Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters TTSX Shot placement for deer.

I decided after finding lead in my venison several times over the years to look for a less toxic alternative. I plan on using the Barnes TTSX in my 7mm-08 this season for whitetail and black bear. My load pushes a 120 gr TTSX @ 2950 FPS and accuracy is outstanding. My question is about shot placement with the TTSX. I usually take behind the shoulder shots with cup and core bullets to limit meat loss. With a harder bullet like the TTSX should I aim for the shoulder or will my traditional behind the shoulder shot work well?

Either or.

The lead scare in meat is complete bullschit FYI.




Travis

I am a confirmed shoulder shooter with most and often the rifle carried is my 7-08 with 120 gr TSX (or TTSX). That being said, I have also shot them in the front quarter and recovered bullets from the back end. Frankly, I'd shoot them as you can.

Here's a couple results.

Pick an exit wound location, aim for that, and strive to break bone.

I'd shoot for the same spot, no need to bust up the shoulder in my eyes. We have had great luck with TTSX's on deer, antelope and elk, my go to bullet for 7 different calibers.

I try to involve a shoulder. I have found it gives a better chance of DRT. Here in the thick southern woods where most of my killing is done after sunset, if a deer does a 40 yard death dash into the tangled briar hells, you may not find it 'til the next morning. When overnight low temps are in the upper 40s or 50s, that equals a spoiled deer. I try to anchor them and don't worry about bloodshot shoulder meat.

no reason to bust up the shoulder.
only reason I would ever consider busting up the bone with TTSX is if i were 400+ yards away and questioned the velocity for proper expansion.
to each his own

In my experience, TTSXs do better when you take out some running gear and get bone shrapnel involved. Lungs only don't seem to kill as quickly as lead cored.

I have almost completely swapped back to lead cored bullets too...take it for what it's worth.

Well, As a kid I probably bit hundreds of lead split shot onto my fishing line and it didn't kill me but now I know better. Over the years several times I have and once a guest of mine has actually spit small hunks of lead out while eating game I have shot. I bet I've killed a few of my brain cells with lead over the years but I'd prefer to keep the rest of my family and friends a little more lead free.

Obie,

I use TTSX fairly exclusively, and at higher velocities they do just fine in the high shoulder - which is also the spot I shoot for.

Last year I piled up 3 does with that exact same shot, none of them got more than 40 yards.

Spot

That is my exact tactic w/ monos.

My experience with TTSXes is the animals run farther on average before expiring than they do with lead cores. Although I've had several bang flops too.

I bit hundreds of split shot on too. I still kill all of my deer with lead projectiles - cast bullets in Iowa. I butcher all of my own deer and I'm careful about it. Ask me about the lead levels in my blood that I get regularly tested every year because of my casting hobby and I get blood tests regularly for an autoimmune disease and the meds I'm on for it. (mysasthenia gravis) My lead levels are waaayyyyy below the recommended threshold. I asked my doc about it. "You can swallow split shot or lead fragments and you'll pass it right through your system with no effect into the blood stream. It's vapors, dust, and water pipes you have to worry about for lead contamination/poisoning." It kills birds because birds grind it up in their gizzards, thus making it possible to absorb into the bloodstream and kill them.

Vitals, front shoulders, neck, whatever suits your fancy I guess.

Minimize meat damage provided it's a solid quick kill.

Hitting a shoulder bone just makes more of a mess.

I aim 3/4th of the way up the back of the front leg.

Yeah, I've never had any trouble killing animals with behind-the-shoulder TTSX placement. Usually they'll travel farther before falling than with bullets that lose more weight, but not vast distances. Shot a pronghorn doe two weeks ago with a .25-caliber, 100-grain TTSX started 3100 fps. The range was 345 yards and I mis-estimated the wind a little, so the bullet landed in the rear of the lungs, but the doe still only went about 50 yards before flopping.

As for TTSX's ruining less meat than other bullets with shoulder shots hitting bone, sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. It depends on impact velocity, and how much bone is shattered and serves as secondary projectiles. Lost half the shoulder of another one, shot with the same bullet at around 300 yards.

Well, I got my buck today. 130 lb dressed, had 6pts left but both main beams were broken off just past the widest part. Shot with a 7mm-08 and 120 TTSX. The shot was about 60 yards and off hand. I was aiming for my normal behind the shoulder shot but I hit high and caught the bottom of the spine. The Buck dropped like a rock as expected from a shot like that. The bullet was not recovered and left a caliber size entry and little more than 1/2" exit. I was hoping to see how the bullet would perform on a behind the shoulder shot but oh well. I got a buck and that's what I was out there for. Thanks everyone for all the information.

Congratulations on getting your buck. Thanks for the update. Good luck with your future testing of this rifle/cartridge/bullet combination.

I shot my second buck with the 7mm-08 and 120 TTSX the other day. We get an inch of snow the night before so I decided to try tracking. As luck would have it I bumped a buck after about an hour on my feet. The buck only ran a shot distance and spun around to get a look at what was behind it. That was my chance. Quartering toward at about 70 yards. I pulled the gun up took aim and fired a quick off hand shot. At the shot the buck took off running and I was hoping that my aim was true. I slowly made my way to where the buck was standing and saw some brown hair at the spot so I knew I hit it but where. I went about twenty yards before finding first blood. From that point I only found a few pin droops of blood here and there but I was getting nervous about the shot. I followed the tracks in the snow for about 50 yards before backing out and giving it some time. I went back an hour later and the melting snow had exaggerated the blood trail a bit but still only a few pin drops here and there. Well about 30 yards from where I stopped the first time was my buck stone dead. The shot landed just behind the shoulder clipping the heart, catching one lung, liver and stomach. The bullet excited at the back of the ribs. The inturnal damage was impressive and overall the buck went about 80 yards from the shot. The terminal performance was good but the lack of blood had me concerned. I would have had a hard time tracking in these thick woods without the snow. I think next time I’ll shoot for shoulder.