tealboy

Coastal Mountaineer

Boy, that's a tough question. Federal is great ammo and I doubt you could go wrong with any .243 ammo they said works on deer and hogs.

I've tried lots of high dollar Federal and Remington ammo in my 7mm-08 and 30-06 in the last 30+ years. Thinking about all the deer I've killed, I realized the old standby Remington core-lokt did as well or better then any of them on deer in brush and open fields out to 200 yards. So, I just buy these when they're on sale.

However, lately I've been dissappointed in the Remington's. They shoot fine but the "fit and finish" seems to be slipping. I think I'll try some Federal Fusions this year and see if my rifles like them.

flags

Don't buy a case of anything without seeing if they group well in that rifle. Get several different boxes and shoot them to see which one the rifle likes. They lay in a supply. Of course you can always begin to handload and tailor a round for the rifle which is what I do. For my $$$ it is really hard to beat Nosler bullets and the good old partition has been working for decades around the world.

JagMagMan

I agree with Flags, Nosler Partitions are hard to beat, but find out what shoots best in your gun before buying a truck load of them. I have a 6MM Rem. which use the same bullets as the .243 Win., except ammo is next to impossible to find for the 6MM. So I reload and use the 100 Gr. Partitions! For factory loads you can't beat the 100 Gr. Core-Loct's.

bpd1982

The word is the the Nosler 95 gr. BT was designed by a Nosler bullet guru for the 243 for deer. The fusion or Partition are also great deer bullets. Just about any 243 bullet in the right place will kill deer just fine. Just look how many deer are fall to 223 soft point bullets.

I am with flags, make sure they shoot well in your rifle.

buffybr

I also agree with Flags. Try different brands and different weight bullets in your rifle before you stockpile a supply. My "dedicated" deer rifle is my .257 Ackley, and being a handloader, I like to tinker with different bullets, so over the years I've shot bullets from Sierra, Nosler, and Hornady, and in bullet weights from 115-120 grains. They all did an excellent job of killing the animals that I shot with them.

Most of the hype about different bullets is just a marketing ploy by the different manufacturers to sell their bullets. With a properly placed hit, deer are not that hard to kill, with just about any bullet.

hunters_life

The main problem with .243 is speed. It's a pretty fast round so close shots have a tendency for blow up issues. I myself like Hornady interlocks. Never had one blow up in any of my fast movers. But as Flags mentioned, the Nosler partitions seem to hold together well nowadays. They used to blow up pretty badly but they fixed that. .243 loaded up with 100gr Nosler Partition would be fine deer medicine as long as it is accurate from the rifle. If I remember correctly, the accutip is loaded in Remington ammo not Federal.

Mr. Slim

when my son hunted with a 243 i loaded them with 100 grain Hornady's. they worked well as it slowed the 243 down a bit. when my son quit hunting i sold that rifle and got another one in a varmit special. i load this one now with 87 gr. hollow points just for groundhogs. i load using only Hornady bullets for all my rifles. as some of the other posts here use nosler partitions in 95 or 100 grains will work well also.

hardcastonly

Ive used about all the common rifle calibers from 257 roberts, 257 wby, up to 458 lott , and pistols from 357mag to 500 S&W, on local deer here in florida at one time or another,
and buffybr has a point, almost any caliber with a heavy for its bore diameter projectile properly placed is lethal in the hands of a skilled hunter
animals are far from armor plated even a 357 mag or 10mm will drop an elk with a well placed shot.
I have total confidence in the rifles I've selected once I know they are correctly sighted in, and while I tend to prefer the 35-45 calibers ,
you can't ignore physics and a heavy bullet of high sectional density tends to get much better penetration and carries energy well.
personally I prefer the 340 wby, and 375 H&H for big game, my late hunting partner used nothing but a 358 win BLR and referred to my rifles as cannons.
one of the guys I hunted with for years used a 257 roberts....we were all successful...
theres too many guys with a long list of successful kills using other cartridges to think that theres a magic upper or lower limit ,that must be adhered too on the weapons power to get it too work.
howard hill killed elephants with archery equipment, there have been record size grizzly's killed with a 22lr, eskimos have killed dozens of polar bear and huge walrus with a 243 win.
find what your comfortable using, use a quality bullet heavy for bore diameter, and learn how to shoot well from field positions and you'll have very few problems.
you need to be 100% confident in your choice, and know exactly your limitations, yes you do give up some potential range and penetration with some smaller calibers...
if you use those, just understand you need to get a bit closer and be a bit more precise, with shot placement,
power does NOT make up for bad shot placement, but it does allow you some extra latitude in making racking angle shots, at longer ranges, that you should not attempt with lesser calibers at longer ranges.
but I'd also point out that in almost 50 years of hunting , I'd bet 90% of the game Ive shot or seen shot was killed at well under 300 yards.

tealboy