.243 bullet

[Tyler75]

I am looking for a good bullet to load in my .243. Right now it is a Rem 700 action on a stock barrel with a Manners tactical stock and a Huskemaw scope. I will be hunting mostly muleys, couse, elk and coyotes. I would like to get a nice barrel and try touching paper at 1000 yrds, but not sure if I dare on animals. What is a good 6mm bullet for this?

 

[azsugarbear]

While we may be able to reach a consensus on a couple of "best" 6mm bullets, we would need more information on your specific caliber and tube to debate the best 6mm bullet for your rifle. The bigger, longer 6mm bullets are need to go after deer, but your barrel may not have a twist slow enough to stabilize them. A hotter caliber may be able to compensate a little for this. Tell us what caliber you are shooting and the twist in your barrel, then we can start throwing suggestions against the wall.

 

[Tyler75]

It is a .243. At this time it has only a factory barrel. I am not sure what the twist rate is on Remingtons factory barrel.

 

[azsugarbear]

I shoot a Rem Model Seven also in .243. The twist on their barrels ranges from 9.3 on up to 12 or so. The reason this is so important is that the "best" bullets for big game hunting tend to be the heavier bullets in the 95gr. to 115 gr. range. You need a 1 in 7 twist to stabilize a 115 gr. bullet like the Berger hunting VLD. You can sometimes get them to stabilize in a 1 in 8 twist if you get your velocity high enough. The 105 gr. bullets generally need a 1 in 8 twist; the 95 gr. bullets a 1 in 9 or 10 twist. These are not hard and fast rules, so you need to find what your barrel can stabilize.

For years, I have shot the Nosler 95 gr. Ballistic Tip bullet (the hunting bullet - not their varmint bullet). It has performed well. Although my Remmy 7 was able to stabilize the 105 gr. Bergers, my groupings were not quite as good. In the end, I chose better accuracy over the heavier bullet.

I am in the process of rebarreling my Remmy with a custom Brux barrel with a 1 in 8 twist. Once she is good to go, you can bet the 105 and 115 gr, Bergers will be back on the menu. The BC's of these bullets are just to good to ignore. Hope this helps some.

 

[liltank]

95 to 100 grn bullet will do ya. They are potent enough to about 400yrds. After that you will be chasing the animal with pencil holes. To go heavier, you will need to shoot 105 A-max, 107 SMK's or the 115 Berger, JLK, or DTAC. All of the these bullets require a 1:9 for 105's and 107's, and a 1:8 or 1:7 for the 115's. These have much higher BC's and should get you to the 500 or 600 mark. As far as paper, the 100grn Sierra Soft Point Boattail will get you to 1000, but the 105 and 107 will be much more accurate.

Tank

 

[mike33]

Out to 400 yards the 80 grain remington, and 85 sierra hpbt will work fine on deer and your twist. Im stating this with experience of kills to that distance.
mike

 

[liltank]

Heck, there is a New Zealander or Englishman on here that uses the 87grn A-max with good effect to 700yrds on Row deer.

Tank

 

[shootnmoa]

On advice from Rich, one of Sierra's techs, we tried some of their 85gr Game Kings for our VA deer. Very good accuracy and terminal performance in a variety of rifles we worked up loads for.
Rich said he was hunting a large WT in his home area, and said he was using those bullets for their big deer.

 

[mike33]

I had good results with my 6x284 with this bullet on deer ay 3450.
mike

 

[.30 CAL]

105 a-max

 

[roninflag]

Out to 400 yards the 80 grain remington, and 85 sierra hpbt will work fine on deer and your twist. Im stating this with experience of kills to that distance.
mike

i have killed a bunch of deer in az with a sako .243 and the 85 grain sierrabthp. also with the 100 grain horn btsp, and the 95 nosler partition. i won a 1000 yard match with 87 hornhp out of a 12 twist hart barrel on a remington. you dont have to have a fast twist but it helps. my opinion barrel is the most important . if your factory barrel shoot goood you are ready