Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Is the Barnes TTSX that good?

That's pretty much what we're all trying to say.

My biggest buck was shot at 30 feet with a Remington Core-lokt, 165gr. It was shot high in the onside shoulder,and didn't exit. It broke the shoulder and didn't exit and I didn't find the bullet. But the deer died withing seconds and 100 yards. Not a lot of blood until about 30 yards before he dropped. Lots where he dropped. That's also the only core-lokt I've used that didn't exit.

I would suggest trying Federal Fusion if you're not reloading. I've switched to those for everything I shoot factory in. They're very accurate and work as advertised.

I've put some factory ammo guys at my deer camp onto Fusions and the results have been great.

battue, I like your "designer wound channel" post and that is exactly what I'm looking for. You wouldn't for instance find Remington loading that round nose Core-Lokt with all the lead exposed into a .300 Winchester Magnum, but it is an outstanding deer bullet out of a .308 or a .30-06. Conversely I'm not going to find a Berger VLD boat tail loaded for my .300 Savage. I think why the .30-30 got as good a reputation as it did is because the ammunition companies could tailor that bullet specifically for the .30-30 as a deer cartridge. If you loaded that same .30-30 bullet into a .300 WM case at 1,000 fps faster, you would have a bomb. I suspect that is exactly why the .257 diameter bullets fared so well in that Cedar Knoll study. The ammunition companies could tailer those bullets specificity to a much narrower range of cartridges intended for deer size animals, namely the .257 Roberts, .25-06 and probably a few .257 Weatherby Magnums. Now look at the .308 diameter stuff. Everything from the .300 Savage up to the .30 Nosler or what ever is fastest today. To my way of thinking the ammo companies have a lot harder time designing a bullet that will work well across a wide velocity range of the medium to large cases, medium to large animals and close to far distances.

Which is perhaps why most conventional 140-160gr 7mm bullets and 150-180 .30cal bullets are reliable performers at a moderate 2,600-2,800fps.

In my estimation - yes. I used the Hornady 150 SST for years because they were very accurate, But my shots range from 15 yards to over 400. The Hornady usually fragmented without leaving an exit hole, and blew up on two occasions which resulted in deer that I did not find until the meat was spoiled.

I have been using the 110 grain TTSX in my .308 at 3000+ fps for about 8 years now and have to say they have exceeded expectations. Very accurate if you set them back 50 thousandths or more. I wish I had examples of how the TTSX performs but I have yet to recover one. But I can say that they will drill through a 110 pound doe lengthwise.

YMMV, but I am sold on them.

I always find it interesting when hunters cite shooting lengthwise through a deer as one of the virtues of Barnes TSX's. Or maybe it's just proof of how far they'll penetrate. I've done that with them--but also with a number of other bullets on deer-sized animals, on two occasions I specifically remember with Nosler Ballistic Tips. In fact I once did it with a Ballistic Tip on a 450-pound gemsbok bull.

One of my conclusions is that shooting lengthwise through deer-sized animals isn't all that tough, probably because the "inside channel" of big game animals isn't all that resistant to penetration. Or at least a lot of it isn't.

I've done that twice. That was enough. No more of that for me.

Once was a 165gr Core-lokt the other time was a 140gr Fusion.

A partition bullet is "soft", and "hard", isn't it?

Not many 450 pound deer here in NC!

I tried the Nosler BT's when I began having issues with the Hornadys but could never get them to shoot very well for me. I guess what impressed me about shooting lengthwise through that one doe was that the wound channel was almost a straight line. I hit her center of the chest and it exited just under the anus. I would have bet that somewhere along the path it would have veered to one side or another. I know that one instance is statistically insignificant but it ranked pretty high on the cool factor.

i like to shoot the TTSX.

I love the 180 TTSX in the .35 whelen

also in creedmoor, and 7-08 and 7mm mag.



as of july or so , barnes is loading the 127gr LRX in factory ammo for the creedmoor.

CrowRifle,

Yep, shooting through an animal that far is always interesting! And often surprising.

Have recovered quite a few bullets at the opposite end of the animal, but perhaps the most memorable was a 140-grain Nosler Partition from a 7x57 Mauser that entered a mule deer buck that was facing me in lodgepole pine timber. I aimed at the base of the "dimple" at the bottom of the neck, between the shoulders, and the buck went right down. I couldn't find an exit hole, and couldn't find the bullet while field-dressing, though I did trace the wound channel through the diaphrarm, so assumed it ended up somewhere in the guts. Poked through them but didn't find it.

A few months later I was eating a round steak from the buck, and bit down on what I thought at first was a piece of bone. It turned out to be the expanded Partitions. When my wife and I butchered the buck, we managed to slice that steak on either side of the bullet.

Hornady Interlock, Nosler Ballistic Tip, and Nosler Accubond are my three favorite deer bullets. If you can't like those, then you're hard to please.

Some deer aren't going to bleed as much as you want. Some deer might run a little further than you want. But that's just life. Most will fall quickly and bleed pretty well.

Ttsx at 3k+ fps kill [bleep] on the spot. The biggest problem is that if there is another animal behind the one you are shooting at, you get a 2 for 1.
Barnes shot at less than 3k muzzle velocity or past 400 yards, are a hit or miss on opening up.

I'm not sure why so many like Nosler BT, all you get with those is bloodshot meat. On the other hand, you can eat the hole if you use mono bullets.

You need to read less and shoot more.

qwk, I thought that way too until I lost that nice one with a TSX. I don't eat ribs anyway and there was something pretty satisfying about dropping that last one where he stood with an SST. Not that it has ever been a concern where I go, but we have 600,000 plus deer hunters in the woods on opening day and if your deer runs away very far, there is always a guy a ridge or two over that is willing to tag your animal.

BS

Windfall...Welcome to the 'Fire! Something to mention to all the deer hunters out there, in WI, MI and MN a fatally shot whitetail that bounds over a little brush or hill just might be found at the feet of another hunter. More than one deer has been contested by two hunters. Some say first to tag it, some say first to cut it.
My very first deer 44 years ago was being trailed by two hunters when I tagged it. I did not know the protocol. The other guys were adults, I was 14. My Dad said when two hunters shoot the same pheasant. the one who claims the bird should give the other hunter a shell. I gave the younger hunter a 30/30...

Anyway, Northwoods hunters put a premium on deer they can walk to and tag.

My brother had a buck taken from him at gunpoint in Lower Michigan. In the old days a hunter could go years without a shot at a legal deer. Hard to imagine some people doing such a thing.

Back to bullets, TSX have been remarkable at dropping chest shot deer for me 40 to 400 yards. Notably 150gr out of a shockingly accurate 30'06 Boss M-70. Two big Kansas bucks made a few bounds but both had shattered hearts, mule kicks at the shot, and just about empty of blood when field dressed.

Three hunters I know of have lost game shot with Swift Poly tipped bullets. We kind of avoid them...other hunters like them.

Around here if it's obviously already injured we usually give them the deer or at least half of it. But then deer are plentiful.

I can tell you haven't used BT's.....