168gn TSX on deer/ medium game?

[Badboymelvin]

Hi,

So I've recently downgraded from a .300WM to a .308 for my small to medium deer hunting.
My reasoning for this was I still have my 425 Express for the bigger stuff - plus l wanted a smaller, lighter more compact rifle to suit the type of terrain l hunt in.
And l have a bit of a soft spot for the .308, having taken my first ever deer with one.

My new rifle arrives on Saturday, so the other day l went to my local gun store to today to pick up some .308 ammo for it. Of course there was a huge selection to choose from but then l was offered these at a bargain price...

Has anyone tried them?
They're Remington Hog Hammers and they're loaded with the Barnes 168gn TSX at a box velocity of 2680fps.
I reckon they're honest for 2600fps...

They look good though...

I'm pretty sure these are discontinued and that's why l got them so cheap.
So l grabbed 3 boxes to try.
Now, l know that's a pretty heavy copper bullet for a .308 - and they're not going very fast, so l reckon l'm going to get pretty minimal expansion on Fallow but l reckon they'll be good for Sambar.

And if they don't perform satisfactorily, at least l'll have some empties for reloading!

Has anyone tried this ammo in the .308 on deer?
Or has anyone tried the 168gn TSX at this velocity on deer?

Keen to hear of people's experiences with this stuff.

Cheers,

Russ

 

[russ473]

Hello, i use 168 grn tsx Barnes in my .308 and am very happy, wont change in a hurry. When clients use my rifle my trackers just get a huge grin and say our job has just been made easier... from hunting small game upto and including eland here in africa

 

[Dan458]

I’ve used them in my 30-06. Think it’s the same projectile. Crazy cheap. Loaded rounds for less than the price of the projectile.
Mine have all passed through on fallow. Closer range should be fine but I expect if you stretch it out then expansion might become an issue

 

[Ryan]

I used the Barnes VotTx ammo in 30-06 with 168 grain TTSX that advertises 2800 until switching to handloads of the same bullet. Anyway, at only 120 fps difference, they're going to do the same until you start reaching out beyond 300-400 yards.The boxes ammo dropped caribou at 170+ yards and went to Namibia and took five animals from warthog to kudu. One shot and down. Shots ranged from 40 to 150 yard range. I see no reason those shouldn't work fine within normal range.

 

[mdwest]

I’ve shot everything from whitetail to hogs to zebra to wildebeest and probably a dozen other species with a very similar load (same bullet loaded to roughly the same speed out of the same caliber rifle)…

You’ll have zero problems with deer and other medium sized game..

 

[Philip Glass]

Hi,

So I've recently downgraded from a .300WM to a .308 for my small to medium deer hunting.
My reasoning for this was I still have my 425 Express for the bigger stuff - plus l wanted a smaller, lighter more compact rifle to suit the type of terrain l hunt in.
And l have a bit of a soft spot for the .308, having taken my first ever deer with one.

My new rifle arrives on Saturday, so the other day l went to my local gun store to today to pick up some .308 ammo for it. Of course there was a huge selection to choose from but then l was offered these at a bargain price...

View attachment 658656

Has anyone tried them?
They're Remington Hog Hammers and they're loaded with the Barnes 168gn TSX at a box velocity of 2680fps.
I reckon they're honest for 2600fps...

They look good though...

View attachment 658655

I'm pretty sure these are discontinued and that's why l got them so cheap.
So l grabbed 3 boxes to try.
Now, l know that's a pretty heavy copper bullet for a .308 - and they're not going very fast, so l reckon l'm going to get pretty minimal expansion on Fallow but l reckon they'll be good for Sambar.

And if they don't perform satisfactorily, at least l'll have some empties for reloading!

Has anyone tried this ammo in the .308 on deer?
Or has anyone tried the 168gn TSX at this velocity on deer?

Keen to hear of people's experiences with this stuff.

Cheers,

Russ

You could not have a better bullet! Might should go back and buy all of it.

 

[mdwest]

I'm pretty sure these are discontinued and that's why l got them so cheap.

They’re still in production here in the US.. my local Cabelas always has several boxes available on the shelf, and I just checked midway. They have them in stock as well and do not have them listed as “discontinued”.

I don’t know if they’re still being exported to Oz… but they’re definitely still being made over on this side of the pond…

 

[skydiver386]

Excellent combination for all the game you mentioned. Many of us have also had good luck with the lighter 150 and even 130 grain X bullets in the .308, but if you want to keep things simple and use one weight for everything, the 165 or 168 is the one.

 

[Daisy]

I’m not a big fan of tsx on smaller game like deer. Risk of pass through with minimal expansion.

 

[62flint]

I load 168ttsx for my 308.
Shoots well, terminal ballistics are good. Some folks claim they don’t expand well.
But it hasn’t been my experience. They don’t blow up like a ballistic tip. But they mushroom and punch through.
I generally shoot behind the shoulders. Nice entrance and exit. Good blood trail. Deer typically will not make it 100 yards if they take off in a full run. And if they do the blood trail is easy to follow.
I think the 168 is made for the 308 according to bargnes web site

 

[FlyGuy]

Great medium game cartridge and hunting bullet.
Works beautifully, here in SA, but 90% of the time, we shoot through the shoulder.
Expansion had never been a problem at sane 308 distances.

 

[ftrovato]

I've used them on whitetail deer in my 30-06. Totally destructive and always work. But that is what the TSX do IF they have enough velocity to open them up. If not then they act like a solid....

 

[C.W. Richter]

That's my go-to deer bullet in hot hand loads for a 18.5 in bbl carbine 3006... Hand loaded to bring the velocity back up to just above factory because of the short barrel. Now that we have a combined deer bear season I upgraded to 200 grain nosler partitions but that's way too much for deer alone. 165ish grain bullets are winners in 308 as well got my largest deer with a borrowed 308 and those bullets...

 

[BWH]

I put [emoji6][emoji6]-[emoji6][emoji[emoji6]]gr through both my [emoji[emoji6][emoji6]]-[emoji[emoji6][emoji6]][emoji6] & [emoji[emoji6][emoji6]][emoji[emoji6]]. TTSX….. that is primo medicine for just about everything. Minus DG

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Hi,

So I've recently downgraded from a .300WM to a .308 for my small to medium deer hunting.
My reasoning for this was I still have my 425 Express for the bigger stuff - plus l wanted a smaller, lighter more compact rifle to suit the type of terrain l hunt in.
And l have a bit of a soft spot for the .308, having taken my first ever deer with one.

My new rifle arrives on Saturday, so the other day l went to my local gun store to today to pick up some .308 ammo for it. Of course there was a huge selection to choose from but then l was offered these at a bargain price...

View attachment 658656

Has anyone tried them?
They're Remington Hog Hammers and they're loaded with the Barnes 168gn TSX at a box velocity of 2680fps.
I reckon they're honest for 2600fps...

They look good though...

View attachment 658655

I'm pretty sure these are discontinued and that's why l got them so cheap.
So l grabbed 3 boxes to try.
Now, l know that's a pretty heavy copper bullet for a .308 - and they're not going very fast, so l reckon l'm going to get pretty minimal expansion on Fallow but l reckon they'll be good for Sambar.

And if they don't perform satisfactorily, at least l'll have some empties for reloading!

Has anyone tried this ammo in the .308 on deer?
Or has anyone tried the 168gn TSX at this velocity on deer?

Keen to hear of people's experiences with this stuff.

Cheers,

Russ

@Badboymelvin
Russ just make sure the group in your rifle.
My sons 308 love most bullet weights but absolutely hate 168 grainers of any sort, it patterns them.
Bob

 

[Badboymelvin]

@Badboymelvin
Russ just make sure the group in your rifle.
My sons 308 love most bullet weights but absolutely hate 168 grainers of any sort, it patterns them.
Bob

Hi Bob,

Yep, you're spot on.
My .308 HATED them... sprayed them on the target.
Settled on some Sako 150gn Gamehead. It shot these well and l've only heard good things about them. In fact they are the top seller for .308 at my LGS...

I want to try some in 180gn now for Sambar, hopefully the 180's group as well as the 150's

Russ

 

[Puddle]

My first thought on reading the subject line was that's a whole lotta bullet to slam into your typical deer...

 

[wolfhunter]

308 win was designed for 168 gr. at 300 yds

 

[MS 9x56]

In my fudd addled brain I have been switching all my rifle calibers to heavey for caliber round nose bullets. In my 308 I found a box of NOS round nose 165 grain bullets. They group into 1.5” at 100 yards from my savage 99 rifle. So far 1shot pass through kills on both deer and pigs.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Hi Bob,

Yep, you're spot on.
My .308 HATED them... sprayed them on the target.
Settled on some Sako 150gn Gamehead. It shot these well and l've only heard good things about them. In fact they are the top seller for .308 at my LGS...

I want to try some in 180gn now for Sambar, hopefully the 180's group as well as the 150's

Russ

@Badboymelvin
Tried some 180 Speer hot cores in my sons Howa 308 and they grouped really well less than an inch. Also loves 139s and150s, groups them together in a nice little group
If'n the Barnes fail you could always get some nice 150gn Atomic 29 off Cameron. They should flatten any sambar.
The last on I shot was with a 270 ( that became my Whelen) using the old 130gn ACP @3,200 fps. One shot and he dropped in the spot.
Bob