The Most DISSAPOINTING Bullet there ever was...

[cabelasken]

Worst 2 performers on game for me have been Sierra and Berger.
Sierra 257 117g BTSP shoots lights out in both my 26-06 and 257 Weatherby, but on anything bigger than a fox they break apart and I had very poor performance at distance on Fallow deer, above 300 metres.
Same issue with Sierra 375 300g BTSP out of either my 375H&H or 375 Weatherby, simply break apart when needed. Both times, on Water Buff, the jacket was no where near the core, the core leaves the party real soon.

Any Berger OTM/EOL in any calibre has done weird things for me, especially when started above 3300fps. Weirdest thing is when they fail to expand correctly, one side gets a petal then the entire bullet tumbles. Had this happen at 660, 780 & 800 and recovered all of them bent like bananas and sideways in the animals, most were scrub bulls and the other was a donkey. I even had one pencil through on a Sambar deer at just under 400 the first year I used them. I had been cleaning tips the whole time too, so just WEIRD! I no longer use them.

Cheers.

A fellow at a range I used to shoot at used Bergers for years and was an excellent field and range shooter. He took many bulls beyond the 600 yd mark and most were perfect one shot kills. Then one year he took a 700 yd shot and his guide watching thru his spotting scope told him good shot. The guide said the location of the hit was in the crease about 1/2 way up the body. Well that bull walked over the hill and they never saw him again. I asked him if he was gonna switch to another bullet and his response was - nope - no other bullet prints 1/4" groups for me.

 

[horsefor4]

Barnes shot great killed horrible

 

[Calvin45]

I use the 140 TSX in a 284 win - taken 6 or 7 animals with it. muzzle velocity was 2950 and took a 6x6 bull (my first) at about 125 yds middle of the lungs shot the bull ran straight at me and I could see blood spurting from both entrance and exit holes. The bull piled up 35 yds from where I stood - exit hole in hide had a perfect 4 petal shape. That was the furthest any animal has run after being hit by one of my shots. Taken 8 or 9 animals with 168 TTSX from a 300 WSM. One was shot diagonally from top of near hip to lower opposite shoulder. I was shooting from a cliff and trying to stop a 6x6 bull wounded by another hunter in our party. The bull went and stayed down but wasn't dead when we arrived. All other animals were poked someplace in the lungs or heart area. Longest shot has been 435 yds so impact velocity in all cases has been above 2250 FPS. I firmly believe impact velocity has a lot to do with the Barnes bullet performance and limit my range to about 1/4 mile. I have killed two other elk that were wounded by others in our party - I hate to see an animal lost. In my opinion if you are gonna use factory ammo, you should chose a bullet that is adequate for the task at hand - not for the perfect shot, but for the off angle shot that requires a bit of penetration..

Agree about the factory ammo choice. I handload but for those that don't, if your gun shoots them acceptably well, I'm a big fan of the federal trophy bonded tip for this reason.

 

[MagnumManiac]

A fellow at a range I used to shoot at used Bergers for years and was an excellent field and range shooter. He took many bulls beyond the 600 yd mark and most were perfect one shot kills. Then one year he took a 700 yd shot and his guide watching thru his spotting scope told him good shot. The guide said the location of the hit was in the crease about 1/2 way up the body. Well that bull walked over the hill and they never saw him again. I asked him if he was gonna switch to another bullet and his response was - nope - no other bullet prints 1/4" groups for me.

Were they OTM/EOL bullets?
I hunted deer for several years with 210g Hybrid and then switched to 215g Hybrid, never had an issue, but my shots were limited to inside of 500 due to terrain.
I'm not knocking ALL Berger bullets, just those that failed on more than one occasion. I've had Nosler Accubonds in 375 cal that performed weird, but it was once out of the several hundred I hunt with, didn't stop me using them because the bullet didn't fail, it just didn't penetrate through the pelvis on a Water buff and looks funny after finding it.
All of these were recovered from 2 bulls shot after each other, 260g Accubonds fired @ 3000fps from my 375 Weatherby. The one on the left is the one recovered from the hip, the marks on it are from me using my knife to remove from the upper pelvis.

Cheers.

 

[birddog 68]

For cup and cores I can say the 130 and 150 flat base hornady interlocks in a .270 are just awesome. For deer hunting at boring ranges I do not believe a premium bullet is going to kill as fast, certainly not any faster, and may be worse. And they get through deer shoulders just fine.

Agree with all of this but I have a serious question, if the Hornady interlock would fail to penetrate the shoulder totally would you consider it a bullet failure?
In the past I've used Speer hot cor and cor lokt for doing shoulder shots but I consider them a step up from interlock.

 

[Darryle]

The ELD-X completely broke me of using/trusting Hornady.

Same rifle 300 WSM, 10 twist, 178gr ELD-X, same lot of bullets, powder and Hornady brass with vastly different results over 60yds to 325yds. Great accuracy over a variety of distances, on game results were a guessing game.

Penciled at 60yds, fist sized holes at 325yds. Penciled again at 140yds, multiple pencils at 225yds, few nights later, performed perfectly, like a cup and core bonded.

Granted, this was in the infancy of the ELD-X bullet and I haven't tried one since, 2016/2017ish, so I honestly can't say they are still like that. I remember the reports and the mixed results and recall Hornady addressed it, but there are so many great bullets to try, I haven't circled back.

I noticed they no longer offer the 178gr as a factory loaded offering for the 300 WSM, but the bullet is still available.

 

[Ol' Red]

Agree with all of this but I have a serious question, if the Hornady interlock would fail to penetrate the shoulder totally would you consider it a bullet failure?
In the past I've used Speer hot cor and cor lokt for doing shoulder shots but I consider them a step up from interlock.

I hope I am not out of line jumping in on this one, since it was directed at Calvin. I have shot a half dozen deer and antelope with the Hornady 150 Grain flat base interlock from my old Remington .270. One ran 30 yards, all the others buckled up knees and dropped. All were shot behind the shoulder. I would consider a shoulder shot with this bullet to be a shooter error, due to the design. I don't do shoulder shots where I hunt deer or pronghorn since they could run 300 yards and still get out of sight. If I hunt in the timbered mountain ridges, I switch to Partitions or a bonded or Hot core.

 

[Calvin45]

Agree with all of this but I have a serious question, if the Hornady interlock would fail to penetrate the shoulder totally would you consider it a bullet failure?
In the past I've used Speer hot cor and cor lokt for doing shoulder shots but I consider them a step up from interlock.

Yeah I think I would consider it a fail just because the interlock ring is supposed to hold it together and in my experi nice it does.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

Agree with all of this but I have a serious question, if the Hornady interlock would fail to penetrate the shoulder totally would you consider it a bullet failure?
In the past I've used Speer hot cor and cor lokt for doing shoulder shots but I consider them a step up from interlock.

I consider the Speer pills about the same as the Hornady. I'd use either on deer sized game but might re-think what I'm doing on bigger stuff. I've blown clean through critters from 30-40 yards all the way to 642 yards on 165 Interlocks driven from my 300win. Much further and the flat based pill runs out of steam anyway.
Even the Sierra cup and core without any features like an interlock ring have done well including bone hits. I had a spell years ago where I'd use them anywhere from point blank to 800 yards and the only one I caught was a 140 driven forward through a mule deer doe's hip into the clockwork from about 300 yards running. It still held up and killed the deer. I just didn't lead quite enough for a shoulder shot.

 

[Hugnot]

All good bullets hate bad barrels.

 

[cabelasken]

During my early years of hunting, I always tried to center punch one of the front shoulders to make sure the animal was down so I chose bullets that would penetrate one or both shoulders. As I got older and more proficient at shooting at the range and in the field, I turned to targeting the crease behind the shoulder to minimize meat loss. I'd say 70 to 80 % of my hits take out a couple of ribs and not much else. Only when I have to shoot an angled shot does a shoulder or a ham come into play and at that point I try to make it a part of the shoulder. But I still select a bullet that will penetrate a shoulder if it has to. I have gone away from cup and core bullets for about the last 20 years and have used mostly monos. For me, they penetrate very well and as long as the velocity is high enough, the expansion is good enough for my purposes. That is why I do not take 6 or 700 yd shots. I can probably make the shot, but in field conditions my personal limit is about 450 to 500 yds. In most cases, I can get withing this range easily.

 

[ewnanney]

Strange how one guy's magic bullet is another's nightmare. I love the TTSX and had no problem with AB's everything touched in the right spot has taken Dirt nap. Only bullet I wont touch again is the Swift Scirocco II not because of killing potential, could have burned up barrel trying to get to shoot under 3" out of a 3/4" inch all day Mod70. Moved on to the Speer Impact, their showing much better potential.

 

[manitou]

My experience on over 40 animals has been just the opposite!! But - in almost all instances the shot placement has been perfect.

I shot a large whitetail at 30 yards, about an inch behind the shoulder in the crease breaking the off side shoulder. He ran 400 yards and disappeared behind three large cottonwood trees.
Knowing he was dead I took my gear/stand up the steep hillside to the truck and took my necessary gear to dress the animal and my rifle and hiked down to where he disappeared.

Forty-five minutes after the shot, upon reaching the buck, I leaned my rifle against the tree and grabbed his rack to pull him to a more suitable spot to work him up.

The buck exploded into action, knocking my kill kit out of my hand and knocking me over and ran about thirty yards, getting entangled in wild grape vine.

I grabbed my rifle and shot him again about an inch from the previous shot. He dropped dead.

He had small pencil holes through the heart.

That was the last time I used a TTSX (handloads). I had killed about 6-10 animals with that load prior to the incident, including a huge whitetail buck at 520 yards... but that occasion was enough to make me switch.

I have been happy with Accubonds, LR Accubonds and VLDs since.

 

[William W.]

Sierra Match Kings. They shoot great but don't shoot an animal with them… save them for paper and steel..

That is CLEARLY posted in the Sierra instructions.