TSX Performance At Close Range

[the444shooter]

All of the animals I have shot with Barnes bullets (XLC and TSX) have run a short distance before dying. I've never "dumped" one with a barnes bullet, but they've all had 50 cent sized exit holes and have all been shot with high velocity magnums (.308 Warbird and 300 RUM.) I highly recommend them for close-moderate range hunting because of their retained weight. I would be pleased as punch if my bullets looked like the ones above because it means that there are 4 sizable chunks of copper separating from the shank of the bullet acting as shrapnel as the remaining shank continues through the offside shoulder. I don't believe they're the best choice for long range hunting because of the driving bands and their effect on BC, but I do feel that for an all around bullet, they are **** good.

 

[elkaholic]

I'm going to put on my bullet maker hat again and then just read everyone elses discussion on this subject ANY bullet in the kill zone will kill something at these ranges including solids; they just run off for a ways before they tip over. My thought is, why use something that costs more to do a lesser job? There is no doubt in my mind that they don't perform well at longer distances and I'm hearing a lot of discussion on poor performance at closer ranges. I'm not trying to put anyone down that uses them and I'm not picking on Barnes. I don't like ANY of the solid coppers! I guess that's why we have ford, toyota an Government Motors! We can chose what WE like. The main thing is, we can all enjoy shooting whatever we want. NO MONOS FOR ME

 

[BH Hunter]

He can't choose what he likes in Ca.

 

[DougH9]

Thanks for the photos Jim. I bet that is what happend in my case; the nose disitegrated and then the shank slipped through without doing as much damage. Partitions kind of do the same thing, but for some reason they have a much more dramatic effect on the animal.

I read on a California forum that guys are saying to take shoulder shots with the copper bullets to anchor them (apparently this is a problem).

 

[kweidner]

The secret behind the Barnes is shoot in the shoulder not behind it. It is nothing a little time in ice in the cooler can't fix. Break down the shoulder and the animal will not run off with two front broken legs! I shoot them exclusively now out to 400yds. In two years 13 deer shot have gone less than 30 yds. 2 have dropped in their tracks. One was at 325 with my AR and the 70 grain pill (neck shot), one at 125 yds with the 120 grain out of my .280 encore two nights ago. I have shot them with my Cooper 6.5x.284 out to 360yds deer did a back flip and went 5 whole yds. I did have one shot with my .280 at 8 FEET that ran 100 yds HOWEVER, it had three exit holes 2 from the petals about the size of a dime one in the brisket and the other in the ham. The third hole was the size of a half dollar just opposite the entrance. I found a third petal under the hide nearest the exit hole in the ham. The lungs and everything in the deers chest cavity was pulverized. An idiot could have found this deer as it was POURING. I have no idea how that deer went that far but it was recovered no problem. I went to the Barnes when I almost lost a large ten point I shot with a fragmenting type bullet. Distance, wind and nerves led to a less than perfect shot and no blood trail. Determination found the bruiser. I decided it was in my best interest to move to something that left a trail. Granted I have shot fragmenting bullets for the better part of 20 yrs and have only failed to recover one animal. However almost losing the biggest buck of my life led to their demise as solely a target application for me. I switched to the Barnes mid season that year and haven't looked back. 14 deer in two seasons and a bit all with impressive results. I just hope some don't overlook a good product based on a couple isolated accounts. They work great and are environmentally friendly to boot. I bet had the other experience like mine at 8 feet had had the opportunity to examine the chest cavity they would have found results similar to mine. My deer had no lungs or heart for that matter and ran an impressive 100 yds. All these deer had exit holes at least three times the diameter of the entrance hole.

 

[longshooter70]

Im kinda late to the forum but here are my observations. I shot a 120# doe this weekend with a 110gr TSX out of my 270 WSM. She was about 30 yds broadside. The bullet entered just behind the right shoulder (bullet size hole) and exited just behind the left shoulder (golf ball size hole). She bucked and ran maybe 20 yards with blood blowing everywhere. Both lungs and heart were literally mush.
My son, two days earlier shot a 115# spike at 20 feet with a 22-250 with 53 gr TSX.
Perfect heart shot. The deer didn't act as if hit and ran 30 yards and piled up. Blood everywhere. Bullet size entrance and quarter size exit. Both these bullets were in the 3500 + fps area upon impact. I've been using the TSX in .224, .277, and .308 for a few years now and all results have been very similar. I did lose a nice ten point while shooting 130 gr Ballistic Silver Tips from the 270 WSM. No blood. Shot was good. That's the reason I switched and have not looked back. From the numerous deer that have been harvested with the 22-250 and 53 gr TSX with NEVER a loss Im sold on this bullet and performance. Just my opinion and first hand observations for what it's worth. Good shooting!

 

[BARatdistance]

Yeah....I've seen 30-30 shots that "broke bone" put the deer down quick, then a 7mm mag shot behind the shoulder at close range allow the deer to run a ways. Like I said in my other forum under deer hunting, no matter what you shoot the deer with (longbow, crossbow, shotgun, muzzeloader or 30-06), plan on tracking the deer for a few yards, he will die when a good shot is made. But thats why I like to hit him in the forward shoulder area and "break bone" no matter if I'm using a crossbow or a rifle, maybe not with a longbow.

 

[MontanaRifleman]

Doug,

Have you considered E-Tips? Everything about them is better than the Barnes bullets. They are made from a gulided metal which is much more tough than the copper Barnes bullets. They also have a higher BC. They open wider, with 4 wide jagged petals that will do a lot of damage. I prefer them to any other hunting bullets other than The GS bullets. I have just started using them here in MT where I dont "have" to. Have not connected with game yet, but I have pulled a couple from the dirt out of my 300 RUM. Very impressive. Try them.

Mark

 

[DougH9]

I have not tried the E-Tips. I will do some research and see if I can find any "on game" results (especially at long range). Thank you for the (E) tip.

 

[jwp475]

I'm going to put on my bullet maker hat again and then just read everyone elses discussion on this subject ANY bullet in the kill zone will kill something at these ranges including solids; they just run off for a ways before they tip over. My thought is, why use something that costs more to do a lesser job? There is no doubt in my mind that they don't perform well at longer distances and I'm hearing a lot of discussion on poor performance at closer ranges. I'm not trying to put anyone down that uses them and I'm not picking on Barnes. I don't like ANY of the solid coppers! I guess that's why we have ford, toyota an Government Motors! We can chose what WE like. The main thing is, we can all enjoy shooting whatever we want. NO MONOS FOR ME

I have taken a quite a few head of game withe the TSX bullet and have seen a lot more taken with them close to 100 head of game in all. The TSX bullets are extremely lethal at close rangas well as at distance


I took the doe at 777 yards with a 180 TSX from my 300 win, it was a drop in the tracks kill

 

[bigbuck]

You guys have me wondering about the TSXs now. I shoot the TSX out of my 257Wby and they shoot really good. I've shot two antelope, (150yd, 660yd), two deer, (225yd, 250yd) and one coyote at 577yds. All dropped like a sack of bricks. I've never recovered a bullet yet. I'm not sure if they zipped right through or what. I want a bullet that imparts all it's energy in the animal. Not sure what to do here.

If you want a bullet that imparts all of it's energy to the animal, then you may want to try a Hornady AMAX it blows up and releases all of it's energy inside the deer Then again all of your deer have died (dropped like a sack of bricks) so why worry?

Bigbuck

 

[MontanaRifleman]

I will do some research and see if I can find any "on game" results (especially at long range).

From where I'm sitting, it doesn't look like you have much choice or much to loose There's always the GMX, but the 165 gr 308 cal GMX doen't have a great BC. But it will be gulded metal and toughe than the Barnes.

 

[AZShooter]

E-tip performance? I shot my cow elk last sunday with a 150 E-tip from my 7 rem mag. Velocity at impact (80 yds) was approx 3100 fps. It was a 30 degree "raking" shot. I put the bullet behind the shoulder and it exited through the lower neck area. It ran 60 yds. It was still standing so I put another behind the shoulder at 70 yds, the shot was closer to 90 degrees, it exited just behind the offside shoulder. That dropped her but she died slowly. GET THIS: upon examination the entrance holes for both shots were 1 3/4" diameter! Exit holes were diameter sized. Both shoulders had a ton of blood in the tissues around them but neither were hit. I couldn't believe the mess they made. I figured that they would act in a similar manner to the TSX. They were much more violent, so much so, that I thought maybe I had accidently switched my ammo and had ballistic tips! I moly coat so I had to rub off the moly from the tips and sure enough they were E-tips.

I asked Nosler about this and they said they had not encountered this problem. I was the first to complain about massive entrance wounds. Tech said maybe I had a improperly annealed lot of bullets? I could send some in for testing. HUH, qualtity control???? The tech did say I shot that animal close and the velocity was high. 3100 fps is high? Wonder what my 7 RUM would have done with another 300/400 fps? I realize that one animal is not sufficient to make a judgement.
I actually planned on shooting through both shoulders if the shot was available. Glad I didn't. The bullet seemed to perform very similarly to the partition with explosive entrance and small exit sized holes. Now I know. I'll continue to shoot them and will just have to let the animals get some distance before I shoot them. <grin>

I plan on doing some coyote calling soon, will see how they perform on a smaller body.

 

[Pdvdh]

I had some pretty nasty entrance wounds on a Dall ram this season with a 180 gr eTip this past August. Shooting a 300 Win Mag and the range was 420 yds. I also was a bit surprised at the tissue/meat damage. It wasn't very similar to Barnes' mono-metal wound channels, which are typically meat gentle yet lethal bullets, in my experiences. I've shot a number of large game with Nosler Accubonds in .284 and .308 calibers and been much more happy with those wound channels than my one experience with the Nosler eTip. So I don't know what to make of the eTip at this time. I hadn't mentioned anything about my experience up until now because it was my one and only experience with them on a large game animal to date. But based on this experience, I had been planning on trying Barnes TSX or TTSX for closer range use (less than ~ 4-500 yd shots). I load and carry two bullets - one for shorter yardage and one for long yardage. Berger VLDs for the long yardage shots. Historically Nosler Accubonds (but considering a mono-metal) for closer yardage shots.