A friend of mine just put in with us for his first deer hunt. He's a decent shot and an experienced camper. The only rifle he has is a .243 Win, tang-safety Ruger M77 given to him by his dad (his twin brother got the M77 7mm Mag ).

We'll be hunting desert mulies at ranges up to 250 yards (I shot mine 2 years ago at 268 with a .300 H&H). If he really wants to use his own gun and doesn't get around to buying something else, what ammo do you all recommend for the .243?

I have hunted with the .243/ reloaded it since 1958 .. it's a great shell to work with. Every rifle that I have owned in this caliber has given me 1" to 1 1/2" groups with Factory ammo. Have killed deer with both factory and reloaded ammo. I have found that the Nosler partition bullet 100 gr works the best for reloads .. and you just take your pick with ammo off the shelf, any of them should work well in your gun. Stay with the 100gr for deer.

Federal premium, 100 grain Nosler partition.
Remington 100 grain Corelock Ultra
Remington 100 grain Corelock

He will be covered out to 250 easy on mulies with these loads.

Ditto Federal premium 100 grain Nosler partition,
Hornady Light Magnum 100 gr. Interlock (3100fps) should be considered also.