lighest "deer" .243 round?

Offroad Gary

Well-Known Member
i've just set my .243 prohunter up for foxing, zeroed using 55gn silvertips, which are extremenly accurate and deer legal in terms of energy/velocity/calibre, although not really designed for deer. a chance munty taken at 20m had no exit wound!

my dealer only stocks these at 55gn, the moves up to 80gn federal and winchester which are still "varmint" rounds. i havent shot deer with the 80gn's, alhough they do the job on charlie ok.

what is the lightest, .243 "deer" factory round available, does anybody know?
 
Hi Bucksden,
I shoot muntjac from my high seat at around eighty metres with both 243 100 grain and 308 150 grainm, ballistic tips mostly. Alot of the time on the bucks they don't exit either. I think its the muntjac's thick hide and its 'stretchy-ness'. I have also had to finish a muntjac off at point blank range with a shot to the head with a 243 that didn't come out the other side either!

I know I'm going to be told that I'm talking bollocks but in my experience of muntjac and thats stalking them three to four times a week they react differently to the bullet compared to a Roe. The only times the bullet has made it through is when alot of bone got in the way and blasted a great big hole through.
 
Beowulf said:
Hi Bucksden,
I shoot muntjac from my high seat at around eighty metres with both 243 100 grain and 308 150 grainm, ballistic tips mostly. Alot of the time on the bucks they don't exit either. I think its the muntjac's thick hide and its 'stretchy-ness'. I have also had to finish a muntjac off at point blank range with a shot to the head with a 243 that didn't come out the other side either!

I know I'm going to be told that I'm talking bollocks but in my experience of muntjac and thats stalking them three to four times a week they react differently to the bullet compared to a Roe. The only times the bullet has made it through is when alot of bone got in the way and blasted a great big hole through.

I would seriously suggest that you give up using those BT's. If they perform as you say at 80m and fail to produce an exit wound what are they going to fail to do at 160m. You might have 3 or 4 outings ( I don't consider hours spent sitting in a high seat stalking.) a week but how many do you actually shoot.

Muntjac are a tough little deer but not that tough. Unless they have been issued with bullet proof vest by your neighbouring wildlife trust. Yes they can take a bullet well far better than roe. This is primarily due to they nature and physiology short and compact when compared to a roe's sleekness. A staffordshire bull terrier compared to a greyhound. I also believe that their central nervous system is less well developed as they are quite a primitive species.
 
The furthest I have ever had a deer run was a Sika hind that I took with a 243. It went about 100 yards, not too far, but the last 20 yards was into woodland which made it seem a lot further. On the ground where it was shot was pink frothy blood, so we knew it was lung shot. When gralloched there was a very neat hole through both lungs, and the same for an exit wound, there was no expansion at all on the bullet. The range involved was no more than about 90 yards, the bullet was a Speer HPBT, doing somewhere in the region of 2900/3000 fps. I have never measured the speed but was using 43 grains of H4350. I have never had another round do this and I do not know if it was the fault of the bullet, or if it was being driven too fast to expand properly. I think I have read somewhere that bullets of this nature being driven at these speeds perform best at distances of between 150 and 200 yards. So do we need to slow things down in order to get better results? I'm sure a knowledgeable ballistics's guru will keep us right.

John
 
i've just noticed the 80gn federals (243AS) are "deer" rounds, and outperform the 100gn's, according to federal data.

i think a couple of boxes of them will be purchased to zero my new scope, and then spat at a couple of foxes!
 
80 gr feds

I had some and the carcass damage was very high. they also where not very good at putting the deer down on the spot. I used the rest on fox.

but we are all slave to our experiences.
 
Lightest "Deer" .243 round?

Bucksden, I have used Sierra 'Varminter' 85 grain for Roe in the past but found a lot of bruising on both the entry and exit sides. Occasionally I found the skin lifted around the entry wound.
The chrono showed a MV of 3100FPS and I wonder if this is not too fast. After that I used 100 grain Sierra Game king at around 2900 fps and have not had meat damage problems with that round.
 
My other half almost exclusively uses 70grain Noslers in his 243.
He has never had any problems even with chest shots on large red stags.

The instructor on my DSC1 also uses 70grain in his 243.
 
For the uneducated..........
England and Wales

For Muntjac and Chinese Water deer only- a rifle with a minimum calibre of not less than .220 inches and muzzle energy of not less than 1000 foot pounds and a bullet weight of not less than 50 grains may be used.
For all deer of any species - a minimum calibre of .240 and minimum muzzle energy of 1,700 foot pounds is the legal requirement.
Northern Ireland

For all deer of any species - a minimum calibre of .236 inches, a minimum bullet weight of 100 grains and minimum muzzle energy of 1,700 foot pounds is the legal requirement.
Scotland

For roe deer, where the bullet must weigh at least 50 grains AND have a minimum muzzle velocity of 2,450 feet per second AND a minimum muzzle energy of 1,000 foot pounds may be used.
For all deer of any species - the bullet must weigh at least 100 grains AND have a minimum muzzle velocity of 2,450 feet per second AND a minimum muzzle energy of 1,750 foot pounds.
It must be stressed that all these figures are the minimum legal requirement.
For all deer stalking the bullet must be of a type designed to expand/deform on impact.
To ensure safe and humane shooting, stalkers must practise and maintain their skill with the rifle and must check at regular intervals that their rifle is still zeroed correctly - i.e. that the bullet is striking a selected point of aim at a chosen range.
The rifle must ALWAYS be test-fired, and the zero verified or corrected, after a knock or other impact, or after any unaccountably wild shot. No one should continue stalking in such a case, until this zeroing (or sighting-in) has been done.
 
It was not a reminder, It was intended for those looking in, who may not be aware some people can rely on twenty grains of bullet weight, above that legally required for a Roe, to roll over Red deer..........
 
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