Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Nosler E-tips vs. TTSX's

Wow, you aren’t kidding about that. BC isn’t too bad on those 150 ETips either.

Beretz and Dirtfarmer, what type of twist does your rifles have? Mine is an old Rem. 700 BDL with a 1:10" twist. 30 years ago, I tried some 150gr bullets out of it, and they didn't group very well. Since then, I have been shooting 180+gr bullets, and they group very tightly. I tried a 165gr GMX last year, and it also shot poorly. I was just wondering what twists you have, and if they work with the 150gr variety.

That's good stuff Otter.

Can you reveal how many jugs each one penetrated and how much each bullet weighed afterward?

Not who you asked but mine shoots 130s and 150s just fine with a ten twist. It could be a case of a finicky barrel but I doubt it is the twist. Try a different bullet and tweak the seating depth maybe?

Thanks for the info Tejano. If I recall correctly, back in 1988, I just tried one box of three different weights (150, 165, & 180) and the 180s shot the best, so I settled on those. Since then, I haven't felt the need to go smaller, but was curious if it's even possible that my rifle would shoot 150s well. Sound like, from your info, that it is, at least, a possibility. Interestingly, my DPMS 20" barreled .308 with a 1:10" twist strongly prefers 165gr-168gr bullets over anything lighter, but it's pushing them a lot slower than the 300 WM.

I just remembered that the Hornady Lite ammo I shot out of it recently (which I got for my son to shoot) were 150gr SST bullets, and they made tight groups. They were only going at an average of 2,733 fps out of the barrel.

Std 10 twist is all you need in a 300 WM.

DF

That’s right but I did just put an order in for an 8 Twist Krieger... got a danged pile of 180 BBCs that need a good launch!

I think you'll be pleased with the Krieger barrel. They built my 6.5-06AI from parts I supplied (stock, action, trigger) and a 1-8 fluted barrel they supplied. Last time I had it at the range splattered 5 clay pigeons on the 600 yard berm with a total of about 12 shots. I'm very pleased with the quality of that barrel. (And the other work they did.)

I've never shot a E-tip, that said, I have shot a lot of the Barnes stuff. Here's my take. I don't like TSX or X bullets smaller than 30 caliber. I have personally seen several 25 caliber and 270 caliber TSX bullet fail to expand on elk shot a fairly close range. I haven't seen a 30 or bigger fail yet.

I think the mono bullets have their place (if you hunt in CA). I was in Namibia for 2 weeks in July. My two buddies and I shot 50 head of game. All of us using 300 H&H or 300 Win mags. One buddy loaded LRXs, the other TTSXs and I loaded mostly 150 Partition Golds. I did take one box of 150 TSXs for comparison.

We recovered a few bullets. Without exception, all the Barnes shed their petals. I culled a few hartbeests with the TSX and the PG side-by-side.

There is no doubt that a Partition kills much better (read quicker) than the Barnes. All of the PG shot animals dropped within 20 yard- even a very nice blue wildebeest. The stuff shot with Barnes (except for high shoulder shots) ran quite a ways on average. I shot a kudu with one that ran 130 yards. Shot 3 warthogs from one stand using both bullets. The one shot with the TSX just stood there for like 10 seconds. Bullet was double lung but missed most of the heart. The other two were shot with the PG. They both folded with the exact same shot.

I saw 30+ animals run off with Barnes poked through them including one kudu we never did find and I saw the impact on his hide when my buddy hit it.

I won't be using monolithic bullets unless required by law or unless they are big dangerous game bullets. I did take my 458 and shot my Eland with it. I had both 450 grain TSX and 450 grain A-frames. Both are awesome bullets.

I have had really good luck with Bergers on everything I have shot and seen shot with them. Hard not to like them for any instances where you are possibly going long range. I also really like the new ELD-X bullets. They are the real deal.

Great report. Thanks for sharing!

Good post.
In my expiereance if you dont hit bone or CNS animals run longer when shot with monometal bullets. Sometimes much longer.

Good post.
In my expiereance if you dont hit bone or CNS animals run longer when shot with monometal bullets. Sometimes much longer.

I made a side by side comparison of Nosler's 90gr ETip versus Barnes 80gr TTSX during a cull hunt in Namibia. Rifle was a Blaser K95 chambered for the 6x62R Freres, a cartridge with almost identical performace to the 240WBY. Twist was 1:10".

I found:

-Both bullets were equally accurate
-Both killed much better at closer distances and higher impact speeds
-The ETip would expand to a broader frontal surface and my thought is that it penetrates less, produces a wider wounding channel, and is a better killer. My non conclusive thought, though.
-Of both you would just be left with a small shank if you hit the humerous of blue wildebeest, oryx or red hartebeest.
-None would stop in a Springbuck regardless the point of impact, angle, and distance.

Here is a picture taken from above where the wider frontal surface of the ETip (one at the right) is quite obvious.

Chamois thanks what I have suspected but it is so infrequent to catch a bullet of either type it is hard to compare them. I also think the ones you do catch are biased towards the ones that expanded more but couldn't prove this.

Does anyone know if Brian Litz has B.C. numbers for the 0.224 55gr Nosler E-tip and Barnes TTSX? Nosler claims quite a bit better B.C. than the Barnes (0.305 vs 0.272) and they are on sale at SPS right now.

I'm just curious if the manufacturers numbers hold up to reality.