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I shoot a M-70 .243 and the 85g TSXs will just shoot better than the tipped 80g. Maybe just my rifle, but way better groups with a variety of powders and loads.

Klaatu.....yeah, but everyone knows a witch lives in your .243

Klaatu....yeah, but there's a witch lives in your .243

120 single Ts have shot better in my 7-08 than TTs, but that was without a bunch of monkeying around; perhaps the TTs would do as well if they were fiddled with. But the TTs shot well enough to hunt with, so I have.

I've seen right around 100 animals killed with Barnes bullets now, as well, and the bulk majority of those were killed with X/TSX/TTSX in calibres from .243-7mm, with a handful of .308-338 bullets tossed in the mix. I haven't yet seen anything I would call a failure to expand by a good margin beyond caliber diameter. I've recovered a couple of .243 bullets and 7mm bullets, all of which penetrated the animals lengthwise and went through some heavy bone. Shots have ranged from 10-350 yards, and 80-90% of the animals have dropped on the spot or within a few feet, though that has as much to do with shot placement as anything else. Those that ran went less than 100 yards, and they were hit in the lungs with no heavy bone. A lone WT doe went about 200 yards after taking a 100gr TSX to the very rear portion of just one lung. The blood trail was very easy to follow, and she was dead when I arrived.

The only bullets recovered were picture perfect, except for one or two that had shed petals, though that doesn't bother me in the least.

I have had issues with limited expansion with the 180 g TSX in 8mm in test media and a pencil hole in a deer with the same bullet. I have lost petals which does not concern me and questionable expansion which does concern me occasionally with the origanal X bullet.

I now use light for calibre TTSX pushed fast when I choose a barnes bullet. I agree with the previous post that there may be more than one reason for he TTSX. IMHO barnes need speed. As on can easily see from the posts above YMMV

I would like to know what metal detector you use, must be a good one! I have been using barnes since 1990 and have killed a lot of deer, but I have only recovered 3 bullets and they all mushroomed perfectly ! I shoot a 7STW but before you go there my 8 yr. old grandson shot a nice 8pt. running down hill 120 yds. (rangefinder). Dropped with one shot, entered rear quarter and I recovered it just inside the heart, now that's penetration from a 243! Mushroomed perfectly !! I loaded it with 85 gr.TSX. How far from the game did you start with the metal detector ? Would like to recover some.

85 gr. TSX or TTSX you can't go wrong ! I wouldn't use my 243 with anything else !! My 8 yr. grandson shot a nice 8pt running down hill 120 yds.(rangefinder),dropped him in his tracks! The bullet entered the hind quarter and I recovered it just inside the heart. Mushroomed perfectly! Great penetration from an 85 gr. TSX!! Love those Barnes bullets ! That's all I have used since 1990 and refuse to change! Barnes rules !!!

You don't need a metal detector, all you need to do is shoot a few large animals and you'll have better luck finding copper. I've got to admit though, that even lighter animals like caribou have stopped a handful of the copper that I have slung their way. I've been shooting them for the past two decades and only recently found one that had penetrated through and beyond - with very little expansion.

An experienced hunter reported that mono copper bullets such as the Barnes X type killed deer slower than conventional jacketed bullets because they did not fragment.

Bullets that fragment produce more wounds and kill faster.

What is your experience DUMB Don? Oh, that is right, you have none.

Critters I've shot with Barnes have gone done quicker than with other bullets I've used. Which is exactly opposite experience of many of the experts.

That said, most of my kills with Barnes bullets have been 25 caliber and under with bullets leaving the muzzle rather quickly.

I've only used Barnes in my 9.3x62 but one of these days I am going to try them out of my .260Rem.

Given that much of my stalking is for our small Roe and (even smaller) Muntjac, how do you find the meat damage?

Obviously, high neck or head shots alleviate the problem entirely, but they are not always practical.

Additionally, I am hoping that running the .260 Rem at a notch or two below full tilt will also help..

I am not one who chases DRT results for every deer, and I accept that some well hit deer are going to run before piling up.

What I absolutely don't want is a bullet that causes huge amounts of damage /bruising as it is exits..

Regards,


Peter

That has been my experience as well

Pete,

After almost 70 deer here in my deer camp shot with Barnes between .243s and 30-06s I can say meat damage is generally quite noticeably less than what you see out of cup and core bullets of any flavor.

Oddly to me, the damage inside the chest is always equal to or greater than what I have seen with cup and cores. I have shot two, both with a .270 that did not completely destroy the lungs. One, a 100 lb fawn, I deliberately shot just under the spine and several inches back from the shoulder. The bone fragments from the rib hit on the way in tore up the upper few inches of both lungs. The bullet took out the descending aorta. There was a generous fan spray of lung 30 feet behind the deer, and generous blood trail on the fifty yard run. Small holes, about quarter size in the hide.

I have yet to see what I would call nasty damage that necessitated tossing any amount of meat to speak of.

Having killed several dozen southern whitetails with slower x-bullets from .444 Marlin, .44 Rem mag and a .25-35 Win. The deer would generally stumble off in a death trot for a few yards, the longest trot maybe 100 yards.

In my opinion the Barnes kills best with speed, the faster the better. The last four deer I've shot have been with a .223 shooting the little blue 45 grain X-bullet at 3,300 fps.

Kills like lightning.....

I have all of one experience wise. A black bear at about 40 yards with a 130TTSX from a 270WIN. Facing me, downhill. Entered upper left chest and left a diagonal hole through the spine and exited between the last two ribs on the right side. Rolled over with feet still uphill and let out a loud bawl. Could have stuck a Sharpie in the hole through the spine.

Thanks Miles..

I can see the day when non lead bullets are going to become almost mandatory over here..Its rumbling that way already, so I figure I might as well get ahead of the game..

Regards,

Peter

My experience with Barnes bullets has been:

-that they make long, narrow holes

-they don't ruin much meat

-that they impact with a loud crack rather than a more muffled whump of cored bullets.

-they tend to drop animals very quickly when the bullet makes it to or through the far side hide / lung/slat shots exempted

These are generalities which I have observed. To be fair, I was once very sold on the monolithic idea. I am no longer convinced that they are everything I once believed, though some of the earlier naysayers have since come on board. They do work very well when they work right. My experience has led me to believe that their window of ideal function has more limits than was once thought. Copper and copper alloys are and will always be harder than the lead alloys used in expanding bullets. That makes them expand with greater difficulty and less reliability. Tipped, lead cored bullets tend to be as good or better expanders than non-tipped bullets. The same should be true with other alloys. Tips on monolithics are a good idea I think (and hope).

Pete,

The last one I shot was with a TSX out of a .243 @3200 FPS. Came out at 90 yards and turned directly away from me. Stopped and stood stock still at 150-155 yards with his head turned a little, staring at something 1/4 mile up the field. The rifle and load was VERY accurate with a superb trigger and I had a dead solid rest so I chose to clip the brain stem. Through the atlas, clipped the brain stem and out the opposite corner of his mouth. They can be very, very accurate.

Horse crap I've shot a lot of deer with Barnes from 400yds. down and I have only had one go any distance. They drop and I don't see how you can kill any quicker! Keep using the others it'll keep the demand down and hopefully the price and availability !!