In the .270 WSM Ramshot Magnum and 130gr TTSX's at 3300fps will work great on any animal in Canada. The penetrate like a lazer and kill very well. I have shot 23 BG animals with Triple Shocks ranging from .277 130grs to .338 210grs and they have all worked great. Buy far my go to bullet and I have shot my smallest groups with them.
Barnes TSX - Performance on deer
- Thread starter blasted_saber
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In the .270 WSM Ramshot Magnum and 130gr TTSX's at 3300fps will work great on any animal in Canada. The penetrate like a lazer and kill very well. I have shot 23 BG animals with Triple Shocks ranging from .277 130grs to .338 210grs and they have all worked great. Buy far my go to bullet and I have shot my smallest groups with them.
I wouldn't call this "borderline" more like outright failure- But I've twice seen lightly constructed bullets blow up on the outside of deer shoulders from 7RM at close range. Both required a couple of follow up shots.
I'd much rather have the deer drop at the shot or shortly thereafter, which is the performance I see on deer from TSX or TTSX bullets. From .22 caliber right up to .375 caliber and everything in between.
So a high SD bullet from a 7mag "blew up" on a deer shoulder and didn't make it to the far side of the vitals?? I call BS. I am talking about High SD here. Don't try to drag low SD bullets into the mix.
I am in agreement, take a low SD bullet lightly constructed bullet, push it fast and there's not going to be anything left of it after the first few inches of penetration. I once had a 150g ballistic tip from a 300mag drop the jacket so early in penetration that I actually found it on the ground in front of a stack of paper. It actually bounced out of the wound cavity and on to the ground. The lead core made it about 4" This was at max velocity about 4 feet from the muzzle on dry paper, much harder a material than deer IMHO and a ridiculous impact velocity. I still bet it would break a deer shoulder and get to the vitals though...moose mabey not. I would still take this bullet over a TSX any day for deer. Actually the only time I have ever seen a bullet not make it into the vital cavity was a moose shot multiple times from poor angles with a 243 shooting some kind of light varmint bullet. I was told one to the neck finally finished it, when I examined the inside of the carcass there was no bullet holes in the cavity at all.
Here is a vid you have all probably seen before. I don't know what velocities are used here so take what you see with a grin of salt.
Note at 5.15 minutes rifle bullets are fired into gelatin. Notice the explosive force and bits of bullets coming apart. At around 5.39 minutes a TSX is fired into gelatin, notice less explosive force as compared to the previous bullets. At 5.44 minutes a TSX going through the gelatin, you can see the effect of the gaps between the petals on the gelatin. Also some handgun bullets going through gelatin in there, again less explosive force.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfDoQwIAaXg
Note at 5.15 minutes rifle bullets are fired into gelatin. Notice the explosive force and bits of bullets coming apart. At around 5.39 minutes a TSX is fired into gelatin, notice less explosive force as compared to the previous bullets. At 5.44 minutes a TSX going through the gelatin, you can see the effect of the gaps between the petals on the gelatin. Also some handgun bullets going through gelatin in there, again less explosive force.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfDoQwIAaXg
Crankbender, you are simply out of your league and your posts prove that. A crappy frangible bullet is just that. I don't care what it's SD is. As soon as a bullet strikes flesh it's SD goes for crap and the closer it can stay to it's original shape the more that number matters. Though I hold it in about the same regard as a pot of gold at the end of the proverbial rainbow.
The more game I shoot the less absolutes I see. I play the odds and those odds fall in favor of the TSX.
The more game I shoot the less absolutes I see. I play the odds and those odds fall in favor of the TSX.
Your the guy that a few posts back thinks that a non expanded TSX is better than an expanded lead bullet. Clearly it is YOU that is out of the league of common sense and basic experience. Spend a bit of time with the TSX untill you get one that dosn't expend and watch it turn 90*come out the side of your test box then get back to me on your little theory. I 've seen it have you? No, I doubt you go much further than the Internet for your information.
PS I once talked to you on the phone, you didn't seem so cocky then so cool it now.
PS I once talked to you on the phone, you didn't seem so cocky then so cool it now.
They were both Nosler Ballistic tips, 140 or 150gr IIRC, it was a number of years ago now. SD of .243 and .266 respectively. I've mentioned this on a few occasions here on CGN. You can call BS all you want, but that is what happened- Hit shoulders and blew big holes, the deer ran away and needed follow up shots to kill them.
A 120gr TSX would have penetrated both shoulders and dumped the deer.
The BT's have a beefed up jacket nowdays, I understand.
A TSX isn't mandatory for deer hunting, but they work pretty good from all angles, something not true for every bullet out there. And when using smaller cartridges like the .223 or .243, a TSX style bullet is great insurance.
You were saying? This is no "test box" either. Both shots are of the middle bullet.
Oh, and this is what I said.
"I've shot the odd head of game with TSX's. Shot placement is king as with anything else. Broken bones help with "bang flops" and I've personally seen them fail to open and I had a Mule Deer run north of 400 yds after taking one high through both lungs. I will continue to use them as they are diggin sons of guns and failure to open beats failure to stay together. Every time."
"I've shot the odd head of game with TSX's. Shot placement is king as with anything else. Broken bones help with "bang flops" and I've personally seen them fail to open and I had a Mule Deer run north of 400 yds after taking one high through both lungs. I will continue to use them as they are diggin sons of guns and failure to open beats failure to stay together. Every time."
Chuck, Yep, looks like great performance on deer to me, congratulations. You WIN!
Gatehouse, that 150g ballistic tip I shot out of the 300 mag have also been an old one, I think it came from my Grandfather's stash of reloading gear after he passed away. I don't remember for sure but I haven't owned a 300 mag for 10 years so for sure it was longer ago than that at least. Many stories of those ones not making it very far into game so probably no BS from Gatehouse on that one. Why would I doubt you anyways? Sorry.
Gatehouse, that 150g ballistic tip I shot out of the 300 mag have also been an old one, I think it came from my Grandfather's stash of reloading gear after he passed away. I don't remember for sure but I haven't owned a 300 mag for 10 years so for sure it was longer ago than that at least. Many stories of those ones not making it very far into game so probably no BS from Gatehouse on that one. Why would I doubt you anyways? Sorry.
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You are a youngster if you think concerns about bullet failure only go back a dozen years. I've read articles concerned with bullet failure on North American game from the 1940s, actually earlier if you take into account the stuff written by Elmer Keith, Ned Crossman, and Stewart Edward White. Why do you think John Nosler got into the bullet business in the 1940s? Because domestic bullets were failing on domestic game. The problem for quite sometime has been the premature failure of bullets impacting game at high velocity. Whether you choose to use them or not, the X family of bullets answers the question, as do other technologies.
SD! What do you think the value of SD is once the bullet begins to expand? A 140 gr 7mm bullet with a frontal diameter of .60" has a pretty poor SD don't you think. It works out to .056! SD is a reasonable way to compare non-expanding bullets, and non-expanding bullets have their place, but for best performance their design and construction is critical.
If you choose to use Hornady bullets, thats great. They work, although I think their cores are too hard. I shoot many more Hornady's in a year than I do Xs. If you don't like heavy for caliber bullets, you should love the Xs because their performance is balanced in favor of light weight. Heavy for caliber bullets work well in medium game, but if you choose a bullet with a heavy jacket you've chosen the wrong bullet. The only reason for them not to open properly is if the bullet is in yaw at the moment of impact, and the hollow point is closed off and unable to open. Granted this will not happen with a lead core bullet, but the lead core bullet will expand grossly to one side and straight line penetration will be lost. Granted, both cases represent a failure. If this is a problem that occurs repeatedly, a switch to a shorter bullet or a barrel with a faster twist is in order.
The choice of the X bullet is particularly useful for those who use very small bores for big game. There is no other .224" bullet that can perform well enough to make me comfortable using a .223 or a .22-250 for big game, yet across the North caribou and even moose are routinely killed with .223s loaded with 55 gr Remington Coreloks. Check out the articles on South Africa's GS Custom's website concerning the use of .22 caliber mono-metal expanding bullets on big game. GSC's line of mono-metal bullets I think predates the Xs. They have experimented with a .22X63, essentially a .30/06 necked down to .224 and they have broken 5000 fps with this thing. Anyway when they test their bullets they test them on game. The carcasses are cleaned hung and photographed so the results can be seen. According to GSC, a hyper velocity impact from a 40 gr X type bullet kills deer sized antelope about as well as a 100 gr .243.
I still can't figure out where some of these guys come from.
The TSX or TTSX is probably the most consistent bullet reasonable for use on a large variety of game over a variety of distances.
That being said, I still use a large variety of bullets.
The TSX or TTSX is probably the most consistent bullet reasonable for use on a large variety of game over a variety of distances.
That being said, I still use a large variety of bullets.
