.243-55 grain

S

soup

Member
Folks ,
I'm wondering about 55 grain bullets in .243 ?
Getting a Ruger No1 and want to use it for coyotes , fox ,and groundhogs .Is anyone using the Nosler Varmageddon or Ballistic Tips in 55 grain ?
Are they accurate do they perform well , pros / cons ? I know the BT is a boat tail and the other one is a flat base '
Perhaps I'll have to go to a heavier bullet , this is the information I'm looking for .

I may also use it for white tail deer , but since I think it is a 10 twist my guess is staying 90 grains or under and of course shot placement is the key .

Thank you in advance for your time and help.

To my Brother Marines an early Happy 245th Birthday .
Happy Veterans day to all .
Soup
 
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Thanks for all the recommendations. 22 cal bullets are hard to find right now. Hopefully that will get better. Really want to try nosler bt and 65 gr sierra. thanks again
 
The Varmagedon is a more fragile bullet than the BT, I don't think I'd use it on deer. I've had good luck with the 55gr BT's out of my 6x45 and 6mm-204. I've never thought of using them on deer, I tend to run into some really large body deer.
 
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I shoot 55 grain bullets in my 6mm Mongoose with good results and I don't see why they wouldn't work in a .243 I think they would be a little rough on fur though. That 10 twist should handle most 100 grain bullets just fine.
 
Those 55 grain slugs that you mentioned shoot great in my .243 AI. They are so devastating on ground squirrels even when loaded way down that I have bought thousands of them just for that use. I guess overall they are my favorite bullet for the 6mm bore.
 
I shoot the 62 grain Varmageddon in my 223 Tikka. They are extremely accurate in that rifle. Not a 6MM but as for accuracy, they are great.
 
In my 6mm rem the 55 gr Varmageddon flat out work.
4200 fps anything inside of 300 yards I just hold dead on.
If you hit a shoulder you may not want to save the hide.
In my mind there NOT a deer round.
For deer, I use a ttsx Barnes 80 at 3600 fps. DEAD DEER !!!
 
I shot the 55 ballistic tips quite a bit in a 6x45 with very good results. I have one 243 which they shoot very well in. I actually killed an 8 pt. buck with the 55's, but I neck shot him as a target of opportunity at 125 yds. He hit the ground and kicked twice. The other 243 (my night thermal rig) shoots the 58 V-Max a bit better and I've been very well satisfied with it on coyotes. I would not consider it a fox round. For deer with the 243, the 85 gr. Sierra Game King hpbt is a great bullet.
 
I use to shoot them, but there are ( IMO) better bullets to use, especially to hunt the critters you mentioned.
I went to a speer 85gr spbt & have been shooting it every since.. It is very accurate from my rifle though & results will likely vary in that department..

The 55grainers will allow the use of more powder to achieve higher velocity/flatter trajectory inside practical hunting ranges, but this in turn causes more throat/barrel erosion. Another prob I had was splashes on shoulder & rib hits of coyote that caused superficial wounds.

JMO/ thoughts/experience with them.
 
I loaded some 55 Nosler BT's when I was just out of high school for my Savage 99C in .243. Didn't run it past my dad who had reloaded in the past (divorced parents). I ran across one of these. Lee Loader Somehow I didn't blow my face off. Many years later I loaded everything the correct way with the correct equipment and ran it over a chrono. A very stout load of H-380(Temp unstable) ended up over 4000 fps but brass had to be dug out with a screwdriver and some TLC.

I have no idea about fur damage or do i care about it, but it should put a coyote down very quickly and there's not enough lead to open up too big of a hole. Then again, I used the Lee Loader so you can't put too much into what I say.
 
Great topic. I don't want to ever consider myself an expert, but my favorite cartridge of all time is the .243 and before I could afford to buy other rifles that are supposedly more effective on coyotes and deer I used the .243 for everything. Turns out, I still do despite a plethora of other rifles in different chamberings.

I've tried no less than 8 bullets in my .243 1:10" for coyotes. The best hands down no fur damage and 100% kills is the 55gr Sierra Blitzking. I've tried the Nosler BT's and they are fine, but left exits most the time. I haven't tried the 55gr Nosler Varms on coyotes, but have on Praire Dogs. I think they'd be fine, but I'd go with the HP's rather than the BT's because they don't fragment as much in my experience. But I could be wrong. The 58gr Vmaxes are great, but quartering shots they are awful on fur. Sierra 60gr HP's are fine and probably my second best choice, but i haven't tried the 62 gr Barnes VG's. Nosler 70 BT's shoot awesome and people have good luck with those, but again, can get messy on coyotes. A healthy dose of H380 is what I use with my 55gr SBK's.

No, without a doubt, my experiementation ended when I shot 5 coyotes with the 55 SBK's on one stand ranging from 30 yds to 250 and not an exit in any of them and they were all dead. My skinner couldn't believe that I used a .243 on them.

Also, in terms of big game the 1:10. Don't let the 100 gr discourage you. there are plenty of 100 gr bullets that shoot really well out of it. Hornady 100 BTSP and SPFB both work great, 95gr SST's are awesome, but my new favorite is the 100gr SPEER BTSP. they accounted for an antelope at 420yds, and two deer this past year. If you want to go less than 100gr, the 85gr Sierra Game King is a lot of peoples favorite.

The .243 is an amazing cross-over caliber that hasn't met its match, in my opinion, in versatility. With the vast amount of bullet selection and construction its my top choice from prairie dogs to Mule deer. And do the job very well for all of them.
 
Great post Acronin!

85g Speer btsp is also a big game bullet, and I like it better than the Sierra IF the barrel likes them.

If you can find any, the 100g Hornady Flat base thinks it is a partition, but we have killed a lot of stuff with the 100g Hornady bTSP. In several barrels, the 100g Speer btsp shot the best of the heavies.
 
This is great to hear Acronin, I have had a load of 55 BKs for my Tikka for a few years now H-4895 just a tad over 3900 ft/sec. I have never used it on a coyote, been too busy using 6mm D tech and 22 Creedmoor, but I have the 243 Tikka (and it is so light) ready to go with my Super hogster on it, I cant wait to shoot a coyote with it. It seems to perform better than my 22 Creedmoor, as far as shooting flat and fast. Hopefully, I do not get into a situation where I wish I had an AR instead of a bolt.
 
When I had to start shooting Lead Free bullets at coyotes I had been using 75 gr V-MAX bullets at coyotes. I started shooting the 243 62 Gr Barnes Varmint Grenades and I got more exit holes with the Barnes Varmint Grenades than I got with the 75 gr V-MAX bullets.
 
That was my experience also. I tried the 62gr VG's and would get softball sized exits. I switched to the 55gr NBT LF and they worked great little hole in and they stayed there, it is hard to tell them from leaded 55gr NBT's
 
Recently built a 6 creed for night rig. Zero freebore 12 twist barrel. Coasting 70 NBT's @ 3400 is working very good. They hit hard... Have only shot 3 coyotes with it so far, but no hide damages on any. No exits. Several dozen coons with it with same results.

I've also had really good luck with 60 Sierra hp's. They shoot very well and don't splash. Haven't had good results from the 55 varmageddon's. Too fragile, had alot of surface splashes. Haven't tried 55 NBT's much yet but I think they will hold together. Have had very good luck with 58 v max's also.

I feel that alot of bullet performance can be controlled by velocity. We all tend to go for speed. I've been guilty myself. But I'm no expert by any means.














































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