243 bullet of choice?

[PJGunner]

I've shot a lot of coyotes with the 100 gr. Hornady spire points. I've never personally used a .243 or 6MM Rem. on deer though. I have taken kids out on their first deer hunts and let them use my .243 fir the hunts. The hunts were on a private ranch I had access to and these were good kids that listened and waited for a good shot at the rib cage. I was there coaching them all the way. Bullet used was again the Hornday 100 gr. SP. One deer was a bang flop/DRT but the other 5 all ran some distance ranging from about 35 yards to one over 200 yards. :shock: All were well hit. Never could figure out how that one deer went so far with his lungs turned to mush. :?: Terrain on the ranch was most open with strings of willows where water would run when it rained. If deer ran, we could see where it fell which was good because there was little or no blood trails to work with. If it had not been so open, I'm sure a couple of those deer would never have been found.
That was back when I lived in Nevada. I left there 33 years ago and I still here from some of those kids who now are teaching their own kids how to hunt.
Paul B.

 

[AzDak42]

I shoot a Rem 700 with a 26" heavy barrel in .243 (1:9 1/8)

Targets: 95g Sierra matchking is ridiculous in my rifle. (over R19)
Varmints: 87g V Max
Deer/Game: 95g SST

That said, I haven't tried the Noslers in 243 yet. The factory loaded SSTs shot as well as my carefully crafted hand loads.. so I haven't been highly motivated to mess with it.

When I do start looking through, I'll probably try the partitions next.

 

[runtohunt]

My 240 roy loves the 80 grain TTSX over 52.5 grains of RL22 for 3400 fps. Can't wait till the kids grow up to use it to take their first big game animals

 

[FOTIS]

I want a 6mm Roy!

 

[DeerTracker]

Add in my vote for the 95gr Btip. I got all hot and bothered when i heard about the 90gr AccuBond but that was before I had used the 95 Btip. I used them on 1 antelope, 6 whitetails, and a couple coyotes this past season. I couldnt have asked for better performance! Everything I shot with them dropped where they stood except for one of the deer. It was surprisingly a yearling that took off after the shot but only ran maybe 10 yards at the most. The coyotes I killed of course had exit holes but they were surprisingly small. I just loaded up some more test loads with 95Btips tonight to see if I can refine my accuracy a little bit and while i was at it, loaded up the same test loads with 95gr Partitions just for the heck of it.

 

[BK]

I want a 6mm Roy!

Me too! Those new Vanguards are calling my name... just wish they were offered in SS.

 

[mcseal2]

I've tried many of them, here are my thoughts on what I've used that are heavy enough for deer

80gr GMX - never got it to shoot well

85gr Speer BTSP - good BC of .400, good performance with exits on yotes never used on deer.
85gr Interbond - never got it to shoot well
85gr Partition - Great performance on yotes and 1 deer, lower BC than I like
85gr Sierra BTHP gameking - very good terminal performance on several yotes and deer, great accuracy in several rifles, much lower BC than I'd like to see.

90gr Scirocco II - never got it to shoot well
90gr BT - good accuracy and small exits, yotes went right down as did deer. Little low on BC.

95gr Sierra Matchking - little expansion on broadside yotes, had runners never tried on deer
100gr Sierra Gameking - one heck of a bullet. It has shot well in every gun I've tried and has a good BC of .430. They open fast but don't blow up and put deer or yotes down really fast, they've performed real similar to what the accubonds do in my bigger guns. It will exit a yote and usually a deer, but doesn't make a huge exit. The biggest downside for me is the reduced velocity of the 100gr bullet shortening MPBR.

87 & 95 gr Berger VLD Hunting - mixed reviews. They don't expand fast enough for me on yotes, I've had lots of runners with them. They penetrate 2-3" before expanding and that's pretty deep into a broadside yote. On deer they kill very quick. Every deer I've shot or seen shot with them has gone less than 30ft and their lungs were a liquid. With a tiny entrance wound and no exit though, they wouldn't leave a blood trail on a poor shot. One deer we hauled home on the truckbed with the entrance wound down and didn't even leak blood onto the bed. The fat had sealed the wound.

I have a box of the 90gr AB's on backorder. They may replace the 100gr sierra as my favorite all-around 6mm bullet. As of today I'd recommend the 100gr gameking for an all-around or deer bullet, and the 75gr V-max as my top yote bullet. I mostly use the 70gr BT for yotes now in my 6mm with the superformance load that gives me greater velocity, but the 75gr V-max has given me less runners and quicker kills over the years. The 70gr BT does a really good job, the 75gr V-max just seems to put them down on tougher angles or poorer shot placement. The extra 300fps I get from my superformance load with the 70gr BT improves my shot placement enough to make up for it though by extending my MPBR.

 

[YoteSmoker]

Thanks for sharing all your help and experience. Sure gives me lots of ideas and options. So far, I found a pretty good shooting load with 95 ballistic tips in my first range test yesterday. 40.0 IMR 4350 puts 2 touching holes but 1 pulled about an inch. I'm thinking OAL experimenting might tighten it up. I would like to give RL22 a try also with this bullet.

 

[Songdog]

If you've got the 95 shooting, I'd just run that, you have to look pretty hard to find a better 6mm bullet.

 

[YoteSmoker]

Songdog, I like the higher bc the 95 b tip has than the lighter bullets. I sure like the bc of the 87 v-max but would not use it on bigger game than antelope. With 30 mph winds today, it is a much better day to load than be out calling yotes, as much as I would love to!

 

[Songdog]

If you want to try a few of the 105 Amaxes, let me know... I'm about 45 min north of you, and I'm down in Aurora all the time. Let me know, and I'll drop some in the mail for you. Or, shoot me a PM and we can run out and shoot them, I have a portable reloading bench that hooks to my receiver hitch on the truck.... so you can work-up loads in the field.

I've also shot enough stuff with the 87 Vmax to know it's limitations, and I concur on the antelope limit... the 87 Berger however, is perking my interest a little, though they are about twice as much dough as the Amax/Vmax. I think you could do a lot worse than a 95 NBT as a do-most bullet in the .243.... the only plastic tipped projectile I place above it is the 105 Amax, for obvious reasons.

 

[runtohunt]

I have a portable reloading bench that hooks to my receiver hitch on the truck.... so you can work-up loads in the field.

Do you have a pic? I would love something like that!!

 

[Songdog]

Don't have any pictures for you.... yet. After a few buddies saw the one I made, I had to make a couple more... now it's on to the next phase. Actually, we just applied for the patent last week.... but, I've got about a half-dozen of them made-up, and they're getting painted tomorrow... I'll be offering them for sale in the next week or so.

We've used it at the 100 yard indoor rifle range to build test loads in the parking lot.... or up on the side of a mountain.... or, well.... where ever. I even had a buddy load up 100+ pistol rounds in half an hour so he could shoot a match.... the ammo he brought from home didn't make power factor, so I was pulling bullets and he was loading them as fast as we could go. As fate would have it.... he then beat me....

 

[onesonek]

Kind of a tough question for me, as I go about things almost the opposite.
If I was forced to have only one rifle, I would look for a similar bullet as requested by the OP.
I am fortunate enough to have more than 1 CF rifle, and so, I load each for a certain set of parameter's. With having two firearms chambered in the same round, I use bullet/game specific loads.
But with all that said, I would agree with any number of bullets mentioned. In that regard, I would be more concerned on how the bullet choosen, will perform on deer. The coyotes don't matter so much, as one does not eat them. But there is pelt concerns as well.
dave