Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Thoughts on the TSX performance 2009

"I want something that will expand reliably and hold together and penetrate"

You forgot to add "at any distance"! Just kidding, I've seen this written and heard it spoken more times then I can count.

We place a lot of demands upon the one item we blast out the end of a barrel and send down range hoping it will do the trick. We spend a lot of money on very expensive gear, and yet we cringe at the tought of spending a buck on a bullet. Yet it's the single thing that ties the success of the whole trip together for us.

After all the effort to plan, prepare, travel and pay for the hunting trip of a life time there are still people who launch a 20 cent bullet and put all the hopes and dreams of success on that little chunk of lead and/or copper they just shot down range at the trophy they have been dreaming of maybe their whole lives!

If you want a bullet to expand reliable and hold together, the partition, Aframe, and other bonded core bullets do that like magic. They don't however penetrate as well. If you want one that penetrates like no other the TSX does that well.

There is Crossover with them, the bonded technology will penetrate and exit when you use a bigger cartridge then generally needed. Like using a 375HH for all the plains game species rather then a 30 caliber rifle. There is Crossover with the TSX as well. You can use a much smaller cartridge then typical and still get equal or even more penetration then the bigger guns using the bonded bullets.

Those photo's of X type bullets that don't open cannot be argued, at least not by me. They have the photographic proof to show it could happen, It may have even happened with bullets I or my clients have shot too. I guess We will never know becuse the animals are all dead and skinned.

If your aim is true, and the bullet hits and penetrates through the vitals then the failure to open, although bad, is not the last word. In my opinion, a bullet that falls short of functional penetration because of some failure is the worst default option. I have seen some odd exit wounds, and completlty bizzare issues with the early X design. But not with the TSX, ..... it's simply does the trick everytime. There is a good reason why so many African PH's (its becoming overwhelming in numbers) recommend the X bullet to hunters coming over to hunt with them. This was not the case 10 years ago. We would cringe at the thought a hunter came with an X or worse the failsafe.

That has really swung the other way in the last few years. I see and hear PH's all the time now telling their hunters to consider bringing the "Barnes X" bullets to hunt with.

My latest reason for not shooting monolithics has nothing to do with success or failure..it has to do with free choice, and when the Democratic Liberal far left placed demands for "LEAD FREE" bullets and the manufacturers buckled under to it that really P.O me, and I don't intend to buckle under to a bunch idiots with an agenda...I am going to shoot lead bullets until hell freezes over..

God is great, beer is good, some say Whisky's better, and people are crazy!

if i remember his post about it, he never really used them on game, just that they didnt open up when shot into a water tank..

Mr. Atkinson I guess you best move over just a bit because I will also be using those LEAD BULLETS too!

Ive heard the same thing from a lot of guys over the years. Until I asked exactly how many animals they shot with them to form the opinion. Generally is was a couple but they shot into lots of mud, newsprint, logs, waterjugs, etc.

There is a differnce in shooting many hundreds of animals versus a few dozen phone books, stacks of paper or water jugs.

Whooooa Hoss! I have used Barnes bullets on big game fact. Now I have NOT used the TSX bullets on any big game simply because if they don't pass a frigging water test, they are sure as "bells" not going to do worth a hoot on any big game animal I shoot understand.

I have had several pass through shots on big game animals using the Barnes X and XLC bullets. However I am not going to go into a lot of details on my passed experiences with Barnes bullets, like whipping a dead horse several times over. If you like em use em it's that simple. I don't like them for obvious reasons and I am sure as hell not going to use them period.

Now on the other hand, I will continue to use those Nosler bullets in partition and accubond version. The TBBC and Swift A Frames for hunting purposes. I would suggest you run a water test on the next batch of Barnes bullets prior to your hunt.

Never ran a water test - have used TSX on game in:

6mm Remington
.30-06
.308
9,3x64
.45-70

Worked so well, I never felt the need for a water test.

Well said. I and my hunting clients have used them (X, XLC, TSX and TTSX bullets) in calibers from .243 up to and including 458 Lott on animals from 40 to over 2,000 lbs. They simply do thier jobs better than anything else out there made to date. In my world, a water test is what happens to a guy's bladder when he is face to face with something large and bitey. Never hunted for water tanks, might have to take that up when I am too old to hunt Elephant and such

I've no dog in the fight here. Folks should use what they like and what they feel comfortable with. I don't make one penny from Barnes or any other Manufacturer today. However,... I hate to have young guys or those with minimal experience read some of this and assume that if a bullet is tested in water under unknown conditions by an unknown individual without any control over the consistancy of the results, .....and then compare that to the same bullets used with stellar results on many hundreds of real big game animals using my equipment with me and many of the visitors here that have hunted with me as eye witnesses to the results that some how the two examples are equal. Or that they somehow share the same preformace credibility.

I agree that shooting bullets into something other then game has some entertainment value and may reflect some of the performance possibilities of that bullet. However actual use in the field under actual hunting conditions on real animals at various distances and angles with game from Jackal and steenbok to Buffalo, eland, Giraffe, and rhino would seem to trump any results using water.

However this is just my opinion, and since it comes from real world first hand experience I gotta go with that for now.

Can anyone here explain what it means to be "sponsored by Barnes"???

Thanks,

MtnHtr

Well, I guess I must be the only hunter east of the Rockies that has had serious issues with BARNES BULLETS "NOT OPENING UP AS ADVERTIZED"......nonetheless I won't be using them period on any of my hunting ventures.

Now it seems to me, that one can tell how good a product is by those stores that stock the product on the shelfs right! Ok, most of the gunstores I have visited in the last 2 years in states like Nebrasks, Wyoming, Colorado, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Tenn. to boot, have had very little in Barnes bullets on the shelf or none at all Elephant hunter from Walla Walla. Barnes has had a great track record over the last decade or so for NOT living up to the hipe they put out concerning their bullets. They try and try and never make the grade, then come out with something totally comic and super great, only to have the same frigging problems. I stay with whom I brought to the dance gents!

Now when we were pulling a tractor some years ago, a sponsorship meant the company or person, paid a certain percentage of the expensses and also a stipend in many cases. You can have several sponsors who share fotting the bill etc.

Can you find the Barnes X and TSX?


These bullets were collected during a range session in June. I typically shoot the bullets into wet phone books at 50 yards. This time the books were new and hadn't yet been rained on, so they were dry. I do agree that no amount of shooting into test media will predict the actual performance on game, but on the other hand it allows us some type of gauge to compare the bullets to. And I do beleive that it is a whole lot better then going into the field blind going strictly upon the reputation and PR of the manufacturers. This web site and others, IMO, provides some excellent in field experience, that few of us will ever aquire. That being said once my gauge is calibrated, I have a good idea how that bullet will work in the field. For instance I know that a bullet that penetrates 14 inches in my media will pretty much penetrate through any medium size beast. 18 inches of penetration will go through kudu, waterbuck and gemsbok. Over that we are talking about buffalo bullets. During this testing the 404 Jeffery in 400 grain TSX penetrated 23.75" at a muzzle velocity of 2000 fps. Though the bullet didn't open as much as I like it penetrated well and straight. On the other hand the 400 gr Barnes Originals did not perform well, they bent and penetrated only 12".

We owe it to the game we hunt, and lost trophy fees to shoot the most suitable bullet we can for quick recovery of the game. There is nothing like spending two days looking for a wildebeest when with a better quality bullet you could be hunting other game. And lastly, we don't always get that perfect broadside shot on a 7-14 day safari and we must take what we are given, I want a bullet that will perform under all conditions.

Funny to me how some of these things begin to rile folks up. It's as if these bullets are one of your offspring or a wife or girlfriend. The defense and or attack of a product like this is hysterical to me. I wrote a post based on what I saw, then some folks tell me I did not see it, but they seem to want to prove that what happened again this year was a fluke, a lie, somekind of smoke and mirrors. As if I have some special agenda to attempt making people buy something.

When I took the time to write this for the benefit of those without the experience of seeing it themselves. I did not do it to generate debate, or argue the perfect product for all hunting now and in the future. I simply did it to share the experiences I had.

If your feelings are different then this, I wish you well and hope that as a hunter and sportsman you have all the success in hunting that you wish for. There are plenty of other people that hate hunters and what we do to waste anytime in a conflict over this non-sense for me. If you feel the need to be aggressive, angry, or your opinion is not shared with this, then maybe you should write a new post to express the experiences you have had with all the big game you have taken with your projectiles.

Good luck with the future hunting and I wish you well.

Tonk,

I am curious why you clicked on a thread dealing with Barnes TSXes. If you don't mind, would you mind explaining it to us who wonder why you would read about something you detest so much?

The past year or so, haven't seen many bullets from ANY manufacturer on the shelves of gunstores. The shelves have been bare of reloading supplies.

It might could. Depends on how many playing cards you have clothes-pinned to the spokes.

JJ,
I for one, am enthralled when I see your posts. It gives me real world reference to which I can make a logical choice in bullets. This information you provide at no cost to me is invaluable. God knows (and I don't use His name loosely) I must maximize every opportunity I have to hunt. I spent hundreds of dollars over my earlier years for opinionated gun mag's trying to glean some formulated information on good bullets.

You do this of your own good will for us, without erroneous bias and I thank you.

Ringman I don't know what your game is but I don't play damn games understand. Now I read and click on many posts. I don't detest anything Pal, I simply don't use Barnes Bullets to hunt with anymore.

Now Pal, if I detested Barnes Bullets, I sure as dogs bark, would not have spent the money I have in testing the blessed things in the first frigging place.......I guess your just a little dense to that )_&(*(_*^)*&^ FACT.

Now your the one who wanted to trade for my Barnes TSX bullets but you never mentioned what it was you had to trade......right JACK! Now don't be shy, you didn't have a damn thing to trade, you just wanted to get my reaction to your post. Lets not be coy Pal!

Hatari......YOU seem to have left out the YEAR prior.


Dah!

Well to jump into the middle of a religious war here, I have two bullet choices for an expanding bullet that I'm aware of for my 500 Jeff. Either the Barnes TSX or Woodleigh Protected Point. Though I'm probably two years out for a brown bear hunt, I'm leaning towards the 600g Woodleigh PPs for bear. I'm leaning towards the Barnes 570 TSX / Banded Solids for buffalo which is probably four years out. I really kind of wish Woodleigh would make more of a controlled expansion bullet or Barnes would put a much larger hollow point in their .510 caliber TSX or North Fork would make one of their expanding bullets in .510 caliber ...

Chuck