.243 for Whitetail

Thanks for the info Dave.

How ’bout fishsticks tonight?

I’d love some carp. Especially carp that has been fed a steady diet of pollutants and toxins. Ooh… Extra toxins, please!

That’s why those things were imported to the US in the first place. They used them to clean up commercial cat fish ponds down south. The article doesn’t mention it, but I guess that the silver carp are the only fish that would survive the poluted water over there.

-J.

Jon, Talapia and Catfish are also raised in polluted waters in China and shipped over here. Some of the rearing ponds had oils slicks and trash floating on them.
I don’t eat anything produced from there but a lot of Americans do.

mmmm mmmm good, sludge filled carp…..

Jami

There a pain in the down in the butt IL river.

Could I have an order of blue carp and fries please.

“Mommy, I cant feel my teeth after eating the carp kung po”

Keep those damn fish away. Before we know it, we will have some mutant flying carp….oh wait, we already do

Why don’t we just send several billion full grown fish back as a token of our appreciation and to help jump start their program?

How do you tell where the frozen fish you get in stores is coming from?

OK guys. I picked up a Remington Model 700 in .243. I want to get some sweet loads worked up for it. My fiance will be shooting whitetail with it.

I’ve been hearing guys say they’ll use 85 grain Hornady Interbonds at 3100ft/sec. I’m not so sure about such a light bullet. I’ve been looking into the ballistics. I can load a 100 grain Hornady BTSP at 3000ft/sec and achieve 100ft/lbs more energy at 300 yards with just a little more bullet arch.

What are your experiences with this gun and loads? What have you guys seen with recovered bullets? What is the caliber’s effective range on whitetail? Thanks in advance.

I think I’ve posted on this before, but my gun loves the Winchester Supreme XP3 95 grain pills.

I have yet to shoot a deer with the .243, though, since I just go the gun last year.

I would be interested in other responses as well. I doubt I would try to take a deer at much over 200 yards with my .243, but with a good shot, I’m sure it doable. Wind drift might be a bigger facter out at 300+. Energy loss would be the other.

Good post, very interested to see reports of practical hunting experience with .243’s.

Mike

You guys should get a lot of feedback. Tons of guys use them succesfully.

Wittsend,

Here is my post from NoDak outdoors. http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=77177&highlight= A lot of good info. I ordered a box of Hornady BTSP in 100 grain. I’ll work up a load for them and see how they work. Most likely at some point I’ll be shooting them into ballistic gelitan to see how they work out to 300 yards. I have a feeling 250 will be the max range for that caliber. We’ll see.

I’m a little leary myself of using much less than 90 grains… But again, I have no actual field experience with deer/.243 bullets, so a very interesting question. I would think the biggest factor (for me anyway) would be energy loss at distance. I know that my .243 and I can shoot sub MOA with a solid rest, and I use the B&C reticle which eliminates “Kentucky windage”… My 300 yard and 400 shots are basically right on (within acceptible margin of error, anyway), and would kill a deer based on shot placement alone. That being said, I don’t think I would ever actually shoot at a deer at that range with that gun based on energy loss at that distance. I ocassionally hunt near property lines, and I really want to avoid lengthy trailing jobs. Wind drift also comes into play, which can be tricky especially with those lighter bullets.

If I were you Ruger (and take this with a grain of salt based on my lack of field eperience), I would load up a heavier bullet to keep that retianed energy if you plan on shooting a longer ranges. Bullet drop can certainly be correct for given today’s scope, ballistics tables, etc…

Bullet anatomy I’m sure plays a very large part as well. I assume certain ballistic tip bullets might not be the best option for fear of poor penetration. Bonded bullets might be a better choice?? There a number of “ballistic tipped” bonded bullets out there for great penetration combined with great ballistic preformance — these bullets might be a top choice.

Not an expert, so I could be wrong… Looking forward to the upcoming replys!!

Mike

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Wittsend,

Here is my post from NoDak outdoors. http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=77177&highlight= A lot of good info. I ordered a box of Hornady BTSP in 100 grain. I’ll work up a load for them and see how they work. Most likely at some point I’ll be shooting them into ballistic gelitan to see how they work out to 300 yards. I have a feeling 250 will be the max range for that caliber. We’ll see.

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Awesome!! When you get around to shooting the Jello (there’s always room for Jello!), let us know the results!!! (with photos if possible??? )

And those guys with experience, let us know your thoughts!!

Mike

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Awesome!! When you get around to shooting the Jello (there’s always room for Jello!), let us know the results!!! (with photos if possible???)

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http://www.gelatininnovations.com/pages/ballistic_pur.html

Awesome video on this site. I’ll do that.

A much better bullet selection for that would be the Barnes 85gr TSX. At 3060 to 3300 fps, the expansion is so much more superior to that of the Hornady. The Barnes X does not fragment and mushroom like other bullets and gives one heck of a punch. They retain almost 100% of their weight and destoys everything in their path. My nephews use nothing but .243’s for prongs, mule’s, and whitetails. Very impressive tool for a quick kill.

Here’s a link to the Barnes Tech page
Barnes X .243

Randy (et al)… What do you think of the Winchester XP3’s, out of curiosity. From their description, advertising it seems they would do the trick. Being that my gun loves ’em, I’ll stick with ’em until I have a bad experience, I suppose…

Winchester XP3 bullets

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A much better bullet selection for that would be the Barnes 85gr TSX. At 3060 to 3300 fps, the expansion is so much more superior to that of the Hornady. The Barnes X does not fragment and mushroom like other bullets and gives one heck of a punch. They retain almost 100% of their weight and destoys everything in their path. My nephews use nothing but .243’s for prongs, mule’s, and whitetails. Very impressive tool for a quick kill.

Here’s a link to the Barnes Tech page
Barnes X .243

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Randy, to date the Barnes has been a secondary bullet as I’ve never had them group as well as I would like. I’ve found their increased length to maintain weight caused them to be unstable and tumble.

Perhaps I’ll have to try them again once I get a load I trust for the .243. I’m always open to new ideas.

I’m not well educated about ballistics or the like but I have been hunting with a .243 for over a decade. I can sum it up this way. Kills deer dead. Effective? Very. I don’t rely on knockdown power as I tend to enjoy practicing shooting and take pride in making clean kills. Not to insinuate you folks here don’t do the same but I’ve run into plenty “spray and prayers” that think you need a chunk of lead the size of a melon to kill a deer because they can’t help but shoot them in the a$$.

But I digress. When I started shooting mine at deer I selected the 55 grain bullet because most all the shots were at long distances across farm fields. At least 3 deer were taken at over 320 yards with the longest being even longer. At the longer ranges the 55 grain performed very well. My Ruger prefers the Remington green and yellow box ammo and is fine by me, it’s never let me down yet and is cheap, lol.

But I no longer shoot long distances and found out right quick that 55’s are not good at close ranges. Most of our shots are now under 100 yards. And on real close shots, say 50 yards, the 55 will come apart and go several different directions in a deer causing all sorts of mayhem. I now use 100 grain and love the performance. Again, same brand as the 55.

Hopefully this is helpful info for someone. I don’t mean to contradict any others finding, these are simply results I’ve had. Someday I hope to reload and can then play with some loads and test them on varmints. That’ll be fun!

Mike, I haven’t used them, nor do I know of anyone who has.

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A much better bullet selection for that would be the Barnes 85gr TSX. At 3060 to 3300 fps, the expansion is so much more superior to that of the Hornady. The Barnes X does not fragment and mushroom like other bullets and gives one heck of a punch. They retain almost 100% of their weight and destoys everything in their path. My nephews use nothing but .243’s for prongs, mule’s, and whitetails. Very impressive tool for a quick kill.

Here’s a link to the Barnes Tech page
Barnes X .243

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Randy, to date the Barnes has been a secondary bullet as I’ve never had them group as well as I would like. I’ve found their increased length to maintain weight caused them to be unstable and tumble.

Perhaps I’ll have to try them again once I get a load I trust for the .243. I’m always open to new ideas.

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Like every rifle, barrel, twist rate,…… you need to shoot all you can to identify what performs best for your Pea shooter.

Here in the shooters bench forum, I have a post of my Howa finally broke in. All Barnes TSX. Group is my zero at 250 yrds. The other target is a combination of shooting 400 & 500 yrds with a wind blowing right to left.

But back to the question of the .243. The two pics of the blocks of wood are 22-250 53gr Barnes TSX. Two rounds shot at 200 yrds into a green ash log. Was cllo when i found this while cutting/splitting the log. I don’t know the exact density of a green ash tree log, but look at the damage to the wood fibers and also the depth of penatration. This would have seriously blown up a bone and kept going.

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Not to insinuate you folks here don’t do the same but I’ve run into plenty “spray and prayers” that think you need a chunk of lead the size of a melon to kill a deer because they can’t help but shoot them in the a$$.

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I wouldn’t imply that myself as I’m impressed and proud to be a part of IDO. I feel it’s members tend to have a higher drive to perform to the best of their ability be it shooting, fishing, hunting, or whatever.

With that being said, I’ve always felt that majority of gun hunters are more than happy to achieve a “pie plate” group at 100 yards. I’ve seen it all to often.

Myself, I tend to shoot somewhere in the 1000’s of rounds a year. If I can’t get it under a MOA, the gun is gone (after I’ve exhausted all available resources). I’ll get this sucker shooting tight little groups. I have faith.

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Like every rifle, barrel, twist rate,…… you need to shoot all you can to identify what performs best for your Pea shooter.

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Thanks Randy, I completely agree. Awesome pics (depth penetration). Good thing I enjoy shooting. I’ll give the barnes another shot. I’m always skeptical though, I’ve copper fouled a barrel a couple times and it is such a mess to straighten out after the fact. I’m trying to never do that again.

Also do you know how far your nephews out west are comfortable taking shots at? What is their effective range using the .243? Thanks.

ruger2506 – “Also do you know how far your nephews out west are comfortable taking shots at? What is their effective range using the .243? Thanks.”

I really don’t know where they have drawn the line on their effective range. I know they shoot prongs in the 250 to 300yrd range consitantly. They were shooting P-dogs at 500-550yrds this last summer while I was out there.

Wow, incredible groups, Randy, thanks for the pics. That 250 yd group is better than a lot of guys hope for at 25. LOL What were those guys called, the spray and prayers?? Looks to be just over a half inch grouping at 250. Whats that, 1/4 to 1/5 MOA?? I’d say you’re shooting ok…

I’m not sure exactly how wood compares to soft tissue/bone, but nonetheless those photos are VERY cool with the .243 bullets in split wood. Really demonstrates the wound channel and shows the disruption at the terminal end. If it does that in wood, I’m sure penetration wouldn’t be an issue in a deer….

Riveratt – thanks for the practical info

Cool input guys, keep it coming!

FYI – to clarify the pics of the green ash tree, those are 22-250 rounds, NOT .243. my 22-250 is the nearest caliber to a 243 so I wanted to show what a similar cal would do

I shoot a Ruger M77 25.06 and the best load I have ever shot out of that gun has been the 100gr Barnes tsx. I can cover the group with a dime and when I smack a whitetail with one its face hits the dirt they usually dont even take a step. I have shot deer out to 250 with this load and it has done the job every time.