Thread: 243 best off the shelf ammo & bullet weight (Sika)

Just obtained another 243 after a break from stalking,, its been done to death in the past but opinions based on results will be appreciated.

85gm 95 or 100gm ? mainly hunt Sika

Cheers

If factory ammo and not shortened it be hard to go past the good old fed blue box 100gr

Yeh, thats what I was using in the past

Federals are great but have gone up in price.
Remington 100gr Corelokts are usually cheaper and have shot accurately in all my 243's.

Yep I found the core lokt in 80 & 100 went well. Also the Winchester super x had same POI between the two grain weights for my rifle.

Hornady 95 grain SST are my go to factory ammo for the .243. Might be a bit pricey but my Savage loved em,sika hated them

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Fed blue box 100gr hammered everything I pointed my 243 at incl grumpy red stags.

95g Nosler Ballistic Tips

Originally Posted by stagstalker

Fed blue box 100gr hammered everything I pointed my 243 at incl grumpy red stags.

Same, wouldnt and dont use anything else in my 243. The Fed 100grs are awesome. Bit overkill for fallow so bought a 223 for them lol.

Another vote for the coreloks. I shot exclusively with my .243 for a year, all deer were one shot kills bar one. I never really used much factory ammo, but was impressed with the ‘deadliest mushrooms’ in the bush.

+1 for the 95gr sst. Fiocchi do a cheaper version than the Hornady ones. Virtually the same price as corelokts.
I have shot over 40 deer and similar amount of goats with mine in the last couple of months.
Tried the corelokts and on goats even billies,which aren't too dissimilar to smaller Sika, they really did lack killing power over 200 yards and with the lower bc and muzzle velocity the wind drift was pretty horrendous.
SSTs worked really well out to about 400 but over that out to 512 yards I have been using the targex 105gr. They probably won't stabilise in anything slower than a 1 in 9 twist and are reloading only.
Good luck, .243 is a sweet little cartridge and is my go to for culling now.

Thanks for the advice, ended up with sako 100gm hunting,, wanted 95gm but wasn't a available. Any one know why the Taupo range is closes? drove from Hamilton for no reason,, have applied to join Taupo dear stalking club,, most of my hunting is in this region

Originally Posted by TJM

Thanks for the advice, ended up with sako 100gm hunting,, wanted 95gm but wasn't a available. Any one know why the Taupo range is closes? drove from Hamilton for no reason,, have applied to join Taupo dear stalking club,, most of my hunting is in this region

The 100 metre range will be closed for training today and about mid day tomorrow , (Friday 30th Sept) .

Thanks for the info

Originally Posted by TLB

+1 for the 95gr sst. Fiocchi do a cheaper version than the Hornady ones. Virtually the same price as corelokts.
I have shot over 40 deer and similar amount of goats with mine in the last couple of months.
Tried the corelokts and on goats even billies,which aren't too dissimilar to smaller Sika, they really did lack killing power over 200 yards and with the lower bc and muzzle velocity the wind drift was pretty horrendous.
SSTs worked really well out to about 400 but over that out to 512 yards I have been using the targex 105gr. They probably won't stabilise in anything slower than a 1 in 9 twist and are reloading only.
Good luck, .243 is a sweet little cartridge and is my go to for culling now.

Its horses for courses, theres no doubt what so ever that a 100gr softpoint is just awesome at bush ranges. If its 150 or under they will perform as good a anything,
prob better than many..
When you looking at over 200, and heading into the 400 range its clear a soft nose is not as good as something like a sst etc.
So it depends on your range, if you a bush hunter, a simple softnose will be great , and the Fed powershoks and the corelolts are up there with the best.
If you into longer range a softnose isnt the best, just the facts.
I was using the 165sst in the 308, hoping to use the 308 for longer range but i ended up shooting most animals under 150 , many well under 100 and they were crap compared to a softnose etc.
Hence i changed to FED Fusions which have been very good in close and have still a good range result.
Projetiles all have a place, all depends on range and animals you going after and real life results will tell you the truth.
The Fed powershoks esp in the 243 are awesome in the bush, so are the corelots.
Have used the 150gr corelots in the 308 for a few animals and in the bush ranges they were up there with awesome knockdown but my 308 is my go to for longer rangers hence gfoing away
from a softnose to something thats abit more of a all rounder and the fed fusions are going well.
i was very disappointed in the ssts but my 308 is 24 inch, using super perforance so they going and speed is a factor as well so all depends on your set up, distance and what you going after.
Most ammo arent crap but it depends on its use and theres quite a difference and ive found that out in the real world out there doing it