best heads for deer

[lambsey]

hi can anybody recommend a good bullet head for use on deer, rifles a tikka 243

[between the eyes]

Nosler 87 Grn Boat tails. Great on Roe.

[nuttyspaniel]

Up untill today I used either sst's or noslers b/ts. They put deer down fact, but they do leave a bit bruising. Today I shot a yearling buck, I aimed a tad farther back so not damage the leg on the exit side as Ive lost a few legs due to bruising. Now my shot was low not my best shot!! The beast went down dead, but on the gralloch the bullet had fragmented and burst part of the gut! I done the best I could to remove as much of the offending matter and was surprised how much copper i found! ive only about 20rounds left and was changing to nosler hot cores for purely cost purposes but Im glad Im changing now. Ive lost perhaps the ribs Im not too bothered about that but I may still loose the leg because of the gut matter. The hot cores are widley used to good affect thats why I decided to try them.

[col48]

gamekings do it for me.

 

ATB

Colin

[Jager SA]

Up untill today I used either sst's or noslers b/ts. They put deer down fact, but they do leave a bit bruising. Today I shot a yearling buck, I aimed a tad farther back so not damage the leg on the exit side as Ive lost a few legs due to bruising. Now my shot was low not my best shot!! The beast went down dead, but on the gralloch the bullet had fragmented and burst part of the gut! I done the best I could to remove as much of the offending matter and was surprised how much copper i found! ive only about 20rounds left and was changing to nosler hot cores for purely cost purposes but Im glad Im changing now. Ive lost perhaps the ribs Im not too bothered about that but I may still loose the leg because of the gut matter. The hot cores are widley used to good affect thats why I decided to try them.

 

 

All bullets will cause bruising in one way or another, its unavoidable. The instant tranference of energy to soft tissue and bone causes such trauma which aids the almost instant kill of the beastie.

 

You dont want a bullet that doesnt break up as all that will happen is the beast will run on and you could lose it. You need to cause as much trauma with the bullet as soon as it strikes the target area. If they drop on the spot the shock has killed them but sometimes the damage is part and parcel.

 

Soft points (Game Kings there of) work well, Nosler Ballistic (Very good) tip are hard but do fragment, however, to much velocity and they will blow up, the same can be said for the SSTs. Partitions are a good bullet but are not cheap, the similar Interlocks from Hornady are also worth a look.

 

100g Game Kings

95g Balistic Tip

95g SST

100g Interlock

 

100g bullets dont work in all 243 rifles so trial and error.

[Middlestead]

85gn Speer soft point

[Middlestead]

I have used 85gn Barnes X's through both shoulders, never had a runner with them, feed the front end's of roe to the dogs anyway, if I want stew or mince I just "chop up" or mince a haunch. Only had the one box in the shop, they've never replaced them......so I've never bought any more.

[Guest Sundance Kid]

100 grain Nosler Partition suberb bullet

Regards

Sundance

[Tikka 260]

85 Gn Sierra Gamekings HPBT + 43 Gns H414 + Federal GM210 Primer in Lapua Cases. 3150fps, Worked for me, and not the hottest of loads either, but always work up to find the safe sweet spot.

 

ATB

[Guest Sundance Kid]

Gentlemen

 

Please be aware of the minimum bullet weight and conditions inforce in the deer act .

 

England and Wales

 

For Muntjac and Chinese Water deer only- a rifle with a minimum calibre of not less than .220 inches and muzzle energy of not less than 1000 foot pounds and a bullet weight of not less than 50 grains may be used.

 

For all deer of any species - a minimum calibre of .240 and minimum muzzle energy of 1,700 foot pounds is the legal requirement.

 

Northern Ireland

 

For all deer of any species - a minimum calibre of .236 inches, a minimum bullet weight of 100 grains and minimum muzzle energy of 1,700 foot pounds is the legal requirement.

 

Scotland

 

For roe deer, where the bullet must weigh at least 50 grains AND have a minimum muzzle velocity of 2,450 feet per second AND a minimum muzzle energy of 1,000 foot pounds may be used.

 

For all deer of any species - the bullet must weigh at least 100 grains AND have a minimum muzzle velocity of 2,450 feet per second AND a minimum muzzle energy of 1,750 foot pounds.

 

It must be stressed that all these figures are the minimum legal requirement.

 

For all deer stalking the bullet must be of a type designed to expand/deform on impact.

 

 

 

 

 

Regards

Sundance

[Tikka 260]

ooops.... I should have added that I was living and stalking in Aberdeenshire at the time I was using that particular load, and the 'limitations' on .243 calibre in a Tikka 595 factory barrel were part of the reason for going to .260 when I moved back to Englandshire.

 

A 6.5 calibre something is what I should have gone for in the first place .... IMHO. But thats off the thread so best to leave that subject !

 

ATB

[Guest wireviz]

While the last post sounds interesting it dose not have any info on what bullet to use. So i will continue on the right track as old age has not got me yet. I would go for the SST,S They are a fantastic bullet and perfect for deer stalking if the placement is reasonable the deer will go down if shot badly like Nutty,s shot they will still go down as he stated . Not all bullets will do this and if your asking it means you are like nutty a novice and for me the priority is for the deer to be as close to were i shot it as possible. There aint much meat on a shoulder and in roedeer case as was spoken about by nutty there is none on the ribs i wouldn't even give the ribs to my dogs. what ever you choose make sure your bullet placement has priority.

[Redfox]

Speer ( or Sierra gameking) 85 gr spt boat tail is a good choice for the majority of 243s which have a 1in10 twist rate, I have used both over 46grs of H4350 ( which is recognised as one of the best 243 powders all round) with std large rifle CCI benchrest primer and Remington or Lapua cases. This gives in my rifle 3120 fps an has always dropped roe in a short distance or right there, nice flat trajectory and good accuracy too. I zero the rifle 3/4 - 1" high at 100 yds and can shoot out to 200yds with no qualms at all.

Redfox

[swampy]

.243 bullets for deer.

 

i use hornady interlock 2450 100gr psp.

 

i initially tried hornady 87gr psps but they lacked sufficient knock down ability and i got runners. so i moved to speer 105 gr hot cor. i use hot cors for all my other rifles. i found whilst they had good terminal effect i was not confident in the accuracy. the twist rate in my rifle is 1;9 so it should have been ok. maybe if i had a bit of time to work on load developement i could have got better with it. I also wonder if the better terminal performance has more to do with a velocity of about 2900fps allowing the bullet to do it's business without smashing up too much. although i also have found the hotcor to be tougher in 30 cal than gamekings.

 

the lighter bullets will also give more carcass damage becuase the .243 drives them so fast.

 

I settled on the 2450 with some 42gr nobel #0 (similar speed to re19). i have found them better. I do have to say that it is a very accurate load. I don't use the .243 for deer shooting now, i use 7mm08 or .30-06. the instant knock down ability of these calibres is, in my experience, far better, carcass damage is less and the bullets stay together better despite being far heavier and not going much slower.

 

But some guys use ballistic tips and light bullets and swear by them. a good buddy of mine shot a buck using them hornady bullets with the swish red points (sst?). the bullet fragmented massively leaving bullet fragments all through. We also were zeroing one day and one of his bullets fragmented to bits. i think it hit a blade of grass on the way to the target.

 

I shot a buck with a 150 gr gameking from my .30-06. the bullet shed it's jacket. the jacket ended up under the skin on the other side of the animal where as the core exited just in front of the rear leg on the same side as it entered, going through the stomach on the way out. I have never had this happen with a hotcor. this was a bullet being driven pretty fast and the range was only about 80 yards. The gameking is of lighter construction and is not bonded or corelocked so it will expand well at lower velocities encountered at longer range. I find it a very accurate bullet though.

 

With .243 win you will find you have higher velocities so i think a bonded or locked bullet is best. if your rifle will shoot speer 105's use them. Don't get to excited about super flat shooting. even with 100 or 105s it will only drop by 3 inches at 200 yards. You shouldn't be shooting much more than that.

 

swampy

[provider]

Sako 100g nosler partition

[devilishdave]

I droped a roe on the spot tonight with my 95 grain noslers but the shot placement was perfect taking out the top of the heart, I might add I also took both sholders so the placement was not that perfect, lol. I often get runners when I just put it through the ribs but they dont go for most of the time but they can go far enough to get the heart going. I have only had to use the dog once and that was on a heart shot roe that went 90m!

 

Dave