Barnes TSX - Performance on deer

blasted_saber

blasted_saber

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Hopefully soon I will be jumping into the wonderful world of reloading, and im currently researching bullets.

Im wondering about the TSXs performance on deer. I will be reloading for a 270 WSM. Anyone have any bullet weight recommendations for that bullet/calibre?
 
blasted_saber said:
Hopefully soon I will be jumping into the wonderful world of reloading, and im currently researching bullets.

Im wondering about the TSXs performance on deer. I will be reloading for a 270 WSM. Anyone have any bullet weight recommendations for that bullet/calibre?
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140gr TSX will be fine for anything in North America. If you only hunt deer you might want to use the 110 or 130gr
 
110 grn TTSX is more than enough bullet, with serious legs and velocity to spare. Myself I shoot a 130gr TTSX from my 270wsm and it's extremely accurate and hard hitting, but I only went with the 130 because I also shoot moose with that rifle when the opportunity presents itself. I feel a 110gr Barnes performs as well as a 140 or 150gr conventional bullet and won't come apart (except maybe the petals) at high velocity/short range like many of the typical bullets will if bone is encountered. See what your rifle shoots well, and hunt with that. Either one will kill a deer and bear deader en hell
 
I really like the 130gr Barnes TSX bullet for my .270 Winchester. I have shot 3 whitetails using this bullet & all have been bangflops. I have only recovered 1 TSX bullet after it travelled through 28" of deer :eek:. The bullet entered the right front shoulder, & ended up in the left hip. Bullet is the second from the left in the pic below.

TSX357bullets141.jpg


George
 
Might just be me... I usually shoot good ol' Hornady SST's. Never had a problem with em. Either I hit right and they go bang-flop or they go a short distance with lung damage.

Then I tried TSX's..... 3 deer in a row lost. 2 with .308, 1 with the 250grn Barnes bullet in a front stuffer. I've shot lots of animals in my life, deer, moose and elk. Never had one get far. Then lost 3 deer in one year. All with Barnes bullets. Lotsa guys say they are fine, and like any bullet, when you hit the spine or brain, they go down. But I no longer trust Barnes on deer. I tried em on deer because the 165 grn .308's worked great on elk, and my 100grn TSX .257's took down 2 elk and a moose.... But I'm convinced they through and through deer with no expansion. All 3 were at or under a hundred yards, so maybe past that they are fine. But I used mine for target practice, then sighted in SST's again. The next bull elk went down to one 150 grn SST, and barely moved.

I'm probably weird or something, but I don't trust em on small animals. But I do know they are a well made bullet, just for bigger animals. My 2 cents.
 
I prefer a softer bullet for deer and similar sized critters. I've killed at least 50 animals with them, and it's not like they don't work, but plenty of bullets will put em on the ground faster. I'll leave the TSXs for bigger game, situations where multiple species hunted, and a couple rifles that just shoot them so much better than bullets.
 
I loaded some .308/130 gr TSXs at 2600 to keep the recoil of my nephew's .30/06 manageable. His whitetail spike buck dropped in it's tracks, range was 100ish, and the bullet was not recovered. I don't think there is much question as to the outcome of a deer well hit with a .270/130 gr TSX at over 3000 fps.
 
I've shot many deer with TSX bullets in various calibers, and 90% of them go straight down when they get hit. You can't put them on the ground any faster than that...
 
I shoot the 130 gr TSX out of my 270 WSM. I've used it on an pronghorn, about half a dozen deer, and a bull elk it it's worked excellent every time so far. A pronghorn is pretty small and it appeared to expand well even on it. It definitely expands on deer, and the bull elk only required one shot and was a complete pass through, so they will work on a variety of game.
 
I would agree with most of the above...I have shot plenty of deer sized animals with TSX and TTSX and all of them we either bang flops or bang, run 20 yards cause you don't know you're dead yet, flop...I honestly suspect a problem with hitting an animal if someone claims to have lost 3 deer in a year. Of course bullet failure or failure to work properly is a possibility, but I have never seen it happen with Barnes (not to say it can't), and certainly not 3 bullets in one year. Gatehouse and TodBartell did some pretty extensive testing on their expansion and penetration and I think they posted on this site..search older posts of theirs and you will see a pretty good 'regular mans' test of them, their expansion, and performance. Myself I only hunt with Barnes and Accubond, and Accubonds only cause one of my rifles just doesn't like shooting TSX or TTSX.
 
I would agree the TSX is a very good Bullet what I like is the less meat damage.
If you hit a shoulder or end up in a quarter some where the meat damage will be
Light .But you do not in my opinion have the killing power of a SST, I use Barnes
For my deer rifle 150 grain but I know when I’m pulling that trigger I need to hit
Something vital to have a clean no adventure Kill. I have seen and talked to other
Hunter that feel the same .So make sure your hits are in good kill zones.
With SST I have seen much better drop in the spot shots but more meat lost.
 
stubblejumper said:
YOU may be convinced,but since the animals were not recovered,you have no way of knowing where the bullets actually struck,or if they expanded.
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I know they hit from the sound and the blood found. I tracked one for over a mile before I had no trail left. Other than those 3, I've never lost an animal. So your right, I don't have proof. Here's my stories, take em as you like....

The one shot with the front stuffer dropped in it's tracks before getting up 30 seconds later and running. It tripped and did a cartwheel 200 yards later, before disappearing in the bush. I tracked through the bush for about 200 yards before losing the trail. I think he tried to cross a large waist deep pond, and dropped in it somewhere. I'd tracked that deer for 3 years before figuring out where he came out. Shot him first day of muzzleloader season. Partner said he was the largest deer he had ever seen in the area.... I said that's why I've been trying for him for 3 years.... The single most traumatic hunt and lose I've ever suffered. I would gauge him at at least 180... That's the one I quite TSX's for deer. To analyze, I hit him hard enough to knock him out and down. He didn't bleed a lot, but I could track him. I can only say that I hit him proper, but the small hole didn't cause a lot of bleeding. I have no doubt he died. Just that he went a long way before being "gone". I think he's still under water somewhere.

The first rifle deer I shot at about 80 yards with the same buddy as above. A nice deer, around 150. This was my effort to "replace" the buck in the above story the same year. After shooting him he bleed a lot. It was no problem following him, large spray areas where he wheezed lots of blood out, very easy trail. We would track 400 yards or so and jump him, and he'd go another 400. After the 3rd or 4th jump, we waited til morning. When I tracked the next morning from where we ended, I found him. Someone had hacked off the antlers with a saw. Nice "V" cut. Talk about disappointing. Perfect shot, right through the lungs. So this one was recovered. If you want, PM me and I can provide the DNR officers I brought out to show the site. They took the head to match at the horn measuring that year because it was taken at night because I tracked til midnight and was back at 6 am with permission to track on a Sunday....

The second rifle deer was from a stand I had on a rock pile. Shot him in an alfalfa field on last day of deer season at about 60 yards. He was hit, because I heard it. His head went down for a second, he slumped almost to his knees, and then staggered off. I was sure he was only good for about 50 yards. But when I got to the site, absolutely nothing. No trail no nuthin'. I scoured a circle pattern out for hours and still didn't find anything. At least this one didn't break my heart like the first one, as it was end of season and I was taking a sausage buck. He was small only a forker.

Anyway, I didn't say that none of the bucks were recovered. I should have elaborated.
 
Im wondering about the TSXs performance on deer.
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I use it in my 30-06. It kills them. Frankly - this failed to come as a shock to me at the time. :)

I like the tsx where you may be going from smaller to larger animals. it puts a nice round hole into smaller animals and kills them dead without too much damage, but it's got the horsepower to dig deep into bigger animals even if it clips some bone and put 'em down too. So it's a great bullet for those who want a 'one size fits all' solution for a medium powered firearm. Not too rough on the little stuff, not too light on the big stuff.
 
I know they hit from the sound and the blood found.
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HIT could mean a gut shot,or another non fatal area.

The one shot with the front stuffer dropped in it's tracks before getting up 30 seconds later and running. It tripped and did a cartwheel 200 yards later, before disappearing in the bush.
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I have witnessed the same results with hits close to the spine that knocked deer down,only to regain their feet and run away before being shot again.

After shooting him he bleed a lot. It was no problem following him, large spray areas where he wheezed lots of blood out, very easy trail.
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If he bled so much and the blood sprayed so much,the bullet obviously did a lot of damage.
 
I've shot two muley buck with with the 120gr TSX out of my .260 Rem. One through the lungs and he went straight down, lung turned into red jello. The second one was a high shoulder shot, trough both shoulder blades and spine, of course, straight down.

The two moose I've shot with TSX didn't go any further. One with a 160gr from a 7mm Rem Mag and one with a 225gr from the Whelen.

Minimal meat damage on all accounts.
 
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