.243 for fox control

SC243

Well-Known Member
Not a deer related question so I apologise, I was wondering what peoples preferred .243 round is for Foxes?
I know there’s no such thing as overkill where foxes are concerned but a is 100 grain soft point really necessary?:eek:
Cheers
 
Scott when you consider .223 40 grain Noslers are taking fox cleanly @ 200yds +, I would say you may "get away" with 70 grain & up with your .243! Steve.
 
An 87gr V-max and a healthy dose of N160 or the like makes for a great fox killer. Realistically, any of the 6mm's from 60-90gr's should be perfect.

Unfortunately, the cops in NI will not license a 243 for foxes, 22 CF's only.
 
70 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips or 75 grain V-Max are both excellent foxing rounds in 243.
 
To be honest, any size bullet in .243 is going to kill charlie cleanly. I was using 55gn Nos BTs for foxes, but once i got my .223 i just went back to one load of 100gn BTSP for the .243, if i do see a fox and i have the .243, then the 100gn is absolutely fine..

One thing i have learned with reloading, is that its great fun, but better to have a few key loads per calibre and stick to them, otherwise as i did, you end up with 3 calibres and end up with 4 loads per calibre, which is in my situation, unnessecary ie, the light loads for .243 are pretty much the same as the heavy loads for the .223 and the heavy .243 loads arent disimila to the light .308 loads. I know thats a bit of a generalisation but in broader terms, the fox isnt gonna know the difference!
 
100grn Nosler partitions. My foxing with .243 is only when Im stalking though, so Iwouldnt use anything else. I would go with Nosler Ballistics in 75grn as a specific round though. They dont get up ;) But if your using 100grn's anyway for deer then I would stick too it - saves a great deal of messing about with POI etc. after all, meat damage isnt an issue is it?


Sam
 
My Favourite for Fox and Roe is a Hornady 87gn HptBt (2442) pushed by 40gns of H380
There is now an 87gn V max (22440) which is a Varmint round and not suitable/Legal for Deer whereas the other can be used for both.
 
My Favourite for Fox and Roe is a Hornady 87gn HptBt (2442) pushed by 40gns of H380
There is now an 87gn V max (22440) which is a Varmint round and not suitable/Legal for Deer whereas the other can be used for both.

My answer to the first question is simple, the one that is most accurate.

Why is the 87grn V-max not deer legal?

JC
 
...

Why is the 87grn V-max not deer legal?

JC

The V-Max is under the minimum 100gr bullet requirement in NI and Scotland - other than for Roe in Scotland.

Also, it is a vermin bullet rather than an SST which is supposed to be an Interlock with a plastic tip.
 
Sorry Brian, didn't realise we were talking about Scotland or NI. The 87 grn V-Max may be designed as a varmint bullet but due to its weight it is also a very effective deer round on animals up to and including fallow. As with most things, we can only take it as we find it and that has been my experience. JC
 
Sorry Brian, didn't realise we were talking about Scotland or NI. The 87 grn V-Max may be designed as a varmint bullet but due to its weight it is also a very effective deer round on animals up to and including fallow. As with most things, we can only take it as we find it and that has been my experience. JC

JC, I am sure the 87 V-Max would work well for deer most of the time. However, a friend of mine has had a couple of problems with that bullet on Sika in the south of Ireland. Side on chest shot through the ribs, no bother, a bit of a quartering angle and a shoulder in the way, bother, big style. He was probably pushing them as hard as possible also.
 
Not a deer related question so I apologise, I was wondering what peoples preferred .243 round is for Foxes?
I know there’s no such thing as overkill where foxes are concerned but a is 100 grain soft point really necessary?:eek:
Cheers
In short...NO.

Its not like you are worried about meat damage.
 
JC,
The Varmint round has a thinner jacket and is designed to fragment/peel back much earlier on striking flesh so therefore does not penetrate as well as game hunting rounds.
As for not having the weight to comply with the law in other areas, it works in one place so why should the location make any difference. I used a .222 50gn bullet for years in Europe and shot many Roe without problems, it was only when I came back to England that I realised a .222 was not up to the job :lol::lol::lol: just mentioned that to prove a point about being able to do and what is not supposed to be able to be done:)
 
Sorry, didn't want to start a debate, just wondered why the bullet that I have been using to shoot between three and five hundred deer a year for the past five years can be deemed not deer legal or deer suitable! About 60-70% of these would be head shot park deer so not really relevant but it still leaves a few hundred chest shot ones. Anyway, the question was about bullets for foxes not deer and i'm pretty certain that anyone that has used the 87grn V-Max will agree that it is a good fox bullet so maybe we can leave it at that. JC
 
JC, I am sure the 87 V-Max would work well for deer most of the time. However, a friend of mine has had a couple of problems with that bullet on Sika in the south of Ireland. Side on chest shot through the ribs, no bother, a bit of a quartering angle and a shoulder in the way, bother, big style. He was probably pushing them as hard as possible also.
CD, I've had a 308 fusion bullit bounce off a sika shoulder, a 155 a-max bounce off a shoulder and a friends 120gr nosBT 6.5x55 do the same. quartering on a shoulder can go wrong.
I shot a few deer and several fox this year with 87gr v-max 243. Made big holes in the deer, but was a bit touch and go on fox. Would sometimes **** through and other times expand violently. The 80gr sierra varminter seemed more accurate and more reliable.
edi
 
I use 243 for foxs 100 gran heads it save me rezeroing my rifle for deer & fox shooting :D I was out on saturday 5 foxs best evening out for a while

Kevin
 
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