6mm /.243 hunting success on Big Game

[FredH]

6cm 108eh cow elk 300yrds quartering to shot hit thick ridge of scapula, broke 2 ribs and tore up onside lung, offside lung untouched. 2nd shot to the neck dropped her
View attachment 808846

Just a bit shy on penetration. Under the hide on the far side is my minimum appreciated penetration.

 

[LoboinMS]

I did not read all 75 pages so forgive me if this has been asked already.

What bullet would y’all use on whitetail deer that would be shot from 25-250 yards? Deer weight no more than 180 #’s in my area. Gun has 1/8 Krieger.

Thinking 95 grain Partitions or SST.

 

[haywoodhunter]

Didn’t really plan on posting these because 1. These tiny coastal island deer are hardly what I’d call big game 2. Not a bullet most have expressed interest in. 3. I didn’t take pics of wound channels, only entrance/exit. However, one of the deer was pretty interesting so I’ll share.

243 win factory hornady American whitetail (100 interlock btsp) suppressed from 20” barrel.

Deer 1 85ish yards neck/shoulder junction drt



Deer 2 at 20 yards, quartering towards me. Tucked behind near side shoulder. Exit roughly the back of ribs. This was the interesting one. Exit hole was HUGE. At the shot the deer actually ran past me and died behind me. While it was running, I could see the entrails hanging on the other side. That was a first for me for sure. I wish I’d taken more pics of this one, but this hunt was a lot different than any I’d done before so I honestly just didn’t take the time.




Pigs. Walked up on two together. First one shot quartered hard towards me. Shot on point of shoulder. Fell right there kicking. Second one ran at the shot, I ran the bolt and hit it running away in the left ham angling up into the opposite shoulder. That shot stopped her, I put a quick second shot through her high shoulder that finished her immediately. First pig was still kicking so I shot her again too. I think that one deflected on something, hit her ham.



Like I said, definitely not one of the oft recommended optimized bullets, but my shots are rarely more than 100yds and I’ve never shot at any game over 220yds so while I am kinda itching to shoot something with a 95NBT or 90eldx, I feel like the benefit to those bullets may be mostly lost on me since I don’t need bc or low upset velo thresholds.

 

[Gettincloser]

Two white tail does killed this year with the 16” 6 ARC. Shooting 108 ELDM’s at 2500 FPS muzzle velocity. Wife’s doe was 150 yards and second doe was 230-240, exit wound pictured was the 240 yard shot, heart was from wife’s shot that impacted the bone just above the elbow. This gun continues to blow golfball or bigger sized exits out of whitetail at 200+ yards. Gives me all the confidence in the world in this bullet at bigger game.

What is the twist rate on your barrel? 1:7 or 1:8?

 

[eric1115]

I did not read all 75 pages so forgive me if this has been asked already.

What bullet would y’all use on whitetail deer that would be shot from 25-250 yards? Deer weight no more than 180 #’s in my area. Gun has 1/8 Krieger.

Thinking 95 grain Partitions or SST.

I've been absolutely impressed with the 108 ELDM. BC vs your choices is not needed for 250 yard max, but the terminal performance is outstanding.

 

[sierracharlie338]

I did not read all 75 pages so forgive me if this has been asked already.

What bullet would y’all use on whitetail deer that would be shot from 25-250 yards? Deer weight no more than 180 #’s in my area. Gun has 1/8 Krieger.

Thinking 95 grain Partitions or SST.

Same as above. 108eldm

 

[danhuntingmi]

I've killed a pronghorn buck and a whitetail doe. Both with 100 grain interlocks. Pronghorn dropped about where he was. Doe went 40-50 yards in a big circle and it took me a while to find her given almost no blood trail. They have a good layer of fat around here.

I wouldn't hesitate to use it for pronghorn again. Deer in the open I wouldn't mind. But anything else my .308 seems to do the job. Hard to see what the benefits of .243 are under 1-150 yards or in bear larger.

 

[General RE LEE]

I did not read all 75 pages so forgive me if this has been asked already.

What bullet would y’all use on whitetail deer that would be shot from 25-250 yards? Deer weight no more than 180 #’s in my area. Gun has 1/8 Krieger.

Thinking 95 grain Partitions or SST.

108 ELDM

 

[Formidilosus]

93gr Copper Rose, single feed. BC had to be corrected to .450 G1 to get hits past 500 yards using a Garmin Xero live per shot. .450 G1 worked from muzzle to 1,100 yards in two states.




First animal. Elk, 2,980fps impact. Stumbled approx 30 yards after hit. No blood at all in snow.



Entrance through scapula:

Shoulder pulled up-

Fascia removed-

Entrance from Inside the rib cage- clear yawing

Onside lung- elongated wound:

Offside lung, elongated wound-

Exit through ribs with most of the bullet caught in the offside scapula, however a small piece did exit completely.

Exit ribs,

Exit side, scapula pulled up. It’s hard to see, however the exit through the ribs was an elongated wound as well- it’s more visible in the wound in the shoulder.

You can see the bullet diameter hole through the hide where a piece exited-

Overall the bullet preformed well. It very clearly yawed immediately after impacting the scapula, and continued all the way through the chest. How much of the yaw is due to the high impact velocity and/or the bone impact are the questions.

The low BC is a hindrance, however if this bullet consistently behaves this way (short neck length and then yawing), it will be the most damaging monolithic I have seen.

 

[Ajsomp]

I did not read all 75 pages so forgive me if this has been asked already.

What bullet would y’all use on whitetail deer that would be shot from 25-250 yards? Deer weight no more than 180 #’s in my area. Gun has 1/8 Krieger.

Thinking 95 grain Partitions or SST.

Is it a 243 or 6 creed? The 1/8 in a 243 will let you shoot the heavier bullets but you won’t find factory loading. If you want factory 243, 95 gr Winchester ballistic silver tip (uses the Nosler ballistic tip).

If it’s a 6 creed- 108 eldm.

 

[General RE LEE]

Dropped my 6.5 CM Tikka CTR to get a rebarrel and converted to 6 GT. I chose 6 GT for barrel life, light recoil and performance in between the 6 ARC and 6 CM. My goal is to shoot the 108 ELDMs 2850 with Varget. Should be a good balance.

 

[LoboinMS]

Is it a 243 or 6 creed? The 1/8 in a 243 will let you shoot the heavier bullets but you won’t find factory loading. If you want factory 243, 95 gr Winchester ballistic silver tip (uses the Nosler ballistic tip).

If it’s a 6 creed- 108 eldm.

It’s a .243 Winchester with a 1/8 Krieger @ 24”.

 

[Lou270]

Found this on phone so thought would share. Mule deer buck heart after meeting 100 gr Sierra Pro Hunter from 243 (son’s deer). About 180 yards. Not the greatest BC but heck of a good deer bullet.

Lou

 

[Timjohnson11]

Any experience with close range shots in a 6mm on elk facing you?

Several years ago a buddy of mine put a 6.5 PRC into the chest of a bull at 65 yards and it dropped. Something around 2900 FPS in that 140 gr range. It tried to get up and he shot it between the shoulder blades. After a bit it got up and ran off. Tracked blood in fresh snow for a couple hundred yards and then nothing all the way out to 700 yards. That worries me with smaller bullets.

Is there an upper limit for impact velocity on something like a 6mm 108 gr ELDM?

I shot a cow this year at ~30 yards, frontal. Seekins Havak Ph2 in 6CM pushing the Berger 108 Elite Hunter around 2950 fps at the muzzle. She dropped, kicked herself forward about 5 feet or so, tried to stand up and was dead within 10 seconds or so... I've also shot a couple elk frontal at similar yardages with the 156 Elite Hunter and had the same experience. All died within seconds..

 

[will_brap]

I shot a cow this year at ~30 yards, frontal. Seekins Havak Ph2 in 6CM pushing the Berger 108 Elite Hunter around 2950 fps at the muzzle. She dropped, kicked herself forward about 5 feet or so, tried to stand up and was dead within 10 seconds or so... I've also shot a couple elk frontal at similar yardages with the 156 Elite Hunter and had the same experience. All died within seconds..

Thanks, that was the thing I was concerned about. Where in the chest did you hit the cow?

 

[Gettincloser]

93gr Copper Rose, single feed. BC had to be corrected to .450 G1 to get hits past 500 yards using a Garmin Xero live per shot. .450 G1 worked from muzzle to 1,100 yards in two states.




First animal. Elk, 2,980fps impact. Stumbled approx 30 yards after hit. No blood at all in snow.



Entrance through scapula:

Shoulder pulled up-

Fascia removed-

Entrance from Inside the rib cage- clear yawing

Onside lung- elongated wound:

Offside lung, elongated wound-

Exit through ribs with most of the bullet caught in the offside scapula, however a small piece did exit completely.

Exit ribs,

Exit side, scapula pulled up. It’s hard to see, however the exit through the ribs was an elongated wound as well- it’s more visible in the wound in the shoulder.

You can see the bullet diameter hole through the hide where a piece exited-

Overall the bullet preformed well. It very clearly yawed immediately after impacting the scapula, and continued all the way through the chest. How much of the yaw is due to the high impact velocity and/or the bone impact are the questions.

The low BC is a hindrance, however if this bullet consistently behaves this way (short neck length and then yawing), it will be the most damaging monolithic I have seen.

Wonderfully detailed report! Thank you for the pictures. Much better than I take! I must ask, what is that knife? It looks like a very comfortable and light knife with a wonderful blade shape to make quick work.

I am still running an old heavy Gerber. It does not hold an edge but touches up quickly. Been wanting to upgrade but haven't. Would you pm me your thoughts on the knife as well?

 

[Ranchhunter]

Got my 6 shoulder blades back yesterday. 108 eldm 1805 fps
Went through all 6.

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[Ranchhunter]

108 eldm 2575 impact. 6 freshly butchered shoulder blades, 2 from the dead pile . 8 in all. You can see in the last photo a roughly caliber size notch in the wood behind. All of these are 10+ year old angus cows.

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[Castle Rock]

 

[LBennington]

Shot a cow elk the other day. 450 yds .243 ai 95 bt mv 3075 out of a 1:10 20” barrel with backcountry suppressor. Impact velocity approx 2199. First shot through shoulder made about a 2” hole entering body cavity hit front of lungs and shredded them. She took a few steps turned around and next shot was other shoulder. Caliber sized entrance, about a 2” hole in the first lung and 3” hole in second lung. In total less then 20 yds from where she lay to where first shot hit her. Sorry no pictures had the kids with me and at 10 degrees they were cold and I was in a hurry to get done.