As expected, a variety of experiences and opinions but mostly very favorable of the TTSX which was the OP's inquiry. I'm an old guy with lots of experiences with c&c bullets, Interlocs and Partitions. My first experience with the Barnes-X was mixed and I never tried them again on flesh and bone. Then came a trial with a 350gr TSX for my .458 Win. That too was a crash regarding expectations. I shot a smalish bear frontally at 100 yds just in front of the bait barrel (lasered at 100). Impact velocity would have been +2450 fps and the "little bear" took off like I'd missed it! ( I didn't) It circled around for awhile somewhere behind the bait barrel in dense bush and then "went to sleep" (died) about 40 yds directly behind the bait setup. The bullet made exit just in from of the right hip with no evidene of expansion. Further testing of the bullet in media convinced me it had never expanded in the bear but zipped right on through! That bear went the farthest I'd ever shot in forty years!
In further research in discussion with a fellow Canadian who had finished a cull of over 100 Asian Buffalo in Australia using his .458 and 3 bullets: 450 AF, 420 CE and 350 TSX, it worked as well as the others, and better than the 420 CE! He said it's too tough for black bear.
Generally, I've come to the conclusion - that apparently some others have also - that we need to drop down in bullet weight for the TSX in particular from what we'd normally use. Then, there's the matter of the length of these bullets that rob space in the case that should be reserved for powder. For that reason I'll not use them in my .35 Whelen and 9.3 x 62 which are already limited for powder ratio to bullet weight and caliber. So, recently, I've had to switch from the 250gr Sierra/.375 to the 250 TTSX because the Sierra appears unavailable. What a difference that has made in performance! The 250 TTSX is nearly 1/2 as long again as the Sierra, and not as accurate!
So, my general conclusion is that depending on who's hunting where and what, the TTSX may work "best" or maybe NOT! My .375 H&H is loaded for bear using the 250gr TTSX, I just hope it works better than that 350gr TSX/.458" did. BTW, I used a 350gr Speer Mag Tip on another bear going away (from a previous .458). At 70 yds it took out liver, spine and back of head. . . bang flop!
Bob
www.bigbores.ca
