Updated with a poll! Best big game bullet for 243 Winchester

Best big game bullet for 243. Knockdown power and best chance of exit wound

  • Total voters
    55
I loaded some 85gr tsx for my 71 year old dad to use in his 243 this year. Performance was impressive from a mono bullet. He shot an antelope at 250ish yards. 1 shot through the shoulder put the bedded buck out. His head just fell over and that was it. The bullet smashed the inside shoulder and zipper right on through. I also took him out white tail hunting and he shot a 150” buck at 50 yards. The deer went 15-20 yards and tipped over. No major bones were hit but the bullet put a good sized hole through the chest.

I shot a white tail 10 years or so ago with the 80ttsx and had no issues with that bullet either.
 
The 95 or 100 grain Partitions are the real winners here, with the Accubond a close second.
Many cry about the cost, but realistically, how many will you be shooting?

Sight in with the 100 Speer FBSP, then adjust the small amount [if necessary]
for the Partition, and go hunting. A box of 50 should last 4-5 seasons.

I am a Pensioner, but I refuse to shoot a bullet that I cannot trust, thus the A-Frame,
Partition, Accubond, Scirocco II and Norma Oryx are my hunting choices. Dave.
 
Fox said:
Funny how you take a Weatherby out there for shots under 200 yards, just seems like how things work out. If you go out with your close in gun you will see a big buck at 500 yards and if prepared for 500 yards they will pop out at 15 yards, ha ha.
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All three animals were first spotted between 3/4 to 1 mile away. I "always" use the lay-of-the-land to close the distance however, if I only had one chance, at a 500 yard shot, then I'm ready. Whether a 50 or 500 yard shot, a fast and flat shooting cartridge will do the job, not so much a short range cartridge. I would not suggest that the OP use Barnes Bullets of any kind......witnessed to many expansion issues. Nosler Partition, Swift and Speer make premium bullets.
 
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Eagleye said:
The 95 or 100 grain Partitions are the real winners here, with the Accubond a close second.
Many cry about the cost, but realistically, how many will you be shooting?

Sight in with the 100 Speer FBSP, then adjust the small amount [if necessary]
for the Partition, and go hunting. A box of 50 should last 4-5 seasons.

I am a Pensioner, but I refuse to shoot a bullet that I cannot trust, thus the A-Frame,
Partition, Accubond, Scirocco II and Norma Oryx are my hunting choices. Dave.
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I have adopted the same sort of approach. In the past I always liked to practice with the same bullet I was going to hunt with, but its just not economically feasible for me at this point.
 
Eagleye said:
The 95 or 100 grain Partitions are the real winners here, with the Accubond a close second.
Many cry about the cost, but realistically, how many will you be shooting?

Sight in with the 100 Speer FBSP, then adjust the small amount [if necessary]
for the Partition, and go hunting. A box of 50 should last 4-5 seasons.


I am a Pensioner, but I refuse to shoot a bullet that I cannot trust, thus the A-Frame,
Partition, Accubond, Scirocco II and Norma Oryx are my hunting choices. Dave.
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Dave my friend, you underestimate my willingness to mag dump on the deer I'm shootin at! I live by what my Grampa told me when I was 11 years old the first year they set me on a watch with a gun.

"There's only 3 reasons to stop shootin son. It fell down, yer empty or it's outta sight"

If I could find 100 grain flat base hot cores I'd use them in a heartbeat

madtrapper143 said:
Hornady's 100 grain BTSP is my favorite.
Darryl
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I honestly don't trust a boat tail to hold up good enough to go through both sides. Unless you have experience with them doin so?
 
dgradinaru said:
I haven't used any of the listed bullets but remington corelokt 100gr has been preforming very well out of a ruger m77 hawkeye that i bought for a youth gun. Shoots great and had some of our younger family members harvest a few deer out to 200 yards and a bear that squared 7' at 150 yards, one shot, bear dropped on the spot with a double lung shot, with no issues. In saying that the 100gr grand slam or barnes would be top choices out of the list. I agree with the above, it's a under rated cartridge.

mG4GC7k.jpg
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This was pretty much my results too. Always a fist sized hole somewhere. Underrated for sure. I’m going to try some game changers and see how those do this year.
 
You are hunting deer, or bear I assume - not elephants and rhinos.
Test 4 differnt brands in your gun and pick one it likes.
People telling users to buy this and that without testing it in the rifle is stupid.
You guys watch too many commercials
Buy the cheapest 95 or 100gr soft point you can find and buy a beer
After 45 years and I cant count how many animals. Any cheap soft point works.
Core-lokts, SuperX, Sellier&Bellot, Federal it doesn't matter and don;t let any tell you different
 
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My wife left a bigger hole in a bear with her 243 and 100 partitions than I did with a 257 weatherby and 100tsx. Same set up/distance. Both aiming middle of middle and forward. I switched to 115 NBT in the weatherby for deer season. Left a fist sized hole.
 
I'm with Dave on this. The op is somewhat asking two questions; one in his header, the other in the body of his text.

What is the best .243 hunting bullet. See Eagleeye's post.

What is the best...cheap....hunting bullet. Sometimes, they're close to the same thing, but mostly quality is expensive.

The 243 is at the low-end for power for ethical harvesting of medium game. A few $2 projectiles make it less marginal, certainly cheaper than a rifle.in a more powerful caliber.
 
I hope this plays in to the 243 narrative and does not detract from the thread.

I got my wife a 243, she does not like recoil and the price was right. The plan was to run 100gr Sierra boat tails and load them up with IMR4831. Now I have an opportunity to buy a pile of ammo cheap, 100gr Win PP and a bullet similar to a fail safe, half lead half copper. Along with the ammo are 3 boxes of Berger 95ge VLD bullet, they are before they had a target and hunting but they say hunting on the box.

We will use that Winchester stuff for hunting for sure but the Bergers, are they everything people have said? Do they just enter and then blow the whole things to smithereens? I think that this could be a good and a bad thing but almost feels like a varmint bullet, especially in a 243 where there is not a lot of mass to push into the animal.
 
nowarningshot said:
I'm with Dave on this. The op is somewhat asking two questions; one in his header, the other in the body of his text.

What is the best .243 hunting bullet. See Eagleeye's post.

What is the best...cheap....hunting bullet. Sometimes, they're close to the same thing, but mostly quality is expensive.



The 243 is at the low-end for power for ethical harvesting of medium game. A few $2 projectiles make it less marginal, certainly cheaper than a rifle.in a more powerful caliber.
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Like I said to Dave
, I ain't afraid to shoot it 5 times. If I could find partitions for less than $100 a box I probably still wouldn't use them. If I'm gonna use somethin that opens fast, blows stuff up and exits the same size it went in I'll use accubonds again. I really can't justify the price of pride and nostalgia; compared to bullets these days partitions aren't anything special anymore nosler needs to lower the price.

Fox said:
I hope this plays in to the 243 narrative and does not detract from the thread.

I got my wife a 243, she does not like recoil and the price was right. The plan was to run 100gr Sierra boat tails and load them up with IMR4831. Now I have an opportunity to buy a pile of ammo cheap, 100gr Win PP and a bullet similar to a fail safe, half lead half copper. Along with the ammo are 3 boxes of Berger 95ge VLD bullet, they are before they had a target and hunting but they say hunting on the box.

We will use that Winchester stuff for hunting for sure but the Bergers, are they everything people have said? Do they just enter and then blow the whole things to smithereens? I think that this could be a good and a bad thing but almost feels like a varmint bullet, especially in a 243 where there is not a lot of mass to push into the animal.
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you found some trophy bonded tips or xp3's
 
trapoholic said:
Like I said to Dave
, I ain't afraid to shoot it 5 times. If I could find partitions for less than $100 a box I probably still wouldn't use them. If I'm gonna use somethin that opens fast, blows stuff up and exits the same size it went in I'll use accubonds again. I really can't justify the price of pride and nostalgia; compared to bullets these days partitions aren't anything special anymore nosler needs to lower the price.



you found some trophy bonded tips or xp3's
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That is what they are XP3, will be getting them in February.
 
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