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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!"

I had a very well respected veteran of many African hunts, and a member here tell me that the tales of how tough African plains game are often exaggerated. Now I've only killed a touch over 30 head over there, nothing the size of eland yet, but my conclusion is that he is correct. Well placed 7mm accubonds and partitions kill them stone cold dead.

Poor shooting, not bullet failure.

I had zero issues with Barnes bullets in Africa and any place else I used them.From Springbok to Eland. My PH loves them and way happy to I was using them

On my one and only hunt so far in Africa, my brother and I borrowed our PH's Sako 30-06 loaded with Barnes TSX 165 gr. bullets at about 2800fps. Every one of the 16 animals we shot well died quickly. The Eland I shot badly at about 300 yards needed several more shots. The Mountain Reedbuck that my brother shot too far back needed a finisher. All the others, including another Eland, a Zebra, a Wildebeest, 2 Kudu and and Oryx were quick one shot kills.
It's the only bullet that particular PH uses any more. He really has faith in them.
But I'd be just as happy with 180 grain N. Partitions, A frames, or several other good bullets.

Barnes are nothing short of excellent on African game.


But so are a lot of other bullets......

I'm always pleased to see my hunters show up with the TSX, two holes trump one in about every case I can think of.

Accurate, dependable, solid penetrators. I just don't see a downside to them in any circumstance. I know that plenty of other bullets work with stellar results. I'm not even gonna debate that other bullets don't perform well.

For my money and with my 20 plus years doing this, the TSX bullet is the best game in town.

I've used Barnes in 4 of my African hunts.

One trip to Zimbabwe and South Africa with 300 grain TSX bullets in my .375 RUM used on 5 animals from bushbuck to buffalo.

One trip to the Eastern Cape of South Africa with 270 grain TSX bullets in my .375 RUM used on 13 animals from steenbok to eland.

One trip to the Limpopo Province of South Africa with 168 grain TTSX bullets in my .300 Weatherby used on 5 animals from a klipspringer to a sable.

And on one trip to Mozambique with 168 grain TTSX bullets in my .300 Weatherby used on 5 animals from a baboon to a leopard and a sable.

Ranges varied from 20 to 348 yards, and all of the bullets performed very well. Most of the bullets passed completely through the animals, and the ones that we did recover expanded to the advertised Barnes mushroom retaining almost 100% of their original weight. Only a couple of the recovered bullets were missing one "petal" that were evidently broken off when the bullets hit major bones.

I have been fortunate enough to make two trips to Africa in the past 5 years.

On the first trip to the RSA, in 2000, in the Limpopo Provence, I killed 10 plains game animals with my Remington, Model 700, in .338 Win Mag, and 210 gr Barnes TSX.

In 2015, I returned to the RSA for Cape Buffalo with a .416 Rigby and then on to Namibia for plains game with the same .338 Win Mag. I took another 12 plains game animals with the .338, with the same bullet.

I am a firm believer in that combination. No misses and no lost animals.

donsm70

I've used the 300 grain Barnes TSX in my 375 H&H on three hunts in Africa and can't complain about their performance on game from Cape Buffalo to Steenbok.

Saying that, I'm taking the 200 grain CEB Raptor ER bullets for Nyala and bushbuck in April because of their flatter trajectory.

We have been to South Africa twice, using 300 Winch Mag 165 TTSX Barnesk, 340 Weatherby Mag, 225 TTSX, 375 H&H 300 TSX and again in June, Rose will use the 375 300 TSX again and I will use 500 Gr TSX in my 458 Win. All of these have been accurate and performed well on gamae from Lioness to Eland to Springbuck. Honestly, I wouldn't use anything else, except for the Nosler Solids were bringing. Patrick

I've used 180 Accubonds out of a 300 win and 270 and 300 grain TSX out of my 375H&H. I've shot springbok up to cape buffalo. In all cases bullets performed exactly as advertised.

I did shoot an eland with a 180 Accubond on my 1st plains game safari and although they worked the eland was not impressed and required several follow up Accubonds. I would have much preferred to have used either of the 375 TSX rounds on eland.

On my 2nd trip I used the 375 exclusively with 300 grain bullets. Worked fine on plains game, leopard, and cape buffalo.

Properly applied on game either bullet works extremely well. I think the key is to make sure that the caliber and bullet is adequate for the game you will be hunting.

I will agree that African game animals are seriously tough critters so my thoughts on caliber and bullet weights are bigger is better.

I've killed an ellie with a .400 gr Barnes solid and used the same bullet for my second and third shots on a charging buff with great results.

Other than that I have used a .400 gr Swift A-frame for my first buff. It died fairly quickly from a single shoulder shot from about 30 yards. The PH recovered the bullet and stated it retained about 85% of its weight after smashing both shoulders (this was in a .416 Rem Mag).

It looks like I might be using Federal TSBs for my solids on my next safari.

BH63

Between me and my father, we put 6 cape buffalo in the salt with 400 grain TSX bullets in our .416 Rigbys (carried solids for follow-up). I would hesitate to recommend anything else for a bolt-action rifle for buffalo. If you are wanting to shoot a double, that's a different story (country was too open to bring these out of the case this year).

In a 300 caliber rifle, it's hard to go wrong with Barnes, AccuBonds, or Partitions. If you put it where it needs to go, the trackers will come through on their end of the bargain.

If you are a handloader, give Peregrine Bullets a look. We gave them some field testing in their development and they are a nice bullet.

I used a .338 160gn TTSX at ~3050fps and they worked really well. Shots were 50-200 yds, animals were Impala, Blesbok, Gemsbok, Waterbuck, and Kudu. None went far, no follow-ups required. I aim for heart shots, so no DRTs, but no real tracking involved either. Zero complaints from me or my PHs.

The PHs were not big fans of Barnes bullets. Didn't hate them, just not their first choice. They had enough occasions where they felt the way the bullet hit bone caused the tip to bend closed and thus not open resulting in a rodeo.

I've used plenty of TSX's myself in Africa, and been alongside hunting partners who used plenty as well. They work great, but in general I've found the smaller-bore models, .30 and under, tend to kill quicker when pushed at least close to 3000 fps. With the bigger calibers velocity doesn't matter much.

I used a .375 H&H with 300 grain TSX bullets in Zimbabwe on a variety of game from impala to buffalo and they worked great. I plan to use the same on my next Africa trip.

338-06 and 210 TTSX will always be with me in Africa.

I've used TSXs on all my African hunts, in one caliber or other. I've also killed several hundred animals with them on 4 continents. Obviously they work.

"Working" is one thing, "best" is another. Since every bullet has a blend of different characteristics which often work against each other, and people have different ideas of what optimum is, best is just a matter of opinion. One man's best is another mans adequate. Passion to one is poison to another.

I can well imagine some PHs preferring a good bonded, hard hitting bullet like an Accubond over an extreme penetrating mono-bullet and just as easily can see others liking it the other way around. I myself fell out of love with TSXs a long time ago. That doesn't mean I hate them, but do prefer others most of the time.

Barnes TSX/TTSX > North Fork SS/PP?

Headed back to Namibia this Fall and have been giving a lot of thought to bullet selection. Leaning towards the NF but have found this thread to be quite informative regarding Barnes bullets.