You guys who hunt Africa, what do you think of the three following quotes from another forum?
"I know an African guide who says there is no bullet as good as the Barnes TSX 270 grain from a .375 H&H and the Barnes TSX 165 grain from a .30-06. He participates or observes scores of kills every year. He told me, "At first the Barnes were junk." He went on to say, "Within a couple years they were the absolute best bullet as far as I'm concerned. I have my hunters use either of my rifles on any size game when I can get them to. I have many returning customers who used magnums come back the next time .30-06 and Barnes 165 grainers."
"I have talked to two guys about building rifles who hunt Africa regularly and their PH's both started recommending Accubonds over TTSX because their loosing more game, though that was interesting."
"Barnes in a 375 and larger are a much different animal that the lighter cals, though you hit an animal with a 520 gr solid lead bullet out of a 45-70 vs a Barnes and the lead will scare you what you'll shoot through!"
Ringman, I will play devil's advocate here. When it comes to penetration, there are no bullets that can match bullets such as the expanding solids.e.g. Barnes, GS Custom, Peregrine etc.
Does it bother me when someone bring Barnes TSX, not in the slightest.
My rental camp rifle is a Ruger M77 in .300 Win Mag. I choose to shoot bonded lead core bullets in that over expanding solids such as Barnes.
Not that it is a negative, but let's call it a negative with the expanding solids, is that your shot placement has to be spot on with these bullets. Forget about the size of the perfectly formed mushroom for a second. All that does is that it enlarges the wound channel, which makes the animal expire quicker on a well placed shot. (Well placed shot).
Now, we are talking in a trophy hunting sense here, not meat hunting. If we were talking about meat hunting, I would not be using the .300Win in the first place, not to mention with lead core bullets.
I'm sure many have seen the bruising that is caused by a .300Win Mag, the very reason not many guys use them for meat hunting. This is exactly why I use it for trophy hunting...with a lead core bullet.
A bonded lead core bullet will usually throw it's nose, and you will have some copper jacket and core shrapnel flying in different directions upon impact, followed by the bonded core moving in a straight direction. Should the shot not be 100% placed, it is the shrapnel that might just catch the back of the lung, liver or any other vital part and give you that "second chance".
The shrapnel from breaking up plays a big part in the bruising. Bruising means, body trauma, which in essence means that it is just another step towards either slowing the animal down, which certainly helps our dogs, or ultimately the animal expiring.
If we were into meat hunting, it would be a different game, but we are here to find our hunters' animals.
So, I can totally relate to point number two.
Barnes is a great bullet, and many here know how "pro expanding solid" I am.
Like I said, certainly not against them, but I believe that this is a "horses for courses" scenario.
For your hunts, your ammunition is probably the smallest investment that you have to make per animal. Always use the best. I have never had a Nosler, whether Partition or Accubond fail on any of our safaris, but strange things happen. Saw a Swift A-Frame fail the other day for the first time. Not one of my own hunters. I believe they are very near to the top of lead core bullets when it comes to quality. One fail does not make them a bad bullet. At the velocities that bullets travel, anything can happen.
