what cartridge to use
 

just got a remington 700 in .243 win and am going to use it for deer. i am wanting to make up to a 300 yard shot. what is a good bullet that is acurate and will still have enough power at that range and won't cost an arm and a leg.
thanks

I use the Remington Express (green box) 100 gr. Pointed Soft Point Core-Lokt's in my .243. Longest shot on a deer has been about 100 yards. Took a wild pig with it at 175... Still has about 1100 ft. lbs of energy at 300 yards, so plenty of punch for deer at that range, if you do your part and punch it into the deer's lungs...

Welcome to the board!!!:woot:

About 12 years ago I asked myself the same question...I had always used the 100gr Remington CoreLokt...They did fine as I had already killed about 75 deer with that load but I wanted to try all the different factory loadings in that cartridge so I would know for myself what they did...

I was looking for a loading that gave reliable pass throughs on lung shots with a good sized exit hole but would also bust through a shoulder blade in case I needed to drop the deer on the spot...

Of course, you do realize that you need to try a few different loadings in your rifle to make sure they are accurate...But after that here are my top factory loadings...I could use any of these and feel very comfortable out to a good 300 yards...

1) 100gr Remington CoreLokt...Yep, I'm prejudice, who wouldn't be???:happy0157: When it was all said and done, this bullet preformed as well as any and a very good price...In addition, my gun just likes them...I'm talking groups you can cover with a dime at 100 yards...This past season I dropped a buck in a soybean field at a lasered 327 yards...It's hard to beat results like that...I'm closing in on 100 deer killed with this bullet and 3 black bears...

2) 100gr Hornady Custom InterLock...Great bullet, does the job, one of my hunting buddies uses this round but I get 1 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards with this bullet...If your gun shoot this bullet better than the CoreLokt then that's what you should use...

3) 100gr Federal Premium Sierra GameKing SPBT...Also a great round, not as hard as the CoreLokt or the Hornady, but plenty hard to break down both shoulders...

4) 100gr Nosler Partition...Good round, deer do run further on lung shots with this round than the others because it's the hardest of the lot...If your bucks run larger than average, this might be the ticket...

5) 85gr Federal Premium Sierra GameKing HPBT...This is THE long range bean field bullet of choice among long time .243 shooters...
Factory velocity is posted as 3320fps...That's faster than any of the 90-95gr ballistic tips and this bullet is made with a thicker jacket and harder lead so it penetrates better than the ballistic tips that I have seen used...

When I first heard about this bullet, I thought it was a ground hog bullet...I even loaded a CoreLokt behind the 85gr expecting the bullet to break up on rib bones and anticipating a quick 2nd shot...Well, the first deer dropped on the spot, the 2nd deer ran after the CoreLokt passed through the lungs, identical hits, similiar sized deer and range...

I have now killed about 40 deer with this round, thought I had messed up one evening...I was sitting over a huge soybean field expecting a 300+ yard shot when a doe came running through the swamp behind me...I stopped her, put the bullet through her shoulder blades and she dropped, the range was only 50 yards...

The beauty of this bullet is that you can sight in 2 1/2 inches high at 100 yards and you are only about 3 inches low at 300...

For hunting fields where shots start at 150 yards, this bullet is the ticket...In my gun the CoreLokts happen to hit 2 inches high at 100 yards and the 85gr HPBT hits between 2 1/2 - 3 inches high...So, if I'm in the woods or swamps of eastern NC, I used the 100gr CoreLokt...If we have beans on our farms and I'm over a 100 acre bean field, I'm shooting the 85gr Sierra HPBT...

Hope this helps...Good Luck...

I'm going to concur wth the others and say the 100 gr. CoreLokt if your gun likes them. My dad hunts whitetail exclusively with a Savage .243 and has for 20 plus years, no deer have walked away, and if they did, tracking woudn't be a problem.

I use the Corelokt 150 gr. in my 30.06 and I like the high shoulder shot, no tracking, and great penetration.

any other good bullets. i am goning to go sight it in this weekend. if i want to shoot out to 300 yards should i sight in at 200 and just hold over a bit at 300 and hold under at 100

There are several thoughts on this, but you do need to check what you gun does before shooting at game...

I sightin 2-3 inches high at 100 yards, currently the CoreLokts are 2 inches high at 100...In my rifle they are dead on at about 225, 2 inches low at 250 and about 6 inches low at 300...This is what is important, for a hunter to know off the top of his head where his bullets are landing, and where that deer is standing...I've hunted my farms for over 30 years and just bought a rangefinder a couple of years ago...This helps greatly in making good shots...

I stay with something between 90-100gr. Try Nosler Ballistic Tips. I have good success with them in mine. I tried the Accubonds and they seemed to penatrate better and still did the job well but werent quite as accurate in mine. They might be more accurate in yours though. The thing is to try alot of different bullets and use the one your rifle likes and will do it's job on the deer, which about all will do with the trusty 2-4-3!

I would recommend trying as many different bullets and weight as you can afford. I know that sounds like a lot of work, but isn't that the best part! I handload exclusively. I have an NEF 243, and an Encore in 243, neither will shoot the same bullet as well as the other. But once I dialed in what either one preferred, they are tackdrivers. You just need to be aware of different twist rates making some guns shoot varmit bullets better than big game bullets. IE, Nosler makes a varmit ballistic tip as well as a big game ballistic tip. Just something to be aware of when reloading.