243 Winchester

RUM

RUM

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Have been testing out some factory loads for my 243 over the past several months trying to determine which bullet shoots best. The Federal Premium 85gn TSX have been by far the most consistent and best grouping now.
Time to start reloading, so that opens up more options. Planning on testing out the following:

Swift 90gn Scirrocco
Barnes 85gn TSX
Speer 100gn Grand Slam
Speer 90 &/or 105gn Hot Cor
Hornady 95gn SST IL

Now my question is this. The lady friend is going to be using it for deer come this fall, the gun's preference aside, any problems or advantages to any of the listed as far as performance on game in this caliber? Appreciate the info
 
For hunting, pretty hard to beat a 100 grain bullet. A full chargre of H4831 is fast and very accurate in mine. My Ruger won't stabalize the 105 grain Speer, however.
 
For deer hunting with the 243, I would also suggest a 100gr bullet. I have considered various gun powders and have decided on IMR 4350 with a 100gr bullet. I have just tested various loads and found that 38.5 gr IMR 4350 behind a 100 gr Rhino bullet (suggest you use Nosler Partition as substitute as Rhino's are not available in North America) gave me a muzzle velocity of 2791 ft/sec with excellent grouping.

The manuals prescribe minimum 35.5 gr at 2579 ft/sec and maximum 39.5 @ 2858 ft/sec. See what load works best in your rifle.

This is what works for me and I will be hunting deer this year with the above load. Maybe it works well in your rifle too. My rifle is a Musgrave with a 24" barrel.

Good luck!
 
I had good results with the Hornady 100 grain interlock bullet handloaded to near max and factory Remington 100 grain core-lokt rounds. This year I trying out the Federal premium with the Barnes 85 grain TSX.
 
why bother wasting all those bullets? Buy some 85 gr TSX, a couple types of powder (4350 & RL19 would be my picks) and go do some shooting
 
nope I sold my 243 before I could test any. I did shoot a deer with a 55 gr Nosler BallisticTip, and it exited broadside at 75 yards, so I'd suspect the Barnes to perform even better :)
 
I have no doubt that any one of those bullets can kill a deer.

I have my reservations about the Barnes Tripple Shock bullet which is 100% copper and contains no lead.

My experience in hunting over many years tought me that the best bullet to use on game, is a premium bullet that will hold together well and that will mushroom well.

On the low end of the scale you will find bullets that will tend to break up before it reaches the vitals and then you have a wounded animal.

On the other end of the scale, you have a bullet of such strong construction, that it will never break up, but at the same time it will not mushroom unless it hits heavy bone. This does not mean the animal will not die from a shot through the enjin room - it will most definitely die.

The problem that I experienced with Barnes bullets, however, is that the wound channel through soft tissue is often so small that the animal will still run for quite some distance and at the same time it will not leave much of a blood trail. When that happens, you are at risk to be unable to find the very dead animal.

This happened to me and when I consulted the experts, this is what I was told. I was then recommended to use Rhino bullets, but since coming to Canada, I can only get Rhino's with great difficulty. As a result I switched to Nosler Partitions and I am not advocating them to be the one and only bullet. I am merely saying that I have had spectacular kills with these bullets and they have not failed me once.

Many guys hunt with Barnes bullets very successfully, but to my mind, they act too much like a solid and this holds certain risks that I do not like to take when hunting.

Happy hunting to all!
 
RUM said:
Now my question is this. The lady friend is going to be using it for deer come this fall, the gun's preference aside, any problems or advantages to any of the listed as far as performance on game in this caliber? Appreciate the info
Click to expand...

Sounds like you'll have it set-it up perfectly for your lady friend.

Get her out shooting it now so she's ready for deer season.

The rest will be up to her.

Good luck - to both of you!
 
Snoepie said:
I have my reservations about the Barnes Tripple Shock bullet which is 100% copper and contains no lead.

The problem that I experienced with Barnes bullets, however, is that the wound channel through soft tissue is often so small that the animal will still run for quite some distance and at the same time it will not leave much of a blood trail. When that happens, you are at risk to be unable to find the very dead animal.


Many guys hunt with Barnes bullets very successfully, but to my mind, they act too much like a solid and this holds certain risks that I do not like to take when hunting.
Click to expand...


have you shot any TSX barnes? or the original X bullet?
 
The two deer I've killed with a 243 were with Federal red box factory 100 grainers....about 10-12 years ago...given this I'd say any of the bullets you mentioned will work.....like 'bartell says.."why waste all those bullets?"...
 
have you shot any TSX barnes? or the original X bullet?

Yes, shot and lost and shot and almost lost - Impala, Rhebuck and Warthog
 
Appreciate all the feedback. Ya, certainly don't plan on buying a box of each and trying them all right out of the gate, I'll try box at a time until I find one that shoots well out of the gun. With any luck, it'll be the first one I pick, however, who's that guy with the law....Murphy or something!!!!

I also had some question in my mind regarding the Barnes bullet in a 243 on game as I have heard from a couple there was very little blood from the wound channel. I would really hate for a first time hunter to shoot an animal and then be unable to recover it. The factories really shoot well out of my A-Bolt, but too rich for my blood to keep feeding it with those! I suppose I'll start with those and see if I can replicate the Federal load somewhat and then pick the next on the list of that doesn't pan out. Maybe Scirrocco's will be the second ones tested as I have had good success with them out of my 300RUM.
 
As I begin to experimant w/ tsx, I find myself wondering if most TSX beginners approach them w/ the mindset built up by lead bullet experience. 140gr for 7mm-08, 165gr for .308, 180, for .30-'06, 100gr. for .243. Most reports I've seen indicate that a lighter TSX pushed faster expands better and flys flatter, and ends up performing better than a conventional bullet weight for caliber. Think 120 for 7mm-08, 130 for .308 and .30-'06, 85 for .243. I know its a hard thing to wrap your head around- I just ordered 4 boxes of 168 tsx for my .300 SAUM- and I'm thinking i should have gone 130 or 150. I just started running 120 tsx in my 7mm-08 for deer, and while logic tells me it will penetrate really well in a moose, I would have to really convince myself that it is the bullet to choose. Why not use it? It will expand and then hold damn near all of its weight when pushed at 3100 fps, and will penetrate like crazy. What's not to like?
 
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