Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Barnes 250 gr. TTSX in .375

I've used 300 grain "X" bullets on Brown Bear in Alaska and out of four solid hits, recovered only one bullet. That one struck the bear on the left shoulder, traversed the body and was recovered under the skin on the outside of the right hip.

I've always preferred "heavy for caliber" bullets and decided to change things up a bit for my first (upcoming) trip to Africa. Although I'll use my same .375 H&H rifle for buffalo, this time I'll be bring 350 grain Woodleigh Weldcore softpoints and solids. While the velocity is somewhat reduced (compared to the PMC loaded Barnes "X" bullets), I've read a lot of good things about these heavier rounds and their effects on buffalo. They aren't inexpensive, but neither is the trip (or my hide)!

I believe it is Dr. Kevin Robertson who fully supports the use of 350s in Africa. He has pointed out the extra weight gives excellent performance by creating more momentum in a caliber already known for great penetration while generally not exiting on broadside shots. He further makes the case this is no small consideration when hunting animals in a herd.

Having not been there and done that I cannot say but would like to hear from someone who has taken this course previously.

Almost 3200 fps from my 378 Bee Lasermark and good accuracy. Barnes e-mailed me and said minimum expanding velocity is indeed 1800 fps for the 250 TTSX not TSX.

Fotis that's hustling!

I flattened a 9'2" brown bear four years ago with my .375 Wby with factory 300gr NPs (at just under 100 yds) with one shot.

I'm going back again in September. Aside from brown bear, I may be making some longer shots on other types of game (wolf, wolverine, maybe moose, etc ...).

I'm considering taking my .340 Wby with the CorBon 225gr TTSX rounds because they shoot like a laser from that rifle and, when shooting less than 3" above the sight line max, they are less than 6" low at 350 yds. But I was considering shooting the 250 TTSX out of my .375 Wby because it has such a high BC that it is very flat shooting, but yet provides a fairly-heavy bullet at high velocity at close or long range.

A couple of distinctions to me:

Lead-based bullets (including the NP) probably perform the best under the right conditions, and they do so with lower velocities.

However, the Barnes bullets almost never break up do better with higher velocities and are not handicapped when doing so by moderate weight reduction. They don't lose much weight, go in faster, and keep going.

The .375 270gr TSX is -- a TSX, not a TTSX. The TTSX seems by all accounts to open more reliably, and has MUCH better ballistics. Thus a 250 TTSX at in the 2,800fps-3,200fps range will move less in the wind and drop a LOT less than a 270 TSX will when being fired more-slowly by the same firearm.

I'd rather shoot a big animal at moderate range with a 300gr NP from my .375 Wby than I would with a 250gr TTSX, but only marginally.

But I would rather shoot the 250gr TTSX at something out past 250yds. They're more accurate in my .340 Wby and other rifles and much flatter.

The TTSX seems to expand better a lower velocities than the TSX and shoots much flatter. Some may disagree, but they're definitely different bullets. And the TTSX shoots way better at the same velocity at longer ranges.

Of course, the TTSX is longer for the same bullet weight, which can reduce the powder charge in certain instances.

Lots of tradeoffs.

But the .375 250gr TTSX has really great BC (.424), and the 270gr TSX does not (.326).

I will crunch some numbers about bullet drop and slow-down, as I have in the past, but it is a significant difference.

A 250 TTSX (or other good 375-250)from a 375H&H will knock the snot out of anything in North America, at short or long range.

In email exchanges with my brown bear guide (2016) his number one pick of rifle was a 375 H%H using the 270 gr TSX. I advised I would be using a 9.3x62 with the 286 gr Partition. He had not heard of the round so googled it and later replied that "it ought to work fine, especially if you can run handloads a bit faster", which, of course, I can and will. He also was not a fan of the Partition much preferring the TSX over it. I thought that was interesting.

Ed I'd find it interesting, too. I used the old 375-270 gr screw machine Partition on a brown bear and it made a big hole with a big blood trail.

Can't imagine a bullet doing much more,or that a 286 from a 9.3 would be that much different, but different people see different things.