Best deer bullet for .243 ?

[Marlin444]

New to this cal. for deer hunting. I'm planning on reloading for a 7600 for Mich whitetails, with shots up to 150 yrds.I prefer lung & neck shots. Do I need a premium bullet or reg. soft point?

[flintlock]

In my opinion no...But I kill those itty bitty NC deer...

I've killed about 85 with the 100gr CoreLokt and had good success with the 100gr Hornady
InterLock and the 100gr Nosler Partition...These 3 usually exit on lung shots...Good Luck

[John R.]

100 gr. Nosler Partition, really wakes up the 243.

[Marlin444]

How about the Berger VLD's ?

[BRL]

100 grain Core-Lokts work well on the little to medium hogs here FL as well as exotics in the 100 - 200 pound range.

Flintlock...85 deer? I need to come hunt with you. I've had a passion for hunting since I was 18 (41 now) and haven't taken a whitetail yet. Of course, I haven't tried yet either...but that's because I haven't wanted to. LOL

[Shiner]

The deer you shoot are probably a lot bigger than the East Tx deer I shoot, but my wife shoots 100 gr Federal soft points and they kill deer dead!!! They are about the cheapest bullets I've found too....I use them pretty much exclusively now in 243, 308, 270 and 30/06.

[mcwoodduck]

The ones constructed for big game that shoot the smallest group out of your rifle.  Be them factory or hand loaded.
No really.
It does not matter if you have a bullet that will expand to 3X and retain 105% of it's weight, pulling lead molicules from thin air as it flys to the deer, if it will not hit the deer in the vitals it is useless as a round.

[243dave]

100gr speer grand-slams. It penetrates extremely well but expands and leaves big exit wounds. It shoots about .75 moa out of my sporter-weight 243.  Dave

[Mohawk]

  Well, after harvesting 30 or more deer with a .243, I don't know what the best is but I can tell you what I used. Never lost a deer with the .243. Never had one run over 75 yards with a heart/lung shot, most only made it around 30-40yds. Good blood trails too. Only had one bullet not exit. I always used the factory 100gr soft-point. A mix of Rem Core-lokt, Fed Hi-Shok, and Win Power-point. Practically all the same. Nothing fancy, just plain-jane 100gr soft points and they have always served me well.

[rickt300]

Since your going to be reloading and can pick and choose I'd try the 105 grain Speer Hotcor first.  Presently I am going back and forth between the 100 grain Nosler solid base and the 95 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip.  My deer seldom weigh more than 175 pounds though and most does around here weigh a bit less than 100 pounds but on deer of this size both Noslers work very well.  I too only take lung and neck shots.

[mechanic]

Anything softpoint 85 gr. and larger.  Where I've seen folk have trouble is trying to use varmint bullets on deer.  The 100gr. softpoints already mentioned work great.  Hollow points don't penetrate well enough IMHO.

[BBF]

unless it is a 85 gr Sierra HPBT   

[Dave in WV]

My son and I have used 100gr Rem CoreLokts for years in our .243's. If in doubt, use a 95-100gr Partition and know you're good to go for sure. Me, I'd use the CoreLokts.

[Swampman]

100gr Rem CoreLokts

[High Brass]

I've had nothing but excellent results on deer using 100gr Remington Core-Lokts on deer in WV and NC.