Utah cow and Barnes TSX

[Winfwt338-06]

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.

Stick with Barnes. Dead is dead. I worked for Barnes in the early 2000's and shot their number 3 reloading manual data. The Ttsx are a better choice. Barnes doesn't design their bullets for postal loss like hammer and cutting edge. Back when I was shooting for them the bullets that Federal loaded in their Premium ammo would retain 100% grain weight at 25 yards at full muzzle velocity. Bone is hard on elk, and shot angle affects how the petals strike it. I shot my only bull elk in Utah with a 375 Why and a 270gr TSX at 80 yds. Bull took that bullet at 2700fps and at 80yds. Hit it with the equivalent of a VW Bettle through both front shoulders and he didn't flinch. Walked 30yds and stood there for a couple minutes then piled up. Your situation speaks to the toughness of the animal. Deer hit in the heart will run quite a distance even though the heat can't function. Barnes have a better BC than other monolithic bullets. I've always found it interesting that people are flocking to bullets designed to do what they complained the Barnes bullets did in the early years, losing their petals. You will have the same pencil exits and internal damage with the other bullets you listed. Try the TTSX and stick to 165 or 168 gr. I hope this helps

 

[cabelasken]

Stick with Barnes. Dead is dead. I worked for Barnes in the early 2000's and shot their number 3 reloading manual data. The Ttsx are a better choice. Barnes doesn't design their bullets for postal loss like hammer and cutting edge. Back when I was shooting for them the bullets that Federal loaded in their Premium ammo would retain 100% grain weight at 25 yards at full muzzle velocity. Bone is hard on elk, and shot angle affects how the petals strike it. I shot my only bull elk in Utah with a 375 Why and a 270gr TSX at 80 yds. Bull took that bullet at 2700fps and at 80yds. Hit it with the equivalent of a VW Bettle through both front shoulders and he didn't flinch. Walked 30yds and stood there for a couple minutes then piled up. Your situation speaks to the toughness of the animal. Deer hit in the heart will run quite a distance even though the heat can't function. Barnes have a better BC than other monolithic bullets. I've always found it interesting that people are flocking to bullets designed to do what they complained the Barnes bullets did in the early years, losing their petals. You will have the same pencil exits and internal damage with the otollowinher bullets you listed. Try the TTSX and stick to 165 or 168 gr. I hope this helps

Yep - a few years ago I backed up a shot made by one of my hunting partners on a bull hit with a 338 Lapua right under the spine but above the shoulder structure. The bull had traveled 3/4 of a mile following the herd when it came by me. I stopped the bull with a TTSX 168 that traveled diagonal from just in front of the near ham to the middle of the far shoulder. It wasn't dead when we got to it, but never moved after the hit. Barnes bullets have accounted for 30 animals for me in the last 15 years and another 15 or 20 for my friends that I load for. I've had nosler partitions completely come apart on two occasions - apparently a bad batch of 140 Gr 7MM partitions and a friend had a few unfortunate results with Bergers from what he described as perfect hits on bulls in Colorado. He claimed the Hunting Bergers didn't penetrate into the vitals after a quartering shoulder hit. I know he is a excellent range shooter, but I've never seen him shoot in the field, so I could not confirm his accousations.

 

[bigngreen]

I've always found it interesting that people are flocking to bullets designed to do what they complained the Barnes bullets did in the early years, losing their petals. You will have the same pencil exits and internal damage with the other bullets you listed. Try the TTSX and stick to 165 or 168 gr. I hope this helps

All the monos act differently, the reason the newer mono companies have gone more to a frangible type is it's more lethal while still exiting and much better tracking through the game. Barnes has kept trying to update the design but it's fundementally flawed, you can change the ogive and stick a tip in it but it's still what it is and so many other bullets have passed it in terminal performance all they have is marketing left honestly.