243 Win. Deer loads

[dvdcrr]

Which factory deer loads for 243 Win. do you like the best? What brands shoot the best out of your 243?

[Bottom Gun]

I would try the Fusion bullets.

[MarkCO]

Winchester Deer Season XP 95 grain and Federal Premium VITAL-SHOK .243 Win 95 grain both performed well for folks I know who shoot factory ammo.

My best personal best with a factory gun/factory ammo is 0.11" for 5 rounds at 100 years with the Federal in a Tikka. Backed it up with 2 more groups under 0.2". Did great on Whitetails.

[bamaranger]

Big believer that the .243 really benefits from a premium bullet for deer, and my choice of same is the original, the Nosler Partition. I think Federal offers the 100 gr Partition as a factory load. Concerns about inadequate penetration with the .243 solved when shooting Partitions. I've not shot this bullet in a factory load, but have handloaded same, and it's lighter 85 gr brother with great results for myself and bamaboy as a hunting bullet for sometime. Accuracy is satisfactory without a lot of tweaking as well.

Again, I reload for .243, but if using factory ammo on deer, I'd be searching for the Federal Partition offering.

[taylorce1]

Not all deer are created equal, but a hunting bullet of 85 grains and up should handle the majority of any deer hunting.

[Fla_dogman]

I am very satisfied with Winchester 100gr PP.

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[Paul B.]

Not a factory load but the 100 gr. Hornady bullet over a stiff load of H4350 was plenty medicine for four decent sized Nevada Mule Deer.
Paul B.

[langenc]

Ive been using 80 gr Corelokts but they are probably light..
Im 2/2, deer and 1/1,coyote at my sons place.

My daughter is expressing an interest in hunting w/ her husband and she will probably get the Sako 243. Ill probably load some heavier bullets depending what inventory I have, 95 or 100s.

Ill switch to an AR-25/45 sharps w/ Speer 87 gr Hot cores.

[dvdcrr]

Those are great loads. I am thinking about some 90 gr. Speer spitzer and some 4350 or 414

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

I haven't shot a store bought cartridge in a long long time. I would think all the commercially made sporting ammo these days is very dependable. Including that venerable 243. I can remember a time years ago Federal peddled a large lot of 30-30 up in this neck of the woods just a bit prior to deer season and who knows what other cartridge doing the same only to have half its cartridges in a box of 20 ignite. Three miss fires of the 6 I carried pocketed. Two days I lost 3 dandy nice deer to Federal misfires that year. After this problem became apparent to me I drove 22 miles to the nearest gas station and purchased a box Core Loks. 80 grainer's. Soon there after I started reloading my own. Over the years powder & bullet experimenting my 243 became outstandingly accurate and fast (near 3500 fps fast) with a 75gr. HP Hornady or 80gr flat base spire S/P.
I eventually bought my first 270 Mtn rifle and retired my old Flat Bolt Ruger. Plan is now to give my first Great Grand Son a well broke in slayer of deer. A rifle that served Grandpa__ good.

[natman]

Originally Posted by MarkCO

My best personal best with a factory gun/factory ammo is 0.11" for 5 rounds at 100 years

How big is the flux capacitor on your custom Delorean rifle?

[105kw]

Back in the 70s, for Mule Deer in Washington, we loaded Speer 105gr Spitzers. They worked well.
Later my cousins and I went to Nosler Partitions, either 95 or 100gr, depending on the rifle.
I never used much factory ammo, but Noslers are being factory loaded now. They are very effective bullets, really good deer loads.

[Drm50]

I’ve shot a couple deer with 243 Rem 600. 100gr Rem factory ammo. Kilt them dead. I’ve shot thousands of 243s in 85gr. out of a custom 98 with heavy barrel and bench rest type stock. Tooling down the road at about 3400fps they explode groundhogs. If you are going to use 243 on deer make sure you are using the right kind of bullet. Varmit bullets at hi velocity can leave deer with nasty wounds but still able to run. The 100gr is better bullet for game.
Yea 85 gr will kill deer, 55gr out of ARs will kill deer, a 22lr out of a 10/22 will kill them also but it don’t make it the best deer gun.

[Jack O'Conner]

My rifle prefers 95 grain bullets as loaded in Winchester and Federal ammo. Deadly for deer, too!

Jack

[Natty270]

I tried SST's/Interlocks, and Nosler Partitions in my X-Bolt the last three years on deer in WI. I shot 2 nice does last year with 100gr Nosler Partitions behind 43 grains of RL-19 and loved the performance of the Partitions. I too agree that a premium bullet is needed when taking the .243 out into the deer woods. SST's were too violent for my liking. I tend to shoot lungs in order to not waste meat. With my 7mm and 270, shooting lungs is fine, but two years ago I shot a doe with my 243 with a 100 gr Interlock right in the lungs and the deer went about 150 yards and there was virtually no blood trail in the SNOW! I hunt in a hardwoods, so that wasn't an issue, but in a cedar swamp or thicker area, that deer would have been hard to track. Going forward, i'll be shooting shoulders on the deer I shoot with my ..243.

I also load 58 gr AMAX for the .243 and they are extremely accurate and deadly on dogs.

[Mannlicher]

I gave my lad a Ruger 77 in .243 for his 12th birthday. Since then, he has killed a truck load of deer, most with the 100 grain Remington CoreLokt cup and core bullet.

[GeauxTide]

I have a couple of boxes of Federal Fusion 95gr. They shoot fantastic. I have a few boxes of 100gr Speer for reloading with RL17 or 760.