Best 243 bullet for deer hunting?
 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I like the Remington core lokt 100gr. in my .243 rifles, killed alot of deer with that round!

I'll try to keep this short... :)

From 1980-2016 I owned one centerfire rifle, a 1980 M-77 Ruger in .243...I bought it new, with a Bushnell Scope and later upgraded to a VX-II 3x9x40 Leupold in the late '90s...I've killed over 300 deer with this rifle...Now, realize that I live in NC, with a gun season that lasts from October until January, we own 3 farms and must keep the population in check...

From 1980-2000? all I used were 100gr Remington CoreLokts and had no problems...I got a wild hair and decided I wanted to try every factory ammo suited for deer and see the difference...Frankly, the lower priced Remingtons, Federals and Winchesters killed as well as the so called premium bullets...In fact, on center lung shots, the deer went down quicker...Sure, the premiums would usually get an exit but they did a bit less internal damage so instead of dropping 40-60 yards from the hit, they might go 75-100 yards...

After a few years, I went back to the 100gr CoreLokts, my hunting buddy settled on the 100gr Hornady InterLocks...One bullet that did stand out was the Sierra GameKing 85gr hollow point that Federal loaded at that time...It was fast, flat shooting and penetrated much better that we thought it would...Of course, Federal quit loading it a few years back...

During this same time my brothers, nephews, friends, etc were using larger cartridges and the wild thing was, on lung shot deer, theirs would run as far as the ones I hit...On high shoulder shot deer they all fell at the shot...On one hunt, my brother and I were hunting on the ground together, a bevy of does came out, we tried to time our shots at the same time, well, we both hit the same doe...Him with a .270 and a 130gr Sierra GameKing soft point, me with a 100gr CoreLokt, both in the lungs...That deer taught both of us a lesson, she still ran about 60 yards, made it out of the winter wheat field and fell in the woods...

So, find what the rifle likes, hit them right and you won't have any problems...

That is what I am using in my 7 mag and my 308. They work great and there is a reason that is the bullet that everyone trys to compare itself too. However in my 243 I have fallen in love with the Sierra game king bullet. It is a BTSP and does a number on the deer. Usually drops them where they stand and at 100 yrds I have the holes touching. The rifle is a Remington 710 with the factory rings and scope still on.

For the price point it is still hard to beat Winchester Super-X rifle cartridges and in my experiences they have shot as good as any round in my 243's

I agree with shooting before buying bulk. I got 2 30-06s with same length and twist. One shoots Hornady interlocks the other partions 1MOA, and they shoot the other brand awful.

I don't hunt deer with with my 243. But I did read an interesting article in a Lyman manual from late 90s. They got some formula to base weight of animal and range and rate calibers. Granted I a skeptical a bit, but I get speed and energy. They rated the 243 higher than 30-30. Now many people the big metplate of lever actions have knock down power. 243 obviously will have longer range though.

When my daughter was using a .243 she used the Nosler 95gr BT. It was accurate in her rifle and she harvested several deer with that bullet. I know several others in our area that currently use a .243 and they too use the Nosler 95gr BT with good results. Mike

I am using 100gr Sierra gamekings. They shot the best. Winshester and cci primers shoot the same group and windage but the Winchester prime are shooting 1/2" higher at 100yrds

The 95g Federal Fusions are great!