I'm trying copper for the 1st time. Barnes Vortex. How are they? Only because my Tikka likes them. Normally I use accubonds.. and yes, lead does fragment quite well, and bounces around.
Best 243 bullet for deer?
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I'm trying copper for the 1st time. Barnes Vortex. How are they? Only because my Tikka likes them. Normally I use accubonds.. and yes, lead does fragment quite well, and bounces around.
davidheart
Well-Known Member
I have to be careful when speaking ill of certain bullets. There's a cult following around particular brands and designs... Barnes is one of those with a strong following approaching godlike proportions. But when choosing ammo, you have to look at the bullets construction for its intended purpose, caliber size, speed, and game you intend to use it on.
I personally feel Barnes current designs (TSX, T-TSX, LRX, & TAC-X) are best suited to be shot in .277 and larger, ultra-light for caliber, and driven very fast. The impact velocity and fluid displacement is what imparts the majority of the damage to the animal, not the mechanical wounding of the bullet itself. Lead bullets fragment/shed and cause secondary damage. Monolithic Barnes, Hornady, Nosler bullets don't... until they do. (Extremely high impact velocities sometimes cause the pedals to flower and break into a single ring which is unintentional by the bullet designer.)
I've lost a number of deer on culling operations to small caliber Barnes bullets, but had success at short range (less than 200 yards) in 270 and 308 Barnes bullets. Larger animals capable of creating greater impact resistance will give you better success using Barnes bullets, but I don't personally trust them. Also, the LRX and T-TSX are nearly identical in ballistic gel at any velocity leading me to believe the LRX line is a marketing concept, much like the previous TAC-X line (which is identical to the T-TSX/TSX line).
Personally, unless using a magnum level cartridge I would choose a different bullet manufacturer for my copper needs. (Hammer, Lehigh, Maker, Cutting Edge)
That's me. Personally. My choice. Before the flames come out and 100 people say the Barnes bullets are the best thing since sliced bread.
That said, the people at Barnes are super kind, have great reloading data, and have treated me with nothing but respect. I'm sure one day they'll come out with another design.... it's just taking them a super long time to do so.
I'm not sure if I would say lead "bounces" around, but I understand what you're saying. Accubonds (or any bonded bullet for that matter) are super good if you're going to choose lead. The worst I've seen are match style hunting bullets in terms of "pieces" being found far from the bullet wound. I once found the jacket for a Berger Classic Hunter (140gr 270win) logged in the neck of a deer I was cleaning. Entrance was high shoulder... so that's about 10-12 inches from entrance? Match and varmint bullets grenade in animals. It makes a deer DRT if shot correctly, but if not it's a mess.
I've had great success with bonded bullets, like the Accubond or Speer Gold Dot with minimal unnecessary damage. However, treat a bonded bullet for deer similarly to how you'd treat a monolithic bullet. Lighter-weight for caliber (but not as light as copper) and driven fast.
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Calvin45
Well-Known Member
Not all the tac-tx are the same as ttsx. The 120 tac in 30 cal is an entirely different bullet.
davidheart
Well-Known Member
Sorry you are correct. It was designed for the 300 BLK. They also discontinued the majority of the TAC-X line and there are only 3 offerings anymore.
Calvin45
Well-Known Member
I did not know that!
I did know it was meant for the .300 blk. But I use it just a little faster in my .300 win mag. Off switch for deer.
A friend in New Zealand shoots the 95g SST on those very large deer that have there that go 450 lbs and they shoot from mountain to mountain. He claims that the 243 Win with the 95g SST is all the bullet that a guy needs for deer, and they cull a lot of goats also. I bought 500 to try on hogs, also. The 95g SST is obviously a much tougher bullet than we would think.
We have killed so many deer and hogs with the 100g BTSP that we have a gut feeling that the cannelure helps lock the core to the jacket to some degree. Our Muzzle velocity is in the area of 2950-3050 fps depending on the barrel and caliber.
95g Nosler ballistic tips are very popular here in the South, but whatever you think is BEST is meaningless if you can not get them. 80g Barnes TTSX pushed to 3400-3600 is going a good job here in the 243 Win and 6 Rem respectively, shooting for the off-side shoulder. 95g Nosler partitions were the gold standard for me for a long time in the 6 Rem and 243 Win on the Nebraska and Kansas whitetails that run a minimum of 240 lbs and average shots were in the neighborhood of 250-350 yards in open fields. I could talk about other bullets we used to success but why if NONE are available now or in the foreseeable future?
In a 6 XC and 6-6.5/47 Lapua, the Berger 105g VLD Hunting is just an incredible combo, and this is an understatement, near and far. I pushed these to 3300 in a 26", 6 Rem AI with amazing accuracy.
What is available right now is the 95g Hornady SST, Hornady 100g BTSP, and some 80g Barnes TTSX. If you root around, you may find some 105g Berger vld hunting for the guys with 8 Twists.
We have killed so many deer and hogs with the 100g BTSP that we have a gut feeling that the cannelure helps lock the core to the jacket to some degree. Our Muzzle velocity is in the area of 2950-3050 fps depending on the barrel and caliber.
95g Nosler ballistic tips are very popular here in the South, but whatever you think is BEST is meaningless if you can not get them. 80g Barnes TTSX pushed to 3400-3600 is going a good job here in the 243 Win and 6 Rem respectively, shooting for the off-side shoulder. 95g Nosler partitions were the gold standard for me for a long time in the 6 Rem and 243 Win on the Nebraska and Kansas whitetails that run a minimum of 240 lbs and average shots were in the neighborhood of 250-350 yards in open fields. I could talk about other bullets we used to success but why if NONE are available now or in the foreseeable future?
In a 6 XC and 6-6.5/47 Lapua, the Berger 105g VLD Hunting is just an incredible combo, and this is an understatement, near and far. I pushed these to 3300 in a 26", 6 Rem AI with amazing accuracy.
What is available right now is the 95g Hornady SST, Hornady 100g BTSP, and some 80g Barnes TTSX. If you root around, you may find some 105g Berger vld hunting for the guys with 8 Twists.
