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.243 bullets for fox? Deer not important.


njc110381
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It's made by Nosler - I begrudge paying the same price for 50 rounds as I pay for 100 of other maker's products! Premium deer bullets excluded of course as the gains far outweigh the ammo cost no matter what bullet you use.

They come in 100's and not much more than anything else. Much more consistant though.

 

http://www.dauntseyguns.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=NOSLER-39532&cat=50000

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I have used 58 g heads and at the mo iam using 55 g heads which are deadly I cant see me going back to 58g heads again the foxes hate them lol iam shooting them out of an howa 1500 lighting with a black houge stock and 5 mag conversion which shoots like a dream even though the mag kit is all plastic ive had this howa from new when they first come out got it from uk custom gun aka wildcat rifles I wouldn't change it for the world ive shot a lot more deer and foxes with this rifle then lads with top of the range kit the only thing I want to do now is put a thumb hole stock on there if one comes up cheap

Edited by choke it
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They come in 100's and not much more than anything else. Much more consistant though.

 

http://www.dauntseyguns.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=NOSLER-39532&cat=50000

 

Are Dauntsey local to you then BK? I've moved most of my spending over to then recently. I really like the staff and they have a good range at decent prices. I'll certainly be getting my rifle from them assuming I buy new.

 

Those Noslers are still a tenner per hundred more than Hornady. I'm feeling a bit tight when it comes to foxing bullets because I don't get any return on them unlike the deer. Having said that my favourite .223 bullet is the 55gr Berger Varminter and they're a similar price to the Noslers! I'd never noticed that before! :blush:

 

Edit.... Cheers for the feedback on the Howa Choke it - I forgot to reply to your post after getting into the subject of Noslers!

Edited by njc110381
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That's one hell of a long point and shoot range! 1.5" high is nothing on a fox if you're smacking them square on centre of mass at the front end as I usually do. What's your reason for going so light though? Just a trajectory thing? Or do you like seeing the red mist in the lamp when you shoot bunnies?! :lol:

 

On a side note to the .243 I also entered the info for my 55gr Berger .223 loads into the calculator, as well as the info for my .17 Hornet. It turns out that at 300 yards the 55gr .223's drift about 6" and drop about 5" more than the average .243 bullet. That's quite a difference. More interesting than that though is that the .17, running assumed max loads with 25gr V-Max, drops and drifts less than the above .223 load?! I've not had a chance to work up the Hornet loads and chrono them yet so am just going with book data, but I was surprised with that result. I thought it would drift much more.

 

I've emailed my local shop to see if they can get me a 20" fluted Howa sporter. I'm pretty sure that's what I'll go with, and will pick up a mag kit for it if and when I feel I need to. Being a .243 I think I'll steer clear of used kit.

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I don't have cause to use the .243 on the fox very often and almost always feed in with PRVI 90g SP which does for deer and Fox. If needs and situation dictate, the .243 gets 55/58g V-Max which in the right situation is BRILLIANT for fox for me in my T3 Hunter!

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That's one hell of a long point and shoot range! 1.5" high is nothing on a fox if you're smacking them square on centre of mass at the front end as I usually do. What's your reason for going so light though? Just a trajectory thing? Or do you like seeing the red mist in the lamp when you shoot bunnies?! :lol:

 

 

 

the reason for light is exactly that trajectory, our ground has a fair few tracks and large fields and I don't have the time to walk 1500 acres in an evening so from the truck its an awesome point and shoot bullet. I was using the 75's and do have a load left but these 58's have been doing the business for a while now. As I don't tend to shoot rabbits with it often thats less concern but I can say the few I have shot at decent range didn't know much about it. The wind difference may be an inch or two different to the 75's but really that is not usually that relevant at the distances we shoot.

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Al4x pretty much summed up my thoughts on the .22-250. It is a great little round but the .243 can match it's performance whilst being more versatile. When I said deer not important I wasn't being that clear - I don't want a bullet that performs well on deer but I know that if I do see one and want to shoot it anything will do if you place it right.

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above 70gr and less than 100gr

IMO this is the optimum weight range for the .243

lighter and you are just burning powder to achieve velocities better suited to .22cf

heavier and you are pushing the boundaries of a factory barrel

 

none of this matters if you are a fox!

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At the moment I'm swaying between the 65 or 75gr Hornady V-Max. They're cheap and I have never had serious complaints about them in other calibres. They also seem to have a good supply chain locally. My favourite make is Berger, but they're a nightmare to get hold of so that puts me off.

 

I've seen a few youtube videos of people using the 75gr V-Max for deer and they drop well with heart lung shots. I suppose that's a given - I would like to know what damage they do mind!

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  • 4 weeks later...

I figured I'd chase this topic up rather than start a new one. Today I went on a road trip to get some work done on a mate's rifle. We ended up at Chris Blackburn's place and he happened to have Nosler 70gr BT in stock so that's what I've decided to use. As Hornady have halted production on both the 65gr and 75gr 6mm offering it seems pointless to load those. 58gr seems too light and 87 too heavy, so the award went to Nosler as they still offer the weight I want,

 

My local place also stocks 70gr Nosler, so when these run out I can get more. Now all I need is the gun, some dies and some brass. If anyone has any consumables going spare I'd be glad to hear about it. Drop me a PM and I'll get back to you.

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I figured I'd chase this topic up rather than start a new one. Today I went on a road trip to get some work done on a mate's rifle. We ended up at Chris Blackburn's place and he happened to have Nosler 70gr BT in stock so that's what I've decided to use. As Hornady have halted production on both the 65gr and 75gr 6mm offering it seems pointless to load those. 58gr seems too light and 87 too heavy, so the award went to Nosler as they still offer the weight I want,

 

My local place also stocks 70gr Nosler, so when these run out I can get more. Now all I need is the gun, some dies and some brass. If anyone has any consumables going spare I'd be glad to hear about it. Drop me a PM and I'll get back to you.[/quote

 

You won't go wrong with the 70's. they're great

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Trajectory is far easier and quicker to dope than gusting changeable winds. Why shoot the light bullets when 75/87's particularly do such a good job. Make no mistake, 87's will still show very destructive expansion even on extremely light bodies such as crows or magpies.

 

That's what I was thinking. Mind you at the ranges I shoot at the .243 is going to be more than enough no matter what bullet I'm throwing! I rarely shoot past 200 yards, more often 100.

 

The reason I went for 70's is that I wasn't sure about the expansion on smaller quarry with anything heavier. I've read in several places that the 87gr V-Max is a popular deer bullet, which put me off a little. Chris suggested I went for 80gr Berger Varminters but they are a pig to get hold of around here. The Noslers are on the shelf at Dauntsey so when these are gone it will be easy to source more, assuming they work ok in the gun of course.

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