wolf hunting which 243 bullet work best

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elterrible

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Thinking of using a 80 grain soft point they shoulld expand well on a wolf i think i know on coyote they just punch right though small entrance and exit . i shot one wolf with a barnes tsx it ran a ways small entrance exit didnt expand well i thought . either thinking of that 80 grain soft point or try those ballistic tips or vmax out of the 243 but i have not tried them before . what are all your thoughts of a 243 bullet for wolves
 
The projectile is going to depend on what you want to do with the pelt. A stout hunting bullet should be enough with the 243. The tsx is all about speed for expansion, so might not expand at range, or if it does not hit bone on a smaller body weight. On the other hand a varmit bullet made for rodents, might leave you sewing grapefruit size exit holes. My thoughts would lean towards a stouter premium deer hunting bullet. Try some google searches, predator masters? might have the exact question asked and answered.
 
I'm a bit surprised the TSX didn't expand well on a wolf. If I was you, I wouldn't give up on the TSX, but if you've lost confidence in them, get a box of 100 gr Partitions, rather than experimenting with fragile bullets.
 
elterrible said:
Thinking of using a 80 grain soft point they shoulld expand well on a wolf i think i know on coyote they just punch right though small entrance and exit . i shot one wolf with a barnes tsx it ran a ways small entrance exit didnt expand well i thought . either thinking of that 80 grain soft point or try those ballistic tips or vmax out of the 243 but i have not tried them before . what are all your thoughts of a 243 bullet for wolves
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Small entrance and exit is ideal for fur, no? I've shot quite a few wolves with the TSX, mainly out of the 257 Wby. There's never an issue with penetration and fur damage is usually minimal. I don't look at a wolf as a varmint, they're basically a big game animal and penetration trumps rapid expansion.
My experience with the 243 is that it's far from fur friendly, so if you're getting minimal damage with TSX's, I'd stick with that. Likely there's snow on the ground when you're shooting wolves, so as long as you do your part with shot placement, a short tracking job shouldn't be an issue.
 
Most wolves I've seen shot were shot with full powered big game rifles as incidental kills while on big game hunts. I've not personally known anyone to ruin a pelt for shooting it once with any fairly normal big game hunting cartridge.

I've got one pelt five feet from my computer shot with a .375 H&H, 285 gr Grand Slam, .375" entrance hole and about .600" exit on the other side.

Purposely hunting wolves with a .243, personally (as my .243 shoots them extremely well), I'd shoot them with commonly available 80 - 85 grain SP big game bullets, and not be worried about it at all.
 
jrcarbine said:
A .243 Winchester is perfect for wolf. 80 grain will work fine. I hunt coyotes with 58 grain v-max and at 375 yards, they drop like a ton of bricks.
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A big coyote is 50lbs. A big wolf is 100+lbs...

I've been told to use whatever you'd use for deer on wolf. So if you are shooting a 243 then go with a heavy cup-and-core bullet. Keep in mind a wolf is not that wide, so you want something that will expand and dump its energy quickly, but not varmint bullet sort of quickly.
 
I have used 95 gr Ballistic Tips on numerous deer and have never had an issue, I also don't recall any large exit wounds. Although I've never shot a wolf, they are definitely larger than a coyote so I think this would be a good choice.
 
Never shot a wolf. But have used 87 vmax on a bunch of stuff ad well as the 105 amax. I wouldn't be afraid to use either. The 87 vmax will be even less likely to exit I would think.
I have shot a few coyotes with both. Most did not exit.
Shot a deer at 400m with the 105. Piled up on the spot. No exit.
 
I use 117 gr interlock in my 25/06. Loonie size exit holes when both shoulders are hit. Quarter size holes on broadside lung shots. Always an exit. Always a dead wolf. Never had to track one
 
Shot a couple dozen with regular rem core loct in 80gr...... No spectacular edits and they all went down clean, except two that were my fault...... (Finishing a wolf with a knife is not fun).....

Now that I reload I will seek better options, but none will make up for the poor shots I made IMOP......
 
Maybe wolf was not hit in some vital area and for that reason he ran away but TSX does job excellent.
I think you dont need to look any further.
I had varmint grenade 62gr ,55gr Nosler Balistic tip and some .90 gr (also Nosler i think)loaded for my .243 and all performed pretty much the same up to 200-300yds. Just switched them depends on purpose.
Used mainly for coyotes and occasionally deer (100gr Federal Soft Point) factory ammo.
Great caliber for wide use...
 
I use 95gr BST's reloads. If I am out of reloads then the factory Winchester Supreme BST's is what I buy.

If Nolser comes out with a 100gr Accubond I will reload it as my boys will soon be using my 243 for their hunting rifle and prefer the AB's for big game bullet.
 
For coyotes the 75 V-Max is an excellent bullet... both my son and I shoot them. For wolves though, I would stick with bullets designed for medium game... you can go with bonded if you choose but cup & core bullets work fine, such as NBT, SST, or SP/BTSP... 70 - 95 grains are golden.
 
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