Anyone Shot a Deer with Nosler Ballistic Tip 243?

Any of you guys have actual experience shooting a deer with a Nosler 243 Ballistic Tip? I snagged a box of 50 bullet heads today ... couldn't find anything else for reloading 243. These things look really, really, really small ... I expect 50-100 yard targets, would like to hear your experiences

Seen one shot in the neck with a ballastic tip 270wsm.Not 100% sure if it was the same brand. Never took another step.

What grain .243 bullet?

hornaday light mags , 100gr sp are the best i've seen so for in a 243 .

I've got 2 buddies that shoot the 95gr nosler BT and they swear by them. I've never personally shot a deer with the nosler BT but I've seen plenty that they've killed and it does the job just fine. Very few do they have to track and if they do its not far.

95g

Yes I have. It was just as devastating as my 30.06 in BT. I always shoot lungs out though to save meat. Not shoulder shots. Both were downright gruesome.

Me personally, i wouldn't use a ballistic Tip. Sometimes they go in and blow up and the deer drops like you hit it in the head with a hammer. But other times it goes in, comes apart and doesn't go all the way thru, and i've been in on the blood trailing jobs, and sometimes they go along way with little blood. I love polymer tipped bullets, but not ballistic tip, completly different animal.

have used the 55 grain in 243. 4000 fps and it's pretty nasty

fk ballistic tip bullet

What grain bullet?

does it matter????

Don't know about the Noslers, but I shoot some Bergers in .243 and they are awesome!

Neck and ribs only if I were going to hunt with them.

95g bullet

I've been loading 165g 30-06 for my primary hunting. However, seeing how I am always the lucky one , I figure that after my first buck and two does I'll switch to 243 and give it a whirl if I can do it without maiming an animal

Really though, I'd like to eventually migrate to the 243 at times because I plan on pack hunting some and my 243 only weighs 6 lbs

I'd shoot core-lokts.

That video I posted last week of the doe cuttin the backwards flip was shot with a 25 wssm 115 gr BT only because that is only ammo he can find. Will switch if we find something else. Of coarse he only takes shots he is 100% certain about. No marginal shots for him. He has killed every deer he hit with them no good BT bullets.

That's all I need to know ...

I killed a pile of deer with a 100 grain nosler bt. I only shot one deer with a 243 that I didn't see fall they are some bad little mfrs. but you have to make your shots count.

Not a Nosler, but my son killed his first deer with a Hornady Ballistic Tip in 243. The doe was standing broadside 150 yards away in the greenfield. He shot her dead in the shoulder blade. The deer dropped in it's tracks. When we got down the doe was raising her head, so he shot her again. The first shot that put her down instantly, hit directly on the shoulder blade, fragmented upward and exited on the same side as the entrance wound, directly beside the spinal cord. The shock to the spine is what dropped the deer.

It's hard to believe that the bullet didn't penetrate the shoulder blade of an 80 lb doe, but it didn't.

I'm not a fan....

I've killed a shitload of deer with a .22 short hollow point, dosen't make it a good choice to hunt deer with......

don't do it. i used them for a while in my 270 . had good results with rib cage shots taking out both lungs but they don't exit. shot some hogs with some in 300 win mag- devastating. that bullet in a 243 maybe ok for does but your just begging for a big bruiser to give you an off angle shot that you can't make with that bullet.

If you are committed to taking only those perfect tv shots in the ribs no problem. I know up here in the mtns a lot of times you want that buck to drop in his tracks, a 100 yd dash off the side of the mtn can add hours to getting him out.The high shoulder shot will drop them almost ever time and that 243 BT would be a lot less than ideal for that.

By name, it's not a .243, but I've killed a lot of deer with a Model 7 in 6mm using 95 gr. Partition handloads. All have dropped dead and have had very little meat damage.

a 95gr Nosler Partition is a horse of a different color and a great deer bullet combo, I've killed better than a dozen deer with it out of a Rem 600 6mmRem

Most know I'm a fan of the NBT in my .308; it has enough power to push a big hole all the way thru the deer. The .243 does not.

I've got a friend that hunts with me and uses that exact bullet - a 95g NBT. It usually make a small entrance and no exit. If he is fortunate enough to hit the neck or spine it will drop the deer right there, but then so would anything. I've spent many nights tracking his deer; some we found and some we didn't.

I would use a tougher bullet in a .243.

Yep, like a 100 grain corlokt.

Most of the deer my wife has killed with her 243 have not passed through and this is with 100 grain corlokt. That is why I am shopping for her a 7mm 08. I want something with a little more knock down.

I would lean towards a more solid bullet for that weight. something along the core-lokt, bonded core line or the partition (best bullet ever made still to this day IMO). The partitions will be more expensive though.
I have not used any of the gilding metal bullets but have started hearing some good things about them also.

All I'm gonna say is Fed Fusion Fed Fusion Fed Fusion!!!!

I was educated a few years back, that Nosler is the only company that makes ballistic tips. Just because your bullet has a polymer tip on it, doesn't make it a ballistic tip. I shoot a Hornady SST bullet. It has a red polymer tip, but isn't a ballistic tip. The polymer tip is for aerodynamics. Ballistic tips are designed to fragment on impact, the SST is not.

My favorite rifle is a 243. I personally am not a fan of BT's but like I said earlier I know people who are and they swear by them. In my 243's I prefer to shoot hornady 100gr BTSP or 100gr core-lokts. I have not tried the federal fusions yet but I do plan on shooting them out of my 25-06 this year and trying them out. I'm not a big fan of the hornady SST out of a 243. The few that I have shot with the SST seem to punch a pin hole all the way through unless you hit the shoulder in which it usually doesn't exit.

I know a lot of people say a 243 is underpowered and unless you like to track deer or not find them then you need to be shooting a bigger caliber. I hear it all the time. I'm not saying that it is a magical caliber and that every deer just drops in its tracks, or that you won't ever have to track one. If you shoot deer you're eventually going to have that happen no matter what you shoot. I shot a 300win mag for 10-12 years and still own one. With it I have made bad shots and have deer drop right there and I've made good shots and had to track them for 150-200yds and everything in between. Same goes for my 243. All im saying is that I have total confidence in my 243 shooting the BTSP's or core-lokts. IMO The key to it is shot placement and a good bullet choice no matter what caliber you choose to shoot.

Agreed bowhunter.

Where were you educated on that last sentence? Pretty sure you got some bad information on that one.

I read somewhere, think it was on Hornady's website that the SST was designed so that the tip disintegrated upon impact leaving somewhat of a hollow point to kick start the expansion of the bullet. It has the interlock to keep the butt together so that the whole thing mushrooms quickly.

I figured that sounded good and lots of the folks on this forum reported that they were getting good results (aka deadly) using them so I selected that bullet for reloading my 30-06. I've fired off 40 rounds of my reloads using the SST and the accuracy I've seen is more than satisfying.

I had such great results with the SST in the 165g 30-06 (308 cal) that I was interested in hearing of results using a smaller 243. However, I have been unable to find any 243 SST's of any weight ... I stumbled on the 243 Nosler 95g bullets and I bought them out of fear that I wouldn't find anything remotely worthwhile in time to reload and test before the hunting season.

My 30-06 is and will probably always be my goto gun for deer hunting. However, it is very heavy and my 243 weighs only 6 lbs with the scope mounted. I'd like to do a pack hunt sometime and if I do I'm going to want to take the lighter gun.

PAUL I SHOOT HORNADY 95 GRAIN SST'S, THEY SHOOT FANTASTIC. I HAVE NOT WORKED UP A LOAD FOR MT WEATHER BY, BUT IT IS VER SWEET. ALL ROUNDS TOUCH AT 100 YARDS.I HAVE BEEN THINKING BERGER VLD FOR IT BUT HAVE NOT LOADED ANY.I DID SHOOT THE ILLUSION 100 GRAIN BUT THE GUN DIDN'T LIKE THEM AS WELL AS IT DID WITH THE HORNADYS

Mike do you know where I can find some 95g SSTs in 243?

Use Barnes TSX or Barnes TTSX.... no matter what grain bullet or caliber you shoot from 243 to 338 magnum, there is not a better bullet out there!!!! I can promise you, you will not be disappointed! My dad and I switched to these bullets 3 years ago, and haven't looked back. We do handload our on stuff. I shot a 230lb 9 point two years ago with a 150 grain 300WSM at about 225 yards, the deer was facing me and it went through the front left shoulder and exited the back right hind quarter. My dad shoots a 7mm08 religously and he's shot doe after doe through both shoulders out to 300 yards with a 140 grain and has had all pass throughs. This bullet mushrooms really good and goes all the way through whatever youre shooting! I used to shoot nosler ballistic tips also but they don't compare to the Barnes. Also, the meat wil not be tore up even with shoulder shots with this bullet.