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

Where did I say I got that from reading? Ive killed more game with BT's than I care to admit. Should have switched a long time ago....

Get a new crystal ball because yours is broken.

Love these posts. They always turn out the same.

Shot placement #1

If you'd like to try the Barnes, consider the LRX. It's a bit more explosive at initial expansion the their other designs.

What gets me is the hyperbole. "All that ever happens is ... " when there is evidence to the contrary.

Is the Barnes TTSX that good?

I'll go with no, or Hell no.

I shot nothing but Barnes for over 15 years in 30-06, 7mm Mag, 6.5x55 and 280.rem. The worst instances I had were the 150 TSX in 30-06 and 129 LRX in 6.5x55. Barely any blood with behind the shoulder shots with the 150 tsx and no blood at all on a behind the shoulder shot with the 129 LRX in the 6.5x55. I only shot one with the 6.5 LRX and that was enough. It ran about 75 yards through a pine thicket and I found it by luck. My best results were with the 130 x bullets in the 280 until they quit making them and I switched to the 140 TTSX. They gave the best results of any Barnes bullets I've tried. Bigger exit wounds and shorter blood trails if shot behind the shoulder.

yes it is , one of the best best hunting bullets you can load

ha ha. If you shot as much as you posted, maybe you would know something....

Check it out: 2 + 2 = 4

There, I doubled your knowledge base.

You're welcome.

Ive been shooting them in my 308 and 3006 the last 2 years on 4 deer in northern and they absolutely drop deer.

I don't need the expensive performance, but I shoot them to avoid lead fragments in the meat I eat.

I would only shoot ttsx in light rifles like 243's to get pass throughs.

wow, impressive.

But seriously, you seem to have very little knowledge about real world experiences. Anyone that thinks BT's don't cause bloodshot meat either has no experience with the bullet or is an idiot. Pure and simple.

It's fairly relative. A moderate weight for caliber NBT at a MV under 2,900fps or so does not always result in a lot of damage to meat. A lighter NBT pushed at high speeds often can. A 140gr NBT from a 7mm-08 is a great deer bullet, but I've seen it be dang devastating at 3,300fps when impacts are close. That's to be expected.....

Pay attention dipshit, I never said Ballistic Tips can't or never cause bloodshot meat. I said your statement about "all you get is bloodshot meat" was BS. I know from actually shooting deer with them that correctly chosen Ballistic Tips don't blow up and/or cause excessive bloodshot meat.

I like tipped bullets for deer, but not Barnes. I've never shot them, and I likely never will. Most dramatic deer kills through the ribs have been with SST's. Target BTHP also do a fine job of laying them down right there for me. Plain ole soft points often do a good job too. As others have said, BT's are great too, but I'd pick a light for caliber one for deer hunting. If I was packing a 7-08 for deer only, I'd shoot 120 BT's, or 139 SST's for tipped bullets. I've seen softball-sized holes through deer with that 139 out of a WSM at normal to longer ranges.

Yes, you are right. At lower velocity and/or close range anything is possible. Trouble is, very few guys run wimpy loads for hunting, and factory loads are pretty stout most of the time.

The ttsx doesn't bloodshot meat very often, whether pushed hard or not, close or far.

Stop backpeddaling. You are very good at that. In my experience, they have caused bloodshot meat in EVERY big game animal that was hit anywhere near the meat. This is a sample of over 100+ kills over a time of about 10 years. Muzzle velocity was 3-3.2k. Very rare to have an exit wound. Both 7mm and 30 cal bullets. The ttsx is the exact opposite. Very little bloodshot meat, always an exit wound(even on 40+ inches of penetration on bull elk). The sample size is smaller, 3 bull elk, around 10 deer. It's enough for me to know which one I'm not going to be using again.

What's your experience?

TSX's were inconsistent at best in the few times I used them. In contrast, the TTSX have been fantastic and now is my first choice for hunting.

The key to success is to maintain 2000 fps or higher at impact.

Punch the numbers to determine the maximum range which will maintain that minimum velocity at impact and it is good to go.

No backpedaling, just straightening out your warped perception of the meaning of my comment.

Experience with Ballistic Tips? I've been loading Ballistic Tips since the 1980's ones, including in fast steppers like 264 Win. mag, 300 Win. mag, 7mm Wby mag and 270 Winchester. These were for deer/pig loads used by my late father and myself. So I do know if you put an early generation soft one from a 7mm Wby into a quartering on shoulder you'll get a lot of bloodshot. During those times we went back to Interlocks.

But you said "all you get with those is bloodshot meat" and that's simply not the case any more. For over a decade I (or close friends I load for) have been using current issue Ballistic Tips from 308 Winchester, 7mm08, 260 Rem, 243 Winchester and others without messing up a bunch of meat.

I don't have a bunch of TTSX experience like I do with the BT, but I'm not running down the TTSX either.

You made a very general and absolute statement. That's all I'm disputing.

.338 cal 160 TTSX at over 3k works fabulously. But the 'eat to the hole' idea is certainly not accurate. They make a complete mess of shoulders on close shots. 185 TTSX worked well too, but left surprisingly small exits especially considering the internal damage. Only used 180 BT on one bull elk and it worked, but did not penetrate like the TTSX (again, data point of one...). Partition is really just a soft bullet with a piece that keeps going. Hard to not like that. A 180 PT out of a 308 left a nice silver dollar sized exit hole and essentially removed the heart of a whitetail.

I love it when new members show up and they are already experts!