Barnes triple shock disappointment

[RidgeReaper208]

I just got back from a hunting trip and had EXCELLENT performance from my 180 grain Barnes Triple Shock Bullets....I shoot a .300WM and I dropped a 275lbs + Mule Deer, perfect 5x5 in it's track with one shot through the front shoulder/heart and double lungs at 207 yards. On this same hunt, I dropped a 5x6 Bull Elk at 405 yards in it's tracks with one Barnes Triple Shock 180 grain round. The Elk ran roughly 30 yards and toppled over with no additional movement. After looking at your picture and knowing that those bullets are older than 10+ years old, ammo looses it's integrity over time and buying new ammo before each hunting season will ensure the knock down power that these rounds are capable of. I found my round in the opposite side of the hide on my Elk and it did everything Barnes advertised. I weighed the round after retrieving it and it came back at 176 grains, which means that it retained 97.7777778% of it's original weight.

My suggestion is that you buy some new Barnes Triple Shock ammo and then go hunting. I promise you will not be let down!!!! Even if your shot placement is a little off, the game will go down due to the energy these rounds release as well as the bullet expansion this bullet creates.

 

[RTK]

. I've seen many mind boggling acts made by perfectly hit animals. I've also seen many animals drop dead in their tracks due to hits that probably should've only wounded them.
Any and all bullets can fail, none are perfect. Some fail more often than others, but my experiences with Barnes hasn't shown that to be the case.

I think the most important thing for the barnes bullets are to ensure they are going fast enough to do as designed. They aren't designed to come totally apart or fragment and only retain a small portion of their original weight. They are a "high retention" bullet.

?

Exactly, I have been hunting four legged critters for over 30 years. I have had many bullets "seem" too not do their job when they worked beautifully for years with the same shot placement, no expansion, penciled through.

Unfortunately I reside in kalifornia, hunt mostly out of state now, and years ago those in charge decided certain areas needed to be lead free. I wanted one load to shoot at all deer and elk sized game be it here or elsewhere.

At that time I switched over to Barnes tsx. Since then I have been shooting tsx and ttsx reloads in 7mm & 300wm. The 10 plus dear and couple of elk have been dropped where they stand, no shoulder shots r. Some were quartering, some broad side and a couple dead on. To date no mea loset either.

Not saying these bullets are the end all be all, but they have worked well for me and I have yet to recover one.

I still believe shot placement goes a long way in putting down any animal fast and without meat lose.

 

[devins]

OK, I have only been junting for about 44 years so I am not the most experienced guy on here. I grew up farming and raising hogs and cattle and can weld and make about anything you need. But I also have a doctorate degree in a healthcare field which includes about as much anatomy as anyone has short of a PHd in anatomy, a minor in chemistry and a bunch of physics. The point of all of that is you all are talking about why do so many different things happen under so many different circumstances and the answers are as diverse as the situations and my background.

I have used 180 gr TTSX from my 308 Norma Magnum and taken 8 plains game animals in Namibia all with 1 shot kills other than the blue wildebeast that flung his head back right as i squeased off and his neck covered his shoulder and the shot broke his neck and I placed a follow up shot in his heart to hasten his head down. I took from impala to eland.

OK now here is the deal. What do you want the bullet to do. I like to drop an animal in its tracks. double lung is not the way to do that with a FMJ. You need a boxing glove sized bullet hitting in the thoracic cavity to ensure that. Oh my gosh that ****ed somebody off because by dar they have double lunged animals and they dropped right in ther tracks with a .243 ballistic tip. Yes you did but it was not becasue of perforating the lungs. You accidentally perforated the ascending aorta. What? Well a fragment of the bullet or rib bone cut a hole in the major blood vessel leaving the heart above the valve that allows it to maintain pressure creating a leak and loss of pressure to the brain and instantaineous collapse. That is what we want.

How do we do that consistantly? Shoot them in the brain as was done for many years when butchering cattle. My grandparents and parents butchered many after a single 22 LR shot to the head. That tends to not be a really good shot on game or messes up measuring your rack for the B&C record. So we can shoot them in the neck and severe or traumatize the spinal cord. Yes you find the animal and depending on size, of animal and projectile(and speed in other words the hammer you just whacked it in the neck with) it will be dead, in the process or you can follow up like I did on the wildebeast. But on a smaller animal and at longer range this can be a pretty small target.

There are some good guys that advocate a high shoulder shot and I like there thinking. I was on a trip in '92 and watche my dad's bullet impact on a mule deer buck and for a vital shot I could not imagine it being placed any better, it was a definite double lunger. Yes and he ran off with the heard. I did not like all of that extra work. I had read an article about bullet construction and hitting the shoulder intentionally, OH Lord help us! Some one else just got ****ed. But I dropped my deer on that trip in its tracks hitting the shoulder. I was before the days of the High Shoulder shot but I was also only a little over 100 yards.

I have seen a light jacketed bullet that I had seen friends use on broadside double lung shots that performed excellently and then another friend we were helping get his first deer, and the bullet skimmed along the outside of the ribcage and when I helped him fielddress the deer I confirmed this from inside the thoracic cavity, there were no perforations, the bullet did soft tissue damage only on the outside of the ribcage.

I have been writing this between patients and the continuity could be better and I am done for the day and going to go sit in a deer stand and will pick this up later. Don't anyone get too mad yet and I will explain the rest.

 

[Broz]

Yup, looks just like what they did for me back when I used them. They are what drove me to try a fragmenting bullet. I really thank Barnes for that, I am a happy camper now.

Jeff

 

[Derek M.]

Are you a dentist?

 

[gillettehunter]

I don't post much, but I'll add my .02 for what its worth. I've hunted for over 40 yrs. I've had bullet failures from Speer and Ballistic tips. Where the bullet "blows up" on impact on a shoulder. Even on antelope...A few years ago I saw a great write up on the TTSX bullets that were tried in Africa. So I bought some to try. The accuracy has been very good. Performance has been good. A few years ago I punched the south end of a north bound 4 pt mule deer. .270 WSM w/ a 130 TTSX. I thought my buddy had hit him while running. He went less than 200 yards. Bullet was recovered on the front shoulder. Almost all of the way through. Elk 2 yrs ago. Large 5X5. Bullet through the shoulder and he went perhaps 75 yards. 300 WSM w/ a 150 grain TTSX. My son killed a elk that yr and again this yr. Seem to do a good job. Best advice has been given. Hit bone and run them relatively fast. I have NOT shot the TSX. Use the TTSX. They open up faster. I've only recovered 3 bullets. All opened up w/ 4 petals as advertised. My hunting buddy has admired the fact that they open up and "kill" well.
This yr. I'm trying Bergers in my new 6.5-06. Good results so far. Opposite end. Use heavy for caliber bullets. My sheep and antelope didn't go far. Hopefully get to try it on a deer soon. Bruce

 

[Dalebow]

Shot a speed goat at 75 yards with my 257 weatherby and 80 gr ttsx, exit you could put a fist in.................the following week left Wyoming for CO shot a goat there 330 yards, same results.
Have shot tons of deer with TSX and TTSX, they work.

You used a 140gr bullet in your 270 which would be fine for Elk or deer hit in the shoulder but they will not open up on soft tissue, had you used a 130 grain your results would have been different, not the bullet's fault, its the shooter's fault.

 

[300 ultra]

Shot a speed goat at 75 yards with my 257 weatherby and 80 gr ttsx, exit you could put a fist in.................the following week left Wyoming for CO shot a goat there 330 yards, same results.
Have shot tons of deer with TSX and TTSX, they work.

You used a 140gr bullet in your 270 which would be fine for Elk or deer hit in the shoulder but they will not open up on soft tissue, had you used a 130 grain your results would have been different, not the bullet's fault, its the shooter's fault.

How do you figure Dale? Go post your bullsh*t somewhere else. So if I used a 140 gr ballistic tip there wouldn't of been an issue.would there?

 

[Derek M.]

140 Barnes in a 270 open just fine on soft tissue, tissue so soft it surrounded the coyotes vitals. Nice golf ball sized exits on all of 'em.

 

[Dalebow]

Not bull%^#$, the wrong bullet was chosen for shooting a deer in the lungs, 140gr bst isnt designed to perform like a TSX, GMX, ETC, not trying to rub anyone the wrong way, If I shoot an ELk with a 130gr BST and complain about no performance, is it my fault or the bullet's fault. Just an observation from shooting over 100 animals with TSX and TTSX.

 

[Pdvdh]

I will put of pics of the bullet once I have more time.

Are you going to post a picture of the bullet you recovered?

 

[Korhil78]

Haha..you guys are giving 300Ultra crap for something that happened two years ago. I believe (from his Wyoming hunt this year) that he is using ballistic tips now in his 270 and Barnes in his 25-06? Let it go. He is still killing animals.

 

[NCBoy]

I do agree that shot placement is very important. I have shot 6 deer in the last few years with Barnes triple shocks. All were high shoulder shot at less than 200 yards. All were killed but every one had to be tracked and wound channels were weak. All died but had to be found.

 

[Derek M.]

I do agree that shot placement is very important. I have shot 6 deer in the last few years with Barnes triple shocks. All were high shoulder shot at less than 200 yards. All were killed but every one had to be tracked and wound channels were weak. All died but had to be found.

what cartridge?