3300fps to fast for Barnes TTSX

[Mike Matteson]

I use a 338WM in a Ruger Mark 11. 24" barrel. Using Nosler Accubond 200gr @ 3230fps. All one shot kills in Africa the other year. Other rifle a 308NM @ 3300 fps with a 165gr Accubond. Put down elk out to 400yds. Both loads are hot, with fatten primers, no ejector marks, nor creating of primers either. Yardage from 30 to 400, and not a problem. All open and didn't explode, good wound channel and from one end to the other. Some bullets remained in the animal, but most didn't. The only time a second shot was required, was because of a poorly placed shot the first time.

 

[284ackley]

I use a 338WM in a Ruger Mark 11. 24" barrel. Using Nosler Accubond 200gr @ 3230fps. All one shot kills in Africa the other year. Other rifle a 308NM @ 3300 fps with a 165gr Accubond. Put down elk out to 400yds. Both loads are hot, with fatten primers, no ejector marks, nor creating of primers either. Yardage from 30 to 400, and not a problem. All open and didn't explode, good wound channel and from one end to the other. Some bullets remained in the animal, but most didn't. The only time a second shot was required, was because of a poorly placed shot the first time.

I shoot Barnes exclusively in 25-06ai up to .375H&Hai with about 10 calibers in between. My 25-06ai runs at 3485fps on 100gr TTSX. Absolutely Love it. No issues with any caliber. DRT.

 

[CNY Yote Hunter]

I don't believe speed would be a factor, this was recovered from a big NY whitetail a couple years ago and the only Barnes I've ever recovered from an animal. This was an 80 grain ttsx pushing over 3600 fps and worked flawlessly. Shot was also only 90 yards or so and a frontal shot which I'm sure is the only reason I recovered the projectile. It went through the brisket and rested under the skin at the diaphragm by the guts so it penetrated plenty deep. That being said at 90 yards that projectile would still be well over the 3300 fps. I did however just have an incident like yours with a Berger out of a 22-250. Wonder if the hp and tipped coppers are going to have intermittent results because this topic seems to be popping up more frequently

 

[Chas1]

Nice buck congratulations. Go with what your confident in.

 

[cabelasken]

View attachment 348917
I don't believe speed would be a factor, this was recovered from a big NY whitetail a couple years ago and the only Barnes I've ever recovered from an animal. This was an 80 grain ttsx pushing over 3600 fps and worked flawlessly. Shot was also only 90 yards or so and a frontal shot which I'm sure is the only reason I recovered the projectile. It went through the brisket and rested under the skin at the diaphragm by the guts so it penetrated plenty deep. That being said at 90 yards that projectile would still be well over the 3300 fps. I did however just have an incident like yours with a Berger out of a 22-250. Wonder if the hp and tipped coppers are going to have intermittent results because this topic seems to be popping up more frequently

I've only recovered one TSX and one TTSX bullets. Both had penetrated over two feet of animal before stopping one in the hip bone of a large mulie/blacktail mix and the other from a diagonal shot from back to front on a large bull elk - bullet stopped in the far shoulder bone. All other 30+ kills with these bullets have been complete pass thru's on both elk and deer with the far side hide showing a clover petal exit and the wound channel from start to finish about 4 to 6 inches. I'd say performance has been perfect! I did try their newer long range bullet last year and the first Kill - a cow elk at 420 yds was perfect. As stated above, speed is not an issue as long as impact velocity is above 2000 fps - expansion is gonna happen. With the long range bullet, I believe it only needs 1500 FPS. I know Barnes states a lower velocity, but with the calibers I'm shooting, the 2000 minimum threshold is way beyond the range I will take a shot.

 

[Youngpatriot]

I shoot Barnes exclusively in 25-06ai up to .375H&Hai with about 10 calibers in between. My 25-06ai runs at 3485fps on 100gr TTSX. Absolutely Love it. No issues with any caliber. DRT.

Ironically enough, I have 80gr Tsx in 243 WSSM. Absolutely love em. They drop yotes, high and deer in their tracks. I guess, I was thinking a 200 yard lung shot or closer, with 270 WSM, I was expecting better results..

I am anxiously awaiting my wife to smoke a besr with that gun, curious to see results.

 

[budlight]

My first experience with Barnes X bullets. I went to a Safari international convention and spoke to Barnes people they were handing out all kinds of calibers that had been shot into water. Barnes told me to load up their 405 grain in my 458 win mag and try them on lions and all the plains game. loaded to 2500 fps out of my 26 inch barrel. Those things were phenomenal.

From that day on I started using Barnes X bullets in all kinds of calibers. the 130 X are very effective at 3300 fps out of a 270 AI. I don't do bad angle shots on game animals. I just let them go and hunt another day.

 

[Youngpatriot]

This was my only mediocre result with them. I didn't get to see the vitals, my dad it it dressed out, until I got there. Maybe I'm thinking to much into. I reckon this buck may have had a that desire to stay in his feet, I've never seen ang like it.

 

[tooth doc]

My dad shoots 338 Win mag, 210 gr TTSX, my brother shoots 338 RUM 225 TTSX and I have a 300 RUM 180 TSX.
My dad's shoots 2880 FPS, brothers 2900 FPS, and I am 3300FPS.

Speaking Elk here.

Dad's, one shot drops, with devastating hydro shock. 100-350 yards.

Brother, 60-350 yard shots hit his last bull at 350, dropped it, great results.
First bull was at 60 yards, hit it 4 times, guide hit it with 3 shots before it dropped out of 300RUM Bergers.
Looked like Swiss cheese, but brothers never opened up until he took out shoulders.

My elk at 774 (Nosler partitions) didn't open up.
621 yard shot (Barnes TSX, dropped it, devasting results.
Last bull was 37 yards and Demo'd it (TSX)

Wife's 270WSM TTSX, 200 yard shot, 4 shots on buck this year, not one opened up.

I'm not a physics person, or engineer, but I'm nervous about shooting another whitetail through the lungs with fast rounds and Barnes. Shoulder shots from here on out, or through the chest if it's facing me.

have been using barnes ttsx and tsx since they first came out. i use 168 's in my 300wsm at 3260 and have never had failure of any type. shot a small bear in canada at about 50 yds, huge exit wound. shot a whitail going over the hill at about 75 yds with a texas heartshot, had a 3 in exit middle of chest. shot literally over 100 head of big game in the us, canada and africa 23 trips, with zero bullet failures out to 723 yds, my longest shot. near to far, no failures. i have used bergers in a couple of guns and they kill, but not to happy with the lack of exits and blood trail, makes tracking and finding difficult in thick grass and bush. i expect similiar performance from the 143 hammer hunters i am trying in my 28 nosler at 3650 this next month in africa. in a nutshell, barnes ttsx work!!! slower, faster doesnt matter much from my experience. cant speak past 723 yds , but with 250 or so kills with 6.5, 277, 284, 308, 338, 375 and 458 and 470 they have all worked well for me.

 

[crocket]

I recently bought some 100 grain Barnes TTSX for my 257 Roberts AI. I have heard how tough and indestructible these bullets are. Well I through a load together for the Wisconsin gun deer season. Load was 50 grains of RL17 and a CCI200 and I was getting 3294fps with a ES of 7 over 5 shots and just under 1MOA. I thought this would be a great load where my shots would range between 50-300 yards. Well I got my opportunity on a good buck on the last Saturday evening of the season.
The buck quartering away at 170 yards away in a cut cornfield just about to go into the woods. I ended up shooting him in the flank and was expecting bullet would come out either in front of the off side shoulder or would end up coming to rest right in his shoulder. The buck hunched up and took off into the woods. I waited 1 hour and went to look for blood. I found a little blood which was very spotty at best. After about 75 yards of tracking I reached our line fence and head something take off. I backed out and called the neighbors.
They said they'd be doing a deer drive in the morning and I was more than welcome to come along. Fast forward to the next day 16 hours later to be exact I caught up to the buck on the drive and had to finish him off. While I was cutting up the deer Tuesday night I found my bullet it had come to rest right under his off side shoulder blade. All the pedals had sheared off or the tip busted one or the other. I was astonished that this would happen. And now know why the deer was still alive as it had just left a 1/4 inch wound channel through the deer.
So I decided to email Barnes and their reply was that I'm probably shooting these bullets to fast and that they dont test bullets past 3000fps. They also told me my impact velocity was probably around 2950fps. And pretty much told me tough luck. I've shot Nosler accubonds outt my 25-06 at faster muzzle velocity than the Barnes and have never had a experience like this. So I'm just giving a heads up to some of you that are running big magnums at higher velocities than I'm running. You might run into this problem. Hopefully not but I will be switching back to accubonds if I can find them or Berger 133's.

I've never had a problem with ttsx, I shoot 150 grain barnes through my .300 win mag @3460 and never, I said never ruined meat or had one run, one shot one kill, shot placement is key.

 

[Starlite]

I'm going after yotes this coming week. I'll be using new old stock 95gr Barnes X out of a Savage 10-T SR in 6mm Creedmoor.
Stay tuned. Hopefully I'll have some results.

 

[Mike Matteson]

I'm going after yotes this coming week. I'll be using new old stock 95gr Barnes X out of a Savage 10-T SR in 6mm Creedmoor.
Stay tuned. Hopefully I'll have some results.

Good hunting!

 

[floyd kittrell]

NO , run them at the top always load light for bullet, caliber weight and at or near max speed if possible . They are not going to come apart , they are solid monolithic bullets. I run 125 30 caliber Barnes over 4000 and never recovered one. all have been pas throughs. restrict your distance to the speed the specific speed the bullet fully opens . Most of them open fully around 1800FPS but some as low as 15 too-1600 FPS . Call Barnes and they will provide this info , run your ballistics and determine max range you should shoot your critter. Did I leave anything out ? if so , please add !

 

[RockyMtnMT]

NO , run them at the top always load light for bullet, caliber weight and at or near max speed if possible . They are not going to come apart , they are solid monolithic bullets. I run 125 30 caliber Barnes over 4000 and never recovered one. all have been pas throughs. restrict your distance to the speed the specific speed the bullet fully opens . Most of them open fully around 1800FPS but some as low as 15 too-1600 FPS . Call Barnes and they will provide this info , run your ballistics and determine max range you should shoot your critter. Did I leave anything out ? if so , please add !

Watch your stability. Particularly in the 25 and 27 cal. Many of the bullets marketed for these calibers are not fully stable in the slow 1-10" factory twists.