243 bullet weight

[welshwarrior]

As some will know I'm just starting out with a 243 I've had 308s 204s and my loved 222 from my child hood.

 

I will base my final decision on groupings but what weight of bullet do guy prefer, this will do my fox shooting long range vermin if I must and small deer.

 

I'm think 80 grain would cover most things pretty well.

Double post some how mods please remove one.

 

Thanks

 

WW

[The Essex Hunter]

75 for fox....shot them out over 300 yards with them, however what ever suits your gun.

 

TEH

[Graham M]

I use 70grn Speer TNT for fox (45grns H414) and 100grn Sierra Gamekings for deer (40grns H414). Out to 100 yds there is only @ 25mm difference through my rifle, with my loadings..........but that's my rifle and yours may be vastly different

G.M.

Edited April 8, 2014 by Graham M

[Therealchucknorris]

My Howa 1500 seems to like the Geco - 76gr Ballistic Tips for the fox and 105gr for the Deer. With my twist rate I'm reluctant to push it any further.

 

Have got some Privi 90grain to test but I just haven't been ***** as yet.

 

Happy testing

[kent]

The nice thing about the .243 is its great versatility, the bad thing about the .243 is trying to do it all with just one bullet. It only takes the user to record the correction from one to the other and you have the perfect bullet for each job. I have a stack of good shooting loads for the .243 win but very much believe in the right one for purpose as its capable of high impact speeds that can lead to undesirable levels of frangibility on deer with varmint bullets at one end and pencilling on fox with tougher deer hunting bullets at the other.

[pestcontrol1]

80grain nosler work well

[Redgum]

The nice thing about the .243 is its great versatility, the bad thing about the .243 is trying to do it all with just one bullet. It only takes the user to record the correction from one to the other and you have the perfect bullet for each job. I have a stack of good shooting loads for the .243 win but very much believe in the right one for purpose as its capable of high impact speeds that can lead to undesirable levels of frangibility on deer with varmint bullets at one end and pencilling on fox with tougher deer hunting bullets at the other.

 

That about sums it up, I loaded a large batch of of 85gr sierra spritzers, this being a soft point, for foxs and thought I would use them for Muntys and in all honesty the 100grs average out with less meat damage even on these little things. The 85grs are perfect for neck shots as they do massive damage but on a boiler room shot they mostly do a lot of meat damage, I say mostly as if they miss a rib or don't brush the shoulder then they are perfect. The 100grs don't act quite so violently when finding something hard. If I shot a lot of fox's I think I would use something lighter than 85grs.

[al4x]

85 Sierra soft points drop everything and work surprisingly well on foxes, I keep trying lighter vmax but always seem to come back to the 85's meat damage on muntjac, roe and fallow I haven't found excessive

[kent]

 

That about sums it up, I loaded a large batch of of 85gr sierra spritzers, this being a soft point, for foxs and thought I would use them for Muntys and in all honesty the 100grs average out with less meat damage even on these little things. The 85grs are perfect for neck shots as they do massive damage but on a boiler room shot they mostly do a lot of meat damage, I say mostly as if they miss a rib or don't brush the shoulder then they are perfect. The 100grs don't act quite so violently when finding something hard. If I shot a lot of fox's I think I would use something lighter than 85grs.

 

Thanks, was going to talk weight but to be fair there is quite a lot of cross over. some 80s are quite tough and some 87s let go a bit too much (the other .243 issue is you need to understand what you have and how it will perform at various impact speeds) shoot far enough out at low enough impact speeds and even varmint bullets expand slowly, near enough and fast enough and deer bullets can be pretty explosive in nature. Never had the chance on muntjac or CWD so can only relate "small deer" to roe personally

[jimsim81]

80grain nosler work well

80 grain nosler with reloader 15 behind it worked very well in my .243

[activeviii]

A friend is shooting 55gr Armageddon, they make a right mess but flat as you like. I'm using 85 hpbt gamekings. Makes a mess if clipping bone, makes a mess on fox too. I'm changing up to 100gr as I don't want to shoot deer with the 85's

[pestcontrol1]

80 grain nosler with reloader 15 behind it worked very well in my .243

H414 H4895 Re15 almost every powder that i have pit under them they still shoot well

[Olliesims]

70g blitzkings

[malkiserow]

As some will know I'm just starting out with a 243 I've had 308s 204s and my loved 222 from my child hood.

 

I will base my final decision on groupings but what weight of bullet do guy prefer, this will do my fox shooting long range vermin if I must and small deer.

 

I'm think 80 grain would cover most things pretty well.

Double post some how mods please remove one.

 

Thanks

 

WW

 

Are you reloading or factory ammo?

[welshwarrior]

 

Are you reloading or factory ammo?

Factory as I've never tried reloading but after the Carp people have been ripping out of me over the years think I may need to learn to reload.

 

Are you reloading or factory ammo?

[kent]

Certainly hand load as otherwise you are stuck with what is available and frankly its never great even in the popular calibres like the .243. Fedral with the 70 grain Nosler BTip impressed me a couple of years back and changed my whole opinion of factory producing a steady 1/2" at 200 yards in my gun and shooting a number of foxes one of which was at a heck of a good range out on the fell. At the time my loading gear was all in storage and I only had deer rounds made up for it (like I say its not great to use one for both)

[malkiserow]

Factory as I've never tried reloading but after the Carp people have been ripping out of me over the years think I may need to learn to reload.

 

I used 75 grain Hornady HP to good effect but not used them under 80 yards on deer but shorter distances on fox ..... fairly happy with the results and yes, I am anxious about meat damage on deer. This was in part because my rifle shot that particular bullet well.

 

Now with reloading, I have greater scope but still very new to it.

[welshwarrior]

Thanks Kent it's the learning how to do it that's the issue a good mate from Australia has told me a Lee Loader is all I need to start, it the not really knowing that worries me as I've seen how dangerous a little knowledge can be.

[EMcC]

I've used the Hornady 87gr Hpt Bt for over thirty years and Sierra 85 Spt when they were not available, on all UK quarry.

A person I know also used the 87gr to good effect on Reds.

[kent]

Thanks Kent it's the learning how to do it that's the issue a good mate from Australia has told me a Lee Loader is all I need to start, it the not really knowing that worries me as I've seen how dangerous a little knowledge can be.

its good to think this way it indicates future competency, it is however far less complicated than many make it seem, using just for instance certain powder and bullet combinations loaded to a specified length it should be very hard to do yourself or the gun any harm. Get the rcbs kit its as good as you ever need and very complete.

[welshwarrior]

Cheers Kent I'll have a look at those kits, see what the rifle does first, passive the wife then look at a new hobby related to current hobbies.

[tjm160]

My Sako A7 shot best with 90g Sako Gamehead Soft Points and Hornady Custom 95g SST's Daf. I couldn't split them for group size, but chose the Sako for no other real reason than the make or the round matched the make of the rifle. I've been very pleased with the consistency and performance. I zeroed and plotted the trajectory out to 250m once last October and have taken two neck shot Fallow which went straight down on the spot (at ~40m and ~50m respectively) and five foxes under the lamp (at 100-200m) since. Four of the foxes were down on the spot and one took a second shot. So, the one round has worked well for me thus far, but I reserve full judgement until I've taken a few more deer with it, especially in the boiler room and further away. I've been offered a guided stalk for Sikka this year with the guide having no issues (given performance with the Fallow) with me using the .243. Equally, now I have DSC1 and have added a .308 slot, I will probably move to that as a dedicated deer rifle once funds allow. I'd then move the .243 to a NV foxing set-up, until being able to take up the .223 slot as well. The .223 will then become the dedicated NV rifle and free the .243 back up in it's current configuration as the general/all purpose (Roe/Muntjac/daytime fox) go to rifle.

 

The other option I'm mulling over for the .243, is to move over to the Hornady Custom 95g SST's and see how different the POA is from Hornady 58g V-Max's. If workable without needing to re-zero and prove to work well for their respective quarry, I would then use the 95g for deer and 58g for foxing. Has anyone else tried this?

[kent]

My Sako A7 shot best with 90g Sako Gamehead Soft Points and Hornady Custom 95g SST's Daf. I couldn't split them for group size, but chose the Sako for no other real reason than the make or the round matched the make of the rifle. I've been very pleased with the consistency and performance. I zeroed and plotted the trajectory out to 250m once last October and have taken two neck shot Fallow which went straight down on the spot (at ~40m and ~50m respectively) and five foxes under the lamp (at 100-200m) since. Four of the foxes were down on the spot and one took a second shot. So, the one round has worked well for me thus far, but I reserve full judgement until I've taken a few more deer with it, especially in the boiler room and further away. I've been offered a guided stalk for Sikka this year with the guide having no issues (given performance with the Fallow) with me using the .243. Equally, now I have DSC1 and have added a .308 slot, I will probably move to that as a dedicated deer rifle once funds allow. I'd then move the .243 to a NV foxing set-up, until being able to take up the .223 slot as well. The .223 will then become the dedicated NV rifle and free the .243 back up in it's current configuration as the general/all purpose (Roe/Muntjac/daytime fox) go to rifle.

 

The other option I'm mulling over for the .243, is to move over to the Hornady Custom 95g SST's and see how different the POA is from Hornady 58g V-Max's. If workable without needing to re-zero and prove to work well for their respective quarry, I would then use the 95g for deer and 58g for foxing. Has anyone else tried this?

 

Its hard to differentiate well made .243 rounds well shot from a well made gun at 100yds, I don't even try anymore 200 yards is about minimum and more like 400 to really sort the very best. I am a big believer in various bullets for various quarry in the .243, its mainly criticised when people use the wrong bullet for purpose.

[welshwarrior]

Kent I was planning to test all groups at 300m as my experience with 308 tells me that 100m is pointless.

 

Tim 308 is a beautifully predicable round and with a go set easily controlled to 1000m, however my green rifle is a bit heavy and makes me look a Walt with a full military spec L96, it will still be saved for the ranges though.

 

Do I think 308 is better than 243 yes for me at the moment but that's because I've shot it for 20 plus years and since 98 had no choice so didn't change at home, I'm fortune to have had the opportunity to 'learn' it out to 1800m and be over familiar to 1200m. But choice is here and I want to try something new and with my old rifle now sold I can do that. Hell if I don't like 243 I'll can always rebarrel or sell it.

[tjm160]

Daf - thanks and sure, I was just sharing my limited experience with the Sako Gamehead .243 and thinking behind next steps of round choice. You're in another galaxy to me with your .308 and general rifle experience

 

Kent - when using different bullet weights from the same gun, do you "aim off" or re-adjust the sights for the respective rounds? I'm sincerely hoping that a move to Hornady will present solely elevation difference between the 95g SST's and 58g V-MAX.