Good .243 mixed fox/deer loads?

[Randy Bohannon]

As per the title gents, interested in dual fox/deer loads.

I will be mainly neck shooting deer with this load obviously, legality in Scotland isn't a consideration either, but would prefer an indication as to which bullets are the best compromise between bullet weight, ability to hold together and ballistic coefficient.

I don't have any bullets yet but have RL17, H4350, RL22 and RL 25 on hand.

TIA

[gpointer]

an 85 gr Sierra flat base will do the job nicely,an 80gr Berger varmint will be even better due to the quality of the bullet,

[Randy Bohannon]

an 85 gr Sierra flat base will do the job nicely,an 80gr Berger varmint will be even better due to the quality of the bullet,

thanks for your thoughts mate.

I do know that flat base bullets are generally a little better at holding together than boat tails of a like-for-like design.

Interesting to see the recommendation for the Berger bullet, my experience with them in the 6.5x55 and 30 cal have been that they are rather frangible. Are these ones a bit better in that regard?

I was thinking about the 75 grain V-Max bullet, what are they like on a chest shot roe for example?

[blue]

70 grain Nosler Ballistic tip 40.5 grains of Varget or VV140. I have used this in a large number of 243s and grouping good-excellent. Can't comment on deer effectiveness, but suspect it is very good. For foxing I have never found a better combination. Gives around 3400 and the ballistics are excellent. I have found the 55 and 58 grainers in 243 are okay but accuracy not too good.
Standard seating depth seems to work best.

[sir-slots-alot]

Interesting to see the recommendation for the Berger bullet, my experience with them in the 6.5x55 and 30 cal have been that they are rather frangible. Are these ones a bit better in that regard?

I was thinking about the 75 grain V-Max bullet, what are they like on a chest shot roe for example?

75 Vmax are very frangible - more so than berger bullets in my experience of using them in 6mm flavour.

A few bullets whch are also very good for both species.

1 - Sierra 85 grn SPBT

2 - Hornady 87 grn SP

3 - Speer 85 grn SPBT




ATB
Alan

[bullbarrel]

I use 100gr sierra gameking and never had a neck shot deer (fallow/roe around here) walk more than one step. The few foxes I heart/lung shot with them also just dropped.

Actually recovered one the other day and had done as expected, opening up nicely with lots of very sharp brass bits.

Not as flat as the lighter bullets, but 1" high at 100 yards covers the distance I shoot things.

[Randy Bohannon]

75 Vmax are very frangible - more so than berger bullets in my experience of using them in 6mm flavour.

A few bullets whch are also very good for both species.

1 - Sierra 85 grn SPBT

2 - Hornady 87 grn SP

3 - Speer 85 grn SPBT




ATB
Alan

Thanks Alan,

I had come across recommendations for that Hornady bullet as being good for roe so it's heartening to hear.

The attraction of the vmax bullet was simply a decent BC for the weight, not actually used it so appreciate the advice.

Also surprised that the Berger is not too frangible.

What sort of velocities are you getting from the bullet weight range above out of interest?

[jackg]

I use 87gr Vmax or 85 grain Sierra Game king.
CCI200 primers and 44gr of Vit 160.
3100FPS.

[Randy Bohannon]

I use 100gr sierra gameking and never had a neck shot deer (fallow/roe around here) walk more than one step. The few foxes I heart/lung shot with them also just dropped.

Actually recovered one the other day and had done as expected, opening up nicely with lots of very sharp brass bits.

Not as flat as the lighter bullets, but 1" high at 100 yards covers the distance I shoot things.

Cheers bud.

I'm going to try the 100 grain bullets mate but will try and start on the slightly lighter weights as apparently they suit the calibre better.

Certainly if an 87 grain bullet can do about 3200 fps but a 100 grain only about 2800-2900 it would seem to indicate that the calibre is better with the lighter weights.

this is all rather academic I'm sure but as with all these things I like to experiment for myself.

[Randy Bohannon]

I use 87gr Vmax or 85 grain Sierra Game king.
CCI200 primers and 44gr of Vit 160.
3100FPS.

Thanks Jack, have you tried them on deer?

What are they like on the various placements?

[jackg]

Fallow, Roe and Muntjac all fall over easily.
Tend to head shoot Roe but heart lung with Fallow. Last Muntjac I shot was in the neck so it varies, but that was with a .222.
I read Alan's comment about frangibility of the 75 Gr Vmax but you can't determine the path of the bullet beyond the POI.
I think it was Eddie on the Stalking directory who also recommended the Hornady soft point that Alan suggested, not tried them myself.
With Fallow the H/L rib area is damaged but not usually the shoulders due to the size of the animal, which is why H/L is ok on Fallow.
I get normal wound channel. Fallow are larger but the bullets stop them just as easily. One I shot in December ran 30 yards with a H/L shot, but that is about as far as they go.
The bullet fragments puncture the skin on the opposite side of the beast but no gaping hole, which is expansion or fragmentation as per design.
Don't like neck shooting as it is not a defined area as a head.

[bewsh]

I do know that flat base bullets are generally a little better at holding together than boat tails of a like-for-like design.

interesting
I have shot lots of boat tail and flat base interlocks in .243 and never noticed any difference

what makes you say that?

[Randy Bohannon]

interesting
I have shot lots of boat tail and flat base interlocks in .243 and never noticed any difference

what makes you say that?

Various beasts of various shapes and sizes shot with Flat based and Boat tail cup and core bullets over the last few years.

For example the Speer boat tail line of cup and core bullets are noted by the manufacturer to be a bit softer than their equivalent flat base, in my case the 150grain BTSP were causing more damage on carcasses than the 150 grain Hotcor bullets over 25 or so beasts. The situation was mirrored with hornady bullets. I stopped using 150 grain bullets due to concern over meat damage but mainly because the 06 was a travelling rifle and I wanted to settle on an 180 grain bullet.

I got hold of some Hornady 180 gr BTSP and also some 165 grain flat based bullets, both intelocks and took the to Africa for a first try.

The 180gr BTSP bullets that were recovered showed ore separation, usually rupturing down to the start of the boat tail.

They did the job however and I didn't recover any from a broadside shot so I wasn't too bothered.

Interestingly I ran out of those and loaded up a batch of the 165 grain Interlocks which seemed to penetrate just as well and I did manage to recover one ( from the hip joint of a wild boar) that had expanded very well but remained whole. The recovered bullet weighed 98 grains which is excellent for a cup and core bullet. On that basis and the experience of the Speer bullets, I would say that the boat tail, unless bonded, causes core separation to a greater extent than on a bullet of identical design but without the boat tail.


Bonding and various other factors, like a solid copper boat tail found on Ballistic tips and Accubonds, can change things however.

[activeviii]

If necking then the 85 game king will work very well but stick one in the chest and forget the meat in this area. lol. works well on the fox, but then anything will just abut work on fox.

100gr pro hunters all the way. will drop the fox, works ok on chest but works on the neck. but, im dual loading now as i dont think the 243 is a good deer calibre, it knocks them over most of the time but it smash them up to much. my go to deer gun is a 6.5x55 running 140gr interlocks. one of the areas i shoot is a distance from home so i have to use a 243 with the night vision scope for daytime deer but then i switch bullet for the fox at night.

one mate is using 100gr for deer then switching to 55gr for fox. the 55 turns then inside out.

[Doublegun]

Have you considered the 80gn Sierra Blitz Soft Point? Its my chosen bullet for roe but I shoot them over 38gns of RL-15 getting 3072fps. Never had any significant carcase damage given that they are labelled as a varmint bullet, in fact considerably little damage. The foxes don't like them either.