Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Barnes 150gr ttsx out of a 308 win anyone with actuall expierance?

Anyone used this combo on elk? What were your results? I have a load worked up and am considering this for my next elk hunt.

Here ya go... cow elk, 140 yards, 308 Win, 150 TTSX... no thanks.

How did you find that bullet after that elk ran off?

Amazing. Surprising. No guarantees.....Murphy's Law.

Clean the rock salt out before shooting next time...

I took a spike bull this year using the barnes, 50 yard shot, quartering towards me. Entered in front of the left shoulder, exit behind the right. Lungs and heart turned to liquid. He took 3 small steps and dropped. I did not recover the projectile.
I should have taken a pic after skinning him, forgot, sorry. You can see the exit hole behind the right shoulder in this shot.

I remember that day Mac, it was sure butt cold out there!My fingers were too cold to run my camera...<g>.

Dober

Maybe the cold slowed expansion?

Surely this is atypical right?

Dober, it was! -27*F IIRC.

Here's a shot you managed to snap:

It's happened to me, Dober, and other friends. My own unverifiable opinion is X-type bullets fail to expand more often than some think. They just aren't recovered all that often... when the work, they work well. I've never had a problem with Partitions, Ballistic Tips, or Accubonds working so will stick with those for elk.

wonder if a 130 at 3000 plus wouldve fared better??...i think mono's have little use when started under 3000 as its a known fact they expand far more reliably with speed...at 308 speeds a 165 accubond, 168 BT would be my first choices if i wasnt shooting a 130 mono as fast as possible...i might be wrong, just my opinion

Looking at that bullet for the umpteenth time, does that little bit of "expansion" correlate with any of the striations?
Or are there any striations?

thanks for the replies

Brad,

I've seen the picture in the past too. Can you give some details about the hit? Bone, no bone? Where was it recovered? Any chance it could have deflected and entered at a slightly odd angle? I'm sure you've answered those questions in the past, but I've not read the response.

I'm not doubting your experience in any way, shape or form. Just curious.

Dober's wasn't a TTSX, though. To be fair.

I've killed elk with the 130 in a 308. I haven't recovered the bullets but the elk never went more than a few steps. For all I know, my bullets looked like the one pictured. I don't know.

Does it matter? Accubond, Partition, or Ballistic Tip would have done the trick either way.

Bone/no bone, odd angles...any of that stuff is what we call "field conditions"

If a bullet can't do that, it isn't worth much to a western hunter.

Like I said, I was just curious.

I've probably only killed 9-10 animals (8-9 deer, 1 black bear) with the TSX/TTSX. They've worked as advertised for me -- to the best of my knowledge anyway!

I was simply looking for insight through the experience of others. There a several guys on here that share honest opinions and experiences. IMO, Brad is one of them. I didn't know if he thought there may be other reasons behind the lack of performance or they were just too tough to expand at 308 velocities.

Hi SAS, sorry for the late response... been busy!

Nothing was hit on the way to the target. MV was 2,820-ish. Plenty fast. Velocity or stabilization were not the issue. It's a 150 after all. The shot was straight on (no hard angles, other than I was shooting downhill on a gradual slope).

IMO, what happened was on impact (impact was on the scapula) the nose pinched closed causing the bullet to tumble. I found it in the off shoulder facing backwards.

Everyone who's shot a lot of hollow point bullets has seen them do weird things and essentially these are just over-sized hollow-points, plastic tip or not.

Hope that answers your questions.

Thanks Brad! That answers my questions.

I understand why you're busy. I've read where you're building a house -- by yourself. Dad (retired) was a builder. Aside from building others, we built our own. I'm on my second and he's on his fifth.....and we're both probably done. I may have one more in me? Lots of pride in swinging a hammer after the job is done...

Now that is funny but say its easy to see why they way over penetrate.