Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Barnes 130 grain TTSX .277 bullets on large game

It really doesn’t seem to bother my wife…..except from the bench. She really doesn’t enjoy shooting it from the bench…. but realizes that verifying the zero is a necessary evil! memtb

She might want to try loads along the line of Mule Deer's 200 grain RE15 recipe. Does a nice of job taming down the recoil, and kills as well as a 270!

prairie goat, if that was intended for me…….Thank You!

While her present load does “kick” a bit…..it’s never been an issue in the field on game, from either prone, sitting (her preferred shooting position), or from sticks.

I do the load development (hasn’t changed in many years), and I will test the zero to verify, which minimizes the rounds she must shoot from the bench. She then verifies my shots, thankfully we’ve always shot to the same POI. So, while does kick pretty good…..she’s done real good with it on game, and has utmost confidence in it! Perhaps, that’s the most important component in a hunting rifle! memtb

Yep! 👍

memtb,

Am not exactly inexperienced with the .338, having taken an even dozen species (not individual animals) with it from Alaska to Africa, the largest weighing up to around 1500 pounds. It works--but so do a lot of other cartridges, especially with some of the newer bullets.

One thing I did notice was the .338 tended to kill quicker with lighter bullets, rather than the heavyweights so many people apparently prefer. (Could tell a bunch of stories about that--and have told some in various magazines and books).

One example is the 200-grain RL-15 handload prairie goat mentioned, which I mostly used with the 200-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip--which was the first of the "heavy jacket" BTips, introduced 31 years ago. Among other instances, I killed my first gemsbok with one, a slightly quartering shot at around 150 yards. The bullet broke the near (left) shoulder joint and also the bottom of the spine--and was found under the skin of the right ham, retaining 60% of its weight. But it also killed quickly with broadside heart-lung shots. These days it's the 200-grain Combined Technology Ballistic Silvertip.

The 130gr TSX or TTSX works great on elk, both near and far.

Longest shot I ever took on a big game animal was 417yds, on a 4x4 bull elk, and used the 130gr TSX. I only shot because one of my hunting buddies missed, using a 300Win and 180gr TSX, and the bull just stood there. Neither the original shooter nor our other buddy, shooting a Browning 300wsm and 180gr TSX, would shoot again, so I did, with my 270.

After I shot, the bull took 2-3 steps and dropped. The TSX entered the right front side, behind the leg, exited the left side and into the left front leg, busting the upper leg bone, and exited again.

As someone else mentioned, the lighter weight-for-caliber mono's hit above their class.

I got started with Barnes after reading a magazine article about reloading the 223 (JAN/FEB 1992), my apologies for not remembering the magazine or author, and what stood out was the author's comment about how the 45gr Barnes X bullet, shot out of a T-C Contender with a MV of about 2,600fps, being the only bullet that caused the 10lb gel block to expand so violently, that it knocked the other 10lb block off the table. No other bullet tested, even those shot out of rifles, did that.

At that time, I had been hunting coyotes with my 22 Hornet for a few years, and had noticed it's a bit light for coyotes, and I had runners and floppers, so I thought I would try this new on the market bullet.

Before Lilgun powder, my MV was about 2,600fps, and, right away, I saw the difference when the Barnes hit coyotes, noticeably fewer runners and floppers.

That fall, I tried the 140gr X on a mature cow elk, about 175yds, quartering towards me. I shot her in the left front, she ran about 20yds and did a somersault. AS I walk up on her, I see some white stuff protruding from her right hip area, and though maybe she was diseased. Once I got to her, I realized that was the exit wound, and the white stuff was a plug of fat from the bullets exit. That X bullet went through about 4ft of elk and kept going.

Thanks John, and obviously you have much more experience than we ever will…..unless blessed with a second go round on Earth.

I’m kind of a “one bullet, one zero” for everything hunter/shooter. I prefer middle of the spectrum on bullet weights…..even with mono’s. That said, in my wife’s rifle, we’re running about 25 grains above your recommended 200’s. But, I liked the slight BC gain over the lighter mono’s, also the increased likelihood of exits on most any game from most any angle she’s subject to hunt/shoot. The 225’s @ 2950 mv offer a pretty respectable trajectory out beyond any range at which she will shoot.

I’ll also concede that a somewhat lighter, more frangible bullet may perform better on smaller big game, especially with a marginal hit. Several years ago, she made a quick 200 yrd. offhand broadside shot on a fast walking “speed-goat”, just moments away from it’s going behind a little ridge. The impact was about 2”” above the breastbone, almost a miss. This didn’t offer much to upset the bullet, and was below the heart/lungs…..so expiration required a few seconds, or about 60 or so yards. A more frangible bullet of a slighter higher velocity may have taken the animal down more quickly. Admittedly, proper placement trumps the performance of most any bullet!

So far, that’s the only animal she’s taken that was a bit slow to go down! But again, we have very limited experience! memtb

“But, whatever”. Loved that final comment.

If that was for me, limited experience, as compared to John. She (wife) only has moose, deer, Pronghorns, elk and a bear to use as a measure of performance! Nothing like many here, but covers a fairly wide range of animal sizes.

If it wasn’t for me…..whatever! 😉 memtb

All this .270/130gr love makes me appreciate my 7mm-08/120gr load even more!