I was influenced by RS, again, writing about his use of mono’s in the ‘06 while shooting feral donkeys in Australia. His observation was these new bullets elevate the ‘06 to a whole new level of lethality (and by implication would do the same for any cartridge). This was again sometime in the nineties. IIRC, he was using the new Winchester Failsafe then.
This led me on the road to try what was available at the time including the .338 Lost Rivers Tech bullet, 210-gr (IIRC) of a lead-less, alloy of copper, brass, and best wishes. I had a CO bull the last evening of a hunt come out of the timber into a long, deep meadow right at diminishing light. It stopped broadside behind a cow at 475 yds by a quick ranging. The first shot dropped it prone, hit through the shoulders; as I saw it struggle a bit and dark was closing in, I hit it again and one more time.
The three shots actually could have been covered with a tea saucer; two were through and through, and the third, a contrarian, took a left turn and was found somewhere in a hind quarter, maybe four feet away. It actually could have been reloaded again as it was intact except for a flattened nose. The two exits were only pencil-sized. This bullet apparently was too hard acting almost as a solid at this range and velocity which was probably still 2k or more.
If I have the chronology of events correct, I had already tried the Barnes X bullet in several rifles and ran into pressure problems with a couple esp as I got to near max loads; I ditched it. Then came the TSX and finally the TTSX. These gave excellent accuracy and performance without pressure problems. I took ten PG in Namibia in 2007 with ten rounds of the .375, 270-gr TSX and recovered only one on a stout, lead, female zebra. It had smashed both shoulders.
Of the twenty or so heads of game that I can remember taken with the TSX/TTSX BULLETS I’ve recoverd only three one of which one is named above; another traversed a waterbuck sideways after hitting a small twig twenty yards in front of the animal and was found under the off-side. The last hit a 300lb mule deer buck under the chin while coming hard-on, and travelled 4.5 feet landing near the scrotum. The “zebra bullet” and the “mule deer bullet” are thousand-Word pic’s which I’ve posted before.
Im not saying they are perfect bullets or others are not as good in slightly different ways, but for me they are good enough not to stray from. This year, Lord-willing, I’m taking a 300 WSM and a very lightweight 284 for elk. In the first, I’ve a 168-gr TTSX loaded and in the 284, I’ve a 140-gr TTSX in place. Both are at about 3075 fps MV with resultant trajectories about the same to 400-450 yds.
