I'm gearing up for some furbearer season this year. My .243 shoots 100 gr interlocks real well. Is there a recomended bullet for hunting pelts. We'll be hunting bobcat and coyotee.

Gene

will you be calling them?

Mark D

We probably will call by mouth.

Gene I've a lot of experience on the yotes, for what it is worth I'd go with the 55 Noz BT. I'd drive it hard and try like heck to avoid any big bones (spine,shoulder,breast).

If you do that this bullet will do just fine for you, and a whole lot better than anything else I've tried.

I don't know if Sierra makes the 60 HP any more if they do or if you could find any these would be very good for you as well.

Good luck

Mark D

Gene-The bullets Mark suggested, given typical .243 WCF velocity, will do OK on a coyote but will leave a gaping exit on a 'cat. You'll be highly disappointed. There is nothing but compromise in fur-friendly loads (if there truly is such a thing), and what you do not want to try is using FMJs, which, by the way, can leave long rips or grapefruit-sized exits as well -- and may allow the animal to escape.

Since you are already shooting the Hornady 100 grainer, how about toning it down to 2500-2550 fps. You'll still get good performance out to a couple hundred yards, and the trajectory will still be amply flat. The more pedestrian load will treat most fur with lethal kids gloves. Yes, you'll get an exit, but a quarter-sized hole is much easier to deal with than one the size of a softball or grapefruit. Avoid the shoulders; place the bullet through the thin ribcage and into the lungs, and it should work like a charm.

One other option is to concoct a reduced load using a relatively soft projectile that will expand more like a big-game bullet than a varmint bullet at the lower velocity. The Sierra 80 grain Blitz, pushed along around 21-2200 fps, will give positive expansion to 200 yards and will do minimal damage to the fur. I believe Speer still lists reduced loads for most bullet weights, so that would be a good place to start for load data.

243? Thats a tough one, Cats and Foxes you'll be hard pressed to not blow up. I've had fair luck on coyotes with the 55g Nosler BT's pushing them really hard like Mark mentioned above. Searched for a long time to find a bullet for the 22-250 that would be hide friendly, I think I finally found it the Speer molycoated 50g (small) hollow point, not the TNT. But even they are a little hard one bobcats and foxes. The best thing I've found for a hide gun is the 17 Rem with 25g HP Bergers. My advise would be to find a smaller caliber than the 243 if you want to consistantly save hides.

If you really want to save the pests from too much damage I would recommend that you try a lighter bullet loaded to a reduced velocity. I use 75 gr. hollowpoints in a 250 Savage loaded only to about 2150 fps and it doesn't tear them up to badly. The compromise with this type of load is that you lose the capability to take long shots when they are presented. Still, mine shoots flat enough to not worry about holdover out to 150 yards. I would think it would be easy to do the same in a .243.

I have had success in the past using Barnes solid spitzer type bullets. They are made of bronze. They make a 75 grain bullet in the .243 diameter. I have even killed turkey with that bullet without too much damage.

Here is a link:
http://www.barnesbullets.com/prodsolids.php

lawndart

Lawndart beat me to it. I was going to suggest the Barnes solids. However any stout constructed bullet, like a Swift Scirroco (now available in 6mm) or Barnes X etc. shouldn't tear up a coyote or bobcat too bad since they're not exactly the most dense animals out there.

Thanks for the input guys, I hadn't considered going to a slow expanding bullet like the partition. That might be the answer I'm looking for.
Gene

Gen I've used a couple of preme bullets for hides.
22/250 and the 53 TX and the TB 55

also the 6/06 with the 95 TX and the 85 TX

They all worked fine as long as you stay away from the major bones.

Hitting the big bones to me is the thing that is the toughest on hides by far. IMO missing them is a lot more important than what head you're using.

Just my thoughts

Mark D

Why not a barnes solid, that could be loaded to give good trajectory and still no blow up on contact, your gonna have holes but they should be manageable