Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 62gr TTSX in 22-250AI doesnt expand

3 bullets three failures to expand.
62gr TTSX in my 22-250AI chrony'd at 3700+ fps
80yds coyote broadside point of shoulder
250 yds antelope 1/4 away in behind last rib out between front rib and shoulder.
100yd antelope neck shot.
neither antelope shots hit bone but did pass through tough neck meat or 18" of guts.
Im neither expecting nor desiring explosive expansion, and yes all three shots were fatal but NONE of the bullets showed ANY expansion!I did buy barnes for deep penetrationbut I might as well be using FMJ.
Any ideas on whats happening? Suggestions for new 22 hunting bullet?

Not my experience with that bullet and cartridge at all. I haven't shot a coyote with them, but several deer and an antelope. I couldn't be happier from what I've seen. And I run them a little slower even. I'd be interested in opinions on this as well.

What twist?

How did you recover the bullets? If you did not recover them, how do you know they did not expand?

I have had no problems with the 62 gr TTSX out of 223 and 22-250 when used on deer. All of them died as did your animals.

Might need a thread on, How To Autopsy Your Game In Order To Evaluate Bullet Performance.

Mike

1 in 10, no pictures sorry but 22 pin holes leaving the carcass, even the coyote had a small hole with very small splintering in the off side shoulder blade. These are GREAT for accuracy but i want SOME expansion.

I've seen quite a few deer with caliber size in/out and both in and out holes in the hide but very respectable damage on the inside.

The last one was a 270, six inch wide ribs edgewise up nead the spine, fist size hole in the on side scapula, quarter size hole in the off side scapula, fist size chunk out of the spine. how it didn't make bigger holes in the hide I have no guesses, but the hide was caliber size in, caliber size out. Bullet was a 110 TTSX

Last 22 caliber examples were caliber size in on one and in and out on the other with a 3 inch diameter hole through the shoulder muscle. Bullet was a TSX 53.

60 gr. Partition!-Muddy

You probably got expansion but the petals came off and the base of the bullet continued on through leaving a caliber sized exit hole. That's typical of TTSX's going fast. There was probably a big wound channel for the first few inches.

If I were using a .22 on antelope/deer sized game the TTSX is all I would use. There are other bullets I'd prefer to use on coyotes but I usually shoot them with what I've got in my hand at the time.

I'd suggest another bullet, thats more expansive.

If you don't understand how the mono works... then move onto something else.

While barnes are accurate enough, for pure accuracy thats the last place I'd look...

I've seen some small exits on dead barnes animals, never one that I thought failed to expand....in fact I can't recall loosing an animal with a barnes.

same here nukes deer like Thor's hammer

I would propose to you that the bullets DID expand, and expand as advertised.
Skin is elastic, and a .22 bullet expanded even to twice its diameter will theoretically give you a .44 cal hole....due to the elasticity of the skin,the hole will appear smaller. Dime sized or smaller exit is to be expected with that bullet..... Barnes will typically expand fully in the first 3-4 inches of flesh.


We have had this same 'argument' ad nauseum about Nosler Partitions "penciling on through "

They don't....


If that doesn't make you happy, time to switch!

Stop talking sense Poobs

Sorry.

I blew up.


Lost my head.....

I'll also say that 1-10" is likely not spinning them as they should be.

I've been saying for years that some of the problems folks have had with Barnes bullets is from them being not stabilized.

A bullet not hitting tip on ain't good for nothing.

I know lots don't buy into it, but I suggest you shoot a few critters with the same load in a 1-8" twist and get back to me.

Tom,

Glad somebody said it before I did. Have seen monos not expand, but not "tipped" monos, though anything's possible.

At some point I generally ask what the insides of the animal looked like--not the entrance and exit.

60 grain Partitions and 64 grain PowerPoints have caused rapid death for the whitetails that I've shot them with via 1-9" ROT 22-250, 1-9" ROT 223, and 1-10" ROT 223 WSSM.

I'd trust the 60 grain Partition to do what they're designed to do, expand violently from tip to partition and penetrate deeply from partition to base.

You were unable to evaluate the expansion of the three bullets because you did not recover them.

The Barnes TTX tipped bullet expands and causes extensive internal damage. Exit hole is normally kinda small, mainly because of petal edges are sharp. I have used them on over 80 animals including two trips to RSA. Only two have ever been recovered, one from a frontal spine shot on a Cape buffalo and one from a boar that went full length and was found in boar hock.

If the animal does not drop on the spot it will take a few extra yds for the blood trail to start, but you will get your animal. These bullets do work very well. If the op needs a large exit wound than go to an Interlock.

Here's how I evaluate performance and expansion...

.22-250AI 62gr TTSX 1:8

65,

I am with everyone else, dead critters=bullet performance.

If you want to try a different TSX, I have had great success with a 53gr TSX. I have never recovered one of those, and we have killed truckloads of critters with it.

Five inch holes on either side don't do anything for me. It's the reason I quite using the early ballistic tips.

ingwe, Mule Deer and Steelhead pretty well summed up what goes on with the 62 TTSX on its journey through a critter when starting that journey with enough twist....

22-250 twisted 8 and a 62gr Barnes, sounds like a pure killer.

I'd like to try that combo.

They are mean little buggers....

Ran into something odd with the 62TSX the other day in my 223AI, although not related to expansion. I used to shoot them at 3,350fps with H335 and accuracy was decent with the bullets on the lands. Not as good as cup/cores, but MOA or less, which was fine for deer/pigs inside 250yds like I intended. Well, one day at the bench I got a popped primer (bolt face was not bushed yet, sloppy factory hole). I seated the bullets back a decent ways to drop pressure a bit. Finally got around to shooting those rounds after making some mods to the rifle, including a boltface bushing job at Gre-tan (awesome, by the way) and the rifle frigging hates them. 2-2.5MOA at 100yds. Rifle shoots still shoots great with 75gr VLD's, just like always. I even scrubbed the bore and tried again. Same results. I've seen seating depth make a difference before with other bullets, but never to this extent. Guess it's back to working from the lands, even though Barnes does not recommend it and my other rifles don't mind a fair jump with the TSX/TTSX......

I won't use '335 living in the South! Too temperature erratic for me.

Mike

H-450 either for that matter, life's too short to have to label ammo for Winter use only


Mike

Barnes says H4895 is a decent fit and it's not as temperature sensitive. May try that out. Too good of a bullet to leave on the shelf.

weird, even with the small dime sized exit holes, a trashed heart, liquefied lungs, and two broken ribs in and out from the same bullet shot from a 16 inch barreled AR15. As several animals are dead from this gun/bullet combination I am glad you mention the problem so I can look for a new load.

Perfect post. I've seen more than a few dime exits on animals that died quickly. Once you open them up, its apparent the bullet performance was perfect.

These guys have explained it perfectly. I use the old 90gr X in my 250 AI. Small hole in and out w/nothing but total devastation in between. Never needed a blood trail. I've killed some fairly large bucks for Texas and they just get a hump in their back, get punch drunk and fall over like a paper doll in the wind. 1in10 23in Shilen barrel on a Brazilian made '94 action. Shoots better than I can hold...a true 1in 5shot gun. Put together by Ray Montgomery out of Colorado. powdr

I've had numerous deer run quite a ways punched in the lungs with the 80TTSX from a 243.

They leave a small exit hole and not a lot of blood.

Sorta like others have said - How far did they run? What did the insides look like?

Varget would be a good one to try...............

The size of the entry and exit holes do not always tell a true tale.

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These pictures show both sides of an elk. Each side has one entry and one exit hole. It is rather difficult to tell which is which since all holes are about the same size.

Picture one has the entrance hole below the exit hole. The opposite is true for the second picture.

The bull did a 180 turn after the first shot allowing a second shot from the other side.

The bullets did a large amount of damage to the lungs and heart.

Years ago my brother had a box of 150 gran Core Lokt's loaded in his 3006 that did not exspand when shot into texas whitetail. The next box he got did exspand like they always have before, there was something wrong with that one box