Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Your choice for deepest penetration on game

.300 Win. Mag. 200 grain:

Nosler Partition
Swift A-Frame
Nosler Accubond
Trophy Bonded Bear Claw

Bear Claw

Out of those .... Bear Claw

However, a 180 TTSX would be pretty nasty.....

Haven't tried all of em but TBBC far surpasses NP for me.

So far the Hawk has raised my eyebrows.

Much as I've used (and will continue to use) Nosler Partitions... For the deepest penetration I'd go Barnes, or Nosler E-Tip.

The E-Tip doesn't come in 200 gr, but I bet that 180 would out-penetrate some 200's.

Then again, how much penetration do you need? I'm punching right through mule deer with little .25 cal 115 gr Ballistic Tips and right through elk with the 175 gr 7mm Nosler Partition...

I am using factory loads, so, AFAIK, the 4 choices I gave at the top are my only ones, and the TBBC is with Federal Premium which is loaded at 125 fps less than the others.

I just learned of a brand named "Buffalo Bore" that loads the Barnes Tipped TSX 200 grain, so add that one to the original four choices.

Barnes also loads a line of ammo, and has several choices in .300 Win mag, all with their TTSX bullets. Top out at 180 though.

Federal offers factory .300 Win mag ammo loaded with the 180 gr Barnes.

Federal also offers factory .300 Win mag ammo loaded with the 180 gr "trophy copper" bullet which is all copper, no lead. Not sure if that's actually the Nosler E-Tip or not though.

Those are 180's - but from what I've seen, the no-lead bullets offer terrific penetration. I suspect you'd be pleased with the penetration a solid copper 180 grainer would deliver.

Regards, Guy

Well, my very limited experience with the Barnes TSX is that without the momentum of a heavy-for-caliber bullet it WILL stop in the animal, if it is large enough, and especially if bone is hit.

[quote=GuyM]

Then again, how much penetration do you need? I'm punching right through mule deer with little .25 cal 115 gr Ballistic Tips and right through elk with the 175 gr 7mm Nosler Partition...
/quote]

Well,yeah! Of those mentioned I've only used the 200 Partition for elk.But one of them went from the onside just forward of the bull's haunch clear to the offside shoulder and broke it all up. I don't recall if it exited.Still that is a lot of penetration for an expanding bullet on a mature bull.

I seriously doubt any of those mentioned by the OP will be slouches.

I've liked what a Remington 220 grain core-lokt does to moose. In one side, out the other.

tsx

I went with the Buffalo Bore 200 grain TTSX. Supposedly loaded to 2900 fps.

That ought to do it!

Seems every rifle barrel has its favorites but of the two 300 mags I have had a hand in getting sighted into lead free bullets, both were sighted in on and grouping well with cup and core 180s before switching to lead frees and both rifles ended up shooting 150 and 165 lead frees tighter than they could group 180 lead frees. What cup and core bullet weight was your rifle grouping well with before? My experience with lead free bullets has made me think it is better to go light for caliber and run them fast as even the light weights have given me consistent exit wounds.

150 Nosler E Tip.Went through a moose length ways last fall.Can't ask for better than that.

A lot depends on the caliber and individual bullet, as well as construction and muzzle velocity.

A penetration test I did a few years ago with a variety of 154-160 grain 7mm bullets at moderate velocities had the Barnes TSX in first place for penetration, but not by much. The Nosler Partition and Swift A-Frame were tied for second place. After that were a variety of bonded bullets that expanded relatively widely.

That was before Nosler introduced the E-Tip and Hornady the GMX. I would guess, based on tests and use of both of those, that they'd be very similar to the TSX--though tipped monolithics bullets usually penetrate slightly less than the non-tipped versions, on average, due to wider expansion. But the difference ain't much.

In fact the difference ain't much between the monos and the Partition and A-Frame. The big difference is the monos tend to exit more often, due to less frontal area (partly due to the space between the petals), and perhaps some effect from the sharp edges of the petals. I've found a few bullets of all kinds that "partly exited," cutting a hole in the hide on the far side but hanging up on a petal or two.

I didn't have any North Forks when the test was made, but due to tests made after I did (plus a few animals from springbok to moose) shot with them from the same 7x57, I'd rate them just behind the TSX, E-Tip, GMX, etc. in penetration--but since they have a tiny lead core in the front end, they don't tend to pop through the hide as much as petal bullets.

We could also get into solids, but that's a different subject.

Yet to shoot a GMX bullet.The Interbond has soured me pretty much on Hornady premium slugs.

7 STW what has been your experience with the Interbond?