Hey Barnes fans

[JOHNNIE WALKER]

Some how this year I ended up with a 3.5 day weekend for the holiday. So of course I was going deer hunting. Right at the first crack of light, a deer skylined it self on the next ridge about 250 yds out. I was disappointed to see it was a small buck, because all I really wanted was a doe for the freezer. Another deer appeared that was noticeably bigger. As it got brighter out I saw this one was a shooter. As I was setting up, a bigger buck appeared that was obviously big enough. When the shot presented itself, I took it. The deer did not really seem like it was hit, which worried me. I had never shot anything with a Barnes bullet before so I was nervous. When I got over to where he was I didn't see any blood. I started looking around the edge of the feild, and found him piled up, just inside the brush. He went about 50yds. I noticed the bullet had made a complete pass though, as expected. It had entered closely behind the shoulder on his right side and exited through the shoulder on his left side. IMO, the shot placement was almost perfect. I wasn't expecting much, but when I feild dressed him, I was surprised to see that his insides were gone, and I mean GONE. Lungs looked like rasberry jam. When I cut the diaphragm, they poured out. I found one piece that was still in tacked, about the size of my hand. The rest were liquid. When I was processing the deer, I continued to be impressed with the performance of this bullet. The fact that the deer went 50yds didn't really bother me. Whitetails are amazingly tough. I've shot plenty of them to know that to be a fact.
But my question is this - Can I expect similar performance with this bullet every time? Is the experience I had typical of Barnes bullets?
I was shooting 168gr TTSX out of my 30/06.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Hey Jonnie,

I would say that you are seeing terminal performance that is what got me into shooting mono bullets. Less meat damage and huge soft tissue damage. 50y of travel with a lung shot that does not hit the CNS is typical an any big game animal. Some will just stand there and tip over, but usually they will travel for a few seconds before the lights go out.

Some guys see an exit hole that is not fist sized and think the bullet failed. Obviously your bullet did not fail despite the small exit hole. What happens on the inside is what matters.

A lot of people say that the Barnes bullet are less reliable at low vel. I do not know if this is true or not. I do think that tipped bullets can have expansion issues at low velocity if the tip does not get out of the way on impact to allow the hydraulics to get into the hollow point cavity. Basically the tip is plugging the hole that needs to get open for terminal performance to happen. I think this is less a problem at higher velocity, but still potentially an issue. This goes for all tipped bullets for that matter. We keep our hollow points open and test every bullet to be sure it will open reliably at 1800fps or less.

Exceptional buck by the way. Great trophy.

Steve

 

[valleyloader]

I've shot many deer with the ttsx 150 gr out of my 30-06 and the results have been great! They never go more that 50 yds and several have dropped in their tracks, however mine have always bled well.

 

[Deleted member 46119]

...What happens on the inside is what matters...

That is the truth. Though I am very interested in finding out more about Hammer Bullets performance. To date, I've used TTSX except one pig. It's not many animals but all have been bang flop. 338/26-Nosler for a couple sure helps but just scale up your 30-06 with TTSX 165 to 338 and Elk. Same.

 

[RevJim]

That 168 is a pretty tough bullet and in the '06 is better for elk/big hogs, like that. Drop back to the 130 TTSX and you will see a lot more 'dramatic" results. I base this on the fact that I have used the lighter monos almost exclusively from 6mm to 375 and they just are quicker killers...in "my" experience. Soon I am going to work up a new load with that 130 TTSX out of my own Mod 70 FWT 30-06. If it will shoot it, I am going to use it on some critters, from coyote up. Now, on elk, I have a great load with the 168 TSX ( as mentioned, I've never had a problem with the TSX opening on heavy game.) I think the 180 is not really needed in the '06, may be more useful on moose, I don't know. In the 300 mag I liked the 180 XBT...but see, you are getting back to that higher muzzle velocity/lighter weight (relatively speaking, say, as compared to the 300 mag and 200gr conventional bullets, real killers indeed!) which I personally think is a "peas and carrots" formula for mono metal bullets.

 

[RevJim]

As a plug....I have to say that I am reading some really great results from that Hammer bullet! I will most likely try some of those later in the year in the '06 and .280. For now, I only have plans to load it in my 358 Norma 9when they are finished working it out). Congrats on a great buck BTW!

 

[snox801]

Barnes are a fine bullet. Problem is a company like hammer just does it better. I've been slowly moving to the solid direction. N get been that impressed with Barnes as the never seem to open up enough. That are getting much better although when you have a shop like hammer it hat is willing to take what they like about a certain bullet and what they don't like and work till they get the best of both worlds is when you have it. I actually did that with the 101gr hammer with Steve. Told him all I loved about the 100gr raptor and what I didn't. Then a few weeks later came the 101 with everything I wanted. How's that for service

 

[snox801]

Barnes are a fine bullet. Problem is a company like hammer just does it better. I've been slowly moving to the solid direction. N get been that impressed with Barnes as the never seem to open up enough. That are getting much better although when you have a shop like hammer it hat is willing to take what they like about a certain bullet and what they don't like and work till they get the best of both worlds is when you have it. I actually did that with the 101gr hammer with Steve. Told him all I loved about the 100gr raptor and what I didn't. Then a few weeks later came the 101 with everything I wanted. How's that for service

 

[JOHNNIE WALKER]

What I was trying to do, is find a good load to take to Wyoming to use on elk. I became really interested in the solid copper idea, and the ballistics of the 168 TTSX looked interesting. But I've never used Barnes bullets before. I was wanting test them on deer. I was hoping to try them on a few does. This guy took me by surprise. I really was nervous about it. I liked what I saw with that buck. It seemed like that bullet was meant for a little bigger critter. But it worked . I thought about trying the 130s, but what I really wanted to do is find a good all around load and stick with it. Is what I experienced pretty normal for the Barnes bullet?

 

[Korhil78]

A lot of people don't like Barnes bullets on this site because they are longrange hunters who take game at 800 yards and beyond. The Barnes bullets have a tougher time opening up at those types of ranges due to the lack of velocity at those distances. I used to use Barnes bullets exclusively before I got into longrange hunting. I never have lost an animal and have never had an animal run more than 100 yards after being hit with a Barnes bullet. All my shots were from 500 yards and under with the Barnes bullets. Have killed many whitetail and a few mule deer with them. Never shot an elk with one though but I think it would be an excellent choice for elk.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

I try many, many bullets in my hunting rifles just for the fun of it. Virtually any of them will kill whitetails reliably but I like to experiment.

Recently I stumbled upon a load for the 130 TTSX in my .308 win that would reliably shoot under an inch at 200 yds. During my annual NC whitetail hunting excursion I decided to see exactly what this bullet could do.

I had a mature doe walking directly towards me at 200 yds when I dropped the hammer. The deer dropped at the shot but wasn't immediately dead so I put another round in her and it was lights out. The initial bullet traveled the full length of the deer and exited through one of her hindquarters.

After skinning the deer I noticed that there was no blood shot meat around the exit wound. Now I know why hunters occasionally say "you could eat right up to the hole". Any one of my cup and core bullets would have destroyed that hindquarter.

The mono metal bullets are certainly a different breed of bullet.

 

[snox801]

I've have never had a problem with them but I have seen them not open at all on game. My uncle used to use only them and he almost lost a nice deer in New Mexico. It penciled right through. He said its happened to him before. I think all bullets have some that don't function right nature of the beast I guess. But as stated before they worked great for me at close ranges never stretched them out. I haven't shot them in y and s as I switched to cutting edge and now hammers.

 

[just country]

morning, I have read that Barnes bullets like speed. the more speed the better the

results. also since barnes bullets r of solid construction. a loader does not have to use a

heavier bullet. I shoot the 145gr. TTSX. I could use a 150gr or 168gr in Barnes bullets.

the speed and construction of the lighter Barnes bullet gets better penetration.

I hunt coyotes and hogs with this lighter bullet. very good performance. I shoot

a custom 7mm Weatherby. my preference. love weatherby. in have 3 weatherby's.

257,7mm and 340. the 340 is an accu-mark. I had the 257 and 7mm built. I bought

the actions and furnished the H&S stocks and timmey triggers.lightbulbgun)

 

[wsmnut]

I have had great luck with Barnes bullets. My wife's .270 Win loves both the 130 TSX and the 110 TTSX. She has tagged several deer with both. They haven't travelled far, and we not caught any of them. All have performed as you saw. Caliber sized entrance, and a roughly quarter sized exit with carnage in between. She also got a 370" bull elk at 200 yards with the 130 TSX. Perfect performance. Broke a rib exiting. The longest was a mule deer last year at 340 yards that was a band flop. Amazing.
I have loaded TSX in a 325 WSM with good results from the 180gr. Ops checked on an Idaho mulie. Close range neck shot. DRT.
I've never seen any bloodshot meat in any of our deer or elk from these bullets.