Well I can throw my two cents worth in on the 225 gr. TSX on elk. I've taken five cow elk with the bullet and all were either DRT or hit so hard they couldn't escape even if they wanted to. On the DRT, two dropped so fast the guide had trouble locating them, one, my longest shot with the Whelen sagged at the rear like a dog sitting down then dropped slowly at the front end. Two were hit a bit too far back but dropped on the spot. Both tried to get up but were unable to even crawl away, They required finishing shots.
Rifle is a custom Mauser with 24" 1 in 14" twist barrel. Load is Remington brass, Winchester WLR primer, and 60.4 gr. Re15 foran MV ov 2710 FPS 15' from the muzzle. Accuracy runs from .50" to .80" depending on how well I'm shooting.
Paul B.
Thanks again Paul.
I settled on the 225 TSX at a little more than 2800 FPS as my elk load for this year (.35 Whelen AI, 70gr PP 2000-MR, CCI 200, 3.375 OAL). I got on a good bull just before sunrise Sunday morning. I shot at 151 yards. I was very happy the bull fell right there but disappointed that I did not get full penetration through the shoulders with an exit. You can see the little lump in the first pic, which is the bullet under the hide, then the second is after I slit the skin and picked it out. I put it on the scale after I got home yesterday...225.0 grains right on the dot. Can't get much better than that. The expanded TSX presents a pretty huge frontal area. I am wondering if I'd have had an exit with the 225 NAB or 250 Partition. I recall Mule Deer writing some years ago that he had never recovered a bullet from his favorite 30-06 elk load, the 200 Partition.
I'll still keep working on loads with those 225 Accubonds since I now have 200 of them thanks to the sale at SPS. I got the blems so cheap I can use them for foulers!
Thanks to everyone for all the advice and replies.
Cheers,
Rex
