I haven’t shot a deer with a rifle since about 1990. I was in my early 20’s and I shot a .270 with silvertips. I never had any trouble with them so I didn’t try any others.

Now I see posts about certain bullets leaving a good blood trail or not. What is the difference in the styles? It seems to me that a hole punched thru the vitals will leave a blood trail no matter what style. I get that some mushroom more than others but is there really that much difference in same caliber?

I’m not knocking anyone’s choice or experience just looking for insight on the matter. My 14 yr old son hunts with his .243 when he’s not bow hunting and I don’t want to handicap him with bullet choice.

I may step him up to my .270 this year or next so what’s the best off the shelf ammo? For a good blood trail of course. Will always be short range shots.

Thanks for any help.

Others may disagree, but a 243 with the RIGHT bullet is a very adequate deer cartridge. I broke my neck in 2013 and had to switch to a mild recoiling rifle while I recovered. I started loading 85gr Barnes Triple Shock bullets and haven't looked back. I get a pretty big entrance hole and and exit hole the size of a silver dollar. I have other rifles that I could use now, but the 243 works well. I've never lost a deer that I've shot with it. Good Luck!

Hornady American Whitetail in the .243. 100 grain Interlock bullet. They leave a good trail. My 3 kids ranging from 10 to 14 shoot these with good results.

I've always shot 130 grain Remington Core Lokt in the .270. Never had a problem.

Meh exit with a bow is important to me, exit with a firearm not so much 😁

Core Lokt

It’s gonna be hard to beat a core Lokt

I agree with that. Very happy with Barnes TTSX performance with what Ive shot. All pass thru and good blood trails. Only had one slug recovered out of all of them and it went the length of a hog and lodged just under the skin. Havent had a deer go more than 50 yards with them and always been a good blood trail.

I've had mixed results with hornady ballistic tips. However I have shot 7 deer with this bullet. 4 have left a descent blood trail, and 3 did not leave a single drop of blood. Their not so bad that I will throw the box away but not good enough for me to buy another once I use this current box up. For instance I shot a doe just yesterday evening, 60 yards perfect broadside, no blood trail. not even a single drop In the bed of my truck. But her vitals were obliterated. Her 2 front legs were useless. Should've neck shot at that distance but oh well.

Plenty of mixed results on the American Whitetail. I'm pretty sold on Core Lokts right now.

its just voodoo a hole is a hole if its in the right place a lung shot is going to leave a better trail than a gut shot some people just blame their shooting on the bullet or caliber or gun or scope or whatever they can rather than saying i made a f'ed up shot. ive dropped deer in there tracks with FMJs and had to trail 100 yards with softpoints and vice versa but currently im really liking the Sierra Game Kings.

I hunt some very thick places. 3+ year old cutovers that adjoin very thick pine thickets that are laced with tons of undergrowth. If I shoot one that isn't leaking out both sides, if they make it into that mess, they're hard to find. I want a tough bullet that works in the worse case scenario. I want a bullet that punches through both sides, including bones, and leaves a good exit hole. Everyone has their own opinion. The Barnes bullets just work very well for where I hunt and what I do. I load all my own ammo and can load pretty much any bullet I want. For me, the Barnes is my choice. They've proven themselves time and again.

My son shoots a hornady reduced recoil out of his .243. Killed a deer Friday with my brother in law that didn’t bleed a drop but it only went 30 yards. Killed a buck last year that didn’t take a step after being shot. Shot placement is the biggest issue with this smaller caliber. He hit the one Friday a little back but not quite a gut shot. My brother in law was dead set on moving him up a caliber but he isn’t ready for that I don’t believe, that is why he is shooting reduced recoils.

Shoot Core Lokt and you won't have to worry about a blood trail......they will be dead right there.

I shoot 243 100 grain rem core lokt and its puts them down with a great blood trail

Kind of what I figured, just something else to blame. Wasn’t sure though, bows and shotguns are my thing.

the last 2 deer i shot with corelock will be the last 2 i ever shoot one was at 25 yards with a 30-06 an never bleed one drop the other was a doe at 75 yards an never bleed we found the first one after hours of searching an never found the other the one we found was a heart shot he went about 50 yards in to a thicket if i wouldnt have steped on him i wouldnt have found him he buried his self

I've never had a problem with corelokts until last year. Most of the time would be leaving a nice blood trail after 25 yards or so. Last year missed a doe dead to rights at 100yd. Went to check my scope and they were hitting all over the place. Some wouldn't even stay on a paper plate. Swapped to fusions and started hitting clover leafs again. I don't know if it was a bad batch or what but I won't be going back.

My experience is that shots which hit bone going in or coming out leave a decent blood trail. If you poke between ribs, exit hole is usually small.

High on the body will almost never leave a heavy blood trail, as it pools inside. My nephew killed a nice 9 point last week in Texas. I saw the shot, and watched the deer fall 30 yards away. Heart was totalled, didn't hit any bone, and there was zero blood trail. When we got to the deer, there was just a bit running down the off shoulder, but none had reached the ground

Me and my kids shoot the exact same combination. Never a problem with either load.

I actually found that the Hornady leave better blood trails in .243. Just my opinion. I have shot the Core Lokt as well and never had a problem finding the deer, but the Hornady were better as far as blood on the ground. At times, they are actually better than my .270 with 130 grain core lokts.