168gn TSX on deer/ medium game?

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

308 win was designed for 168 gr. at 300 yds

@wolfhunter
My sons Howa wasn't. Even with the 168 matchking it wouldn't group less than 2.5" at best no matter the powder, primer and seating depth combination. Might have been ok at 30 yards but no further.
All other weights are fine with the 150gn SST and accubonds giving the best at less than half inch and 180s at less than 1".
With the 130s and 50gn of varget/2208 for 3,000fps they group to the same poi as the 150s and .75" groups.
Unfortunately it just don't like the 165-168 grainers. Can't explain it
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

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.

@MS 9x56
After seeing how the 250gn round nose works I have loaded up some Woodleigh 225gb RNSP to 2,890fps in my Whelen to try in pig and.
deer hopefully this year.
Me thinks they should work well.
Bob

 

[wolfhunter]

a old shooting buddy of mine had a saying maybe that rifle didnt read the book my first target rifle had a 9 twist for heavier bullets the only one it liked was 168 sierra many x at 600yds

 

[steve white]

The TSX will probably open up for sure if you shoot for bone. Should penetrate well on a Sambar.

 

[Desaad]

Use Barnes 168 TSX out of 30-06 on a mule deer few years back, the shot was approximately 180 yards, hit him three times in the shoulder and he was still standing, all three shots hit the same place and exit wound was as big as a fist, had to finish him off with friends 6mm and soft point bullet, dropped like a rock. Ever since then I started using lighted bullets on deer.

 

[wolfhunter]

Use Barnes 168 TSX out of 30-06 on a mule deer few years back, the shot was approximately 180 yards, hit him three times in the shoulder and he was still standing, all three shots hit the same place and exit wound was as big as a fist, had to finish him off with friends 6mm and soft point bullet, dropped like a rock. Ever since then I started using lighted bullets on deer.

the deer was dead in shock after the first shot the 6mm just knocked it over

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

the deer was dead in shock after the first shot the 6mm just knocked it over

@wolfhunter
As good as the Barnes are, for deer I much prefer the Hornady SST
That super shock tip expands well and quickly imparting a lot of initial shock. The base seems to hold together well and drives deep ( I have only ever recovered one). Depending on shot angle they do exit. On broadside shots they tend to destroy a bit to a lot of meat on the way out.
Some people swear by them, others swear at them. I use them almost exclusively in my rifles and my sons 08.
If'n they made one in 250gn for the Whelen I would grab them.
Bob

150 gn 308 SST removed from a pig, retaining 117 grains. Great expansion and shank holds together well.

 

[Edster]

The 4 on the right are 168gr TTSX out of my grandsons 308, from trip to SA in April. Hand loads running at 2740fps. Nothing ran more than 200yds before dropping.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

The 4 on the right are 168gr TTSX out of my grandsons 308, from trip to SA in April. Hand loads running at 2740fps. Nothing ran more than 200yds before dropping. View attachment 660849

@Edster
To me that's a problem
I want them to drop at the shit or a short ( max 50 yard) death run.
In some areas I hunt a 200yard run can mean lost game because the woods are that thick. A sambar even thirty yards into a clump of blackberry bushes is dam near impossible to find or retrieve.
Just my humble opinion.
Bob

 

[wolfhunter]

I have no problem using hornady bullets still do in some of my deer rifles 6.5 creedmore 129 gr.sst worked really good on 4 so far

 

[buffybr]

When I built my .300 Wby in 2009, the first hunting bullet that I tried in it were the Barnes 168 gr TSXs. My first hunt with them was in Texas for Exotics, a blackbuck, an Aoudad, and a Scimitar horn oryx were all one shot bang flops.

I then took that rifle with those bullets on a South African hunt where again they made one shot DRT kills on a warthog, a Sable antelope, a white blesbok,a baboon at 310 yds, and a Klipspringer at 290 yds.

Then back at home, I used my .300 Wby with a 168 gr TSX for a 5x5 bull elk. He ran 3 steps after the shot and fell dead.

Just before my New Zealand hunt in 2014 I decided to try the 168 gr TTSX bullets in my .300 Wby. They were just slightly more accurate, so I used them on that hunt. My first 310 yd shot at a fallow deer didn't immediately drop him so I shoot him again --- my first 2 shot kill with my .300 Wby. I went on to make one shot DRT kills on a Red Stag, a Himalayan tahr, and an Arapawa ram.

Back home again, I again used my .300 Wby with a 168 gr TTSX bullet for another one shot DRT kill on another 5x5 bull elk.

A couple of years later I went on my first Mozambique hunt and my .300 Wby and 168 gr TTSX bullets again made one shot kills on several animals: a warthog, a baboon, a meat sable antelope, and a trophy sable bull that wouldn't let our own Super Moderator Brickburn get close enough to him with his sharp sticks, so on the last day of his hunt I offered Wayne my .300 Wby and a 168 gr TTSX bullet put a big smile on his face.

On the second night of that hunt, a 168 gr TTSX killed my Leopard, but he was able to run 18 paces from where I shot him before he died.

On my first hunt in Mozambique we saw but I couldn't get a shot at a monster Sable bull, so I went back after him the next year. The hunting concession that we hunted on was 690,000 acres and we couldn't find the monster Sable that we saw the year before, but I did use my .300 Wby with 168 gr TTSX bullets to make one shot DRT kills on a warthog and grey Duiker for camp meat, and for a young sable bull that we found with one of his front legs broken in a poacher's gin trap.

And finally, on the last day of that hunt I got my 41" trophy Sable bull.