204Ruger

My father in law and I were going to apply for a antelope tag in Wyoming this year and I plan on taking my .243 Winchester as I feel my .280 Remington will be over kill on a antelope(unless others feel it’s not). I was planning on using a 90-95 gr bullet and I have some nosler 95 gr ballistic tips on hand to load up but am unsure if I shouldn’t switch to a 90 gr Accubond? Any help/insights are appreciated. I do plan to keep the shot under 300 yards if possible.

Personally I would go with the Accubond. You want good penetration of even pass through In the heart/lung area. The Ballistic tips may open too fast and not go deep enough.

I must say however, that when I hunted deer/pronghorn with the 243 or 6mm, preferred the tried and true Nosler Partition. It never failed.

243 with 95 gr accubond or partition would be good. Your 280 rem with 140 ballistic tips or accubonds would be awesome. Mine puts either bullet in little bitty groups.

From a lifetime of hunting here in the outback west, I'd leave the .243 at home and work up a good load for that .280 with either the Barnes 140gr TSSX or the Nosler 140gr Accubond or Partition.

Hunting speed goats the range could very easily exceed 300 yards, and you want all the flat trajectory, wind bucking and terminal energy you can muster. I'd grab the .280 and not look back; you'll be glad you did.

Remember, the wind always blows out in the open sagebrush flats, you want the highest BC bullet you can find in the 7mm bore for this stuff.

Thanks for the input guys. RIO I already shoot 140 gr Accubonds out of my .280 for Muleys so this just got easier

I will second the 280 over the 243.

Wow - am way late to this post!

Best of luck on the antelope hunt. I personally think that the little 6mm 95 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip is a wonderful hunting bullet. It's brought down several mule deer and whitetail from my son's 6mm Remington, loaded to about 3,000 fps. Farthest kill he made was almost 300 yards. Bullet went in, destroyed the lungs & heart, then exited, shattering the off-side leg bone on the way out. Ya, that was an instant drop & kill. All the other deer were good one-shot kills with it too.

Antelope are not large. A good shot in the "boiler room" with either of your rifles will do just fine.

I've only taken four; two with the 115 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip from my 25-06, and two with the 165 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip from my 30-06, both rifles worked great, all four were one-shot kills. Two were at about 160 yards, one a bit under 250 yards, one a bit beyond 250 yards.



There's my 2018 antelope, exit wound from the 165 Nosler Ballistic Tip, via 30-06. That shot was 255 yards or so.


BTW - get that antelope meat cooled down quickly, and the steaks can be terrific! Best of luck on your hunt!

Regards, Guy

Very nice Pronghorn and like the scenery. Thanks for sharing the info and photo's. BIll K

We did not get drawn this year unfortunately so I guess I have another year to shoot and find a new load.