Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles More Barnes TSX "failures" LOL!

All 35 Whelen 225 TSX, 55 gr Varget, CCI 200.
Left to right:
Moose 225 yards. Shot below tail going away found in neck. Fell dead in 10 yards
Elk 260 yards. Shot behind last rib, found under skin in neck. Went 30 yards
Mule Deer 285 yards. Shot just to left of anus, found behind breastbone. Went 40 yards.

Three one shot kills that were not the storybook broadside shots illustrated in some bullet ads. Those razor sharp petals sure mess things up.

You're big on the THS huh?

They sure didn't expand much, but obviously they worked well.

Obviously photo shopped. I keep reading that TSX's are too tough and don't kill well. Plus they're terribly expensive-didn't you waste about $3.00 there? Truly, great pictures. Thanks for posting them (but my Whelen likes the 200gr TSX's and I haven't recovered one yet) Congrats on the critters.

Ok I have to ask, whats up with the color? I've never been able to recover a TSX/TTSX/MZ from a animal.

Yeah, expansion isn't much to get worked up over for sure.

All recovered from dead animals

I've recovered $0.10 Corelockts from dead animals that looked better...

They expand much more if driven at higher velocities.Is the one below more to your liking?

Two of three shot up the azz? Congrats... I can wait for a better shot.

Here's one I recovered expanded on the right (elk)... and one on the left that didn't open (antelope). That's a problem.

And of course, the one on the right was at close range/high velocity.

When things get far they start looking pretty much like expensive pencils... sort of like the 35 Whelen projectiles in this thread being bragged about.

Ah, here's a recovered Corelock

Another expensive pencil (elk):

Was the one on the left recovered from a live Antelope?

Also recovered from a live animal?

The TSX's shown here that didn't open are all bananas. Noses are bent over like they were beginning to keyhole at impact. I will bet they were recovered because they tumbled inside the animals, didn't break up and created quite a bit of damage. My question is why did they tumble? Too long for the twist rate, too low of a velocity or other factors?

You left out one possibility... shot into a dirt mound behind a target. Funky colored bullets.

Minimaly stabile at impact is my bet

That is some crappy expansion or lack there of!
Live animal or dead still crappy.
Point is they would not instill any confidence.... for me anyway.


And what is up with the brick colors?

The pink bullets look like they were soaked in something during cleaning that leached the zinc out of them. IIRC loss of zinc turns brass pink.

Just did a quick guesstimate on impact velocity of the pink bullets, somewhere in the neighborhood of 1900 fps. That may be near the bottom of their operating range explaining limited expansion.

Modern bullets are all junk! Even the original X!!!




All pulled from moose, only one of which moved from the tracks he was in when struck.

Guess which one of these accomplished the least? (Hint: it wasn't the Core-Lokt. )