Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Barnes TTSX low velocity expansion test

Good? Bad? What you expected?

130 TTSX out of 300 blackout

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/3rrZ-yW0alI

About right. Of course I'd be slinging 110gr TTSX's out of that rig if going for speed.

Probably what would be expected, faster is better with the mono bullets. I would probably want around 2000 fps or faster impact velocity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adaEF5NJ_iI

I have wondered if barnes builds these to expand a little easier at the lower speeds of the blackout. Or if the 150 ttsx would expand about the same at 1900 fps. My guess is that the expansion would be similar. I guess the other question to ask is what would happen to that bullet (130gr ttsx) at 308 win speeds.

Copper is relatively hard. Thicker copper jackets are one way to slow or control expansion. The TTSX has relatively thick copper surrounding the expansion cavity. They simply can't open as readily when the speeds get lower. They're very good bullets when they work well; speed helps them work.

I'd either go as light as possible for the best possible speeds, or I'd treat them as FMJs/solids and place them accordingly.

That OSB behind that water jug is a hell of a lot more dense than an animals flesh and meat. Like to see that bullet after something that simulates something a hell of a lo more like tissue.

They look like this, only one I've recovered to date.

this isnt my pic

"Barnes 130 TTSX from my .308.
Powder--CFE 223.
MV Oehler'd @ 3050 fps.

Shot was quartering to at 60 yards. Entry on point of shoulder, bullet found in hide on opposite flank. DRT.
95 grains"

This^

I have run a lot of TSX/TTSXs through stuff to see what happens at what speed. The bullets I have seen expand well at lower velocities have been those specifically designed for lower velocities, The 150 grain 30-30 X bullet, the 150 grain 30-30 TSX and the 125 grain .357 bullet.

I tested the 30-30 Barnes bullets down to 1300 FPS and I tested the .357 bullet down almost to 800 FPS. I shot them into a bunch of water jugs in a 2x12 trough so I could tell how many gallon jugs were penetrated and I wasn't using the far end of the trough to stop the bullets. All of the bullets tested expanded fully and looked like advertising copy bullets when recovered. The 30-30 and .357 bullets have a whopping big hollow point. I would not be at all surprised to see the 30-30 also expand fully down below 1000 FPS. Of what I tested, I used velocities up to 3600 FPS in both 25-06 and 300 WM. I saw no sheared petals. My suspicion is that until you hit pretty hard bone at pretty high velocity you won't shear petals. Of about 75 deer killed with monos that I have examined, the only one in which I know at least one petal was sheared was with a 300 WM at 25 feet and I hit teeth first before it proceeded through the Atlas and exited the deer. That one was an older style X (XLC-150) That one sheared a petal and it exited the back of the neck going sufficiently fast to penetrate the hide & 3/4 inch of tallow and embed itself in the vertebrae just above the pelvis.

I have recovered a lot of Barnes bullets that went through drier materials like wood, tires, and dirt. They surprisingly (or maybe not) had poor expansion. Sometimes little to no expansion. I never tried then into dry newsprint or dry phone books. I would expect their performance into dry paper to be erratic at best with poor expansion being common to typical.

Water is extremely an tough medium for bullets and in no way will represent what to expect from tissue. Think of a bullet shot into water as an over expansion scenario. They won't expand that much from lung shots at the same velocity.

So while those TSX's and TTSX's look "good" from sub 2,000 FPS impacts into water, they don't expand nearly (if at all) as much in straight lung shots sub 2,000fps.


Also downloading the velocity to simulate a far impact speed at close range will produce different results than if actually launched at full velocity and the impact is at long range. Sometimes the difference is minor and sometimes the difference can be quite apparent.

I've shot quite a few into dry newsprint and they all come out looking perfect (ranged from 2700-3000 FPS, so not slow). Only bullet I've had not expand was a couple of .338 215 Sierra Gamekings from a 338-06. .338 cal hole through a bunch (18"+?) of magazines.

A little off topic, but they look about the same from the other end of the velocity spectrum. 130 TSX, 270 Wby, muzzle velocity 3560-3590, 80 yard shot and about 4' of elk:

I'd have to say without reservation that those tttttsx's don't look as good as those Corelokts posted on some threads. But then the corelokts were found on the ground after the animal walked away.

RPM's.

+1

Either way I like harder bullets for the exit wounds they make, so penetration becomes as important as expansion

at that speed the new 110 grain.