This load looks pretty good.

100 gr Hornady SPBT
41.7gr H4350 powder
Federal 210M Primer
Winchester Brass
2.735" Overall length
Velocity 2950fps
no pressure signs from my rifle

Fired from a Tikka Whitetail hunter.
3 shot 200 yard groups
1.0"
1.1"
1.2"

This load is going hunting this weekend.

The .243 isn't powerful enough for deer.

Ya Right----and tikka's aren't accurate either!!

That 243 load really did the trick. My wife and I each took nice Mulies with it, one of which had a 27" inside spread. Gotta love that 243 and what a pleasure to shoot. Now my wife wants to keep my new rifle.

I 've shot this load in 3 different 243s I've owned and loaded it for a number of friends. It's a stiff but safe load in any gun I've been around.
100gr. Sierra, 43grs. of IMR4350. Velocity out of a 22in. barrel is right at 3050fps.

When someone says the 243 isn't big enough for deer I just smile. I've killed over 30 deer and antelope with one. My daughter has a string of 6 one shot kills going on mule deer with a 243. A couple of shots out close to 300yds. Pete

When someone says the 243 isn't big enough for deer I just smile. I've killed over 30 deer and antelope with one. My daughter has a string of 6 one shot kills going on mule deer with a 243. A couple of shots out close to 300yds. Pete

Pete, I was just joking about the .243 not being powerful enough for deer. It seems to cause such a stir on this board so I threw it out there just for laughs. My favorite rifle cable is 6mm Rem. which is almost identical.

I use a 100gr Hornady Bt with 39gr's of IMR-4320, I get 3000fps and .5" 3 shot groups from my Mark X.

42.0 gr. Reloader 22 powering a 100 gr. Sierra
BT at ~2830 fps in a Ruger M77 MK2. 284 yard
head shot and would be adequate for heart/lung.

41.5 grs of IMR 4350 with the 95 gr Partition in Winchester brass has worked for my middle son's Ruger RSI. Very accurate and deer and hogs have very successfully been taken.

Rem. 788, 55 gr. BT, 4000 fps. Really takes them deer down, wait, are the deer the ones with hooves, oh yeah, coyotes got the paws, 55 gr. for coyotes, 100 gr. PT for deer with 43.5 gr. 4831. That 788 will outshoot 95% of all other stock hunting rifles ever built, no matter what you say about it, a .5" group is a .5" group no matter what the rifle! And no, I wouldn't by a new Remington anymore, it's a sad case.
Willie

I stumbled on this thread accidentally, but I'm sure glad I did! I have an excellent load for 75gr V-Maxes in my Rem 788 .243, but I want to work up a good shooter in the 95-100 grain range and I only have a couple of weeks to do it. I already know my rifle likes IMR 4350, a powder that a couple of you mentioned. Thanks!

PS. This will be my first season downsizing from a 30-06 to .243 for whitetails, so it's good to read reports of mulies being put down cleanly with this caliber.

[ 10-30-2002, 07:30: Message edited by: Kentucky Fisherman ]

Weatherby Vanguard .243 Winchester 24" barrel
37.5gr's ADI AR2208
Winchester brass
Winchester Primers
80gr Taipan HP's
3200fps

knocked over a nice 110kg boar

I've heard a lot of guys badmouth the 243 for deer up this way (North Cal) and they're talking Blacktails. Methinks they just be piss poor shots

I'm really surprised nobody is using the 85 gr Sierra HPBT.

I've killed over 200 whitetails and several antelope with various 6mms (never a 243) . The bullet always goes through, and I've never had a failure to expand reliably.

Accuracy has never been a problem and external ballistics are great.

It's the best 6mm big game bullet I've used up to now, but the 75 gr Barnes X is becoming another real favorite.

There is at least one thread that debated the use of the 85 gr Sierra HPBT on deer. I find it amazing that such a small bullet gets such approval when so many topics come up about bullet failures with much larger bullets.

I looked in my notes about results with such a bullet on woodchucks and found that the bullet blew up but I was told that the bullet construction has changed.

The Ci of the subject bullet is not all that good but over reasonable ranges it's true that it's flat shooting and of very low recoil.

Don---

I shot my first big game with the 85 HPBT in 1969 while shooting crows and had the opportunity to shoot a wild hog. The post mortem showed a VERY good wound channel without the wad of bloodshot meat of more fragile bullets. I shot another dozen or so hogs with them and was amazed at the penetration and reliable expansion.

During the deer cropping in N. Fla. in the early 70s I shot as many as a dozen deer a day with a variety of rifles and the one bullet that never messed up was the Sierra.

Until I get a lot more expierence with another 6mm game bullet (not enough time) I'll believe this is the best .243 dia deer/antelope bullet I've ever used.

The only one I've compared it to personally is the 100 Sierra SPBT, and the 95 gr Nosler partition....the 85 HPBT is hands down winner without a doubt.

Anyone tried the 85gr barnes xlc?
They have listed in the manual at about 3400fps.
This would make one hell of an elk cartridge eh!

[ 11-12-2002, 00:02: Message edited by: Thomas ]

Another good deer bullet is the 87 grain Hornady SPFB. I also like the 85 grain Sierra HPBT and until feral hogs took over my hunting area these were all I used. 3-400 pound feral hogs call for a larger caliber in my opinion.