Fred says it’s good, that’s good enough endorsement for me. I believe I’ll try a box of Fusions.
Any experience with Core Lokts, Fred?

I've shot 80gr HPs by Rem and 100gr Corelocks, both will kill but the 95 Fusions are better bullets in my experience. Plus the Fusions are cheaper than most all the rest. It is a bonded core bullet that performs excellently on deer. And they are accurate out of my gun.

100 grain corelocks have worked great for the last 3 or 4 years for my kids.

100 grain corelocks have worked great for the last 3 or 4 years for my kids.

I’m not picking on corelokts but I’d stay away from all cup and core bullets in small calibers. Go bonded or mono.

Or maybe a partition......but yeah, the unexpected bone or angle, etc can really demolish a fast, light CC bullet, that works fine on all meat and perfect angles. Bonded pills in 243 do what many ‘believe’ a CC will always do, until it doesn’t, from a small bore. The federal fusions do well. You don’t have to spring for Barnes, but if you’re gonna use coreloct or regular federal blue box CCs, then pick your shots, for sure. If you can keep the bullet in one piece/holding weight, a 243 is as good as most other stuff.

I'd use a 95gr Partition if I wasn't using 95gr Fusions.

I'm finding they are accurate in lots of guns. And awful rough on critters. And cheap. And available. I'm a fan.

I shoot 80 grain Barnes TTSX and they will mess a deer up! I’ve had good results with the fusions also.

That's where I'd start. I have yet to find a rifle (and in various different calibers) that won't shoot the fusions well, despite some folks claiming they have. But, even if you do manage to find a unicorn rifle that doesn't like fusions, they're inexpensive so you're not out much.

I’m gonna kill a few this year with the mighty 223 just for you! A 243 with a Barnes is really overkill for AL Whitetails.

Between my wife and myself, we've shot probably 15 deer with her little youth model .243 handi-rifle (ranges between 75ish and 150yds). None went more than about 30yds. I'd guess 8 or 10 of them dropped where they were standing.

Fusions.

95gr.

Don't make it more complicated than it has to be...

as bullets changed over the years my opinion on the 243 has also changed. I have said 30 years ago "if you shoot enough deer with a 243 you WILL lose a deer for no other reason that you used a 243. They, 243s, just wern't reliable. I owned several, and a 6mm over the years. I have killed 19 deer with 19 shots with the 6mm, but I have been very careful on shot selection. I have had a couple of hard recoveries before I went to 95gr Partitions in the 6mm.
I started shooting my current 243 several years ago when I was shooting a LOT of does, 10-20 a year. I went to 95gr Fusions, first because they were cheap, and then because they way outperformed any other 243 bullet except the Partition. I've shot the 95 Fusions for 15 years and never had a bad experience with them, same for Partitions. I find the Fusion loads tend to be a small bit more accurate than my Partition handloads.

I shoot 130 Fusion loads in my 270, along with 130 Partition loads. 140 Partition loads in my 7mm, and 125 Partition handloads in my 264.

80 grain Barnes TTSX entrance....


And it blew the heart in half...

Are y'all still shooting 100lb does with .243's over here on this thread?

Don't make me start talking about shooting a deer with a .22-250 you'll be headed to the gun store like yer arse is on fire..... You can shoot a smaller bullet even faster!

I'm gonna put this right here for you. You can't do this with that pea shooter .243:

I still don't believe you can kill a deer with one of them pea shooters... 😛

Certainly can’t argue with that!!

If he was shooting a 243 he’d actually hit it instead of flinching😉

You'll shoot yer dern eye out fellas... that's all there is to it.

I've shot deer with a 50BMG, didn't die any faster than I have killed em with a 243.

Again: it’s the BULLET, not the headstamp on the case.