243 Ammunition for deer
- Thread starter Smithy881
- Start date
100gr Sierra ProHunter comes in a couple of different brands. Buggered if I can remember which ones right now.
For a smallish medium deer like fallow, its a well balanced bullet with the perfect combination of penetration, expansion and fragmentation.
No offence to you @VSS but when I read about you moving up to a .270 Win because T-Mantels let you down a couple of times, I thought there must be something else wrong.
For a smallish medium deer like fallow, its a well balanced bullet with the perfect combination of penetration, expansion and fragmentation.
No offence to you @VSS but when I read about you moving up to a .270 Win because T-Mantels let you down a couple of times, I thought there must be something else wrong.
You're probably right. Bullet placement maybe not so good, any one of a number of things. But the fact is a couple of bucks didn't die quite as quick as they should have, for whatever reason, which rattled me somewhat and I lost a bit of confidence in the 243.
When I started stalking I put up with a lot of people (on this site) telling me that 243 wasn't up to the job, and I defended my choice of calibre staunchly (as you will recall). I always said I'd stick with it until it let me down.
Last edited:
100grain PPU soft points £12/box last time I bought
Never let me down.
Brighty3006
Well-Known Member
100 grain Federal. Also love prohunter 100 grain homeloads
Interesting thread, I have always shied away from shooting fallow with the 243 because I didn't feel it was man enough, or I felt I wasn't man enough with my shot placement. So would you H&L the fallow?
Interested, not wanting to set an argument off here, I went out and bought a 30.06 specifically to cover fallow.
Interested, not wanting to set an argument off here, I went out and bought a 30.06 specifically to cover fallow.
Nothing at all wrong with the 100grain suggestions already made in the above posts they are all perfect for H&L and shoulder shots on fallow. People are too influenced by internet that .243 isn't enough gun. It's my go to red rifle. It is my personal preference to head and neck shoot deer though so a little bit different(not looking for an argument either) The fellow below shot yesterday morning was shot at 120 yards with an 85 grain Sierra Gameking (albeit in the back of the head) but needless to say it dropped on the spot. I'm not saying I'd have H&L shot this animal with that bullet, but neither would I with a 3006, if he'd ran and dropped in the middle of the crop hes been trashing I would have been in seriously bad books with the farmer!
That's a nice looking beast.
Nice animal,well done. 85gr gamekings are brilliant and one of my favourite deer rounds. They work very well for H&L shots.... Probably the best iv used in the. 243 to be honest.
Ali
Its refreshing to see such an honest "real life" post here. As someone who shoots both 243 and 308 in identical brand/weight/scope/mod setups, I can sympathize! I use them interchangeably for both roe and red, alternating between thinking the 243 "isn't up to job" to thinking what a "nice low recoiling round it is." The 308 does seem to have more chance of avoiding runners even if the shot is a bit far back (I don't stalk with a dog) but its a trade off with more recoil, which in the real world does affect accuracy if I am not concentrating or out of practice.
Probably my favourite bullet too. My last 2 rifles have shot them superbly. I have a soft spot for 90grain noslers too and never failed to get them grouping under half inch without much effort, just a bit pricier though however equally as good a performer.
I have never tried the noslers but will give them a go when I start to run low on The sgk, I am also fond of the 87gr vmax and poa is exactly the same as the sgk.
Ali
To be fair, I have had a couple of runners with the 270 as well (one due to non-expansion, and one due to deflection), but whereas with the 243 I was thinking "will they be dead?" with the 270 I was thinking "they will be dead!". It was just a wobble of confidence, no doubt caused by less-than-perfect bullet placement on my part, and a lovely excuse to buy a new rifle!!!!
Read all about it here:
Travels with my rifle, part 3: A Journeyman no longer
For parts 1 & 2 see here: Travels with my rifle. and here: Travels with my rifle, part 2: Going Solo I’m up a tree again, but there’s a significant difference: This time it’s my tree. Well, not strictly my own, but it’s my name on the lease, my first proper stalking ground, so I do have...
www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk
Last edited:
Amazed there are so many .243's able to shoot 100 and 100 + grain accurately, I never saw one myself ... yet.
I have owned several
Similar threads
