Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 243 Barnes TSX 85 grain on deer?

They kill fine, however I greatly prefer Noslers 95gr Ballistic Tip. It penetrates well and creates a great wound channel. I think we've only caught one and that was in a big bodied WT buck at 427 yards, after it shattered the onside shoulder and spine.

I also like the 95gr NBT very much. Thanks to input from forum posts I was able to load some up with great results! This was shot out of my Sako Forester. 5 shots at 100 yards!

The 80TTSX penetrates like crazy, but I wasn't overly impressed with how quickly it kills using lung shots.

Find front end bones and it does it real easy.

I'll be going back to some type of more-widely expanding bullet this fall, such as the 95BT or the 85IB.

That is what I was afraid of with the Barnes bullets. The guarantee of an exit hole is appealing.

Never found a reason to not shoot bone.

Like them alot here as well. Great on antelope, mule deer etc. Haven't tried the 80s. I have also heard good things on the 95 BT. There are lots of good bullets for the 243 calibers. I do like the 85 tsx though.

I use the Federal load in my model 7 with great results on paper and animals