Barnes bullet performance-Pic heavy

[sureshot66]

I have had sitting on my reloading bench a 100gr 25-06 tsx Barnes bullet that I recovered from a doe about 4yrs ago. The animal was taken at about 120yrds with a straight frontal brisket shot. Found the bullet just inside the hide beside the tail when I was skinning it out. I finally got around to weighing it and measuring as to how much it expanded and here is what I found. Bullet weighs in at 99.7grs as it stands in the photo's and bullet expanded better than 2x-pretty good I think. Sorry for the heavy pics.

 

[saskcop]

Looks like very good expansion for a "tough" bullet.

 

[KDX]

Looks like it performed as it was intended to.

 

[glang1]

The second bullet from the left in the picture below is a Barnes 130gr .270 bullet I recovered from a whitetail. It was a quartering shot, the bullet entered the right shoulder & I recovered it in the left hindquarter. 28" of penetration!

 

[sureshot66]

I was very happy with the way the bullet performed. Just like Barnes advertise in terms of expansion and weight retension. I was driving these bullets at close to 3000fps and it looks to be just right.

 

[CanuckWR]

Looks like it performed as it was intended to.

You hear that a lot with barnes bullets.

 

[joe-nwt]

What is this, the buck-a-bullet-feel-good club? You certainly don't need a tsx to down a 120yd doe........

 

[Jordan Smith]

When I go hunting, deer usually aren't the only thing on the menu

 

[sureshot66]

Yes sir, I do feel good about spending a buck a bullet when I see this level of bullet performance. I don't worry about the difference in price for these bullets when you weigh it against the price of rifles, optics, 4x4 trucks, gas and the list goes on just to go hunting.

 

[jbmauser]

Yes sir, I do feel good about spending a buck a bullet when I see this level of bullet performance. I don't worry about the difference in price for these bullets when you weigh it against the price of rifles, optics, 4x4 trucks, gas and the list goes on just to go hunting.

Well said. The chance of bullet failure and the possible wounded game animal resulting from it, are extremely low with the TSX. Cheap insurance.

 

[ben hunchak]

Well said. The chance of bullet failure and the possible wounded game animal resulting from it, are extremely low with the TSX. Cheap insurance.

How does that work? Lots of stories of the bullets not expanding enough and passing right through on broadside/lung shots where there is not enough resistance to initiate good expansion. Should the shooter wait for a north/south shot?
It doesn't have anything to do with the cost of the bullet, on smaller game, like deer, you are better off to match the bullet to the game hunted. Where most game is shot broadside and at possibly long range, a bullet that opens quicker, should provide quicker kills. A lesson that I learn't early on when hunting Buffalo.

 

[Jordan Smith]

How does that work? Lots of stories of the bullets not expanding enough and passing right through on broadside/lung shots where there is not enough resistance to initiate good expansion. Should the shooter wait for a north/south shot?
It doesn't have anything to do with the cost of the bullet, on smaller game, like deer, you are better off to match the bullet to the game hunted. Where most game is shot broadside and at possibly long range, a bullet that opens quicker, should provide quicker kills. A lesson that I learn't early on when hunting Buffalo.

The TSX, just like almost every other expanding bullet out there, is fully expanded within an inch or two of entering the animal. It's not a question of how quickly it expands, but how easily. And my experience (shot and seen shot around 80 big-game animals with X/TSX/TTSX bullets) is that TSX bullets expand extremely reliably.

I believe that guys often think that the bullet has pencilled through, when in reality the bullet hit the animal, expanded immediately, did a bunch of damage to the internals, lost its petals, and exited the offside as a wadcutter. People see the small exit hole in the hide and assume it didn't expand. They often don't judge expansion characteristics on the damage done to the insides, but based on the exit hole alone, which is flawed logic, in my book.

You definitely don't need Barnes bullets for most deer shooting. They come in handy when taking a hard quartering shot, or an end-to-end shot. Of course it doesn't hurt to use a TSX/TTSX when shooting through heavy bone, either. Where they really shine is when hunting larger game than deer, and I'm often hunting elk, WT deer, black bear, etc, all at the same time. The TSX/TTSX works great as an all-purpose bullet when I never know what I might see.