Gunner, I know you're a mono loving shoulder punching, bone crunching kinda guy...
What's your take on the .257 Wby post (linked above) and the question that OP asked.
My experience with the .240 Wby, 80 gr. TTSX at 3,600 fps came to mind. I know, that's just a sample of one, but was enough of a deal that I now use 100 gr. NPT's in the .240. The fact that it shoots them so well helped with that decision, but the 80 gr. TTSX was almost as accurate.
And, the 100 gr. TTSX out of the .257R at 3,250 fps seemed to perform better. Again, not a number of examples to make a valid conclusion, just a curiosity.
Your thoughts.
DF
I'm about in the same camp DF, a sample of maybe 15-18 deer and pigs with my old Montana 257 Roberts firing the 100 gr TTSX at 3250 and the 25-06 AI firing the same bullet at 3550, to me, at least what I've seen in the woods, 25 cal and up with a lot of speed gives better blood trails than the 22 and 24 cal monos, that being said, I bought a lot of 24 cal 85 gr TSX's here, loaded a bunch up and gave em to my uncles to shoot in their 243's and 6mm's, I've went with them [all in their mid to late 70's now] to retrieve deer they hit, I had no trouble at all tracking the deer in the brown Arkansas fall leaves.
If they didn't drop to the shot, I never remember any going farther than 40-50 yards, all this being said draws me to the real conundrum which is my 358 Winchester firing the 200 gr TSX and TTSX's at a lowly 2700 fps, that bastard drops deer more consistently than ANYTHING I've ever hit them with, I've probably shot 30 deer with that load, none went any further than a 10 yard death sprint with most simply dropping.
I do shoot both or at least one shoulder with the lungs being trashed in the process, and like many have posted above, a handful of shoulder fajita meat is a small price to pay for a quick killed animal, the partitions in your 240 will be extremely quick killers, at that speed they've got to be about like a cup and core, at least in the 40% of their overall weight they shed very quickly at 3500+ fps.
I do think the e-tips may develop a bit more pressure, no relief grooves, but harder [slicker] alloy composition, like any, if they'll shoot good, they should be an excellent hunting bullet, with better BC's too boot in comparable weight TSX/TTSX.
I've shot all manner of game with partitions, a-frames and my old favorite, heavy for caliber Woodleighs along with the monos, we are truly blessed to have so many good hunting bullets to choose from today, we aught to pool our checkbooks, try to buy the rights and start production of the old Bitterroot Bonded Cores.
