Do it all .243 bullet selection

[Mtaylor]

My son shot his first animal last year, it was a mule deer buck at 150 yards with my old Marlin xs7 in .243, with a chopped down stock to fit him. I was using federal ammo with 100 gr soft tip bullets I got from sportsman’s warehouse, it did a great job 1 shot dropped him.
Fast forward to this year we want to go black bear hunting in Wa state, and we’re going to go deer hunting again. He shoots the gun really well and he is small for his age so I don’t want to put him behind a bigger gun. I plan on keeping his range to 300 yards and closer. I reload so I have been looking at different bullet choices. The barrel twist on those old marlins is 1-10”. I have tried to shoot Nosler 105’s and it didn’t work. So what is everybody’s recommendation for my slow twist .243? I don’t mind using match bullets cause I need them to open up fast and create big wound channels.
Nosler 95 gr BT
Hornaday 90 gr ELDX
Other?

 

[Dmoua]

90gr Sierra TGK.

 

[wyodog]

The .243 is a cartridge i don't reload for so my experience has been with factory ammo. My grand daughter hunted black bear with a .243 this spring and I had several boxes of Federal Fusion with 95 grain bullets so that is what she used. I realize this isn't a fast expanding bullet like you are looking but it worked great on a nice boar this weekend. she had a dead bear with 2 holes that ran a total of 20 yards.

The 95 grain bullet shot nice groups out or a 10" twist short barreled rifle.

 

[Bearlodge10]

Kudos to your son for his deer and to you for continuing the heritage. I like the .243 and the 6mm as a beginner round, and as I get older, I think that it holds merit as an all-around cartridge with the right bullet and shot placement. I grew up shooting the 100-grain soft points (we shot Hornady interlock, Remington Core-Lokts, and Sierra GK in our handloads) on everything from coyotes to elk. They just worked and had good enough accuracy, whatever the brand. I now think there are better bullet choices, but finding one the rifle likes is the issue.
I handload for my son, using 100 grain Hornady and the 95 gr. SST and they do the job very well out to 200 yds. I find that the SST and the Nos. BT cause more meat damage but terminal performance is a little better than the soft points. In your scenario, I might look toward the Partition, although they have performed for me, I don't see enough difference over the Interlock to make the switch. However, I would lean this way if bears or elk were the priority game.
Those longer shots with the .243 demand more care in the execution no matter the bullet in my opinion.

 

[Mtaylor]

I’m really happy with anything that works good, I may be over thinking it that box of federal ammo might be what I should use. I just want to make sure I stack the odds in his favor to recover an animal!

 

[HandgunHTR]

I’m really happy with anything that works good, I may be over thinking it that box of federal ammo might be what I should use. I just want to make sure I stack the odds in his favor to recover an animal!

If it will work on a deer, it will work on a black bear.

If you want to stack the odds, then trigger time and understanding where to shoot a bear vs. where to shoot a deer are much better uses of you time and $ then obsessing if a 95 grain Nosler BT will work better than the 100 grain Federal blue box stuff. Get your son to the range and have him practice shooting in different positions and at different sized targets, focusing on hitting a specific aiming point.
If you tuck the bullet right up close to the shoulder on a bear, you could be in for a long day. Middle-forward/middle is the aiming point on a bear (back lung/liver on a deer).

Do that and you will be successful.

 

[n816kc]

95 gr Nosler BTs and Fusions have been my go to whitetail load for years. They both work well.

 

[ElPollo]

The Winchester ballistic silvertip factory ammo is loaded with the 95 gr Nosler BT. Unless I really needed a slick, high BC bullet to shoot long distances in the wind, I would use that.

 

[Mtaylor]

If it will work on a deer, it will work on a black bear.

If you want to stack the odds, then trigger time and understanding where to shoot a bear vs. where to shoot a deer are much better uses of you time and $ then obsessing if a 95 grain Nosler BT will work better than the 100 grain Federal blue box stuff. Get your son to the range and have him practice shooting in different positions and at different sized targets, focusing on hitting a specific aiming point.
If you tuck the bullet right up close to the shoulder on a bear, you could be in for a long day. Middle-forward/middle is the aiming point on a bear (back lung/liver on a deer).

Do that and you will be successful.

Sage advice!

 

[digger]

I just loaded 50 with 103 ELD-X

 

[Steve300xcw]

105gr bthp's run just fine outta a 1:10, and they are cheap... I am very fond of them..

That said. That same box of federal 100gr sp's will kill the shit outta a bear and anything else he hits. And folks do just that with them every year....

 

[Mtaylor]

I just loaded 50 with 103 ELD-X

What barrel twist?

 

[Steve300xcw]

I bet those 103's will run just fine outta a 1:10

 

[Robobiss]

Small for his age, or not, he could shoot that rifle (or any 243) for the rest of his life and never want or need for “more”. .243’s kill stuff dead, plain and simple. Don’t be in any hurry to move him to anything bigger. I so wish that I still had the model 7 my dad bought me when I was 10.

My vote is 95 NBT and don’t look back.

 

[Wilderlife]

We've had a .243 in our safe since March 2019. In that time we've killed well over 100 animals with it - mostly fallow deer, but also plenty of goats, pigs, and a few foxes.
In that time we've used factory loads by Tikka and now Sako, loaded with (I believe) the same 90gn soft point bullet. I have zero complaints about this load and it's been more than enough on bigger boars and fallow bucks. Big boars are about the toughest animal we've shot with this rifle.
We'll start reloading for it soon and I have a few bullets here to choose from. I've got some Hornady Interlocks here in both 70gn and 100gn so they'll no doubt be the first to get used up.

 

[Mtaylor]

105gr bthp's run just fine outta a 1:10, and they are cheap... I am very fond of them..

That said. That same box of federal 100gr sp's will kill the shit outta a bear and anything else he hits. And folks do just that with them every year....

105gr bthp's run just fine outta a 1:10, and they are cheap... I am very fond of them..

That said. That same box of federal 100gr sp's will kill the shit outta a bear and anything else he hits. And folks do just that with them every year....

I will have to try it out, what velocity and powder are you running?

 

[walkingduckwaterfowl]

Following along on this one. I recently got one of the new 8 twist tikka .243. I don't reload so I bought several different factory options with the plan of finding which was the most accurate. Well, it turns out the rifle shot all of it very well. 95gr winchester silvertip (NBT bullets if I am understanding correctly), 95 SST, 90 ELD-X, 90 NBT. Even the cheap 100gr S&B soft points I used to sight in were hammering. It was all shooting well enough that the choice comes down to best terminal performance on game.

 

[Dust Rider]

95 / 90 NBT or 90 / 103 Eldx

 

[Steve300xcw]

I will have to try it out, what velocity and powder are you running?

'bout 2850. Had a jug of RL22 that I needed to use up so I used that. I wouldnt buy it again though. Accurate, but a lil pissy about the temps, and hits pressure a lil fast for what you get IMO.

 

[MT-nuffgun]

I have loaded for .243 Winchester most of my life and between my late dad and I have killed quite a few critters over the years with the .243. The most used bullet between us is the 95 SST. My daughter has a .243 win savage axis now that loves Remington 95 tipped core lokt (which is the SST) I can’t reload better than that factory ammo in her rifle. I have zero experience with the 90 eldx, but inside 300 yards I doubt the eldx will do anything the 95 sst wouldn’t. Other good bullets are the 90 and 95 grain nosler bt’s. I have not loaded them personally but have seen what they do to deer and it is more than enough.