Thread: 243 projectile for small critters & odd deer

Hi all, once I get my hands on some dies I'm going to start on a load for my Brno 243.
If I can get this shooting well it might save me buying a new 243....but then again🤔

Looking for a suitable projectile that will mainly be used on small critters and possibly the odd deer.
I see some comments on the hornady 87gn hollow point which is a varmint round been used on deer??
What would you 243 users recommend?
Thanks in advance

For deer 95 grain Ballistic tip, they are fairly easy to get shooting accurately or Sierra pro hunters, both are designed for deer sized animals.

the hornady 87grn for deer is a soft point I believe..... been around for 30 plus years....

I like the 95 gr SST and Noslar BT for bigger animals and they both tend to shoot well in my rifle which is fussy on what it likes. It shoots the 87gr Hornady and 90 gr Sierra Game changer at about 2 inch groups at a 100yds which is terrible for a 243. The first two group into half, to an inch groups.
Another projectile that is designed for small game is the 55 gr Winchester Ballistic Silver tip. I tried them in my rifle and they shot well at 19 mm at 100 yds. You could get them moving pretty quick if you wanted as my mild load of 41.5 grs of 2208 gave a velocity of 3360 fps Av so i think you could get a further 300 maybe 400 fps on that.
They would be on a par with the 22 250 using a 55 gr bullet which do about 3600-3700fps.

Nosler 95g Ballistic Tip

@Micky Duck think there is 2.
The old nz classic 87gr soft point and a btsp I think as well
Interested to hear about the ballistic tips
Meant to be quite tough, yet destructive and also accurate

Yep there is 3 87gr actually a spfb hpbt and the vmax either of the sp or hpbt will work also the sierra 85gr hpbt is another good one or the 90-95 gr bt’s


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Plus bergers 87gr as well so 3 from hornady


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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

the hornady 87grn for deer is a soft point I believe..... been around for 30 plus years....

In my older Hornady manual, the 87hp is a deer bullet, and it works. In my rifle 1/2 moa. 95SST good for bigger deer (and Tahr), but not so good on smaller critters, doesn't come apart fast enough on hoppers. 87 Vmax for that job.

well youve got enough of them to play with LOL
FUNNILY ENOUGH a good deer bullet will still kill small stuff just fine n dandy
its the other way around you CAN get into strife...varmit projectiles on deer....best be placing them with care and forethought.

85gr Sierra Gamking HPBT would be a great bullet to consider. I used them for many years with great success.

My Brno 243 likes the Sierra 85gr Gameking and 100gr Prohunter, and the Hornady 87gr SP varmint (code 2440 iirc) and 90gr ELD-X. The only projectile I've tried that it didn't like was the 103gr eld-x, couldn't hit an A4 sheet at 100yd half the time.

yep, used 85gr GK and berger 87gr hunting on goats, small-medium deer and a Tahr .
If you are taking fallow deer or red yearlings you could drop down to the 70-75gr classes as well for better splat on small game.
When i first pickup Dad's 243, for goats & fallow deer it was loaded with Hornady 87gr HPBT, 70 gr HP and Speer 70gr HP's for rabbits. (load data not interchangeable)
Z

Originally Posted by Jaco Goosen

85gr Sierra Gamking HPBT would be a great bullet to consider. I used them for many years with great success.

Exactly what he said...great projectile.

Hey team, quick update. Settled on Hornady 87grn HP with 2209.
Thanks for all the above replies.....all sorted now