What's your alls opinion on what the best .243 bullet is for ONLY deer?

partition or TSX

100 gr Partition

In the 243 I have taken deer with the 100gr Sierra and the 95 grain Partition.
Both worked very well. For bigger deer use the Nosler Partition.

Sierra 85 grain HPBT

One of my 243's like the 85 grain Nosler Partition, the other one doesn't like heavy bullets so it's a varmint gun.

Many consider the .243 as marginal at best on deer. Those same ones usually say witha premium bullet it will barely do the job. I don't agree. I use 100 grain bulk packed(fairly cheap)Winchester bullets and they do just fine. Last year my grandson was four shots--4 deer and his dad was one shot-one deer. Last several years,pretty much same results. These are Texas whitetails which tend to be smaller--but there have been some pretty good bucks in the mix.

105 grain Speer Hotcor.

I second Rick 300, and Steve Riccardelli's choice's...

Speer 105
Sierra 85 grain HP

I also like to add what has done well for me...

Barnes 85 grain XLC
Speer 90 grain SP

Downloaded to 2700 fps or less MV:
90 and 95 grain Ballistic tips

And as others pointed out.... 95 or 100 grain partitions are never a bad choice!

The only thing I don't agree with on here is " that the " 243 is marginal for deer"....NOT in the hands of a good shooter they are not, with a decent bullet!

And yeah the old 100 grain Corelokt will do more than an adequate job on about any deer you will find in the lower 48.... even large upper Midwest whitetails...

cheers
seafire

Both my Dad and I have taken several deer with 100gr. Remington Core-Lokts with no problems.

While my preference is the 100 gr Nosler Partition, I have an absolutely picture perfect mushroom from a Remington 100 gr Core-Lokt that I recovered out of a buck I shot about 12 years ago...

It certainly worked well, and I'd use them again if I somehow couldn't use my preferred Partitions.

Like I have stated in other posts, there are guys out in Western Washington that I know that use a .243 Win with a 100gr. Partition for ELK and they do very well even though I wouldn't recommend it.

But my opinion is with Doc on this one. The TSX turns the .243/6mm cartridges into a whole different animal but the 100gr. Partition is a great standerd for all hunt applications.

My experience with .243 and Texas Hill Country deer (Junction)

My Model 7 shoots the 100 grain sierra best. With 41 grns of IMR4350 its very accurate but the short barrel keeps it to just over 2800 fps.

Shot one buck thru the boiler room at 80 yrds. Pass thru big wound channel, buck ran about 50 yrds. My fave with this gun is shooting does right behind the ear. Now this is not much of a sporting event as you toss some corn out about 40 yrds from your blind wait a bit and pile them up. Round is devesatating, but heck a .22 may do the same for this shooting.

Had a buddy that was using a 700 BDL with factory Remington corelock rounds. He shot two bucks thru the boiler room, both rounds were f0ound under the far side skin. These were short shots, 80 yrd. Not sure if the Rem factory loads are anemic or it was the core lock bullet or most prob a combination of the two, but I was very surprised by the lack of pass thru on these small deer.

Not to start a fight or arguement but I think that what needs to be taken into consideration is what guys say from around where you hunt, atleast similar region of the U.S.

For me, out here in the west we have the oppurtunity to hunt in one area and be able to shoot two or three different types of deer, bear, cougar, elk and even moose. But for the typical availability of tags the most common combo is Deer/Elk/Bear/Cougar.

IMO, if you hunt in those types of areas where you can have a variety of game show up without notice then your bullet options change pretty drastically.

If you look, the guys from the south/midwest/east seem to use pretty standerd bullets and they perform great.

But then when you head west, then you start hearing of tougher bullets being used and you'll start hearing of the 100gr. Partition everywhere with the .243 win.

So if the deer seem to be tougher or weaker with the animals they share the land with then I would choose accordingly.

Can't go wrong with almost any bullet in the 90-100 grain range, Hornady, speer, corelock, will all work great on any broadside shot. Extra margin for tougher shots would lean me towards the partition and the tsx/.

100 gr Hornady interlocks shoot best out of my .243. For a "deer only" riffle there is no need to spend premium dollars on a better bullet. The partition is not quite as accurate in my riffle. If I was carying the 243 as a back-up on an elk hunt I would load the partitions.
Gene

For me it all depends on the distance. I could have shots ranging from 10 to 400 yards. I switched back to a .270 because I shot an old 10 point at a good broad side shot through the lungs and he carried a 95 grain ballistic tip for over 200 yards with minimum blood trail. When we found the buck later that night (6 hour track) the bullet had went right behind the shoulder got one lung decently and looked like it bruised the heart pretty good. It stopped on a rib right behind the opposite shoulder. The shot was ranged at 185 yards. The buck field dressed 140 lbs. and yes he was old. He didnt have any bottom front teeth and he was puny. Game warden here estimated his age at
10+ years. I am gonna try the TSX 130 gr in my .270. I kind of wonder how the 110 gr. TSX for the 6.8 SPC would perform out of a .270.

LOL enough of my $.02

The best bullet for a .243 for deer is a 120gr .260 (sorry, couldn't resist)!

I have only shot one deer with a 243 and barnes bullets, and it was an old style blue XLC 85 grain.
White tail buck, 225 yards quartering facing me at about a 15 degree downhill angle, bullet entered high on the right shoulder, took out eight inches of spine " and I mean TOOK it out"
and then exited.

I know that is only one experiance, but when I combine it with the other kills I have made with barnes bullets it was right on par.

What I love is how little meat I waste with homogenous bullets.

i use sierra 85 grn hpbt gameking with imr 4064 pdr @36.5 grs. tagged many whitetails in MO,KY&WV from 50 yrds out to app 246 yrds.