Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Monolithics - easing into 308 bullets

After rather abysmal performance, in my view, of the 180 gr Sierra Game King from my 308 (2630 MV), I'm going to stick my toe into the monlithic bullet pool. I still love the Partition but my current 308 doesn't care for the 165 or 180. It likes Accubonds but gets funky - sub MOA 3 shot groups some days, 1.5" groups on others, normally 2-3-4 in a nice tight cluster and one flyer opening the group to 1.5".

Lets address the whole pulling bullets from dead animals. I shot 5 animals this year with the 308/180 gr Game King. One exit on a twice shot elk at 50 feet dead broadside. Based on my experience with deer, I'm guessing it was shot 2. First shot he simply stood there and I put another within an inch of the first, tight behind the shoulder. I shot 4 deer in the past month and failed to get an exit. I couldn't even see where the bullet, or any fragments (bone or bullet) even hit the far side of the ribcage. Lungs were sufficiently destroyed but ZERO blood. I had to track every deer even though they only went 40-50 yards. Even in the snow - very, very little blood. When deer depart the scene among a bunch of other deer, tracking becomes tricky. Despite what some will chime in here - I'm not using another Sierra Game King on anything bigger than coyotes again, ever.

In full disclosure I've had issue with the first gen Barnes TSX, 25 cal. Zero expansion on a sample of 2 back-to-back. I also had a 140 TSX from a 7 RM give underwhelming tissue damage. Those examples occurred in back-to back years and were 14-15 years ago. I've seen Brad's 150 TTSX from his 308 and trust his experiences. Still think I'm ready to try the monolithics again and hope all the posts I see about them are true.

I've talked to the 3 main mono makers - Barnes, Nosler, Hornady. Barnes recommended 150 or 168 TTSX, Nosler 168 E-tip, Hornady 165 GMX.

So - 308, elk/deer, shots feet to 400 yards max - what has been your experience with monolithics (Barnes TSX, Nosler E-tip, Horn GMX) at 308 velocities (2700 for 165/168, 2900 for 150)? Shoot 150 or 165/168 for elk/deer?

Thanks.

I have not shot any for a number of years, but velocity is your friend with the monos. I would go with the 150, if I was going the mono route. They will hammer any elk, or deer that you encounter.

130 TTSX and 150 TTSX work awesome out of the .308. Either will give all the penetration you need.

Jordan:
Top of the morning to you sir, I see you folks on the other side of the big hills have warmed up a wee bit too this morning, we're at about the same temps actually - so I hope that and all else in your world is going according to plan.

My good wife is talking about getting back into hunting after a 25 year hiatus and the 130gr TTSX will absolutely be my first choice to try in her little .308 Carbine. We'll likely try either them or the 150gr TTSX in her .308 Norma first too, though the 168gr TSX in my .308 Norma aren't too, too bad for recoil and have given me the same tissue damage and penetration as a 200gr Partition on deer.

We switched to monolithic bullets at our place when the girls started hunting at 10 years old - one is now married and the other in her last year of her degree at UVic - so I guess a good decade back. While we never shot anything larger than deer sized animals, we did get a good enough number of local mulie and whitetail bucks into the freezer with .257", .264", .277" and .308" TSX, TTSX and GMX bullets to form a bit of an opinion on them for sure.

Overall I like them because if things go sideways with the first or second hit on a game animal, they absolutely will work if all you've got is a quartering away shot and you need to plow through the grass bag to hit the vitals before the deer heads into a shin tangle canyon carved out by either glacier run off or one of Satan's minions.....

Yah, I have packed game out of a few of them Jordan...

We try to break a shoulder with the monos, either going in or coming out - or in the event we can break both, then that's what we'll try for. The resulting tissue damage, reaction from the animal upon being hit and resulting demise of said animal are more predictable if the front differential is taken out.

On a pristine picture perfect broadside shot that we grew up taking - especially on young mulie bucks who have to take that last fatal look at what spooked them - we've found that the monos work just okay if only ribs are broken. In fact I'd rate them as less effective than a cup and core bullet if only ribs are broken.

They will typically give an exit hole to track with however, so if that's the goal then they'll tick that box usually.

If however say the spine is hit or the big knuckle where the scapula is joined to the ulna, then that's where the monos shine in our experience. This often resulting in an exit hole and typically a grounded animal in 1-5 steps.

Anyway sir, I'm cognizant that I didn't answer the OP's question directly as it pertained to .308 velocity monos, but hopefully it was useful for someone out there anyway.

All the best to you and yours this Christmas Season Jordan.

Dwayne

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1037&context=hwi

The above are the published results from ~900 elk kills during the culling in TRNP. I don't believe they broke it down by bullet weight, just by "magnum" or "non-magnum". All of the bullets were mono's.

Since 2004 (the year I started using TSX bullets) I've killed 1 Moose, 2 caribou, 8 elk and 30+ deer. What I notice is there's very little difference in entrance/exit holes or damage in-between whether using a 243Win/85TSX up through a 300Win Mag w/200gn TSX. I've taken animals from <50yds to right at 500yds and the wounds more or less always look the same. IME, the only real difference is 100's from my 257Wby @ 3800fps are more devastating inside the critter but in/out still look the same. Everything else (243/85's, 25-06/100's, 270/140's, 7-08/120's, 280/120s, 7x57/120's, and 300Win/200's) runs a MV from 3000-3300fps and if looking at skinned hanging carcasses the entrance is the only hole that gives some sort of clue as to which of the above one might have used. The exit wounds are all roughly golf-ball sized and the wound channels are all relatively straight from impact to exit independent of shot angle.

I can't say definitively if mono's kill better or faster than other bullet options, but I can say that IMO/IME, they're performance is consistent and dependable. You can essentially plan a wound channel based upon where you want the bullet to exit and within reason, it'll get there and perform as you'd expect with boring reliability.

I just shot an 8 point at close to 300 yards with a 150 ttsx started at around 2800 fps. Bulllet entered high in the lungs just under the spine. Deer was down and kicking yet was dead by the time that I could get over to it. If you look at a ballistic calculator that bullet was probably only doing 2200 when it hit that deer yet it still killed well. I doubt that another 100 yards worth of range would have changed much.

I'd recco the 150 TTSX for the .308 Win.

Those pretty much parallel my experiences with Sierra game Bullets. With 300 grain Bullets at a mv of around 2600 to 2700 fps, I couldn’t get an exit from a mule deer (broadside shot), and an average black bear (broadside shot), lost my first elk ( an angled shot from rear). When using in a test medium....they disintegrated while other cup and core bullets performed as expected. That was 30 years ago.....have never and will never buy another Sierra bullet! memtb

Two words....


Core

Loct

100gn SGK's @ 3600+ via 257Wby provide some spectacular splashes on steel targets.

Good read horse!

I'm tending toward a 150 at 2900. Are any of the monos "softer" than others?

I was a volunteer for the TRNP cull. My team leader was the coordinator for the whole culling project and told me that after the program was concluded they'd publish the data on the bullets/performance etc. They recorded quite a bit of ballistic and terminal data on each kill, or at least our team leader did.

I will say that climbing the fence of a Nat'l park with an elk quarter stuffed in your backpack and then being offered a ride in the county sheriff's patrol pickup (without handcuffs) in the ditch of the Interstate Highway was an odd experience.

No idea if any mono's are "harder" or "softer" than their counterparts. I have 2 friends who've used the 308/130's on an awful lot of deer to good effect. The one buddy's wife also used the 308/130TSX on a very large bull moose here in ND. @ ~125yds she had both projectiles exit the moose catching a shoulder on the way out.

The Barnes LRX, is supposed to be a little softer (annealing process). There is a small independent company (Hammer Bullets), that offer several different mono designs (supper high bc’s to very aggressive expansion). Some are supposed to expand violently, shedding petals early upon entry, causing substantial damage. However, they are expensive! memtb

I’ve sorta began trying the Barnes TTSX offerings more this year. Started with the 180 TTSX in the 350 Rem Mag, 250 TTSX in the 375 Ackley, 168 TTSX in the 30-06, and will start my 35 Whelen with the 200 TTSX. I’ve been told the 168 TTSX is a little softer up front and works well at longer ranges.

I did poke a little forked horn whitetail with my 10 twist 375 Ackley 250 TTSX started at 2900. Shot was further back than I intended but it still mulched the insides and he died pretty quickly. Was pleasantly surprised with it actually.

Not giving up on any of the other bullets I use such as Nosler, BBCs, Swift’s but I Like To try different things and I had good luck with the 225 TSX in the Whelen on elk and deer but I never used any smaller caliber ones since a few of my partners reported less than great results with the non tipped variety.

I’ve got couple boxes of 225 Hammers for my 35 Newton once I get it rebarreled. They look pretty mean.

My primary hunting partner uses 210 TTSX via 338Win for elk/moose and 150TTSX via 280AI for deer and you could lump them right in with everything I said above. Mind-numbing reliability.

My wife uses 225TTSX’s in her .338 WM, and I’m using 250 TTSX’s in my .375. We’ve used Barnes exclusively since the early ‘90’s! memtb

+1. I loaded some 168 TTSXs for a friend who shot a bull with his .308. He hit it in the heart and it went down but the recovered bullet looked almost new except for the missing tip and rifling marks.

I concur, if used in a .308 Win........go with the 150’s! memtb

Merry Christmas, Dwayne! Thanks for the well wishes. Hopefully everything is going well for you and yours, also, and the Christmas season is good to you.

My experience mirrors yours on each point you make. My experience with Barnes bullets includes roughly 140 BG animals ranging from deer, caribou, elk, moose, bear, etc. A mid to high-shoulder shot puts critters down right now, while a shot hitting only ribs/lungs will kill quickly, particularly with the TTSX/LRX, but not quite as quickly as a fragmenting C&C.

The .308 Win/130 TTSX surprises most people who haven't seen it at work much, with just how deep it'll penetrate while doing significant damage at the same time.