Toy4Two

I shoot a .243 WSSM and I wasn't real impressed with their Ballistic Tip ammo during last years hunt. I shot a decent buck at 350 yards and the bullet didn't pass through and as you can see in the picture it didn't bleed out at all. It did drop within 10 yards, but I'd like to see a little more damage. Would the Winchester XP be a better round for deer, especially if I take a long shot like last year?

country1

It sounds like you recovered the bullet. What did the bullet look like? Did you keep it? If so, what is its retained weight? How were the vitals when you field dressed it?

Teach Deer

Three problems...
1. Big deer (very nice btw)
2. Small round...the .243 Winchester is not a big round...the .243 WSSM basically duplicates the ballistics of the .243 Winchester...still not designed to blast through large animals...though a well hit deer will drop quickly from the round.
3. Long range...a lot of the energy the bullet had at the muzzle would have declined in that distance.

The Winchester Supreme line of ammooffers truly excellent performance in the right offerings...the 7-pt buck I killed this past year with a 7mm Remington Magnum, 150 gr Ballistic Silvertip, dropped within a step with a 6 inch wound channel all of the way through it...with half of the right lung deposited on the hillside 10 feet behind the deer.

If you really are looking to blow large holes all of the way throughbig deer or larger animals at extended ranges, you are undergunned...

I like to have an exit hole, some hunters want the bullet to stay inside (preferable just under the offside skin), but I have found that the second hole produces better blood trails when necessary...it just has never been necessary with my 7mm.