Shot Placement

C

cmabbott04

New member
Quick question for you guys... I am currently shooting a 243 and have blown up a couple fox/bobcats I would have liked to keep. Having said that, normally people say "oh its all about shot placement"... Well, what is good shot placement? Is it just luck to not hit a rib? I know not to hit the shoulder. Just behind the shoulder and hope for best?
 
I think its just as much about what you are shooting out of your rifle as it is about shot placement. Especially for a .243 on fox.. I think most if not all loads out of a .243 are going to do a number on a fox. Never shot one with a .243 myself but someone else might be able to provide more insight.
 
I would think a .243 would be a bit overkill for a fox.

What grain bullet are you shooting when you have blown up the animals? That will make damage less/worse also.

I'm hesitant to shoot one with my 22.250 if I'm trying to save it for fur.
 
I agree with the above observations, I think the .243 may just be to much of a good thing on light skinned critters like fox and bobcat.
 
Normally with my varmint guns and light explosive bullets I preach right behind the shoulder but with the 243 and it's extra jam I would say to try shooting them dead on the center of the shoulder to soak up some of that extra energy and keep it from blowing through. Watch closely to what side you hit them. If you have big entrance holes (splashes) go back to right behind the shoulder.
 
My brother uses 87 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips and 95 grain Softpoint. I've never seen a coyote get blown up bad with either. I've used 100 grain Softpoints and 95 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip and only tore one up bad with the SP's. The worst I've seen are 58 grain V-Max. None are very bad if you hit a coyote in the chest or the back end. Hitting bone or guts could be bad with any of them. If I were going after bobcats and fox with the .243 I'd shoot a Softpoint and try to stay off the shoulder.
 
If you load for the 22-250 try some reduced loads and keep them separate from your regular loads. It works for me.
 
If you shoot a lot of fox something like a .22 mag or a .17hmr would probably serve you a little better. Ive shot quite a few coyotes out to 150 yards with the .17hmr off of the tractor during harvest and it leaves them virtually untouched. They dont drop right there but they usually dont make it far..
 
The trick with foxes is high velocities and hollow points. When I tried to use poly tipped rounds, it was ugly. But running a HP at high velocities gets the bullet into the muscle but completely detonates. So they drop but there is not a lot of damage to the hide.

Sadly, the .243 is just too much gun for either bobcats or foxes. They are very thin skinned.
 
There is a guy by the name of James Calhoun that talks about using 223 40gr vmax style using blue dot for reduced velocity. It is not an approved use for blue dot. But I am trying it out. have yet to hit anything with it but will hopefully have some results soon. You can read his articles just google search for James Calhoun reduced loads. If anyone has ever tried it id like to know your result.
 
I've used the Hornady Lite with 87 grain SSTs. They sure don't even get close to exiting on whitetails, but I bet they'd blow up a fox or cat. I've only killed one cat and a dozen or so fox, but I can't think of a good shot location that won't have a real good chance of tearing up that pretty hide pretty badly. If you're dead set on that .243, you might consider a relatively "hard" big game bullet through the ribs and know you're going to have to sew up an exit hole (hopefully a small one). If I was only going to shoot cats and foxes at my typically calling ranges I'd shoot my .17 HMR with 17 grain Vmaxes.
 
Go to a .223 with 60 grain max and you will gave better luck on cats. 223 willblow up fox more times than not.

If your main target is fox go 221 fireball or smaller.
 
I ran Sierra 60 gr hp out of my tikka 243 and they stayed in the animal, both on fox and a couple bobcat with center masssp hits. I also used 85 trail partitions as a pre season deer load as they were super accurate but would always exit but with minimal damage, 243 is on the border, too much for small game, light for large but super accurate and light recoil. I use it for shorter range deer or lomg range coyote, too much for fox as I am a pltt hunter and it is a touch too much fun for that for fox.
 
Originally Posted By: YellowhammerGo to a .223 with 60 grain max and you will gave better luck on cats. 223 willblow up fox more times than not.

If your main target is fox go 221 fireball or smaller.

I agree. AzBushman and I tried for quite a while to find a "fur friendly" .223 load for foxes without much success. We went light and as fast as we could but the bullets didn't seem to expand and we got a lot of runners that required follow up shots.

I started using the .17 Remington for foxes and bobcats with a lot of success. Both are thin skinned, so using a rapidly expanding poly tipped bullet is not a good idea. You are going to get a very explosive but shallow bullet expansion and that will damage a lot of fur. We found that using a standard hollow point, at high velocities worked better. I have some pretty brutal photos of the results. PM me if you would like to see them.

I just think that larger calibers like the .243 are too much for little critters.

It is the holy grail for predator hunters. ONE caliber, that will hunt everything from field mice to T-rex's, that is fur friendly, one shot stops, 2000 yard capability, in a 4 lb rifle with no recoil, unlimited capacity, for under $1.298. You will find it, being used by a talking unicorn, somewhere in Narnia.
 
.243 is too large for fox and bobcat if you want to keep furs. If its all you got, keep using it but you'll probably never get results you'd get from a smaller caliber. I'd try bigger, sturdier bullets. Like a Nosler Partition. Try to keep the bullet from expanding too much.
 
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