AMMO TEST - SELLIER & BELLOT PTS

At one time, if you wanted a short-action, large deer legal calibre, there were really only two mainstream choices. Yes, there were several others, but for the UK, not like these two. For a bit more oomph, the .308 Winchester was the way to go, but by far the most popular was its smaller brother, the 6mm, .243 Winchester. Recoil was pleasant, accuracy potential good, and it was often granted on land with smaller safety templates and often to first-time applicants for deer hunting, who might have asked for something bigger.

Not a fan but

This 6mm also does double duty as a varmint round with lighter bullet weights (58 to 60-grains) or dual purpose with 70 to 80-grainers. This leaves the 100-grainers as the heavy hitters in this calibre. I am not a fan of .243, although I freely admit it’s a great cartridge in its class. Saying that, I’ve owned three in my time: a Remington 788, a Steyr Mannlicher Scout, and a .243 barrel for my Blaser R8. From personal experience, I favour the heavier bullets for deer and on test here is Sellier & Bellot’s (S&B) 95-grain PTS loading.

SST-like

No stranger to ammunition production, S&B has been in the game since the middle of the 19th century, and teamed up with Hornady for this one, who designed the bullet for them. The nearest thing to it and probably its inspiration was Hornady’s 95-grain SST (Super Shock Tip) which has a BC of 0.353. I have used this in my .243 reloads with great effect, from Muntjac up to Reds.

It’s a lead-cored, jacketed ballistic tip with a quoted G1 ballistic coefficient (BC) of 0.373 and G7 0.186. The ballistic tip is quite large, making the ogive’s (front part of the bullet) walls quite slim, which makes for some impressive expansion. Say what you like about lead-cored ammo, but we are going to miss its effectiveness over the non-lead fodder that will eventually replace it.

Boxer brass

The cartridge cases are Boxer-primed, so ideal for the home reloader, always a bonus. The ammunition comes in cardboard boxes of 20, packed in a plastic, pre-compartmented inner. S&B quotes 2901 fps | 1786 ft/lbs from a 23.5” barrel for the 95-grain PTS load. These are not amazing figures, but they are over the large deer legal requirement for the UK.

I used my 22” Blaser R8 Professional Success and expected a serious drop in performance, as .243 Win is not tolerant of shorter barrels. However, the ammo produced 2879 fps | 1759 ft/lbs, which is only a drop of 22 fps | 27 ft/lbs. Standard Deviation (SD) was also a pleasing 4.2 fps, giving an Extreme Velocity Spread (SD) of just 8.4 fps.

Sharpshooter

In terms of accuracy, I have no complaints. At 100m, off the bench, the load was pulling a cool 0.545”, which is pretty impressive for a hunting round. I reckon 300 yards is the maximum range for this one, but figures are still respectable at 2167 fps | 990 ft/lbs, with a drop of only 12.37” (3.94 MOA). So, if .243 Win is your calibre, then S&B’s PTS ammo is well worth a look.