3300fps to fast for Barnes TTSX

[Tiny Tim]

Sierra and Barnes are owned by the same company but don't have anything to do with each other as far as manufacturing

Thanks for the clarification. I just know alot of times things change with new ownership. I know of no such thing in this case but was wondering if anyone could shed some light on it. Thanks again!

 

[tooth doc]

I use accubonds in my 257 Weatherby the 100 grain Barnes ttsx keyholed at 100 yards at 3700 fps so I threw about 2 boxes of them in trashcan and never bought another Barnes product since

kind of rash. have used barnes for over 20 years, in several iterations, X, xc, tsx, ttsx in 257 baker and weatherby, 6.5 baker, 264 winch, 270, 270 wsm. 280 ai, 7 rem, 28 nosler, 7 dakota, 7wsm, 7 stw, 7rum, 8 rem mag, 284 win, 300 winch, 300 wsm, 300 weatherby, 300 rum, 338 win, 338 rum. 338 lapua, 375 hh, 375 rum and have never had a bullet keyhole. obviosly your gun doesnt like them as happens with every bullet in some guns. to trash a whole line that performs so well for MOST guns is a little rash. wish you had sent me those bullets, they shoot .5 moa in my gun, a blaser 257 weatherby.

 

[Calvin45]

I took 2 deer (whitetail, antlerless mule) this year with a 120 Barnes tac tx (ttsx with waaaay bigger tip and hollow point, meant for .300 blackout) doing 4050 feet per second at the muzzle…3300 is positively lethargic in comparison haha. It was very lethal, they did shed their petals, but I might opt for a slower bullet just because of meat damage. They say monos don't damage meat like lead core…they do when you hit major bone way faster than 3000 fps …100 percent my bonehead move, I now call this gun and load (.300 win mag) "the blender". Never seen destruction like that. But extremely effective, on the doe I just hit ribs and she instantly collapsed like hit by lightning.

 

[tooth doc]

I took 2 deer (whitetail, antlerless mule) this year with a 120 Barnes tac tx (ttsx with waaaay bigger tip and hollow point, meant for .300 blackout) doing 4050 feet per second at the muzzle…3300 is positively lethargic in comparison haha. It was very lethal, they did shed their petals, but I might opt for a slower bullet just because of meat damage. They say monos don't damage meat like lead core…they do when you hit major bone way faster than 3000 fps …100 percent my bonehead move, I now call this gun and load (.300 win mag) "the blender". Never seen destruction like that. But extremely effective, on the doe I just hit ribs and she instantly collapsed like hit by lightning.

try 168 ttsx, great for deer to elk, eland kudu. i get 3260 in 300 wsm, you may do a little better in 300 win. never had a bullet fail if i put it in a good place. longest range 642 yds. my son shot a nice mulie with same load at 1020. in my gun they shoot about .6 moa.

 

[Calvin45]

try 168 ttsx, great for deer to elk, eland kudu. i get 3260 in 300 wsm, you may do a little better in 300 win. never had a bullet fail if i put it in a good place. longest range 642 yds. my son shot a nice mulie with same load at 1020. in my gun they shoot about .6 moa.

Nice…and again, I don't think these bullets failed but they were just hard on meat based on my shot placement. No bullet that swiftly kills the intended game can be said to have failed in my books. And I'm shamelessly in love with the trajectory! The 120 tac tx has a g1 bc of .358 which is actually great for the weight, haven't independently verified that, wouldn't surprise me if it behaves like it's higher than this at these speeds. With a bc of .358 and an mv of 4050 fps one could zero it for 400 yards and be 5 inches high from 200-250 and only 8.5 inches low at 500. A hold on hair to 500 load. Now I don't like that much midrange rise myself but just showing off here haha.

I don't have any other Barnes in my stash right now but the bullet I'm probably going to try next just for fun is the 180 federal trophy bonded tip. Seems like a solid all purpose capable bullet.

 

[NMMerriam7401]

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.

Try the Nosler Partition! Awesome bullet.

 

[DLJ6]

Congrats on a nice buck. I run the 80grn TTSX out of my 1954 Roberts. Have killed several deer with the combo but nothing as nice as your buck, never had a bullet performance issue. I have also used other Barnes bullets since the late 90s and have only ever lost one animal, a big sow hog in North Georgia, 130xlc, 15" 308 Encore. I can't blame the bullet as I am not exactly sure where she was hit. I am trying some Hammers in my 6 creed this winter but as of now Barnes bullets are still my go to for use on critters.

 

[CNY Yote Hunter]

This was an 80 grain tsx at 3400 FPS recovered from the biggest whitetail I've ever shot to date. Was a frontal shot at 190 yards give or take a yard or two cause it's been a few years. Drt and projectile was recovered right under the skin at the diaphragm before the guts. Held perfectly, but this is the only one I've ever recovered so I don't have anything more on the subject. Only thing that comes to mind is mine was a tsx vs the ttsx and I have seen BT projectiles explode more then hold together more times than not. Nice buck!!! Glad you were able to find him

 

[tooth doc]

Nice…and again, I don't think these bullets failed but they were just hard on meat based on my shot placement. No bullet that swiftly kills the intended game can be said to have failed in my books. And I'm shamelessly in love with the trajectory! The 120 tac tx has a g1 bc of .358 which is actually great for the weight, haven't independently verified that, wouldn't surprise me if it behaves like it's higher than this at these speeds. With a bc of .358 and an mv of 4050 fps one could zero it for 400 yards and be 5 inches high from 200-250 and only 8.5 inches low at 500. A hold on hair to 500 load. Now I don't like that much midrange rise myself but just showing off here haha.

I don't have any other Barnes in my stash right now but the bullet I'm probably going to try next just for fun is the 180 federal trophy bonded tip. Seems like a solid all purpose capable bullet.

i use barnes in 80 percent of hunting loads. want to try hammers. love begers in some guns, 195's in my 28 nosler, 300 in my 338 lapua and 350 in my 375 cheytac . and yes these are hunting rifles.

 

[tooth doc]

This was an 80 grain tsx at 3400 FPS recovered from the biggest whitetail I've ever shot to date. Was a frontal shot at 190 yards give or take a yard or two cause it's been a few years. Drt and projectile was recovered right under the skin at the diaphragm before the guts. Held perfectly, but this is the only one I've ever recovered so I don't have anything more on the subject. Only thing that comes to mind is mine was a tsx vs the ttsx and I have seen BT projectiles explode more then hold together more times than not. Nice buck!!! Glad you were able to find himView attachment 318504View attachment 318506

typical performance for me with barnes. i still believe he hit something before the buck to blow the nose off.

 

[Grizzly60]

Confidence 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.

A fluke is just what it was. I have 3 recovered 165gr. from a 300WM. 1 from water jugs. (7th jug) 1 from s whitetail shot front center and recovered from back ham at the hide, and 1 from a axis quartering away at 300 yds and dug it out of a tree. Petals in tact on all 3. The tree recovery is a confidace builder for sure. I've been shooting Barnes sense the originals came out, in 308, 300 WSM and 300WM. To this date never lost a animal.
Reading all the negatives on Barnes makes one go, hmm. But the proof is in the animals that dropped. I've read negatives about the hammer's. I'm going to load some in 308 when I get low.

 

[Grizzly60]

It never hit the hind quarter l. Bullet went in front of hind quarter in what I call the flank.

Flank is at the back side of the gut.
You asked for opinions and got them. But you seem angered in your replys. There's a unsatisfactory round in every make. But life goes on to shoot again.

 

[Shortmag11]

I've had the same exact experience with the light for caliber TTSX. I was running 110gr out of a 270wsm at 3350 MV and had trouble finding blood on several deer and what blood that was found was pin drops. Also, lost 2 deer that season shooting them. Moved on from them in that rifle. I still shoot them in a 7RM 140gr and 150gr and 168gr out of a 300wsm and have no problems with any of them. Seems to only be a problem with the light for caliber or extreme velocity loads. Glad you found your deer.

 

[David Thomas]

Just a question. Why do you need such a high muzzle velocity when belted magnums preform well between 2900 and 3000 fps. By the way nice buck