Kimber 8400 beside 84L

Ardent said:
Did you get to plug any game with them K? I'm curious how the Barnes acts impacting above Mach 3, no doubt it'll hold up just curious about the terminal effects.
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I shot a average size whitetail with the 80 grain TTSX launched at 3950 fps with a coffee cup full of 7828. Since the range was only 68 yards the impact speed wasn't much lower. Drove the bullet through both shoulders. Deer wasn't perfectly square so the bullet went through the back half of the near shoulder and front half of the far shoulder. The hole was fist sized on the near shoulder and wound channel tapered off to finger diameter by the time it exited. The deer still managed to run 60 yards with a blood trail 8-9 feet wide.
 
Yes, I shot some deer and boar with it. Performance was flawless and I never recovered a bullet, although the farthest shot was under 200 yards. I remember one whitetail in particular where the wound channel was as if a plug of tissue was missing. You could hold up the lungs and it was like looking through a tunnel where the bullet had passed. Very interesting and the only time I have seen that affect.
 
Ardent, both #1 son and I found the copper fouling so bad after 40 rounds of TTSXs that the bullet wouldn't stay on an 8 1/2 X 11 paper at 100 mtrs......in the 257 Wby. We have both gone to 110 gn AB, which I highly recommend, and RL 25 powder, which is absolute magic in the 257 Wby. I got 3700 fps with 26" barrel and the 110 AB, but backed down to 3600 and change for 1/2 moa accuracy as consistently as I can do my part.
I'm good to 600 mtrs with mine with a 6-18X40 Leupold and the light fluted 26" stainless barrel on my 700 CDL SF. I am also convinced that one will get better terminal performance beyond 400 mtrs with the AB bullet and every bit as good performance inside 400 mtrs. You will also reach the target with higher velocity and much greater energy with the much higher BC of the slick AB bullet any where beyond 400 mtrs and I have also had much better consistent accuracy in every cartridge where I have compared ABs to TTSXs. In fact every cartridge I have tried ABs in has shot them very well indeed.......not so with TTSX/TSX.
If you are really going to a 30" barrel, then why not try something like a 26 Nosler down to 25 or a 375 Ruger down to 25 and make your brass from 300 WM. Not sure about Kimbers action length but a 25-300 Wby comes to mind if it's long enough............Just don't think you will gain a lot with the standard case and powders for your extra 4" of inconvenience..........You are definitely in the "Land of Diminishing Returns", where it takes huge increases in case capacity and barrel length to achieve moderate increases in velocity, so I'm just saying if you're already prepared to pack the extra 4" of barrel then why not increase your case capacity as well and take full advantage of that 4"s.................JMHO
 
Appreciate the info on all three folks counts, the ABs have my attention certainly. I think I'll stay straight .257 Wby and just stretch the barrel, I like the simplicity of the Wby and it's about as grossly overbore as I care to run for the sake of the Krieger. I'd probably burn half a .25-300 Wby's barrel life just developing my load. I've also picked up 115gr Berger VLDs, they're lightly constructed and hopefully survive the launch, seems others have successfully used them and believe HSM loads it factory. .25 Pronghorn / .25-270 WSM got a hard thought. Also doing a .25 Gibbs 84L right now, on a bit of a quarter bore binge. I actually don't think the .25s are the best of anything, but it's fun. :)
 
My experiences with Bergers on larger game animals have been dismal at best, no penetration. That's at longer ranges as well, the last one was a moose at 450 yds. Several rounds in the boiler room and none penetrated deep enough to get both lungs. 300 WinMag with 185's IIRC. Not a shot placement issue. The heaviest fragment found was under 20 grains. I seriously don't get the attraction to them for a miniscule BC advantage, but they seem to be the current fad, probably due to appearance.
Great if you like exercise and honing tracking skills! :)
 
At extreme range the burger hunter bullets might be a better choice than the ttsx. I personally like accubonds, they shoot good in my 7mm wsm. My 270 win MA shoots ttsx tighter than accu's, so far on my tests. A 30" barrel sounds interesting with a 257 wthrby. It should be a laser on sheep. I'm sure you'll keep us posted on how it works for you Ardent. cheers.
 
Ardent - have you considered a .270 Wby? With the 95gr TTSX you could get similar velocity and trajectory with the option of using heavier bullets like a 150gr Partition. If you want to stick with 1/4-bores then the .25-06 would let you stick with the 84L action and the 80gr TTSX is shown going 3800fps out of a 24" barrel. Make it a 26" and a .25-06 AI and you'd likely break 3900fps. And still have the advantage of the trim 84L action.

That's if your quest is for really high velocity. You'd not give up much out to 400 yards using a 7mm Wby with 150gr LRAB, and you'd have a significantly larger amount of jam than the very light .257" bullets. The advantage becomes more lopsided as the range increases.

Quick check at 5000' ASL
7mm 150gr LRAB @ 3300fps using the Litz tested BC of .576
range drop drift energy
100 yards +2.4 0.1 3309
200 yards +2.9 0.5 3017
300 yards -0.5 1.1 2747
400 yards -8.1 1.9 2498
500 yards -20.4 3.0 2267

.257 Wby 80gr TTSX at 3900fps assuming accurate BC of .316
range drop drift energy
100 yards +2.1 0.2 2294
200 yards +3.0 0.7 1946
300 yards +0.8 1.6 1646
400 yards -5.3 3.0 1387
500 yards -15.8 4.9 1162

So at 400 yards you note, the difference in drop is only 2.8" and probably less, as I bet the BC number of the TTSX is inflated a bit (as was Nosler's, but I adjusted for that). I'd give up that much to gain 80% in energy.

Edit to add:

This is the largest animal I shot with the 75gr X and my .257 Wby:
LPDeer.jpg
 
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Accubonds would be the choice, just none locally available at present, there was six boxes of the Berger hunting VLDs... Perhaps for good reason, meaning not a complimentary one. ;)

The .257 Wby and .25s in general aren't my passion 1899, I just happen to own a 32" Krieger SS blank I want to put to work and it seems an elegantly simple solution that would make good use of it. I also suspect the 80 TTSX will hit 4000 or 4100, no science on that, just hoping and guessing.
 
Ardent said:
Accubonds would be the choice, just none locally available at present, there was six boxes of the Berger hunting VLDs... Perhaps for good reason, meaning not a complimentary one. ;)

The .257 Wby and .25s in general aren't my passion 1899, I just happen to own a 32" Krieger SS blank I want to put to work and it seems an elegantly simple solution that would make good use of it. I also suspect the 80 TTSX will hit 4000 or 4100, no science on that, just hoping and guessing.
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The only reason I had a .257 Wby was because I wanted to see what it would be like to shoot an animal with a bullet launched at or near 4000fps. So a fellow hardly needs a better reason!
 
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