Barnes bullets

deadeye93

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Lucky enough to be drawn for elk and now need to work on a load. Only suitable bullet I can find locally are Barnes 150TTSX.
Will be shooting a 7MM WSM. I have used Reloader 22 in other loads and been happy. Barnes does not list a load on there website so wondering if anyone has had any experience with RL22 and the 7mm 150 TTSX
 
You can find barnes load data on Google pretty easy. I shoot R-19 in my 7mm wsm. 140 ballistic tips, accubonds and e-tips all shoot well at 3200. Never tried the barnes in that rifle. Tried the 150 e-tips at 3100 and the 140s gave me better accuracy. Both do the same thing when they hit. I shot both into water jugs and believe it or not the 140 at 3200 beat the 150 at 3100 by a bit penetration wise.

Shot a bear with the 150s. Very impressive wound channels on the bigger stuff. More than a tsx in my experiance cause the nosler open to a bigger frontal diameter.

Shot a few deer and a moose with the 140s. I think softer bullets are better on deer but on bigger stuff the monos come into there own. They love shoulder shots.

These days barnes are way easier to find. I'd start there.
 
Do not overlook some of the other non-premium bullets in your 7mm WSM for elk, if the TTSX won't shoot for you. Just stay off the onside shoulder bone.
I have used Sierra 160 and 165 gr GameKings in the 7mm Rem Mag and STW for elk with great results.
The Hdy 162 gr Interlock is another good bullet that will work on elk too.

Other 150-160 gr premium bullets that will also work:
Nosler - AccuBonds or Partitions
Swift - A Frames or Scirocco's
Speer - Grand Slam

Some other powders to consider for the 7mm WSM:
IMR 4831
Hunter
MagPro
N560

MagPro has always been a top choice in the 7mm's
 
Bought some of the TTSX and loaded with RL22. Really happy with the grouping at 100 yards. Hopefully will get a chance to see how they perform
 
Bought some of the TTSX and loaded with RL22. Really happy with the grouping at 100 yards. Hopefully will get a chance to see how they perform

Nosler 130 gr Accubond on the left, Barnes 130 gr TSX on the right. Both fired from my BLR 270 WSM at 3,000+ fps. Performance was outstanding in both cases. The deer did not move.
Barnes vs Nosler AccuBond.jpg
 

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Something to keep in mind, safety-wise, is that mono bullets interact differently with your bore, and pressures can be an issue (and can even become dangerous at the high end of the load range). If Barnes doesn't list RL22, use a burn rate chart to find a powder they do list that's slightly faster than 22. You'll then want to work up a load in smaller increments. Be safe and good luck on your elk hunt.
 
When did these large deer get so tough to kill? Were none in the old days of cup and core bullets ever harvested?

They evolved to withstand standard bullets some time in the last 20 years or so - that's why we all absolutely NEED to handload with bullets that cost $2 a piece now. Just kidding. Barnes makes good stuff, for hunting I never skimp on quality components.
 
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