What do you guys use, no theory here, field experience only. I shot a nice buck last fall with a .243 85 grn speer hpbt.45 grns imr4350 for 3320, found bullet just under hide when cleaning. Buck weighed 253lbs and ran about 90 yds before folding. It was a perfect heart lung shot. Shot it with a Stevens 200 22" bbl.

Congrats... How did the projectile look? How about the deers insides? What was the aprox penetration?

I've used a 100gr Hornady BT with 38grs of IMR 4320 does 3000fps in my 24" barrel, deer go bang flop, never recovered a bullet.

It is not real hot but on the upper end of my manual. Using the 95gr Nosler partition with 36.5gr of IMR-4064. Really gets the job done. Rifle is a 22"bbl Stainless Winchester Featherweight.

I use 95 gr. Hornady SST's out of my 788 carbine. They're running right at 2900 fps at the muzzle. Put 5 deer down with them last year. All were at distances from 100-175 yards, and all of them fell over. No trailing whatsoever. All of them were also complete pass-throughs.

100gr. Sierra SP / 43grs. of IMR4350. Out of a 22in. barrel this gives right at 3050fps. This is a stiff but safe all in the 5-6 243s I've shot it in and really thumps deer. Pete

This year I used an 80 grain Remington PSP pushed by a bit more than 44 grains of AA4350, a one shot drop. I haveused the 105 Speer, 100 grain Hornady's of before and after the interlok, The Sierra 100 ProHunter and the 100 grain Corelokt. All killed quickly.

My favorite is a 660 Rem with a 20" barrel shooting a 85 gr Sierra HPBT at around 3000 fps. I can't say how many one shot kills (dozens) it has given me over the last 20 years or so, but I've never lost a deer using that combo....usually they never move once hit....hard to beat!!!

43.5 grains of H 414, and a Speer 105 grain SP....

MV about 3250 from the barrel of my Ruger 77 Mk 2 Stainless....

it certainly works... instant down in my experiences....

cheers
seafire

Remington CoreLokt 100 grain factory ammo if I'm lazy; 100 grain Nosler Partition over IMR4350 if I have time to load.

95gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip loaded over a stiff charge of H-4350 (R-P Brass, Win Primers seated .005" off the lands). Accuracy is great, most 5 shot 100 yard groups under 3/4" at a muzzle velocity of 3071 FPS (low extreme spread and standard deviation).

Took 3 Whitetails this past fall with this load (185 yards to 235 yards), all were one shot kills, all complete pass throughs. The farthest any deer traveled after the shot was 10 yards.

Larry

Winchester Model 670 Carbine 18.5 inch barrel.
Hornady 87 Gr. Interlock on top of 42.5 Gr. of IMR 4350. MV a little over 3200 fps. Shot the deer a two point blacktail at 50 feet. It was a heart shot. The deer instantly fell tried to regain it's feet and couldn't. Deer dressed out at 140 lbs.