Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Barnes TSX-"Meat Friendly"

Just killed my first critter with a Barnes TSX, and was sure impressed with the lack of meat damage. Critter was a PA whitetail at 250yds. Bullet was a 140gr launched at 2700fps from my Ruger No.1A 7X57. It entered at the point of the shoulder, pulverizing the ball joint between the leg bone and scapula. Passed through and exited the neck/shoulder junction. Pretty much a bang/flop. Meat damage was very minimal. The same shot with a cup and core, would have made a mess. I like 'em.

Jeff

i dont know if your figuring is quite right. velocity has everything to do with blood shot meatfrom what i understand. heck i punched a 200 pound on the hoof mule deer doe this year. perfect shot for a meat doe, only hit rib meat on the way in and took out a rib on the way out. shot was at 100 yards give or take a few, doe standing broadside, with my 270 winny shooting factory Remmy corelock loads. some how i still managed to blood shot some meat undernieth the shoulder, how im not sure given no bone was hit on that side. not much but enough to where im thinking of getting a 338-06 or 35 whelen barrel for my to replace my 270. heavier bullets at less velocity means less meat damage. i think the reason you saw less meat damage with the 140 gr TSX was your 7x57 wasnt pushing it that fast once it got out to 250 yards. had your rifle been an 7mmSTW, you might be singing a different tune. just my humble opinion.

Rattler

I"m with ya all the way on the speed factor vs bloodshot meat. But remember another factor wiht X bullets is there is no secondary fragmentation most times. So that will lead to less damage also. I"ve seen some awful big holes with fast X bullets but most damage is limited to the immediate areas, not nearly as bad as normal cup and core bullets.

Jeff

Also, the construction of that bullet allows it to (relative to standard mushrooming bullets) "cut" it's way through due to the way its petals are formed. I believe that is one of the reasons it gets better penetration than other bullets.

My experience with X's, in general, is that they produce less blood shot. Just my limited experience.

Rattler,

I think you have to go a lot slower than 338-06 or 35 whelen to get away from "blood shot" damage. I had a 35 Whelen with 250 Horn. bullets and max loads that caused as much meat damage as my .270 ever did on antelope and deer. I not talking just blood between the fascia layers but true blood shot where the muscle's capillarries have burst and is bruised. The bloody fascia just trims off and the blood shot stuff can be soaked in salt water to salvage. Difficult to deal with lots of little lead fragments though. Can't feed it to the dog even. I like x-bullets for that and many other reasons. Mainly use the cup and core bullets for practise now. I will be probably only shoot another 80 head of game in my life time to keep the freezer full so I can afford to use a high cost bullet like the x or triple shock when hunting. YMMV

It's not just the speed. I've drilled deer with 140 gr. X bullets from my 7mag at near muzzle burn distances (i.e. impacts at something like 3200 fps), and the result is the same. Darn near eat up to the hole. I like 'm. Drive them fast, and watch them fall. Compared to my Whelen, at 2200 fps, the 250 speer does about the same, but that's giving up a cool 1,000 fps. All those zero's!

It's re-assuring that I won't be feeding the young-uns lead fragments, as well, although I am not convinced eating elemental lead is that much of a concern. JMO, Dutch.

Forget the bullet, I want to see a picture of that "ball joint" between the leg and scapula.

BTW, my experience with TSX's mirrors yours. Lots of trauma, little bloodshot meat.

The whole family has been getting the same results as you. Darn near eat up to the hole. In the last two years we have taken a number of deer, Elk, Wild Boar and Black Bears with different caliber/weight TSX bullet from 85 gr. .243 to 450 gr. .458 and the results are always the same. The best performing(accuracy & penetration) bullet on the market is the TSX/Banded Solids. This is from a die hard, over 40 year Partition user who found a better bullet. Lawdog
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

really. i always thought that it was the impact velocity that caused all the bruised/blood shot meat. although the wrong bullet detonating like a grenade on the inside of the hide couldnt help. learn something new every day. still i prefer big and slow to lite and light speed <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Another MAJOR fan of the TSX, awesome bullet in my book!

Huntr

Mark me down as another fan of the X bullet. Here is what the exit hole from a 235 gr X in a .375 H&H looks like on a muley buck. It was another one of those "you can eat all the way up to the hole" shots. I had it loaded over a healthy dose of IMR 4350 and the impact distance was about 100 yards.

Ummmmmmm, CAS buddy -- that IS a ball joint between the scapula and humerus....

I know that JJ likes to argue that one, but I posted 3 or 4 "text book" anatomy sites a while back describing it as such and nobody, including JJ, could source a reference claiming otherwise. The socket may not enclose the ball as in the hip joint, but it still falls into the ball and socket joint category. No ifs, ands or buts. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Oops, don't think the femur attaches to the scapula!

Xs simply amaze when it comes to bangflops with minimal meat damage. Count me with the rest that like to eat right up to the hole!
art

It doesn't appear that the shoulder joint in question meets the basic criteria of either being multiaxial nor is there a cavity. I'd say that by definition, it is not a ball joint.

IMO, the shoulder joint is a compound hinge synovial joint between the humerus and the scalpula.

I researched that thread from last year and I agree with JJ.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. I am firmly in the camp of the shoulder NOT being a "ball joint". But hey, what fun would this place be if we all just sat around and had groups hugs and agreed with each other?

One nay sayer here on the TSX. I am not saying they aren't good bullets. I am saying that in my rifle and for my usage I am not favorably impressed.

Have shot no deer with them yet. Have shot hogs and coyotes. The only bang flop on any hog was a head shot and I could have done that with a 22 rf.

It well could be that I am not driving them fast enough. Rifle is a 260 Rem Ruger compact. I should imagine the 120 TSX is @2600.

Plenty of penetration but so what. If the durn things run off that is not good.

Qualify that. Hogs are vermin to me. I don't care how I kill them just so long as I do.

Anyhoo, I was a lot more impressed with the 120 bt I used last year than the tsx this year.


BCR

I took my first critter with a TSX last week. A decent sized whitetail doe.
.257 Bob w/ 100 grn TSX @ about 3050fps (haven't chronied it yet).
She was at a hard quarter towards me and about 35 feet away. I hit her just under the shoulder blade, and took out the top of the heart. The bullet exited just in front of the opposite rear quarter. She went about 10 feet and crumbled.
The shoulder meat was very blood shot, and the exit was very small. It took me a long time to find the exit though.
I'm not very pleased with the bloodshot meat, but want to give it a couple more tries before I come to any conclusions. The shot was very close, and she didn't go anywhere!
One more thing. This bullet shoots great! 3/8 to 1/2 inch groups! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />
The 140 in my 7X57 looks interesting. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Not a TSX bullet but I used a 130gr Rem Corelok from my .270Win bust the "Shoulders" on a decent size doe. Even with her front legs inoperable she still ran a good distance. Guy I have processing the deer said there was a hell of lot of blood shot meat and to use a different bullet next year.

I shot a big bull elk with a 160 gr. "X" once with an impact speed of about 3,000 fps (why I keep shooting that 7mag -- who knows....). Anyway, I threaded that one a bit high, right over the lungs, lengthways under the spine.

All the tenders were shot all to he##. Big time bummer; but it was more a problem of shot placement than bullet performance. I don't think you can pop anything through a major muscle or bone structure without some meat damage. The real question is: which one will reduce the damage. JMO, Dutch.

You know, every time I say that, the old guy where we butcher our deer says "You've got to put holes in them to get them on the ground, just cut it out and quit bitching". He's right about the holes part, but I agree that it sucks to ruin some of the best cuts.

As far as bone busting and minimal meat damage, this is a pic of just above the "ball joint" on a pretty good sized mulie I killed two years ago with a 140gr TSX from a 7WSM. It crumpled him pretty quick, destroyed the bone, and did surprising little meat damage.

Impact velocity was probably about 2600 fps.

I fall firmly in the camp of 'BOTH' I have been using 'X' bullets in their various configurations for 20 years now, mostly in very high velocity stuff aka 300WBY and Ultra, 257WBY, 6/284, 7mm Mags of various types and I have had some animals display very little meat damage, but the worst I ever saw was a 3 point mule deer buck that I shot 5 years ago with the 6/284 and a 90gr Barnes 'X' at about 3400MV, speed at impact (100yards or so) was likely still 3100-3200. Bullet hit a few inches behind the shoulder, midway up between the brisket and the withers on a near perfect broadside presentation. the ENTIRE ribcage was bloodshot, from the withers to the brisket, all the way back to the last rib! Since that deer I have been using the .257 WBY, but the ranges have been quite long. On these deer the performance was excellent but unspectacular. My Elk this year took a 180 TSX from a 300Ultra high through the lungs at about 150 yards and the bloodshot area was minimal. I tend to think that minimal damage to meat is the more frequent result. I use almost nothing but these on american big game.