Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles TSX Performance

I used TSX's for the first time this year on an antelope hunt. Was shooting them out of a 257 WM, running right at 3490. Question is, what kind of terminal effects are you guys seeing? Little hole in, little hole out, not a whole lot of internal damage is what I saw. Not like what I am used to seeing with cup and core bullets. The farthest shot was 246 yards, the other 2 were 150ish. None of them showed the usual reaction to being hit, 2 just stood there for a few seconds and fell over. One ran about 50 yards and fell. All were broadside, double lung hits. My experience with antelope is that they usually pile up on such shots.

My dad was shooting 25 cal 100 Hornandy's at 3140 fps, his results were much more like what I am used to. Critters piled up right there, lots of internal damage and nice exit wound.

Is this just the way TSX's perform for you guys as well. I have a load for this gun with the Hornandy bullets that shoots the same velocity and about the same accuracy. Was wondering if I should just shoot them in the future, since I have about 1000 of them at the house.

Not saying that the bullets failed. They obviously killed the critters. By the time I got another round chambered and back on the critter, they fell over. The reaction and the damage were just not what I am used to seeing on antelope. Just really curious as to what you guys see with these bullets, since this is the first time I have used them.

Bleeding them out,takes longer than crushing them.

I always line up as much bone as possible.........

But is that what you have seen with X's?

Not gonna line up bone on a speed goat if I dont have to.

Want to use this gun for Mulies next year. Wondering if a different bullet is a road I should take?

I don't shoot to be nice and nothing is meaner than smashing [bleep] where it stands,ala breaking bone.

120TSX/7-08,for conversation..............

LINK

Hawk Driver,

That's pretty typical of TSX performance on pronghorns and deer, or even some larger stuff. All bullets work according to the laws of physics. There is no way to get super-deep penetration without making a smaller hole.

One pronghorn buck I shot with a 100-grain TSX from a .257 Weatherby went 150 yards before falling over, which is more than twice as far as I've ever seen a pronghorn go after a behind-the-shoulder hit with any lead-cored bullet. The range was only 250 yards so the bullet was still smokin' right along.

Like you, I prefer to shoot for the ribs behind the shoulder on pronghorn. There isn't enough of that delicious meat to waste a shoulder or two.

My wife and I have shot some pronghorns with TSX's and similar bullets, but have gone back to lead-cored bullets because they kill much quicker with rib shots.

How long does it take a pronghorn to run 150yds? 5-10 seconds?

I shot a "Pronghorn" Sitka Blacktail yesterday. 130TSX through the shoulders crushed that buck. Still replaying that one through my head as it was that good..

JB,
Thanks for the reply. Glad to hear others have had the same experience with them. I am sure they work great on bigger critters that need a tough bullet. They just didnt behave like the bullets I have used in the past on antelope. Will most likely go with the Interlock next year.

I like the Interlock a lot but would not want to be slinging them at 3490fps. If it were me, I'd look at either the Interbond, Accubond or even the good old Nosler Partition with those speeds.

RH

I shot an antelope a few years ago with a 7RM and 160gr X bullet. The shot was a bit over 300 yards, and the bullet knocked the animal to the ground while spinning a 180 (it was a frontal quartering shot). The internal damage was significant. I've shot lots of animals with X/TSX bullets, and I've not had 1 single animal travel over 100 yards after being hit in the vitals. I'm thinking such things are an anomaly...

Will probably use a different rifle for Mulies next year. Most likely the 308 Norma using Accubonds, or the 280AI, or the 260....

My .25-06 with 100gr TSX bullets has laid a bunch of our Alberta mule deer flat with no fuss...

+1 to what JB said, and to your experience...
Ive shot a pile of deer with a .22-250 and a 53 gr. TSX @ 3570fps
Got the same results...they all die right on schedule, but the post mortem looks like you killed them with a drill....
On the good side ( haven't figured this one out yet...)the Bloodshot meat only has layers of blood in the mucous membranes, which can be easily peeled off, very little "bloodshot" in the meat per se...
Ingwe

The 257 tsx combo would be as good as it gets for Mule Deer, but for the lightly built antelope I might give the Berger a try.

Might be too much of a good thing and act like a grenade once inside. Hope to find out soon.

The TSX will ruin less meat if no bone is hit on either.

Um, not exactly. I shot a pronghorn buck a couple of weeks ago with a 140 VLD from a 6.5-06, muzzle velocity 2950, range 172 yards. Put it through the ribs and except for the typical pinprick entrance hole and a 1" exit, the damage was all internal--and massive. And that's pretty typical performance with VLD's on rib shots and "deer-sized" game.

So far I've had nothing but good luck with the 30 cal. and 7mm TSX on whitetail deer. Except for one deer that I shot in the spine, they were all shot behind the shoulders. I'd say the farthest any of them went was 25 yards max.

John,
Good move. The best killer I ever tried in the .257 Weatherby was Uncle Roy's favorite 87gn Hornady load. It was a dynamite killer on deer sized game loaded to 3800fps.

JW

I've never used the 87gr Hornady, I'm pleased as punch with the 100gr Interlock.....I'm thinking this 87gr bullet may be a good load for the grandkids if loaded to 2500-2600 fps?

JW,

Thanks for that info. Have tried the 100 Hornady in the .257 Wby. and it works quite well, but I may have to drop down yet another weight!

To everybody who has shared their experiences with TSX's, thanks very much. Most of the time they will kill deer-sized game very well, especially in larger diameters like 7mm and .30. I was specificaly addressing my experience with the .25 caliber 100-grain TSX--which is considerable, both in the .257 Roberts and .257 Weatherby.

I have seen it do very well, in fact once saw it drop a 3x3 mule deer buck right now with a high lung shot at about 150 yards. But I have also seen some animals not drop so fast with similar shot placement.

The reason for our "disagreements" probably lies in the fact that I have seen a whole lot of game taken with TSX's. Most of the time they kill very well, but sometimes they do not, and when they don't the animal is likely to go a ways, in my experience further than with any other type of bullet.

I have been pacing off how far animals have gone after a solid double-lung hit for many years. Animals hit with Barnes X's (whether the old-style or TSX), Fail Safes, E-Tips or whatever "petal" type bullet have gone an average of just over 50 yards. Those hit with bullets that expand wider, or lose some weight, haven't gone as far.

The bullet that had dropped animals the quickest with lung shots has been the Berger VLD, at around 20 yards. Those averages include lung hits that drop animals instantly--and the highest percentage of instant drops also goes to the VLD, a bullet that normally comes completely apart, but only after penetrating a couple of inches.

I am primarily a meat hunter and do not deliberately aim for the shoulder/spine unless there is some real reason to drop it right there. But I have used that shot on a bunch of animals, and it doesn't take a TSX or other super-bullet to do the trick. I've done it with a bunch of bullets, including such "ordinary" bullets as the Hornady Interlock to the round-nosed Remington Core-Lokt.

All I am doing here is relate my experiences with various bullets. I've seen around 150 animals taken with TSX's, and my statements that it sometimes doesn't kill as quickly as wider-expanding lead cores are based on that experience.

If you are a TSX true believer, who's convinced that exit holes in the hide somehow kill quicker than massive destruction of the lungs, then you are also welcome to your opinion. You're also welcome to shoot shoulder-shoot all the deer you want. But I happen to disagree on both counts, and my disagreement is based on quite a bit of experience.

Please note that I NEVER said TSX's are bad bullets, anwyhere in this thread. They are very fine bullets, and paricularly good for certain jobs, especially on really big game. But I have not found them ideal on deer.

I can't believe that bullet is designed for that kind of velocity............can't imagine it's anything but explosive.

Gotta think that's asking for erratic performance.

MM