Utah cow and Barnes TSX

[KSB209]

Was successful on a cow elk last week. It was a chip shot for most of you at 190 yards with a 308 shooting 165 grain Barnes tsx bullets. I'm a little disappointed to say the least. First shot I thought was perfect and blow out the shoulder on the exit side. The animal didn't flinch but only had 3 legs left with the front should blown out when the bullet exited the body. It turned towards me and I put it in the front of the chest. 2 good hits and the cow was still standing for a couple minutes and went down.

When I butchered the animal I found the heart had been hit 2 times. Once from the side and the second was when I hit it standing straight looking at me. Only damage was pencil size holes with zero "damage" from impact. I was not able to recover the 2nd bullet to see if it opened at all.

I was not impressed with the Barnes performance at all. I hunt in CA so I have to use nonlead. The only other animals I have taken with these bullets are pigs and they have always been head shots and went down instantly. I want to start loading Hammers and hope they help next season when I am back chasing elk and deer in the mountains.

 

[memtb]

The 165's may have been a bit slow from the .308 for full expansion....especially with the TSX's. Drop down to the 150 TTSX's and I think you'll be pleased!

We've used Barnes mono's since the mid '90's .....nothing but good things! memtb

 

[Wedgy]

I'm in CA also and have been shooting nonlead a long time and stopped using Barnes as they are a very hard copper alloy that pressure up quicker(less velocity) than the softer compounds used by Hammer and Cutting Edge. Both are designed so the pedals shear off and theshank penetrates thru and exits. Cutting Edge has a little higher BC than the Hammers, but either way make sure you have the correct barrel twist or faster as this is what makes the bullet perform and penetrate correctly. My .30 cal barrels are 7 twist

 

[KSB209]

What do you guys think about the Nosler e-tips? I used the 165 grain TSX because I could not find any 150's but have some 150 grain Federals that have the Nosler E-tips made for Federal. The TSX shoot a little better in my rifle but at 190 yards that's sort of like splitting hairs.

 

[gillettehunter]

Use the TTSX. Better than the TSX IMHO.
Bruce

 

[WapitiBob]

Elk easily live for a minute or more with no heart, especially if they aren't running. They'll stand until the brain runs out of oxygen.

140 tsx, point of shoulder, Cow took a cpl steps

 

[waveslayer]

I stopped using the TSX and went TTSX. personally I started to actually hunt in CA, which I highly doubt, I would use Cutting Edge bullets

 

[choprzrul]

Per a phone conversation with Barnes' tech support, the .308 168gr TTSX will open up down to 1500fps. If I remember correctly (I didn't write that one down), the 165 TSX opens up down to only 1900fps. To me, that 400fps difference would seem to indicate the 165 is much harder to get to expand.

Here are some other numbers I've gathered from calls to Barnes. All .308 diameter:

180 TTSX = 1500
175 LRX = 1600
190 LRX = 1600
200 LRX = 1600
208 LRX = 1700
130 TTSX = 1800
150 TTSX = 1500

I find it interesting....Barnes must be playing with materials and/or construction to get such variations...

This fall I'm hoping to use my 1885 in 45-70 deer hunting with the Barnes 300gr TTSX. They tell me it opens up down to 1100fps. It should be interesting to see how fat and slow performs

 

[choprzrul]

The 165's may have been a bit slow from the .308 for full expansion....especially with the TSX's. Drop down to the 150 TTSX's and I think you'll be pleased!

We've used Barnes mono's since the mid '90's .....nothing but good things! memtb

Using JBM's ballistic calculator, and a muzzle velocity of 2750, that TSX should have been going 2300+ at 190 yards.....which should be plenty to open up??

 

[KSB209]

Using JBM's ballistic calculator, and a muzzle velocity of 2750, that TSX should have been going 2300+ at 190 yards.....which should be plenty to open up??

That's exactly what I thought. The Federal box has MV at 2650 and at 200 yards it says 2220. Guess I'll just shoot the bullets at the range. Expensive range ammo!!

 

[osok-1k]

I'll be interested to see how the new Hornady CX performs, replacing their GMX. If you could find some it might be worth a try.
Although, reading the expansion levels of Barnes posted by choprzul, the CX will require higher velocity to reliably expand, according to Hornady specs the 30 cal 165 has partial expansion at 2000, less that double bullet diameter. Higher velocities perform much better. A large bull elk would be a good test as it appears that penetration should be good at any velocity above 2000 but depending on range you might have to have something faster than a 308. I think 165 is the lightest 30 cal CX with moderate BC .440. The 190 is CX is .575 which would be great in a PRC or win mag. Smaller caliber CX BC's are not impressive as the line is pretty light in weight for caliber. Example .270 only goes to 130, .403 BC

 

[joseytoo]

I personally HATE heart shots. I've blown the heart completely out of a whitetail and he never flinched. Kept walking and never changed his pace. I thought I had missed at 140 or 150yds. Shot others that kept going way too long. What 'm trying to say is I wouldn't blame the bullet.

 

[coldboremiracle]

your kidding!! a hunting bullet failed to do sufficient damage? I thought only match bullets and other sub-par hunting bullets did that.

 

[coueskiller43]

I was running 225 grain TSX out of my 358 win. The load was extremely accurate but only doing 2250 FPS. I also experienced little to zero expansion on 2 blacktail that I shot. One was 40 yards other was 80. Both hit behind the shoulder. Both complete pass through but almost zero blood. 35 cal entrance, 35 cal exit. I changed to lighter faster hammers at 178 grain and the results were much better. New load is at 2650 fps. I have only shot hogs with the new load but it's proven to be devastating. Bigger exit and lots of blood. It seems that most people have had much better results with all monos at high velocity. Whichever mono you choose drop the grains on the pill and find a powder you can drive fast.