So 150 g ttsx or 180 partitions for moose
- Thread starter duber
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I offered to give you some of those 270gr that I had, so you could try them yourself. Actually, I have an idea. My friend has a .375 Ruger and I have about 25 of those 270gr TSX bullets left. Why don't you - or anyone else - send me 2 or 3 270gr TSX and I will load them up side by side with identical loads and fire them into media. I will then compare whether or not there is a difference between the two batches. Either that or I will mail you a couple of mine and you can do your own test.
Eagleye, who I should say is very experienced and credible in my eyes, posted earlier about a 168gr TTSX that didn't expand at all inside an animal. He actually has the bullet in his possession. I believe WhyNot? also posted pictures and a story many moons ago - iirc it was also the 270gr TSX on moose. I am not disputing that they work +99% of the time. What I am saying is that for some reason, some batches do not seem to open well at all.
Edit - and the Blacktail probably died of fright when it saw the New King.
I've probably used NPs on more game than any other bullet. Probably the Nosler Accubond is my favorite bullet right now.
I pick bullets based on the cartridge I'm loading, what kind of velocity I am looking for, and the game being hunted. So it's never the same for me.
Nosler Partition, Speer Hot Cor, Nosler Accubond, Hornady Interlock & Interbond, Woodleigh Weldcore... I've loaded but not hunted with Barnes TSX bullets.
I'm going on a moose hunt in about a week and I'm taking my .405Win, loaded with 300gr Woodleighs, my 9.3x62 loaded with 286gr Norma Oryx, and my .338WM loaded with 225gr NPs.
Many would argue that a classic lever gun, with big hard cast bullets, at moderate velocity is as good as it gets.
Sure, you can send me some and I'll shoot them into some media.
IIRC Barnes mentioned that they were having some trouble with copper suppliers at one point, giving inconsistent performance and had to set some very strict QC parameters for what copper they would accept. It would be interesting to see if the failed bullets were made during the same time period.
That said, all bullets seem to "fail"or do weird stuff from time to time.
Johnn Peterson
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A few years ago, my son in law lent me his custom 375 H&H,
to play with. I didn't get an opportunity to hunt with it although I did run a fair variety of reloads through it. One of the bullets, that I acquired at a local gun show that gave me some of the best accuracy results on paper was the Hornady Interbond. With those results, when I saw some Interbonds in 45 cal, I picked them up for my 458WM. Again, accuracy with the interbonds in the 458WM was some of the best but apparently the performance on the game these bullets and calibres were more or less intended for, left a lot to be desired. With that in mind,
I can only hope my decision to go with the Barnes TTSX in some of my big game calibres doesn't turn into a similar 'dark horse'.
Martinbns - your results are typical. Notice how nicely your bullet mushroomed, all the way to the bottom of the cavity? I have seen that too. But 2x now I have seen what I posted. The first time was with a 270gr TSX out of a .375 H&H. Fortunately I just shot that into wet newsprint (compared to 7mm XLC into same pack of media):
The 270gr hardly opened up at all. Here are the pictures:
and another, compared to the 7mm:
Why did one open all the way and the other didn't? I don't know. The 185 TTSX results kind of sealed the deal for me.
I don't have an answer for that 375 bullet except my feelings on Barnes bullets is they perform best when driven with high velocity. I haven't experienced what you did, my son shot a coyote with a 130 gr TSX from a 270 and literally the things head exploded. There was a thread a few years ago about Accubonds not expanding on Cape Buffalo from the 375 on the AR forums, others had great results.
I know you live in Grizzly country, but I tend to use traditional bullets when driving them a slower velocities.
@Martinbns - they were pretty much max loads - 2700 fps iirc - impact at ~90 yards. I don't know. I'm sending a few of them to Gatehouse and he will also shoot them into media. I might also just throw a few together here and do the same.
I bet that the vast majority would look like the 7mm version, nicely opened up. But for some reason, in the rare instance they don't. When they work they sure work well. I have taken game with a variety of them from 75gr X in .257" up to 350gr X in .416". In fact, I might just have a recovered .416" (from wet newsprint, not game). I'll try and find it and post a picture of that - it opened up real nice.
For my "heavy" loads I am using a .338 WM with 250gr Partitions.
I bet that the vast majority would look like the 7mm version, nicely opened up. But for some reason, in the rare instance they don't. When they work they sure work well. I have taken game with a variety of them from 75gr X in .257" up to 350gr X in .416". In fact, I might just have a recovered .416" (from wet newsprint, not game). I'll try and find it and post a picture of that - it opened up real nice.
For my "heavy" loads I am using a .338 WM with 250gr Partitions.
