RE: What ammo for .243?
 

Basically you will have to try different brands and weights to se what your rifle likes. I have an old Mossberg I bought and tried the Remington Coreloks 100 grain and it shoots them great so I never tried any others in the rifle. I have a Marlin .35 and it will shoot great with 200 grain bullets but if I drop to 180 grain they are all over the place. So every rifle is different and likes something different.

RE: What ammo for .243?
 

Handloading your own is the only way to go IMO....

For groundhog I used Hornady 87 gr. BTHP bullets in front of 36.6 gr. of IMR 3031 in Winchester brass with Winchester primers.... but that is the load that grouped well and performed on target. The whole point is that it might take a bit of work to find a load that works well in your rifle, but it's well worth it. Before you get started though, I recommend reading up on the different aspects of handloading and how they effect performance and most of all the safety of the load (ie. chamber pressures, bullet seating depth, overall length, case measurements and what happens when you have a pressure problem, etc.). Good luck.

RE: What ammo for .243?
 

I use 100 gr. Remington Express Pointed Soft Point Core-Lokt's in my Model 700 and in my son's Model 7 and have had great results.

RE: What ammo for .243?
 

I've had good luck 80 grains in my handi rifle. I think they were remington but am not sure.

RE: What ammo for .243?
 

I 2nd or 3rd the 85 Grain BTHP from Federal.. The bullet isa great middle ground for speed/knock down and trajectory.. The Boat tail pushes the speed up over 3200 FPS and the hollow point really does a number on the whitetail. I shot a buck at 246 yards walking with the hollow point. He jumped once and fell.

RE: What ammo for .243?
 

Rebarrel to 308.:D

RE: What ammo for .243?
 

You're just downright hardcore, aren't you James B??

RE: What ammo for .243?
 

I'm not sure where you are hunting at, but if a lot of your shots are real close I would not recommend the 85 BTHP, we have had bad experiences with them with close shots in WV in my wife's rifle. However, using 100 gr. Corelocks and PowerPoints we have had good luck.

RE: What ammo for .243?
 

:DHard core or hard headed? My wife would vote for the latter.;)

RE: What ammo for .243?
 

thanks for the response guys. Im still just a touch torn as to which route to go. Shepdogwv, our shots are normally (80% of the time) within 80yrds...yet step out in the fields and we got the potential 300yard shot; though this gun will not be a long-range type of gun I don't think. I was leaning towards 85gr due to the responses, and the fact that I may use it on some yotes. the reason we went with 95gr is to try to get the best of both worlds, speed and knockdown...it didn't work well. We shall see what happens with 85gr bullets on deer within 100yds.