bullet suggestions?

[pete evans]

i have been using speer 100g spbt through my 243 with good results from fox and munties to reds. I have recently loaded some rounds with nosler 70g ballistic tips (purple tips).
i shot a muntie yesterday with the ballistic tips, a broad side heart shot at 100yds. The bullet entered where i aimed, it smashed 3 ribs on the way in and the same on the way out. It also caused the gralloch to be green. This would not have happened with the speer 100g.
What are other people using through their 243 for muntie and roe? is this a typical terminal effect for the nosler? If so i will reserve it for the foxes only

pete

 

[Rusty Pilgrim]

Pete,
It is your experience that caused me to question the Nosler BTs in the ballistics section. I've heard some stories similar to yours which caused me to question BTs. Also with them, you can get lighter rapid expansion heads and also game heads in the same calibre. And I do believe 243 is one of them. I'm sure someone else will be along soon to add to this. I'm sticking to soft points for deer, just my opinion and my decision.
Cheers,
RP

 

[irishgun]

i have use the federal 70 gr B tips for sika hinds and calf i would not recommend them for chesting, on necks you will not get better to put a animal of this size down . i would only use them on hibred or reds but they would have to be close and neck s only .

 

[deerwarden]

bullet suggestion

I've had same effect even with 100gn BT, especialy at ranges less than 100 yds. One bullet hit a rib and deflected ou thro the spine at 90 degrees to the entry ,BT are quite explosive at shorter ranges, try partitions, I changed to Speer 105 round nose 10 yeares ago. Unfortunately they disscontinued them, luckily I still have abox left. I believe they do 107 gn plastic tips. Its a resonably fast load hense carcus damage. The Yanks reccomend Partions for what they term brush shooting and BT for longer range shots. deerwarden

 

[MarkH]

Keep the BT for vermin and down the range. Too much lead and copper scattered through the meat for me.

http://www.lima-wiederladetechnik.de/6-mm/243-Win.htm

Mark

 

[www.yorkshireroestalking.]

b/tips

i only allow my clients to use any plastic points if they agree to take all carcass s with them as damage is un acceptable on roe with any calibre.
my own choice would go to partitions followed closely by grand slams

 

[pete evans]

was in reloading solutions to get a less expansive round.
speer 100grain spbt £20 per 100
Nosler partition 100 grain £30 per 50

now im going to get the speer as my own personal expieriance mainly muntie roe and red tells me that this is a good bullet and its 1/3 of the price.

just wondering what the nosler partition will bring to the table that the speer wont.

pete

 

[Jagare]

Many years ago i loaded the 105grn round nose speer for my .243 i thought it a very good bullet. Although i don't have a .243 any more i still have 300, 100grn winchester silver tip i bought cheap to load . I shot several fallow with these. They kill the deer Ok but the meat damage even on big fallow bucks was quite amazing.

 

[devilishdave]

NOSLERS

I have used 95 grain noslers quite a bit on roe and had a muntie with them as well with no real probs. I am loading with 42 grains of Vit 160 with federal primers. They shoot sub inch no problem. I recently tried 95 grain SSTs shot 8-10 animals with them but they do a lot more damage than the NBTs. I beleive all Nosler Balistic tips are for vermin and are quite explosive on impact. The 95 grain is designed to shoot deer with and doesn't expand quite so rapidly.

Dave

 

[Muddy]

I have used 100 grain hornady interlocks for more years than i care to remember boat tail spire points in 243 270 308 and would not swap for the world . You will occasionally get the guts sucked through but this seems to happen with the 308 more than the other two . I purchased 200 last week £26 the lot they are one of the cheapest heads on the market and do a very good job from rats to reds no problem with stags as of yet . give them a try if they group alright you should have no problems with the results on the carcass meat damage not to bad either . MUDDY

 

[enfieldspares]

I use 100 grains so that I am legal throughout the UK. Having said that the 243 Winchester is a nasty little cartridge and I shot a muntjac a little back (just touching the front of the liver) and it greened the body cavity also.

This was the Hornady Light Magnum factory load (100 grain Interlock Soft Point at 3,100 fps muzzle velocity - all I could get at the time) at a distance of about thirty yards. So if you shoot these things off the end of the barrel with a 243 in factory ammunition with whatever loading that's what you get.

When I reload 243 I try to keep the bullet velocity down to 2,700 to 2,800 fps and use either 100 grain or 105 grain bullets.

 

[N.F.W.M]

70g ballistic tips

I have recently switched from RWS T mantle 100g soft points to Federal 70g ballistic tips. I have used these in my Sako 75 in .243.

The ballistic tips are a brilliant head/neck shooting bullet, doing the job very well on fallow out to 220m. (head shots only taken on park deer) I have also used them for chest shots on roe and fallow with effective results. I have not noticed too much meat damage. I find the 70g bullet to be ultra flat shooting and have much confidence in it

On thursday I was out roe stalking with a friend, and shot a doe. The bullet hit right in the centre of the elbow joint, effectively removing the lower leg. On impact the ballistic tip must have disintegrated because nothing penetrated the chest cavity. We had a very tense 45 mins until we could track and safely dispatch the doe.

Will I continue using ballistic tips for chest shooting deer ? with my 308 on reds... yes (168g hornady A-max T.A.P ammo) with my 243 ?.... a tricky one, probably yes but shot placement as always will be key.

Sticks

 

[Thar]

Re: 70g ballistic tips

The bullet hit right in the centre of the elbow joint, effectively removing the lower leg. On impact the ballistic tip must have disintegrated because nothing penetrated the chest cavity.
Sticks

I have shot many roe with Hornady 95gn SSTs, if these have hit the leg they still penetrate though the rib cage to effectively kill the deer. I know they are not as flat shooting as the 70gn. What make of bullets were you using in 70gn?

Best rgds

Tahr

 

[N.F.W.M]

Thar

I was using Federal V-Shok (load no P243F), which use a Nosler 70g ballistic tip. I was amazed that there was no penetration of the chest cavity, when I use them for head shooting park fallow there is a serious wound channel and no hint of bullet disintegration even when the entry point is the atlas joint at the back of the neck.

Sticks

 

[Thar]

Thar

I was using Federal V-Shok (load no P243F), which use a Nosler 70g ballistic tip. I was amazed that there was no penetration of the chest cavity, when I use them for head shooting park fallow there is a serious wound channel and no hint of bullet disintegration even when the entry point is the atlas joint at the back of the neck.

Sticks

Hi Sticks

To quote Federal:-Sizzling velocity and explosive disruption make V-Shok the ultimate choice for your favorite varmint.

They are varminting bullets, not deer bullets, This might explain why you are having problems.

Best rgds

Tahr

 

[pete evans]

shot a roe buck on sat at about 10yds with the .243 70 grn balistic tips the exit was tiny, both entry and exit was centre of shoulder but i managed to get almost all the meat of the front legs. the muntie i shot with the same shot placement at 100yds was blootered, green and everything. i cant believe the velocity diference would be significant, jury is defenatly out on this one.

pete

 

[Hales Smut]

There is one very simple rule :

Light , fragile bullets at high velocity means a lot of meat dammage and
frequently bullet faillure .

Whatever calibre you use this always becomes clear after a few shots . I never understand why some rifleshop owners recommend a 140 / 150 grain bullet for roe deer in a 300 win mag .
I would use a strong constructed premium 180/200 grain bullet and have very limited meat dammage .
Money is a bad advice when choosing bullets . What will be the extra expense over a season for " deer " bullets , when buying a premium bullet ?? We don't speak about varmints here .

A few years ago I frequently zeroed rifles for myself and some friends . I had the possibility of a bit of open ground , with a large pile of sand .
The shooting happened at 75 meters .
We only use factory ammo . No Barnes TSX , no Swift A-frame .
Whe used traditional softpoints , hammerheads , TIG , TUG and Nosler Partition .
The ONLY bullet that I could recover from the sand in 1 piece was the Nosler Partition . Always in a perfect mushroom . All the others blew up , even the TIG and TUG bullets that I like so much .
Sand is a fantastic bullet stopper . Remenber in war they use sandbags for cover .

The Nosler PARTITION always performs very well on game . Meat dammage is very limited. I used a 160 grain partition in my 7x64
( Federal ammo , no longer available ) and had excellent results with it .
I always go for shoulder shots and never exit wounds lager than a 1 euro coin , even after hitting bone . Also no " gelly " mess around the spot where the bullet hit the beast. I am a strong believer of the Nosler partition . It was one of the first so called " premium " bullets and still is very good today . Maybe for larger game bullets like the Barnes TSX could be better , but I have no experience .
In a 243 the 100 gr partition would be my choice for any deer , wich I would tackle with that calibre .

 

[pete evans]

ive been using speer 100 grn spbt but will give the partitions a go

 

[Chops]

If you shoot BalTips - push them slower... I learnt that one the hard way. High speed BalTips cause explosive expansion; so if you must use them find a load that is significatly slower than the top speeds listed in the books.

This of course leads to the problem that the slower round lobs more... ie is not so flat shooting; negating the point of having a flat shooting calibre!

Personally I have no issues with using BalTips for roe - if the meat damage is not a massive issue. They still do the job very well.

I have now switched to useing Berger hunting rounds; I have found excellent penetration, excellent accuracy and they are cheaper than the all copper Barnes Berger rounds do expand more slowly than some bullets, so shot placement is critical.

Note on the 243 Win - I personally think that 100gr bullets are, in the norm, too heavy the majority of factory rifle twist rates. My Sako Varmit had a 1in10" twist and hated anything over 90gr. Very glad to have got rid of the calibre and got something decent - 6x47 lapua

Cheers

Chops