RE: .243 win
I have used one since 1980...Have killed 130-140 deer with...I have never had any problems...I have killed deer with out to 280 yards or so...
The first 75 deer or so were killed with 100 gr CoreLokts...I started trying other brands, so far have killed deer with:
Remington 100gr CoreLokts
Remington Premium 100gr SPBT (discontinued)
Winchester 100g PowerPoints, both the Supreme and Standard loading
Speer Nitrex...100 gr
Hornady 100 gr SPBT Custom
Federal Premium 100 gr Nosler Partition
Federal Premium 100 gr SPBT Sierra GameKing
Federal Premium 85 gr HPBT Sierra GameKing
Thats all I can remember off the top of my head...Funny thing, my rifle doesn't care for the Winchester Ballistic tip loading or the new Federal Fusion...
The Winchester and Federal 100gr Sierra GameKings are very similiar on how they preform when they hit a deer...massive internal destruction and usually no exit wound...Never a problem because I don't believe I ever had a deer go 50 yards when hit with one of these bullets...They were hard enough to penetrate the shoulder blade on high lung shots, but usually didn't exit on broadside lung shots....
The Speer Nitrex and Federal Nosler Partition as a rule would always exit...Deer went farther than with other rounds because of this...but none over 100 yards...
The Hornady Custom, CoreLokt and the Federal 85 gr HPBT did what I want a bullet to do....Give consistant exit wounds on broadside lung shots...But not with high shoulder shots...Deer drop with a bullet through the near side shoulder blade and run 20-75 yards with a center lung shot...
When field hunting I use the Federal 85 gr loading...When I am hunting in the woods, I switch to a Corelokt....My gun prints both 2 to 2 1/2 inches high at 100 yards...One advantage to the 85 gr is at 300 yards it is only about 3 inches low, whereas the CoreLokt is 8-10 inches low (I know the ballistics say different...Don't believe them)..
You can wound a deer with any caliber...I have seen hunters shooting much bigger calibers wound deer, because of flinching...If I hunted where we had 300 pound deer and gusty, windy conditions with shots over 300 yards the rule rather than the exception, I might have to go to a bigger gun...Until then I guess I'll keep what I have.