3300fps to fast for Barnes TTSX

[Donnie Spradling]

i shoot them out of a 243 win. , 6.5 CM , 257 Weatherby , and 300 WSM and have never had any problems although i have never taken a shot at a deer quartering away that hard. i killed a bear last season using the TTSX in my 243 Win @ 80 yards went through both front shoulders through and through. bear ran 20 yards ran into a tree and collapsed.

 

[284ackley]

Not a bullet failure, a poor shot placement failure. The bullet expanded and dumped all/most of its energy and wound cavity damage in the himd quarter where the only kill organ was the femoral artery, which you didn't hit. Next time oass on a shot like that and wait for a chest cavity shot. I'll bet you had a hell of a mess in the hind quarters re meat.

 

[PantaRhei]

I shot my first deer the day after Thanksgiving this year, using the 100 gr TTSX Weatherby Select Plus (257 Wby). The deer was trotting parrelel to me through a field only 45-50 yards away, and the wound channel was absolutely unreal...I could put a fist through the entry, through both lungs, and out the exit...Several ribs pulverized on both sides. The hit flipped her and dropped her in her tracks. First pic is entry, second is exit.

 

[112Savage]

I shot a waterbuck this summer with two shots shooting 258gr hammer bullets from a 9.3x62 at 2600fps. The first shot went through the front part of the shoulder/neck at 215yds and the second went from left ham to right shoulder at about 150yds. This antelope (about the size of a 500#steer) still ran over 400yds and had 3 more bullets put into him before I got to put my hands on him. The first two shot were lethal but we pushed him and he was an old tough bull. The bullet performed well but shot placements weren't super ideal. Some animals just LIVE. Use that combo in your rifle for many seasons and you may never have this happen again

 

[floyd kittrell]

I have also never encountered anything like this and have killed hundreds of deer running them ( 30 cal. 130 grain) from 3400 to over 4000fps . All three of my hunting rifles loved them super fast and light for caliber , all deer shot were dead and very short death runs. Sounds like poor bullet placement but I did not see it and will not judge Sir !

 

[srogerson]

On the bright side, you harvested a beautiful deer, and the meat was kept fresh by the best method available. A beating heart.

Congrats!

 

[JAYgs8163]

A quartering away shot can be tricky and doesn't always work out all the time. A slightly differ angle and a completely different result.

 

[dk17hmr]

I have had excellent results with a 100gr TSX from my 25-06AI at 3555fps. Not sure if the tip makes that much of a difference on expansion maybe more explosive I don't know.

I have used TTSXs in 22-250s at 3600fps and in 6.8spc at 2660fps with excellent results.

I have never had an animals stop a monolithic bullet either.

 

[Stan Malinky]

After 50 years of hunting Deer and Elk with many calibers, about 20 years ago I purchased a Browning Titanium Mtn. rifle in 300WSM for its out of the box weight, being an old fart now. I started out using 168 TTSX and never looked back. What I found in the majority of animals taken, the monolithic bullets do not always exit the animal and when it doesn't it expends 100% of the energy with 95% weight retention into the animal. I had one Elk where the bullet did exit the animal but the heart was mush. Dropped where he stood.

 

[Wolf76]

Confidence is super important in shooting. With those results, I'd find something else to shoot out of that gun. Shot placement aside, barnes are said to be near 100% weight retention and unfold like a banana. Its clear the bullet lost its petals and penetrated like a fmj. Could be a fluke or could be a design flaw. Either way, thank you for sharing.

 

[Alibiiv]

Only bone I hit was the shoulder.

I use Barnes bullets all of the time, however.........not at the velocities that you are writing about; 30-06 180gr TSX, .358 Win 200gr TTSX, 35 Whelen 225 TSX. I keep hoping to find a recovered bullet just to see how it performs, but I am left with only a "very" large exit hole and no bullet to recover. I did shoot a black bear on year with the Barnes 180gr TSX at very close range with the 30-06 @ 2800fps, the bullet traveled the entire length of that bear and exited again leaving a very large exit hole.

I am curious if there was perhaps anything/obstacle/twig between you and where you shot the deer and the bullet hit something before it reached your buck? I am not being critical by any means here, I am curious? From what I have read, even if the bullet didn't open up, the bullet should have traveled through the buck with enough energy to exit the buck as well.

From what you have written, you have some great neighbors, who gave you the opportunity to get a great looking buck. Congratulations on both.

 

[TXTrained]

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.

Before I read your whole story I thought you were shooting them a little too fast.
However I loaded some Hot one in my 7mmRem Mag. Abd have not had that problem either.They were designed to do a lot of damage and looks like they sure failed you.

 

[Mike Matteson]

I use a 25-06 for a great many years. I started with 100gr Nosler partition and it blood shot one side of that deer. That was the last time I used them. The boxes still on my shelve. I changed to 120gr Ballistic Tips, and never look back. I tried Barnes in early 2000 in 308 Norma Mag, and didn't have much luck with them.. I couldn't get the velocity nor groups under 1" @ 100yds. The Nosler's were a different story. I have had excellent luck with them. I use 165gr in my 308 Norma Mag, and 200gr in my 338WM. They all open up and did a good job with it wound channel. Blood shot was very little at any range. If the animal didn't go down in a short distance it was because of a poor shot by me. I don't have a rifle I feel will handle the Hammer bullets yet. Do the twist rate, but it's almost here. I am very touchy about what I use for bullets. Now the 308NM and 338WM have velocity of 3200+fps, Never had a chronograph at the the time I was using the 25-06. Th other is they don't make the 120gr Nosler anymore. I have a few left, but I save them.

 

[Chas1]

Congratulations, nice buck !!!