Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Two Tipped TSX's recovered in a row

Every thread on TSX's and other monolithics ends up with more than one example of a bullet entering one end of an animal and either exiting or being recovered from the other end. This is usually given as an example of their incredible penetration.

Yet I have seen this happen several times with other bullets, some that most hunters wouldn't expect to penetrate a big game animal lengthwise. Probably that one that surprises most people is the 200-grain, .338 caliber Nosler Ballistic Tip I put into the near shoulder of a bull gemsbok (a 400+ pound animal) that was almost directly facing me at about 150-175 yards. The rifle was a .338 Winchester Magnum but the bullet wasn't loaded all that hot, getting around 2900 fps at the muzzle. The bullet broke the right shoulder above the big joint, and also went through the bottom of the spine. It was recovered from under the hide on the left ham.

Have shot lengthwise through two deer, one a good-sized muley buck, with the 200-grain .30 caliber Nosler Partition from a .30-06, but have also had much smaller Partitions penetrate to the opposite end of animals. One was a 140-grain from a 7x57 that took a facing mule deer buck at the base of the throat; it was recovered from one of the hindquarters.

The other was an accidental rear-end shot on a big pronghorn buck, who happened to whirl just as I shot him with a 100-grain Partition from a .257 Roberts. The bullet broke his right hip, then went on through the body and broke his left shoulder. I found it under the hide next to the broken shoulder.

This is all fine and good, but I have shot game with Ballistic Tips that I felt were lucky to have penetrated the rib cage. In fact one of them we had to look close to see where a fragment had made it in. One a 140 gr BT shot from a 280 Remington (Broadside) and another a 150 gr BT from a 7mm MSM (steep quartering towards me). In both cases I recovered bits and pieces of bullet. None of which would have weighed much. Now I have never seen that with a TSX/TTSX. I have seen them fail to open first hand though and I've held three of those bullets in my hand. I don't like that, but I'll take the latter over the former any day. In fact, my hunting partner shot a 370 class bull elk on public land with a 140 TSX and during butchering found a C&C bullet nestled (and long since healed) against the knuckle of one of his shoulders.

I'm not a "have to use TSX's/TTSX's" person. But after using most of the others available (including boutique bullets) I keep coming back to them.

Have seen the same thing, I shot a antelope at 35 yds with a 130 interlock from a 270 win around 3100 fps. bullet shattered left front shoulder, transversed the body and shattered the right rear hip socket and was found partially through the hide tangled in the hair. Instant kill. On the other hand a friend shot a calf moose in the neck with a 120 tsx from a 7-08 at 3000 + fps from about 70 yds, broadside in the neck, it penetrated about 4 inches and smashed the spine, stopping right there in the smashed neck bones. Instant kill but was surprised it didn't go clean through. Bullets do weird things

JB: I know a dude who broke a hip on a quartering away Zebra with a 175 NPT out of a 7x57.

Bullet went the whole way through the vitals.....about 5 feet of Zebra....




Sure am glad they make TSXs now though.....

pathfinder,

Ballistic Tips are made in different jacket thicknesses, depending on the intended use of that particular bullet, and some models have even changed over the years. I didn't include the example as any sort of claim that ALL Ballistic Tips will do the same thing--but the 200-grain .338 has been made the same way ever since it was introduced in the early 1990's (though now it's only available as the 200-grain Ballistic Silvertip).

The reason it acts that was is the jacket is about 2/3 of the bullet's weight. The same contruction is also used in more recent 165-180 grain .30 caliber BT's, yet people keep saying, "Oh, no, you can use those on elk, because they blow up on deer." You might ask Shrapnel about using the 180 BT on elk from his .300 Weatherby.

Tom,

Oh, yeah, I'm also glad they make TSX's--and Hornady GMX's, and Nosler E-Tips, and several other monolithic bullets. We hunt with one or another every year.

But my experience is that there isn't a quantum leap in penetration between those bullets and some others, even lead-cores. And often the lead cores kill quicker, especially on broadside lung shots.

I've never seen a Barnes fail to penetrate. I have seen other bullets penetrate just as well, but not always. Barnes always penetrate, and I know absolutes freak people out, but I'd bet on a Barnes making it over anything else I've seen.

Mirrors my experience.

Of the bullets I've seen used considerably, the Hornady GMX and Nosler E-Tip will penetrate just as deeply, which isn't surprising since they're very similar in consttruction to Tipped TSX's. But there are several other specific bullets I've seen that will match them.

I have also seen TSX's and similar bullets fail to expand a few times, in fact I've seen them fail to expand more times than all other expanding bullets I've seen used over the decades. That doesn't happen often, but it does happen, and when it does the result can be a real PITA. They do still kill, but not nearly as quickly, and on three occasions the animal wasn't found until several days or even weeks afterward.

A bullet that doesn't penetrate enough can result in the same thing, but I have yet to see an expanding bullet that didn't penetrate sufficiently leave as little blood trail as a monolithic that didn't expand.

It's also been quite a while since I've seen a bullet of any kind fail to penetrate sufficiently, because neither I or my companions used the wrong bullet for the job. The last one, in fact, actually stayed pretty much together. That was a 220-grain Power Point from a .325 WSM that failed to get to the far lung on a zebra. The bullet retained 72% of its weight, but opened so widely penetration was reduced. The hunter was one of my partners on the safari, and he'd also brought a .375 H&H and 300-grain Trophy Bondeds for buffalo. The PH told him to put the .325 away and use the .375 from then on.

But it has been a long time since I've seen a cup-and-core fail to penetrate a deer-sized animal sufficiently, even when hit in the shoulder joint. And the animals always died pretty promptly, unlike some other animals hit with monolithics that failed to expand.

JB: Have you seen any fail-to-expand with Tipped TSXs ( TTSX)? Everyone else says this cleared the problem up....I never had a problem but switched to Tipped anyway, and damn sure haven't had a problem with them.
Your experience?

No, haven't had any problems with Tipped TSX's not expanding--or GMX's or E-Tips either.

But this year have had two reports of tips from TSX's falling out or breaking off. In one instance the fallen-out tip jammed the rifle's action. Maybe there was some manufacturing glitch, either with the tips or the bullet. That's happened with other tipped bullets in the past.

You guys that shoot animals that weigh less than you and go ga ga over the penetration of TSX's crack me up. Come on Scott.

Interesting point.

Usually Sierras get bashed here as the poster child of poor penetration. I've shot a pile of deer-sized game with Sierras over the decades, and none of the bullets weighed over 160 grains, with most in the 120-130 grain class. Have recovered two, both from deer that died very quickly after impact.

These are the only Barnes TSX/TTSX bullets I have ever recovered from game- the first pic is a 250 gr. .375 cal. TTSX recovered from a Sable antelope shot at 200 yds with a .375 Ruger, the second a 270 gr. TSX recovered from a 193 yd. shot at a Nilgai antelope- both dropped in their tracks. Both bullets were under the hide on the far side.
If there is more perfect bullet performance, I don't know what it is.

Glad you're happy, but I've seen several kinds of bullets drop 500-pound animals "in their tracks," and many of the bullets were far less than .375 in diameter and 250-270 grains in weight. In my experience dropping them right there depends more on bullet placement than the caliber, weight or make of bullet.

So here's a question: What's your definition of perfect bullet performance?

Recovered my first TTSX yesterday.

200gr .358 from a 358 WSSM launched at 2575fps.

If you believe JBM, impact velocity was just shy of 2000fps.



CR

Definition? Maybe, more of an opinion, but any bullet that kills with boring regularity when well placed certainly qualifies. Add to that a bullet that is easy to get to shoot accurately, in (for me, at least) any caliber I have loaded it for, and the Barnes TSX/TTSX certainly qualifies.
As far as performance goes, the Barnes either expands and fully penetrates, or expands and ends up under the hide on the far side. Either way, expansion and penetration, in the same bullet, seems to me to be a good thing. Are there other bullets that qualify? Certainly. But, you started this thread re: recovery of TTSX bullets- I was just contributing.

Thanks for your reply. I was just wondering, because people tend to define perfect bullet performance is various ways, some not having much to do with how well the bullets kill.

I've also had excellent luck with TSX accuracy, but also generally found the X-Bullets made in the last few years before the TSX appeared to shoot very well, which wasn't always the case with the original design. But the TSX grooves certainly solved the copper-fouling problem of the original bullets!

Good point! I forgot that I've shot less than you, know less than Mule Deer and haven't seen/shot stuff with Barnes over 200 pounds.

Please continue to impress

So following pathfucker69 and JB, if a bullet fails to penetrate a 100 pound deer that's not a good indication of how it would perform on a 1000 pound moose.

I'll remember that for my next moose hunt.