.243 bullet 300 and under on deer & Barnes TSX question

[GonzoK34]

With hunting every now and than BAD shots and POOR bullet placement aren't considered in evaluating a bullets performance. As stated when the game hasn't been recovered it's difficult to come up with a conclusion as to whether the bullet did its job or not.
We all make mistakes. The key is to reevaluate what you the shooter did leading up to the shot opportunity. Was the shot made from a solid shooting position. Was the firearm well supported. Was the animal on alert or relaxed.
Was blood found and did it give clues as to the color and type of blood. A gut shot animal can and does cover allot of country fast.
I have shot a number of deer with the 243. Sierra, Hornady, Speer and Barnes have all performed well. No complaints, they all were recovered.
I prefer the 7-08 for deer and elk. Successful shots on both have been out to 700 yards. But if elk are the primary target in open country where shots are long it's 200 gr Barnes TTSX and now 200gr LRX. In heavy cover and trees 150gr barnes in 7-08.
The 6.5 Grendel
I build an AR15 with a 24" varmint barrel years ago. But here in California ARs are magnets for Political Morons. I recently bought a Howa Mini Mauser in the caliber. Put 300 rounds thru it shooting prairie dogs out to 550 yards consistently. The AR put down deer out to 470 yards and a few pigs with no hiccups. It's the perfect caliber for kids, women and those who don't care for recoil.

 

[WYO300RUM]

I've found the speer 100 grain boat tail soft point to be tremendously accurate and easy to work with (and very affordable). It's on the opposite end of the toughness spectrum from your mono-metals. I think this is a good thing personally, much faster killing if you wait to take the classic broadside double lung shot, but if you're requiring exit wounds from any angle every time it may not be what you want.

I 3rd that. 100 gr. Speer boatail very accurate in two 243's.

 

[Frog4aday]

I'm sorry to hear about your wife losing her deer. It sounds like she made a pretty solid hit (blood trail you described) so you probably would have recovered it if it hadn't slipped off to someone else's property and snuck away through the vegetation.

The thing is, even if the Barnes bullet worked great and that deer was dead 10 yards from where you stopped looking for it, you MUST change bullets for your wife's sake. The Barnes bullet "failed" her (she didn't get her deer) and to boost confidence, you need to change to something else. (FOR THE RECORD: I really like the "X" bullets when they can be driven fast, which is the case here. Sad to hear the deer got away.)

I agree with the suggestions for an accurate, lead soft-point replacement. They just seem to produce the DRT performance more often, which is what we all want. In a small caliber, penetration is important (which the "X" bullets shine at!), so I'm suggesting (as others have) the NOSLER PARTITION for the next hunt. They make a 100 grain and a 95 grain. Probably safer to just go with the 95 grain since it is more likely to shoot well out of most rifles. You'll get a little more speed from it, too.

 

[bigstone]

100GR Federal sierra game in .243 will put them down.

 

[jlteague]

Been using a 243 for several years now and have yet to not drop a deer using Berger 95 gn vld bullets. Very accurate and so far for me drops them where they stand.

 

[Jbaisley]

I have loaded the 85gr Barnes for both my kids. They have taken several mule deer and a couple cow elk with good placement but some needed a second shot. What I have found on a couple recovered bullets is the petals are breaking breaking off leaving a .243 cylinder. I am going to try some accubonds but haven't loaded them yet.

 

[one3]

Good morning, im looking for a bullet for a .243 that will likely be shot at 300 yards and under. This is a rifle for my wife that she hunted with last year. We deer hunt in Indiana mostly and we would be hard pressed to get a shot longer than that at the woods we hunt. Last year i loaded up some Barnes 85gr. TSX and got pretty good accuracy out of them and them seem to perform well when we tested them on milk jugs. we recovered a bullet that had almost 100% weight retention. Anyways she shot a buck last year at probably 75 yards and it ran off. it bled out alot but did not die we tracked it for awhile and saw it run into the neighboring fields corn that was still standing. I did not see the shot so im unsure if the shot was bad or if anything like that happened but my question is is the TSX not expanding on the fairly thin skinned deer at that close of range? If you guys dont think that was what happened i will probably continue to load the TSX or if you guys have a better suggestion im more than open to trying something else. Thanks for any info

I, have had a .243 since 1967. Shot many ground hogs and deer using a 80gr Speer bullet. some shots were well over 400 yds. Tryed 100gr, but always went back to 80gr. 80gr seemed to shoot the best.

 

[jjmp]

OP, Thk you I'm sorry deer got away ,and I'm sorry your Wife had to endure that loss ,hope she gets back to hunting,agreed we all can make mistakes even me ! Lots of good advice and it mite be time to reload a different bullet just to clean the slate ,nosler also makes a 85 grain partition,along with their 95 &100 grain partition, Nothing wrong with being excited about seeing a deer ,still happens to me and I'm 62yrs young ,ask her to join you at the range , pack a lunch and have fun enjoying each other,tell her she's your Annie Oakley.........I'm a 243 fan and enjoy reloading for my two rifles ,many Great bullets not enuff time ,Regards n Cheers !!!

 

[tribb]

As well as the 95 Partition. It is generally an easy to bullet to get accuracy and will deliver good pass thru's in 99% of angle shots. It is best suited to a 10 twist barrel also. Works great with H4350 for best all around temperature use.

The 100 grain Partition shoots great in some 10 twist but not all of them (maybe twist is a bit more or bit less than 10 on some barrels I don't know).

As i posted earlier I had couple long night tracking jobs with the 85 TSX and where recovered with perfect lung shots, one went near 300 yds. Not all Barnes bullets behave consistent on impact period expecially in the small calibers, and I was shooting them at 3,250 fps and very accurate. Just lost faith when have upset kid thinking its was a bad shot or turning into a loss when it was not.

Never had one issue with the Partitions after switching. And even yet way more dramatic kills since going to the hammer. Hers is a 9 twist so we use the 80 grain hammer. Its really bad medicine and so easy to dial load for.

Nosler partitions are extremely dependable game takers.

 

[tribb]

I use partitions in 7mm rem mag and 257 Weatherby. Tribb

 

[crkckr]

I would suggest you stop screwing around and just get the best bullet you can - the Nosler Partition. I probably sound a lot like a broken record but virtually every other bullets' performance will be compared to the Partition. That's because you can't get a better performing bullet. There are some that are nearly as good, probably some a bit more accurate but none better. Especially in less than ideal situations. Under the unusual circumstances where you can't find a load that works well in her rifle, I would go with either the Hammer or perhaps a Swift A-Frame (which is just a Partition in disguise). You can play around with all the other bullets but it always comes down to "Does it work as well as a Partition?" It usually doesn't.
Cheers,
crkckr

 

[6.5x47hunter]

Sierra Game King 85 grain #1530 Hollow Point Boat Tail bullet !!!

we shoot this in every 243 we own! tried 85TSX then went back to the Sierra.

#1 deer and groundhog bullet my our party and kids can always handle it easily too!

 

[Poppadoer]

Load up some sierra gk and take your confidence with you.

 

[tribb]

I would suggest you stop screwing around and just get the best bullet you can - the Nosler Partition. I probably sound a lot like a broken record but virtually every other bullets' performance will be compared to the Partition. That's because you can't get a better performing bullet. There are some that are nearly as good, probably some a bit more accurate but none better. Especially in less than ideal situations. Under the unusual circumstances where you can't find a load that works well in her rifle, I would go with either the Hammer or perhaps a Swift A-Frame (which is just a Partition in disguise). You can play around with all the other bullets but it always comes down to "Does it work as well as a Partition?" It usually doesn't.
Cheers,
crkckr

Well said sir