Reply With QuoteI've shot several deer with the 130 TTSX's in my 270. I've yet to see one not exit the animal. They seem to kill pretty good to me.
I have a savage 308 that i have been playing around with for deer hunting. The Barnes ttsx 168 gr shoot very well out of my gun and was wondering if anyone has actually harvested a deer with these bullets and if so how did they do. thanks
I've shot several deer with the 130 TTSX's in my 270. I've yet to see one not exit the animal. They seem to kill pretty good to me.
I used the 168, but it was a 30yd neck shot, so that sorta does not count. It did the job.
If you keep the range limited to the bullet maintaining about 2100fps or more, it ought to have zero issues. Some of the Barnes' bullets open reliably at lower speeds, clear down to 17-1800.
A .308, 130 gr.TTSX in front of 50.6 gr. Varget took a nice enough 9 point (4x5) northern Minnesota whitetail quartering away at 165 yards last Fri. Thru and Thru, ribs and off shoulder.
Last edited by nuance231; 11-14-2012 at 12:48 AM. Reason: neglected to note caliber (.308)
I shot a deer with the 175 lrx out of my 300 win mag at 125 yards.Found the bullet in the offside hide.It weighed 174.9 grains and mushroomed perfectly.
Wow that part really surprises me. Especially from a 300Wm and at only 125yds. Musta hit every bone in there.Originally Posted by digger11
Penetration is the word of the day. All the way through stem to stern bones and all and it whizzed across the countryside a good ways after that (3 dust puffs in the distance like a stone skipped on a lake), used on a 150lbs buck and some 100lbs cull does. Copper bullets are amazing penetration monsters. Watch your backstop... I'm tellin' ya they really penetrate too well.
Have taken quite a few deer with the 130 TSX and 50.0 gs of W748. It's a one shot stopper!
"An armed society is a polite society"
"...shall not be infringed" What's the confusion?
+1. I stem-to stern'd one this year from around 280 yds. Left a sizeable exit hole. No signs of slowing down.
The beauty of the TTSX is the ability to shoot lighter and faster bullets without worrying about bullet performance. Shooting "heavy for caliber" bullets is not taking advantage of the design of the TTSX.
That's kinda a non issue don't ya think? I mean, 1 There's no such thing as a heavy for calibre TTSX.
I shot a 8 point yesturday using the 168gr ttsx out of a savage 308 and it did a good job, kinda weird is the entrance hole was about the size of a half dollar and the exit was about an inch deer didnt run but about 30 yards.
We have used these on a few Michigan Whitetails they have all worked well except once. The 130 grainers in .308 have worked great using 50 grains of Varget. The 168-180's have worked great in the 300wm. We got greedy with the 300 wm and used the 130's with 84 grains(this is really hot) of 4831sc and that bullet blew apart on impact leaving a baseball sized entrance wound and leaving copper shrapnel all over the opposite side of the inside of deer. Deer died right away but bullet didn't work correctly or we had it going to fast.
The bullet worked more or less as designed. You used it outside its design parameters it looks like and it still managed to penetrate pretty well and destroy organs and blood vessels. Not bad considering the impact velocity was probably (and seemingly) higher than the intended muzzle velocity.
I shoot the 110gr in my .270 no penetration problems and they seem to expand very well. Also shot a bobcat at 175 yards that was repairable by the taxidermist. Shoot the 80gr out of the .243. We did recover the complete bullet from a pig my daughter shot of Christmas break. It entered through the head and neck. Came to rest in the front thigh. Shoot the 55gr in the .223. We have took 4 deer with this load past few years. Shots where from 25-300 yards. All bullets preformed well not matter what we asked them to do.
this is my first year to try the TTSX and we killed 3 whitetail this year with them. My 8 yr old daughter killed her first doe this year with a .243 and 80 grain TTSX with a 60percent youth load I worked up with H4895. I was a little concerned about the bullet's performance at reduced velocity...but she shot the doe broadside at 60yds, and it passed through leaving an exit hole about twice the size of the entrance. Doe ran 50 or 60yds and piled up. The other two I shot with a .260 and 120 grain TTSX. Both pretty large bucks and both fell right there. Once was about 180yds and the other about 60yds. I am starting to become pretty convinced that these bullets are the ticket for Whitetail!
It has been my experience that with a .270, 30-30 and .308, standard cup-and-core bullets have performed great on deer out to 150 yards or so. It has also been my experience that the TSX (and I would assume but have not tried the TTSX) bullet shines when used in what may traditionally be considered a "light" caliber for deer going really fast. I never thought the .223 was a deer round until recently. Now, after seeing 250+ pound deer drop like lightning hit them, I am a believer.
I still hunt with my .270, 30-30, and .308, but I don't have a problem with the .223 if someone who's recoil shy wants to shoot with it.
I just didn't see any difference in performance with the "real" calibers to justify the expense.
YMMV
I took an elk in Utah with the 200gr. LRX out of my 300WSM, that thing did some damage, entrance hole was roughly the size of a quarter, exit was around an inch an a half to two inches, it dropped right there.
Barnes told me the LRX was designed to open down to 16-1700fps.
Never used the TTSX, sticking instead with the .308 165gr TSX, in a factory Federal Premium load.
I am assuming reliable expansion as I have yet to recover a projectile.
Limited meat damage, none have runned.
Next season I will start handloading with the same projectile.
This is making me rethink my advising against .243 due to its' lack of >100gr bullets. As a hunter in California, I'm mostly limited by area to non-lead bullets. Is this really a game changer?
That depends. How big are the deer in your area? And what do you anticipate being the maximum range from which you'll be shooting them? With controlled-expansion designs, 62 grain bullets in .223 are being shown to be adequate for moderate-sized white tails at modest ranges (< 200 yds) with proper placement. Hogs too.
Cali coastals are teeny deer. But you can get into some respectable hogs out here (300 lbs if you're lucky). Been seeing some guys use the 80gr in .223 out to 500+yds on hogs, but that looks like Elmer Keith trick shooting to me. I'm a mere mortal.
I think the 80 or 85 grain TSX or TTSX in the .243 will put down ANY whitetail or mule deer in America with extreme prejudice. They really are bad news! I currently have loads worked up with TTSX's for almost all of my rifles, and I am working on the others this summer. I have a couple that are being picky with the groups, but I will get them ironed out. I shot a couple of deer with the 120 grain TTSX in .260 this past season, my daughter shot one with a .243 the 80 grainer with only a 60% low recoil load, and my nephew shot a buck with one in 7mm08. All of them performed very well and the deer all died very quickly if not DRT.
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