Advice on Barnes

[lcq]

Has anyone here used 130gr TTSX in a 300 or 300 short? They shoot very well and are laser flat

Thanks

 

[BRICKBURN]

Not me, but Whoa! I'd bet they would be coming out like molten copper.

 

[lcq]

Not me, but Whoa! I'd bet they would be coming out like molten copper.

3400 fps smoking.

 

[gillettehunter]

I ran the 130's in .270 WSM. Shot the S. end of a N. bound mule deer once. Bullet wound up in the front shoulder. Close to 36 inches of penetration. Run the 150's in my .300 WSM. Several elk have been taken with this combo. Side to side pass throughs. Takes out shoulders with ease. You might check and see if the 150's will shoot as well in your rifle. If so I'd use them. Bruce

 

[enysse]

If they shoot accurate, why not?

 

[Areaonereal]

At that speed I would think the barrel would copper foul pretty quickly.

 

[Mekaniks]

I shoot Barnes 185g in my .338wm which makes almost balisticly similar to the .300 with 150g. And they work great. I have shot a Alaska black bear at 40 yards, a Wyoming antelope at 320yards, an Alaska caribou at 100yards, and too many to count Sitka blacktail on Kodiak island, and the Barnes bullets have all preformed flawlessly. My recommendation is that if they shoot well and your rifle "likes" them then don't over think it and go hunting.

 

[Velo Dog]

Hello Lcq,

From all that I can gather, you are doing right by using lighter versions of those types of bullets.
They are harder than old fashioned lead core/guilding metal jacketed bullets.
Also, they are typically sharp pointed, which means they have to radically change shape from their original profile to reach their ideal expanded profile.

The higher velocity possible with light weight projectiles is what monometal expanding bullets seem to need, in order to encourage their full expansion, especially if striking animals that do not offer much resistance (impala, bushbok, reedbok and many others).

I'm a grumpy old man who has successfully bagged a huge pile of animals in my life with various calibers and bullet configurations, resulting in my concluding the two following things:
1. I distrust hollow point bullets of any sort, rifle or handgun types.
2. In hunting rifles, my best results (that would be, one shot per animal consistently) out to about 300 yds has been with old fashioned Round Nose Soft Point ("RNSP) bullets, heavy for their respective calibers and fired at moderate velocities.

If I was for some reason wanting to switch to the TSX or TTSX type bullets, I am with you, Mekaniks and others here who use them on the light side/high velocity.

Cheers,
Velo Dog.

 

[Royal27]

I cat speak to the particular weight caliber combo, but I've found the ttsx and tsx to be devastating in both my .30/06 and my .375 H&H. Extremely accurate as well. I don't shoot anything else now and have no plan to change.

 

[lcq]

Hello Lcq,

From all that I can gather, you are doing right by using lighter versions of those types of bullets.
They are harder than old fashioned lead core/guilding metal jacketed bullets.
Also, they are typically sharp pointed, which means they have to radically change shape from their original profile to reach their ideal expanded profile.

The higher velocity possible with light weight projectiles is what monometal expanding bullets seem to need, in order to encourage their full expansion, especially if striking animals that do not offer much resistance (impala, bushbok, reedbok and many others).

I'm a grumpy old man who has successfully bagged a huge pile of animals in my life with various calibers and bullet configurations, resulting in my concluding the two following things:
1. I distrust hollow point bullets of any sort, rifle or handgun types.
2. In hunting rifles, my best results (that would be, one shot per animal consistently) out to about 300 yds has been with old fashioned Round Nose Soft Point ("RNSP) bullets, heavy for their respective calibers and fired at moderate velocities.

If I was for some reason wanting to switch to the TSX or TTSX type bullets, I am with you, Mekaniks and others here who use them on the light side/high velocity.

Cheers,
Velo Dog.

That was the angle I was looking at it from. Lead being soft mushrooms at lower velocity on thin skinned game copper seems to need to be driven faster

 

[lcq]

At that speed I would think the barrel would copper foul pretty quickly.

I thought about that but for less than 20 rounds max on a hunt it shouldn't really matter

 

[MarineHawk]

I just hit this guy three times with a .225gr TTSX out of my .340:

The first shot went through both front quarters including some bone, ended up under the far hide, and looked like this:

the other two shots went through the bull at an angle and exited into the brush somewhere. All three were going about 3,050fps impact (3,160fps MV) and did a lot of damage on their way through, turning the tissue widely around the bullet path to liquid jelly. He only went 20yds before laying down for good.

 

[bluey]

cool looking moose ,marine hawk.

 

[lcq]

Nice moose. A full day of work ahead to fix it up.

I just hit this guy three times with a .225gr TTSX out of my .340:

The first shot went through both front quarters including some bone, ended up under the far hide, and looked like this:

the other two shots went through the bull at an angle and exited into the brush somewhere. All three were going about 3,050fps impact (3,160fps MV) and did a lot of damage on their way through, turning the tissue widely around the bullet path to liquid jelly. He only went 20yds before laying down for good.

 

[tarbe]

I've killed exactly one deer with the 308 130gr TTSX. Impact velocity of about 2,850 fps.

Broadside high lung shot. Deer dropped, kicked a couple times and expired. Lungs were jelly, as you might expect.

Not much of a test, I admit!

I just don't know how that TTSX managed to expand and dump all that energy to make such a mess, hitting nothing more than the soft rib of a doe.

 

[MarineHawk]

Thanks Bluey.

Nice moose. A full day of work ahead to fix it up.

Thanks. It actually was two days of work and the hardest physical labor I've done in 20 years (since in the Marines). We had to portage the 1,000+lbs of moose meat (on the bone) and head and cape, 1,500lbs of gear, and the raft itself around a river blockage, about a quarter mile through a swamp (due to the extremely high water from all of the rain). Worth it, but it was some serious work. Luckily, he laid down after the three shots in an opening and not in the brush or in the water, or it would have been worse.

 

[MarineHawk]

I've killed exactly one deer with the 308 130gr TTSX. Impact velocity of about 2,850 fps.

Broadside high lung shot. Deer dropped, kicked a couple times and expired. Lungs were jelly, as you might expect.

Not much of a test, I admit!

I just don't know how that TTSX managed to expand and dump all that energy to make such a mess, hitting nothing more than the soft rib of a doe.

The second video here: http://www.barnesbullets.com/information/high-speed-video/ explains it I think.

 

[tarbe]

The second video here: http://www.barnesbullets.com/information/high-speed-video/ explains it I think.

I guess the winking smiley does not show up too well (the sarcasm smiley).

I know how rapidly the TTSX opens. I was being a bit of an arse to those who continue to opine that they don't open quickly/reliably, based mostly, I think, on some past X and TSX issues.

If one watches the video of shooting the 3 inch thick block, you can see the bullet is well expanded at the 1.5 inch mark.

 

[Areaonereal]

I can attest to the fact that the ttsx opens up upon impact. How does an entry hole on a zebra at 40 yds the size of a silver dollar look from a 210 gr 338/06. It looks like it expanded on impact.....violently. Lodged in off shoulder, mushroomed perfectly at a quarter angle, same angle as the zebra was shot.

 

[colorado]

Beautiful Moose, great pictures you earned it and thanks for your service. The only TSX's I use are the 570g in my 500 Jeffery at 2300 fps. Since they were designed for the 500 NE I emailed Barnes and they told me the minimum velocity for reliable expansion is 1600 fps. I too have distrusted the mono hollow point bullets in terms of expansion, but this particular bullet has expanded well on a cow elk at 200 yards and a feral hog at 8' (complete pass through leaveing a 6" diameter exit wound). Since I bought the rifle for cape buffalo (maybe elephant with solids if I win the lottery) the TSX's reputation is awesome on tougher animals, my concern is that it wouldn't open up on thinner skinned game (brown bears?). No worries with this particular bullet there.