skeeter170

I bought my son a HR 243 last year. His first deer he ever harvested was with that 243 a 9 pt that scored 131 3/8. He hit like you are suppose to right in the shoulder and out the other. The deer ran about 50 yards with not a drop of blood on the ground. We have another member of our lease that his daughter took her first doe two weeks ago and again hit it great. That deer did not have a blood trail either. They both are shooting the remington corlock 100gr bullet. Is that just the nature of a .243 cal?

ipscshooter

I've shot four deer with my .243, and the one that didn't drop within 6 feet of where he was standing when I hit him left a followable blood trail.

skeeter170

I guess these two were just a fluke hopefully. When we found both of them their was considerable blood where they laid but all of it was from the mouth and nose. What kind of ammo do you use?

WestTexasDeerHunter

My brother-in-law has a Savage Make .243 that he chooses over any rifle and caliber on the market. I've seen him drop at least 10 deer over the years, some with lots of blood splatter, some without. Never the less, I try to put some sort of dang bad luck mojo/chant on that .243 every year in hopes of bringing down his luck, and it never works. There is always this years hunt??

ipscshooter

I'm also using 100 gr. Remington Express Pointe Soft Point Core-Lokt ammo.

As I've said, I've taken 4 deer with mine. First was a buck, heart/lung shot. He took about two steps, his knees buckled and he dropped. Second buck, double lung shot, complete penetration, went about 50 yards. Blood and tissue fragments at site of initial hit. A few small drops along the first 20 yards or so from where he was hit, until where he disappeared behind bushes, and then splatters on the ground and waist high foliage until where I found him. Third shot was a head shot on a doe at 40 yards. Obviously she dropped in her tracks. Fourth was a buck, tried a high shoulder shot about 4 inches above the elbow. Complete penetration. He dropped in his tracks.

RugerM77.270

Sometimes with a bullet traveling at over 3000 fps if you don't hit a shoulder the bullet doesn't expand leaving a small hole and a low blood trail. The cor-loct is a good bullet just make sure you aren't hitting to far back.

nchawkeye

I call BS on that...The faster a bullet is travelling, the faster it expands...Period...

I've killed about 150 with the .243, only about 80 with the 100gr CoreLokts, never had a problem...Hit them in the lower third of the body, as the cavity fills up to the hole, they will leak out...

My brothers use .270s, 280s, 7mm-08...Not much difference on distance travelled after the hit or blood trails...Even the size exit hole has more to do with the type/construction of the bullet than the diameter...Of course we don't have much to compare to, we only kill about 40-50 deer a year on our farms....

Over the course of the 30 years or so that I have hunted with my .243 that adds up to few hundred keer I've either killed, seen killed or skinned...

pahntr760

the 243 i usally a good expanding round. The blood trail isalmost alwaysquite followable. A hard tissue hit (Shoulder) should cause alot of trauma and an excelent blood trail.. I don't really know what to say in your situation.

PaJack

I have killed a number of deer over the years with a .243,best bullet I found was the Sierra 85gr. BTHP. Pull the trigger and down they go with a lung shot!! Federal sell's loaded 85gr's if you don't reload...

jnestle

Here is my experiance. I use a 243 most of the time when hunting whitetails. I have taken a lot of deer with it but I have a perceived problem with the Remington core lok 100gr. bullet. I have only not recovered 3 deer in my life and every one was shot right behind the shoulder, double lung as I actually saw the bullet impact. No blood trail whatsoever and each was shot with the Remington cor lok less than 100yds.
I switched to the Winchester ballistic silver tip in 95gr and every deer shot with this bullet has either dropped in its tracks or ran less than 50yds with an easy to track blood trail.
I know that most "experts" will say that the Remington is an excellant bullet but I will never use it again. I hope this helps.