Wife has inherited a 243. Its a rifle not encore or a contender. Problem is i havent ever hunted with that caliber. Thst said i dont have components or dies so reloading is out. I wont buy remington frag gernades ( corlocks ). Any factory ammo recommendations for northern deer .. probly 120 lbs to 180. Shots will be under 100 yds. I picked up federal 100 grain soft points for sighting in want a better bullet for hunting.

I used the Hornady Light Magnum for my X's 243 years back and they performed well. It's been a while so not sure if they still make that line. My Dad shoots a 243 now because of his age and the low recoil. I can check with him and see what ammo he likes. The 243 is quite popular in these parts.

Don't know if they still offer it but my daughter's little .243 LOVES the Federal 85 grain Speer BTHP. And it is deadly on deer that size.

I'm fond of the Winchester Power Points if I have to use factory ammo. If you can find some, the Hornady American Whitetail line offers a 243 load with the 100 grain Interlock.

I've killed a bunch of whitetails with the Core-Lokts in the 6mm Rem, but I understand if you're opposed to the bullet design. IME, it worked in that caliber in that velocity window.

Try to find the Federal loading with the 90 gr Accubond, or the 95 gr Partition for a tried and true bullet options. The 100 gr Ballistic Silvertip from Winchester is an option too.

Bet i traveled 200 miles this weekened and all i could find was corlocks bluebox feds hornady whitail interlocks.... and other assorted varment type rounds in the 50 gr range

How many boxes did you pick up?

None ..... have a box of federal lead points. Just not real confident in their performance... not the most accurate and have read a lot about poor performance on deer.

I killed a lot of deer with the blue box federal ammunition. Never had any deer walk away from those. The Remmy's, yeah I won't use them.

I just handload anymore, I know you mentioned you don't have the capability to load 243 yet, but when you do, check out the Sierra 85 grain or the nosler 90 grain AccuBond. The Sierra 100 grain offering has been very accurate as well while using a stiff charge of 4350.

Brenden