Thread: .243 80 GR

Hey guys, I recently purchased a mossberg .243 and got a pack of winchester 100 gr ammo. Im just wondering will me using 80 gr ammo benefit me in any way? less mess, less noise , price things like that. I have been shooting fallow with 100 gr and does the job easily. Keen to hear what yahs have to say

Probably shoot a bit flatter and make a bit more mess.

you might find the 80gr harder to find. I was using 80gr federal in my 243 but got too expensive and difficult to source, so spent the money on learning to handload and now I can taylor my projectile to suit game. Mostly I've set it up for goats and roos using 55gr noslers but have sierra 85gr HPBT stashed away if I wanted to retune for something larger. Otherwise I will use my 270.

Remington 85gn corlockt is great packet ammo.or targex is hard to beat for 243 re loads in 80gn imo

bloody shit phone

Originally Posted by scottrods

you might find the 80gr harder to find. I was using 80gr federal in my 243 but got too expensive and difficult to source, so spent the money on learning to handload and now I can taylor my projectile to suit game. Mostly I've set it up for goats and roos using 55gr noslers but have sierra 85gr HPBT stashed away if I wanted to retune for something larger. Otherwise I will use my 270.

Just to confirm 'scottrods' choice. 85 Sierra HPBT are a great projectile for hunting deer.

Hornady superformance do a 80gn GMX bullet which we found was an Awsome projectile.

Originally Posted by Monk

Hornady superformance do a 80gn GMX bullet which we found was an Awsome projectile.

Sounds a good red deer projectile but maybe too stout for fallow or goats.

I use Winchester 80gr pointed soft point on fallow - mainly targeting young bucks for meat so I want a light weight projectile that will open up quickly - also works well on larger bucks
Check out performance of Winchester options - Winchester Ammunition
Hit them here and any projectile will do this at 100m -

Rear of shoulder quartering away at 100m - bang/flop -

Everybody has a different opinion on how they want their bullets to perform on game. So you will have plenty of different opinions. Those who want fast expansion and don't care about blood trails because their deer is DRT and those who prefer a projectile that does not damage meat, fly through and leave a blood trail easy to follow in case they missed the vitals. My words might not be right but they roughly describe the general idea.
My self I m about to experiment with 85 grain accubonds , apparently the best of both worlds :-)

Ps: words from a Scottish deer culler is that the federal 80 grain kills better than the 100gr(we are talking about more than 1000s deer shot here)
Good luck

Originally Posted by Friwi

Everybody has a different opinion on how they want their bullets to perform on game. So you will have plenty of different opinions. Those who want fast expansion and don't care about blood trails because their deer is DRT and those who prefer a projectile that does not damage meat, fly through and leave a blood trail easy to follow in case they missed the vitals. My words might not be right but they roughly describe the general idea.
My self I m about to experiment with 85 grain accubonds , apparently the best of both worlds :-)

Ps: words from a Scottish deer culler is that the federal 80 grain kills better than the 100gr(we are talking about more than 1000s deer shot here)
Good luck

I always said 85 sierra HPBT killed better than any 100gr bullet that was available at our time.

i use a 243, and have shot quite a few deer , goats pigs etc. Depending what you want out of your round (eg knock down power, meat saving etc) i swear by 100gr fed powershoks for a factory ammo. They are awesome. I can honestly say since ive gone with these rounds i havnt lost one animal after being hit with theses. The knock down power of these are as good as anything. Four stags over the roar period (one 277lb) all dropped no problem.
Im interested in knock down power, normally bush stalking miles from the car so i bone them out in the bush. So these rounds do make a mess, normally shoulder shots, but they drop the animals, just what you want in the bush and having a shoulder stuffed doesnt worry me as dropping the animal on the spot counts for me so these are perfect.
Ive tried 80gr and 3 different 100 gr makes but the Fed powershok 100gr for knockdown was head over foot above the rest by miles. Damage was up there thou and the 3 fallow ive shot (normally hunt reds) they were nearly overkill thou.
Lots of options but if you want a round to drop the biggest of stags and big boars these 100gr Feds do the job and more