Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Barnes or Accubond **Update**

I have killed 20 or so head of game with X bullets. With one exception, all were complete pass-throughs. I killed a mulie buck where the 165 grain bullet traveled about 30" of muscle the length of the neck and into the backstrap- breaking the spine. I found that bullet. It's the only one. Too bad I can't get them to shoot for beans anymore. I quit trying.

I have just one experience with a rifle that suddenly decided it did not like X bullets. Every other rifle I have used them in was very fond of them right away. They are the only bullets I shoot these days in big game rifles I actually hunt with.

I still have hundreds of pounds of C&C bullets destined for being buried in a range berm...

I love the ttsx. Accuracy, penetration, and drt's are common.

I do like accubonds to, but as others have suggested, id go heavier with them than I would ttsx.

If you intend to eat the critter, a TTSX will leave more edible meat...

Art, you are correct. Never had any substantial wasted meat with a TTSX, including shoulder shot critters.

I hit a blacktail deer with a ttsx from a 250 ackley and I lost lots of meat. It was a running shot, which is the norm for me and blacktail bucks. Took out the front shoulders.

I have had my share of bloodshot meat with every type of bullet. X bullets a little less trouble than most. I would have to say that a 500 grain cast bullet in 458 is pretty easy on meat too.

I have not found a sub 1.5 MOA load since Barnes abandoned the original flat base X bullet. I tried several boxes of the blue coated bullets- several free boxes from Barnes and they wouldn't shoot very good for me. I have a box of 168 TSX that I am loading for a 300 Winchester right now. Headed to the range in about 10 minutes. Hopefully, I will see some improvement.

I don't and won't use an X bullet smaller than 7mm myself. I have seen several fail to expand in the smaller diameters but never in the 7mm and up sizes. I will agree that the medium sized ones are utterly reliable, just not particularly accurate in my rifles.

I have some in 458 but not sure what I would use them for.

Dennis what powder are you loading in the 300wm?

I am trying H4831 and R22. I used Magpro with the 200 Bergers but stopping trying to shoot them.

I had some decent success with the 168s and R22 this morning. I guess this rifle is just not a shooter and I will have to settle for what it is.

I'm using H4831sc behind 168ttsx's .050 off in Win brass with great results, RL22 gave good groups also @.010 off , IMR 4831 is another one I've had good results with behind the 168's ...H4831sc is what i have settled on with this bullet for now!

You using a factory or custom rifle?

Curious if you guys ever have a concern with the mono metal bullets penetrating through and hitting something else behind the animal. Antelope and Elk travel in herds. Ever been concerned about them passing through an antelope and hitting a few others behind causing injury?

I was planning to use a general purpose Barnes TTSX load I developed for my 280AI; 150 gr. but someone alerted me to this concern.

I'm developing a load for a 140 gr Accubond as a result of that concern. That and I like the idea of a flatter shooting bullet out of this rifle for the smaller game species of big game.

I'm going to try 150 TTSXs with my AI. Too accurate not to.

Taco280AI - I'm getting excellent accuracy out of mine. 0.5 MOR or less (my shooting skills are a factor beyond that level!) behind 56.5 gr of IMR7828SSC with Nosler brass 0.060" off the lands.

Are you planning to use it for antelope or something else?

Duplicate

I would suggest caribou are the ultimate herd animal in NA and we use the TTSX almost exclusively... but if you listen to the numbers of folks claiming they always get pass-throughs with the NPT you have to realize any bullet can go all the way through more than one critter.

You should only shoot when the situation allows it...

Pass throughs are a big concern with Barnes type bullets. Don't shoot when there is another behind. Sometimes though, you can't help what happens. I shot a spike bullet at 20 yards through the head with a 165 grain X bullet from my 300 Wby. Muzzle velocity was 3450 or so. I had a clear path in front of and behind. I took the head shot because it was 20 yds and I had a ponderosa pine rest. Snuck up on an entire herd sleeping and waited until they woke up and milled around.
At the shot, the bull dropped of course and I walked over there as the rest of them scattered (about 10 head). I looked up on a little hill behind where they had been dozing and saw a calf up there about 20 yards behind the main bunch that I couldn't see from my original vantage point. I was now standing over the dead spike as the calf came off the hill and jumped on top of the spike. I could see a little blood on the calf's shoulder and my heart sunk.

I grabbed him (generic use of him) and pulled him to his feet. I then got behind him and an pushed him, trying to get him to leave. My thoughts were that nobody would ever believe I am trying to pull a calf elk along!. I finally put one hand under his neck and the other lower on his hind legs like you see the guys do when the load a recalcitrant racehorse into the gates. He got the message and took off, running about 30 yards before doing a nice cartwheel and dying in the snow.

I went up the hill where he had been standing and found blood in the snow, dug around a little and found where the bullet had gone into the ground.

Only thing I can figure is that the bullet ricocheted off the base of the antler and went up the hill at an odd angle and hit the calf that was not visible under the tree canopy and at least 20' higher than my field of view through the 2X scope. I don't think any other bullet - at that time- would have done this.

I never tried a head shot again after this either! I killed a lot of elk with the 165 grain X bullet and only quit when I got interested in experimenting with other bullets and the new incarnation would not shoot in my rifles.

It is a Remington 700 XCR-II with a Vortex PST 4-16 tactical scope. About as high end as you can get at Sportsman's whorehouse. Belongs to my buddy and he had trouble with it. I got a couple of good groups today so I will refine seating depth tomorrow and see if it is ready to hunt.

Of course, I would never shoot at an animal with another one directly behind. Not unless you want to possibly wound or kill 2 animals with one shot.

Last Fall I had to wait a minute before shooting a mule deer buck. Tall sagebrush and he was with two does. I could see heads but not all 3 bodies.

Ended up shooting him in the shoulder when I was fairly certain the doe was clear(243 Win/90 grain target bullet, didn't exit).


Several years ago a pronghorn buck caught a 150 Partition/300 WSM, broadside shoulder shot(bullet was a pancake on the off side). Bullet length is key I guess with Partition(or maybe Accubond).

Only TTSX load I've tried was 56.5 IMR4350 around 2950 from a 24" which was under half MOA. Thinking of my deer/elk/everything load.

I have shot quite a few critters with the Partitions and have a large pile of recovered bullets from them... maybe 40...

Considering the number of critters I have shot with the X varieties I am still waiting to catch my first one in an animal I shot. Riley has quite a few more than I do because he is shooting little bullets at very big, hard game...