I agree with trying them at 200, 300 if available. Longer bullets "yaw" at the muzzle and then "settle down" further out. It won't take but 2 or three rounds, and then you'll know for sure! At any rate, lets say, for 150yds and under, with a levergun, a 1 1/2" group makes it like a "varmint rifle", just point and shoot! It was the same in South Africa, except when we went to a big farm SE of Joberg and shot Black Wildebeest. Closest you could get to them was 350yds or so, and then only briefly! We took two, one with a 35 Whelen AI (200x) and one with a .375 H&H/270 FailSafe. Then, in Namibia, if you hunted them right, we could have eased over a dune and popped one at 150yds some were even closer, in the shade . Instead, we were with the "Afrikaaner Biltong Hunter Rat Patrol" guys! ha They would zoom over a dune, scatter a herd and chase them out to 375 and beyond. We used a .340W(210xbt) on 2 (then my scope failed) we all (5 of us) used the 300WM ( again 180xbt) and a 338WM ( 200x in it then) and we shot close to 20 animals ( Gemsbok and Springbok) none were under 300, and the longest was right at 375, 380. Those 300s all shot .75" with 3 shots, but 1 1/5 with 5. Sometimes guys missed ( running game!) 4-5 times before connecting. So...IF your rifle doesn't open up beyond several inches at 200yds, you are "gold"! This is strictly my opinion, you understand, and ,you personally, may want it to shoot tighter, I know the feeling, ha. But I just wanted to encourage you not to give up on your 200gr load yet? let us know what you end up doing, OK? Thanks.
I think that is a fair point about trying a different distance. I’ll need to work on finding a range farther than 100 yards, but I think I could figure something out. I also think I’m going to clean my gun before I shoot next time, as I was shooting other loads and they weren’t even shooting well even though I had shot MOAs with them in the past.
As for the reason wanting to stick with the TLRs, this testing confirmed much of my beliefs of the quality of exit wound they provide.
https://www.shootingtimes.com/editorial/the-federal-edge-terminal-long-range-bullet/330154That said, if there’s evidence of Barnes TTSX producing similar results even at 180 grain, I’m happy to entertain given that my rifle seems to shoot them better, I think.
As for ELDX, there’s just not enough weight retention for my liking. Most people say under 200 yards, there’s less than 70%, which means no exit wound.
