James B

In the 243 I would highly recommend the 95 grain or 100 grain NOSLER PARTITIONS. They have worked the best for me for a long time. The corlokt will work but not as well. I think the 95 grain Ballistic tip would work well but I have never used them yet.

m.t.hands

another vote for partitions, i have always had my best results with them, i agree with what everyone else is saying about the bt's, i have only limited experience with them and i always go back to partitions, imo they stay together and mushroom like a bullet is suposed to and retain most of the weight.

best of luck

nchawkeye

bigcountry...assuming you are going to be taking most shot at 200yards or less...The best factory loads that I have seen (depending on how they group in your gun) are: 100 gr CoreLokts, 100 gr Hornadys, 100gr Federal Premium in both the Nosler Partition and the Sierra SPBT...All but the Sierra almost always give you an exit wound on lung shots....but...even though the Sierra SPBT don't always exit...I never had a deer go more than 50 yards when hit with a center lung shot with them.....I'm going to play devils advicate on the "it must always have an exit hole theory to give a blood trail"...The deer that I have shot, with the bullet ending up under the hide on the opposite side...usually go less than the bullets that always pass completely through...and you DO have a blood trail when a bullet stays inside the deer...they bleed out of the mouth and nose....Frankly if I don't want a blood trail...I put the bullet through the shoulder blade, in the neck or use a high lung shot...these deer drop at the shot...but if a deer goes less than 100 yards after the shot...I will find them....a hunter in this situation just needs to KNOW absolutely sure that he killed that deer and look until you retrieve them...we had a couple of bucks that ran 100-125 yards this year, with no blood trail...both were shot with muzzleloaders....I knew both were hit, because in both cases I was also hunting on the same farm and I heard the bullet hit...we found both...it took about an hour for each...but we found them...both were center lung shot hits...

That being said...the bullet that I now use is the Federal Premium 85gr BTHP....I have killed deer from 35 to 235 with this bullet...it actually gives pass throughs more often than the Federal Premuim 100gr SPBT, the Federal 100 gr Classic load and both Winchester PowerPoints loads...But where I hunt in eastern NC...I could have a shot out to 300 yards, thats where this bullet really shines, if your shots are within 200 yards, any of the loads I mentioned in the first paragraph will work....Good Luck...

PS...Before you shoot your new rifle...clean the barrel...I have found all kinds of "junk" inside new barrels....I would also adjust the trigger down to 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pounds, depending on your preference...most of the 700s that I have setup in recent years have been about 5 1/2 pounds from the factory....it pretty east to adjust yourself....

bigcountry25

nchawkeye
Most of my shots will come in under the 200yrd mark easily because the area I hunt is all woods and they are fairly thick. There is only one place I can think of that I might have a 200yrd shot but I never hunt there. I would say most of my shots will be under 100 yrds. How do you adjust the trigger and know what the pounds of pressure it takes to pull them after you adjust it?

Doe Dumper

Yeah James I think we got netitis or something..lmao. I get wired at work and it takes a while to chill out...

nchawkeye

bigcountry...sent you an email on that...Good Luck...

Todd1700

Almost identical scenario for my buddy with the 150 gr BT out of his 30-06. Shoulder shot at close range, Deer dropped hard, got back up and ran. All he found was chunks of bone and hide. No blood. Weird but true indeed. According to him the buck he lost was a monster too. It's still a sore subject with him even though it happened 2 years ago and you can still piss him off just by talking about BT bullets.

Back to the 243. Nosler partitions are an excellent bullet for the 243. Although some don't care for Cor-Lokts I have also used 100 grain cor-lokts, usually got a complete pass through, and never lost a deer I shot with them.

ths78

A 100 gr 243 bullet and a 130 gr 270 bullet have the same sectional density and nearly the same velocity.

I doubt you'd be able to tell very much difference at all in terms of performance on deer sized game inside of 250 yds with identical bullet type in both callibers.

I personally believe that all high power rifles, from 243 to 300 Win perform about the same on deer under most conditions. Some make a little larger hole, but really don't kill any faster. Shot placement is by far most important on deer.

soarkrebel

Stupid question!!!!!!

just buy one of each like me and flip a coin as to which one your hunting with today!

And start reloading you can custom YOUR stuff to your gun not every gun!

And i stopped using BT's soon after the first time i used them. a soft point boat tail will work just fine. as a matter of fact i use speer 130 grain soft points in 270 cause my 270 loves them. cheapest bullet you can just about buy and folks they WORK!!

zrexpilot

Man a .243 thread and I wasnt invited. LOL You guys know I,m a .243 fan, been one most my life. I have used other guns but always liked the .243 the best. .243's are usually very accurate guns right out of the box, very little recoil too. I shoot a Rem .243 VLS with bull barrel. I can see the deer drop through the scope after I shoot, it has no recoil cause of the weight of the gun, it's pretty heavy because of the bull barrell. The bullets I recomend are federal 100 gr sierra gameking, the federal 85 gr.howlow points and the hornady 100 gr. .243's will usually group better with the 85 gr. I sure wish federal would load their 107 gr. hpbt matchkings and put them on the shelf, with a SD of .259 and a coefficiency of .527 that is an awsome round for the .243.
I think you made the right choice in getting the .243. Not saying the .270 is no good, by far it's an awsome caliber as well but it's too much like what you have now. As far as .25-06, it is nice gun but it's just not that efficient of a burning cartridge, Its what they call an overbore, which gives it a much louder report and more recoil, and unburnt gasses (powder) usually equates to inconsistency, the .243 makes just as much power with a lot less powder. Its a very efficient burning cartridge which gives it its inherent accuracy. I would try the federal 85gr. HPBT's, they put a lot of bigger guns to shame. Did you know the .243 is a case necked down .308