Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game I had a Barnes TSX failure

It kind of surprised me as I have never had an issue with Barnes bullets. It was an 85gr TSX from a 243. It is stoked pretty fast at 3250fps or so. Me and my sons have killed a lot of GA and PA whitetails with this load. We always get an exit wound and the deer does not go very far.

This past Friday I am in my treestand and a young buck comes out with mangled horns so I decide to take him out of the gene pool. He was only 15 yards away. I made a nice shot behind the shoulder. He went down, then got up and ran off but heard him fall not too far in the thicket behind the stand. There was hair where he was standing, but no blood. I left him be for about 45 mins then went after him. I could not find any spots of blood or any signs of a hit. I KNEW I hit him though. I started doing a grid search and found him. When I looked where I hit him, there was only a 6mm hole going in and no exit wound. No blood on him anywhere. When I field dressed him, one lung was damaged and the heart had 5 holes in it. Definitely a good kill shot but I am not used to that performance from Barnes...more like Remington Corelokts I used to use. Later that night I was skinning him, I could see where the bullet hit a rib and came apart. The wound channel on the inside of the rib cage on the side where the bullet entered was about 1 inch in diameter.


I know some of you will say that it is not a failure since it killed the deer quickly and I found it. I agree to a point but I use Barnes Bullets because they penetrate so well. Where I hunt I need either a good blood trail or a DRT type of performance. If neither of these occur, recovery can be problematic. Am I expecting too much from the bullet? I guess next time, let him get out away from the stand a bit before pulling the trigger.

I agree, bullets should exit virtually every time. I am big on Barnes and have personally never caught one. I see amazing stuff with 80gr TTSX in 25-06 in far bigger critters, but some stick around. There are at least two more contributing factors. Shot placement is very important. You took out the pump and put the only leak up high.

According to the trends on the 'fire..the .243 is an elk round...you shot the wrong species.

Interesting. I hadn't heard of the TSX breaking up like that before.

Thanks for the info. Wonder if the bullet was brittle somehow?

Guy

TSXs in the smaller calibers do have a tendency to pencil through. The fix is to switch over to the TTSX. Frankly, save for the big bores I don't know why Barnes still makes the TSX and not the TTSX exclusively.

The lack of an exit is a surprise, as is the bullet fragmenting upon striking a rib. The bullet did its job (sort of), but I would call it a "failure to perform as expected."

Weird schit happens. Don't let one anomaly determine your viewpoint. THAT is the mistake people make too often, not "expecting too much of the bullet."

The only rifle shot deer that I've ever lost was with a 140 grain TSX from a 7mm-08. 5 drops of blood and two days of looking. The buck the year before had a quarter size hole through both lungs instead of lung mush and that should have told me something. I suspect that the TTSX is a much better bullet, but I'll never shoot another Barnes anything.

Or the LRX. Mistake #1 is using a .243 85 gr bullet on deer. I have seen these take out wild pigs in California, but I have also seen them hit a pig and end up with a 4 hour tracking job itno the night.

You need the right balance of diameter and weight, even with copper bullets. For medium-sized deer, My personal min. would be a .257 with a 100 gr. TTSX. This bullet would more reliably expand and have more momentum to push for an exit. I skip over this and shoot a .277 (270 Win.) with 130 gr bullets and it's almost too much which is exactly what you need on 125-175lbs deer. Even then, I find myself just using my 300 win mag with 190 gr. LRX bullets for pretty much everything.

Maybe you missed this part of the OP:

My two cents is go for a high shoulder shot with Barnes bullets. Break bone.

No one asked your opinion on what caliber to use dumbass. My guess is, it was just a fluke.

I read that part. In my experience, you increase risk and probability of failure the longer that you use light for caliber and smaller caliber bullets.

There is no need for any name calling, here or anywhere. That is not acceptable behavior.

I was trying to help and share my experience. You are welcome to do the same. If I offended the OP, no harm meant and they can take care of themselves and politely PM me or respond.

I was in the Navy for 21 years. I do not get offended! Offer any and all suggestions. I have thought about a 25-308 for quite some time. I may have to do that...

For the record, the bullet did not pencil through. It came apart!

That is all I use in my 6mm rem. ( 85 grain Barnes reloader 19) Never had one do that. Always had a pass through.

Ignoring the odd off topic above,
I have never had a Barnes come apart, that does seem odd to me.
Were the holes in the heart- bone rather than copper?
I would expect 15 yards and 3250 might pass through but that said creating a bullet that will hold together at 15 yards but reliably open at 500 is an engineering challenge.

So you're claiming that an 85 grain all-copper bullet is now "light for caliber" in a 243 Winchester, and that .243" is "smaller caliber" for deer. Barnes must not know what they are doing, producing these bullets. I guess all the guys using the 22 caliber version to good effect countless times must also be ignorant, and experiencing flukes.

I don't even know what else to say to drivel like that. I guess the 180 TSX in some 30 cal is the next logical step?

There were a couple of pieces of bone in the heart but the holes I assumed were copper but may have been bone. Engineering "challenge" is an understatement. I have been amazed at Barnes ability to penetrate over the years. I remember one where I shot a deer as it was wheeling around to run away. I jumped him from his bed on a steep hill above me and got off a quick snap shot. The 85gr TSX went in behind the shoulder out through the off side shoulder, into its neck, through the spine and still exited!

Understand. Some are more easily offended. No harm meant, just my experience shared. I think that the 25-308 would make for a cool combo! Here's a good source of info on it:

The deer was shot at close rangevwith very high velocity impact. I'd wager the 5 holes in the heart are from the 4 petals and the bullet shank.
A spine hit would have dropped him in his tracts