probably cant afford ver much tannerite......

[mohr308]

My friend April up here in Western NY uses nosler partitions in her .243. She drops them dead without much tracking. Last year she dropped a doe in her tracks, head shot. Unreal what that bullet does, it wasn't pretty.

[David Bachelder]

Hornady 100 gr SST. Place the shot just behind the shoulder at center mass, we call it a "skillet shot". You will either take the lungs or the heart out, either way the deer dies.

If they can hit a paper plate at 100 yards they can kill a deer, no problem.

[schmellba99]

Nosler/Combined Technologies 95 grain Ballistic Silvertip.

I load these up for my little Texas white tail, which are about the same size as your deer.

I have had a single fail to drop right there, and that was a long shot that I probably should not have taken - well over 300 yards.

Everything inside 250 has put the deer down within 20 yards of where I hit (with the vast majority being DRT), and the BST does a wonderful job at expansion and destruction of vitals. Exit hole is generally about the size of a quarter, so not only do the deer usually expire very quickly, if they do manage to make it a few yards, the blood trail is massive and easy to follow.

I load mine up over 40.5 grains of H414 - I'm guessing they run int he 2950 fps range. Zero at 200, drop at 300 is a hair over 7", drop at 400 is in the 21" range.

Here is a little spike I punched at about 90 yards a couple of years ago - you can see the exit hole. Both lungs and heart were obliterated.

[Brian Pfleuger]

There's very little making up for marginal hits by using a better bullet or a more powerful cartridge.

Using a bullet that penetrates enough to reach the vitals doesn't make a marginal shot a good shot, it means you made a good shot. If you can't reach the vitals, it's a bad shot, period.

Penetrating FURTHER into the guts won't kill the animal appreciably sooner. Gut shot animals take hours to die and can travel miles.

The bullet that gives maximum penetration and excellent expansion is the Barnes TTSX line. I've seen the 80gr TTSX from a .243 penetrate a good sized NY 8-pt diagonally, from the right rear hip (which it pulverized) to stopping somewhere near the front left shoulder. We didn't find the bullet but it made it through the diaphragm and continued. It was darn near 3 FEET of penetration.

That's one example where an excellent bullet made a difference but you won't see that difference on a typical broadside shot of any nature. If you wait for a good shot, you should have good results. If you shoot the animal in a bad place, you will have bad results. It won't matter if it's a .22-250 or a .338 Lapua. A hole in the guts will take hours to kill the animal and you'll have a very hard time tracking.

The answer to your question is practice. While every hunter will make a poor shot at some point, they should be confident that they have the ability to put the bullet exactly where they want it and when it doesn't happen it's a fluke, not an expectation.

[Rifleman1776]

I am a fan of Nosler Partitions or Ballistic Tips.
They expand perfectly and retain almost all their weight to penetrate.
That was my choice when I had a .243.

[jimbob86]

They expand perfectly and retain almost all their weight to penetrate.

Ballistic tips? Really?

[1tfl]

Based on the size of deer you described, the common 100gr Remington Core-lok will do what you want. Double shoulder shot on 120 lb. deer will result in an exit wound.
BTW. instead of using smaller calibers for smaller kids, I've been down loading the .308 Winchester to manageable level. I have a Savage rifle with cut-down stock that kids can use and I load their ammo to something along the lines of Hornady 125gr SST @ 2,000 fps and they work very well on hogs so I assume they'll work well on deers too.

[dahermit]

Based on the size of deer you described, the common 100gr Remington Core-lok will do what you want.

I agree. And I have never seen any evidence that premium bullets kill any better than the standard ones do...despite pictures of cavities in ballistic gel.

Double shoulder shot on 120 lb. deer will result in an exit wound.

If someone gave you a prime steer for the meat, and you had to do a body shot, would you do a double shoulder shot? Behind the shoulder and loose no meat to bullets blowing-up on heavy bone.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Originally Posted by 1tfl

BTW. instead of using smaller calibers for smaller kids, I've been down loading the .308 Winchester to manageable level. I have a Savage rifle with cut-down stock that kids can use and I load their ammo to something along the lines of Hornady 125gr SST @ 2,000 fps and they work very well on hogs so I assume they'll work well on deers too.

While that is an acceptable solution, it won't kill deer any better than a fully loaded .243, possibly worse. Maybe no worse, but certainly no better. The diameter difference between .308 and .243 (6.5 hundredths) isn't going to make any difference whatsoever but the vastly lower energy level (the .308 load described is about 1/2 the KE of a .243), for penetration and hydro-static shock, may very well make a lot of difference, depending on the shot. Not to mention, 1,100 ft/lbs at the muzzle is certainly acceptable but it would be very marginal at even 200 yards.

[JimDandy]

I'm most fond of the more practice solution, which is obvious and not especially helpful to solve the learning curve problem exactly, in combination with the Dad-with-a-tag-and-a-30-30 solution.

[jimbob86]

BTW. instead of using smaller calibers for smaller kids, I've been down loading the .308 Winchester to manageable level.

Not to mention, 1,100 ft/lbs at the muzzle is certainly acceptable but it would be very marginal at even 200 yards.

While I would not load it that light, I've done the same idea with a Ruger Frontier in 7-08 ....139gr bullet down to 2400 f/sec or so ..... the Frontier is heavy for it's size, mitigating recoil pretty well, while still being short enough to be handy for kids. My 10y.o. son will burn up 50 rounds of those at milk jugs if you let him ..... pausing only long enough between shots to holler. "Dad! Did you SEE that?!?! BOOOSH! That water went like 20 feet in the air!......."

[schmellba99]

Ballistic tips?

I've had 2 projectiles lose their jacket. The rest of the projos were clean pass throughs so I couldn't recover the pill to gauge weight retention.

Ballistic tips are pretty good at retaining weight though from most things I've read about them.

I used a 168 .308" Ballistic Silvertip to drop my elk at about 185-sih yards. She ran about 40 yards, and how that was possible due to the sheer blood loss is just amazing to me. When I field dressed her, there was not much left of either lung - knicked the heart. She bled out fast.

[1tfl]

I agree that down loaded 308 doesn't kill any better than standard 243 round but I had a 308 rifle with wood stock that I was willing to sacrifice the stock to make it shorter for kids. I didn't have 243 rifle that I was willing to sacrifice the stock. These loads were for hunting deer and hogs out to 100 yards at most around here where 50 yards is typical shooting range. Anyway I wouldn't let kids shoot at games at 200 yards. It may not be an solution to everyone but it works for me.

[Toney]

I load 80gr rem core locks.

[Panfisher]

Pick a good to premium quality bullet in the 100 grain range, Hornady, Remington, Nosler, Barnes what have you. Any of them will do fine. If you want to go the extra mile pick a barnes TSX in 90 gr or Nosler Partition 100 grainer. If them don't do it, it ain't gonna happen. Personally for my wife I load 100 grain hornady Interloks over a mild load, fairly cheap to allow her to shoot more in practice, and just keep my knives sharp and camera charged during rifle season.