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Old October 26, 2012, 09:52 PM   #1
Newton24b
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243 win, short range question

not the greatest spot to post but its hard to figure out on here at times.

currently using .243 winchester, 100 gr psp remington factory load. extremely accurate, but dirty. however at 20-30 yards the bullets just hit the deer and explode. a whole lung will turn to sauce, but absolutely no exit wounds, and very little blood trail.

is there a better option in that bullet weight from remington?
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Old October 26, 2012, 11:14 PM   #2
Brian Pfleuger
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Remington's website is horrendous. I gave them hell a couple years ago when they changed it and they said then they were getting a lot of complaints and might be making changes. It still sucks. Who in their right mind would set up an ammunition site so you had to pick the NAME of a product before you could pick the cartridge?

But I digress....

I recommend that you go to a lighter, solid copper bullet like the Barnes TTSX, Hornady GMX or Remington Copper Solid (I think they call the rifle bullet that too).

Deer aren't hard to kill and light, fast bullets work very well in 243 in deer.

Are you a reloader? If not, I'll move this thread to the rifle forum since many suggestions you might get here won't be possible for you anyway.
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Old October 27, 2012, 03:23 AM   #3
FrankenMauser
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Skip the over-priced solid copper stuff (for now), if you don't like spending much on ammo. Although the selection is a little more limited in 24 caliber than, say, 30 caliber, there are still a few bullets out there that can do the job at high velocity.

Try a tougher bullet. The 100 gr PSP Core-Lokt is simply traveling too fast, when it impacts at short range. That load was designed for the bullet to shed some velocity (250-300 fps, or more), before impact.

Although I have a great deal of respect for the Remington Core-Lokt, overall, and have been very impressed with its performance in .270 Winchester (130 gr), .30-30 (150 gr), and .30-06 (180 gr), some versions are a bit sub-par. The most notable, in my opinion, are the 100 gr version you'll find in .243 Winchester and the 165 gr version in .30-06. They tend to explode at close range, and often do the same if they strike bone at nearly any velocity.
(In my experience, the 100 gr bullets loaded in Federal's .243 Win Power-Shok and Fusion ammunition is just as prone to explode, as well - even at velocities seen beyond 400 yards.)


If you want to stick with Remington ammunition, I would suggest you try (in this order):
Remington Premier 100 gr Core-Lokt Ultra-Bonded
Remington Premier 90 gr Swift Scirocco II (great bullet)
Remington Premier 80 gr "Copper Solid Tipped Boat Tail" (Barnes TTSX)

If you're willing to try another brand, my suggestions would be:
Winchester Supreme 95 gr Ballistic Silvertip
Federal Premium 95 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip
Federal Premium 100 gr Noslern Partition
Federal Premium 85 gr Barnes TSX
Hornady Superformance 80 gr GMX
Nosler Trophy Grade 85 gr Partition
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Old October 28, 2012, 02:41 PM   #4
Newton24b
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id like to keep it in factory ammunition, but reloading can be done if needed.

i have this rifle and load shooting quarter size groups at 100 yards for an 11 year old, and i dont want to mess things up to much due to time constraints till it gets used again for deer.

is the other loads from remington going to ahve the same trajectory or is it basically a "new cartridge, spend half a box resighting in"?
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Old October 28, 2012, 03:34 PM   #5
Unclenick
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The only way to tell for sure is to try it. Once in awhile you get a load that doesn't exit in a close enough same barrel time to that of another, allowing the barrel to deflect enough to throw the shot off a little. This is more a problem with thinner, lighter and more whippy barrels. But if you don't have that problem, at up to just over 200 yards, actual trajectories won't be different enough to affect hitting the kill zone of a deer.
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Old October 28, 2012, 04:41 PM   #6
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The other 100 gr Remington offering may differ slightly, but should be close enough that minimal (if any) adjustment is necessary.
The 90 gr and 80 gr loads may have a noticeably different point of impact.

However.... if you get opportunities for shots beyond 30 yards (say 100+), it would definitely be in your best interest to see how well the new ammunition groups with that rifle.

Some rifles just don't like certain loads. And, occasionally, some loads don't like most rifles.
For example, I have seen fantastic groups from several rifles with the Winchester Supreme Ballistic Silvertip factory loads. But... when I gave them a try in .270 Winchester, my rifle went from printing 3/4" to 1.5" groups with most factory loads, to printing an 8+ inch scatter-plot with the BSTs. And, the same bullet (in handloads) proved to be just as worthless in every .270 in my family. As far as I was concerned, those loads couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, from the inside.
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