Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Barnes TSX & TTSX: Changing the Game for Good?

I'm not real inclined to run an expensive, slower-killing, low-BC bullet that has expansion "issues" to fix a problem that I haven't seen exist!

FO,

I was responding to your mention of JJHack, and truth be told, you are the one cherry-picking his statements.

Remember, we're talking about men (our very own JJHack for one) that are exposed and intimately involved with the killing of literally hundreds of game animals (big and small) every year in various field conditions, angles, and distances.

The pro-TSX guys don't hesitate to talk about their bullet on any ol' thread. Can't see why someone who is neutral on them (I'm not anti-TSX) can't participate on a thread that declares them to be a game-changer or whatever

It's the innernet, man. This is a discussion forum. Lighten up, or just put me on ignore if my "musings" upset you.

But I won't sign off on them being the be-all end-all bullet because they aren't, for the reasons I've articulated.

LOL! Crap Jeff, you're making the TSX sound worse than flinging a dog turd at your elk!

Expensive - check, sure are.

Slower-killing - I've seen around 75 head of game (WT, MD, pronghorn, BH sheep, caribou, bear, etc) die after being hit with a TSX/TTSX. Most of those kills were mine, but some belonged to my hunter partners, which I witnessed first-hand. I would guess that 95% of those animals went STRAIGHT down, or at least within 15 yards. This is more a function of bullet placement than anything, but the fact remains.

Low BC - 0.450 with the 150gr TTSX in 7mm is good enough to get me to 500 yards with no issues

"Expansion problems" - I have only seen 1 report of a TTSX fail to expand (Brad's .308" bullet). That doesn't seem like a higher rate of expansion problems than any other hunting bullet in existence. They all have expansion failures every now and again. Most of the expansion problems with recent Barnes bullets have been with the TSX (which is likely caused by a glancing blow, or some other lateral force, closing the tip opening), but the BLUE tip () seems to have corrected that problem 99.9% of the time.

I wouldn't say that they "over-penetrate", either. I've got a handful of TSX/TTSX bullets sitting in the basement that I've recovered from animals, which indicates to me that there are situations in the hunting fields in which I want all the penetration that the TSX-style bullets can offer me. These recovered bullets have all come from deer, too (usually a hard-quartering shot that hit both femur and humerus), which means that elk and moose leave me wanting all that "TSX-penetration" even more so.

There are better bullets for long-range applications (I use the 162 AMAX in my .280), but the TTSX reigns supreme for close-range situations in my books

Oh really?
Obviously reading comprehension fails you....



I don't see where I cherry picked anything from Jim.... In fact, I don't see where I quoted him at all.

Obviously my statement was that PH's (Jim being one of them that is known by fellow Forum members) have considerable first hand experience with the bullet in question.... and the inference was that their opinion holds more weight and validity.




Participate to your hearts content Jeff. Just pointing out that since you lack first hand experience with the bullet in question, what exactly are you bringing to the discussion?

Seems rather odd to me that a self proclaimed "neutral" individual with admittedly no practical experience with Barnes bullets wades in on virtually every thread and debate regarding same.... and your slant is far from neutral.



Unlike others that engage you on the Forum, I'm quite calm and far from frothing and seething.



And what would you be signing off on exactly? You've admitted you have no relevant experience....

And that's the point.... go out and kill some game with a Barnes for your own edification.

If not, stop feigning surprise when you get called out.

Other that THAT <grin>, I didn't learn much this year. Got my buck opening day, didn't hunt my doe tag due to all the elk in the freezer, so I really didn't deer hunt much.

The only deer I have hunted is blacktails. Killed about... 22 of them I think now. But who's counting.

I may be hunting a primo mule deer tag this year. I have the points, it's just whether I want to do it this year or not. To be honest- I'm a little skeered <grin>! I know how to kill a blacktail every year... not so sure I know how to kill a mule deer in the sage & juniper.

Just for the record, Steelhead is lying here. Surprise.

Should say, I've drawn 17 DEER tags and filled 16. Damn elk have my number. I don't want to talk about elk tags. :-)

Steelhead's quote of my comment made me go count horns on my Wall of Dinks <g>. Indeed, I'd killed 16-17 in June '08 when I posted that. Killed 4 since then (2 bucks, 2 does). So I've actually killed 20-21 blacktails. Hunting, that is; killed a couple more also with a gun. I'd say that's "about... 22" of them, as I said, or close enough for me.

In the early 2000's Oregon was still issuing "additional" doe tags, so IF you had access to the mostly private land units (Central Melrose was the one I had access to), where they issued those extra tags, you could get 3 tags total for the year. Which I did several times, and only didn't fill all three one time.

But for Pete's sake... really? REALLY?! All horned up over this [bleep]? After all... it's not like Steelhead never messes up a number by a bit.

You can only pull so much from reading what people say on the internet, and the more I read Jeff O, the less I take from him.

I think we got the better choice of the two for president. Obama is smart, young, and has an agile mind. We are apparantly heading into a massive era of socialization of the economy ANYWAY, regardless of who is president, and partly BECAUSE OF 8 years of a Republican in office... so the classic "Dem's are going to socialize everything!" battle cry really holds no water for me. We are FUBAR that way no matter what at this point. I'm not a social conservative and I can't roll with Ms. Palin's rabid Pro-Life stance so... there it is.

Well, IMHO your statement about what JJ has said was incomplete at best, disingenious at worst. You did cherrypick. Perhaps I did too.

Interesting to note that as more African PH's have become exposed to Barnes bullets over the past several years, they are by and large enthusiastically beating that drum...

Remember, we're talking about men (our very own JJHack for one) that are exposed and intimately involved with the killing of literally hundreds of game animals (big and small) every year in various field conditions, angles, and distances.

Speaks volumes....