What is your opinion on Barnes TSX for plaines game and DG. On medium size American game I've never found anything to equal them. The TSX is the most accurate Hunting bullet I have ever shot. Penitration and wt retention are unsurpassed. Just my opinion what do you think.

Ditto, that has been my experience as well. they are an excellent bullet.

I'm going with the 168 TSX in my '06 for a plains games hunt in Namibia this Summer. I have no field experience with TSX bullets, only internet experience. I hope I've made the right choice!!

I have become a bit fan of the TSX bullets...last year used them on Cape Buff (458 Lott, 500gr.), Zebra and Heartbeast (375H&H, 270gr), Mule Deer (30-378, 168gr) and Whitetail (30-378, 168gr and 308 win, 150gr). I only recovered one bullet from a Cape Buff that rest against the hide of the back end after penetrating from a "front on" shot!

Out of all the "hunting" bullets we have tested the TSX has provided the best accuracy. It seems to me that the mono-metal bullets and I include the North Fork Cup Points can be very accurate bullets...My guess is tolerences in manufacturing are much easier to control.

I plan on using the TSX again this July as well as the North Fork Cup Points...plains game and Buff...

I am cautiously awaiting all the reports on them as I already had one fail, but one failure means zilch, but it does raise a question in my mind....I have some loaded up in .416 and 375..

In the meantime I will use Northforks as they have proven themselves over and over again for me...a most perfect bullet in soft, flat nose solids and cup points....

I believe that I have had better luck out of the barnes than others. Noslers have always preformed well, woodleigh solids are excellent, woodleight softs I think are a bit to soft, swift A frames are good, but I get better penetration and more internal damage out of the barnes. I think that those copper petals act like a buzz saw going thrugh the animal. One of buffalo I shot with both solids and barnesX and I believe the X bullets penetrated just as much as the solid. (in a 416 dakota) over all I guess I just like most of the premium bullets, but the barnes seems to cause the most damage

Ray:
I am not trying to be smart, but really want more information. How does a solid copper bullet "fail?"

Im not Ray but if I remember his tale the bullet failed to open and whistled through a deer with minimal damage and a long followup. Ray will probably wake up from his nap in a bit and you can get an answer from the horses mouth.

Ignorant question, but, is the TSX a monometal hollow point (ie. expanding) bullet, something like GS Custom's HV's? It always seemed to me that penetratiopn and expansion were two conflicting objectives ie. you want a lot of penetration (for the Texas heart shots) but not too much (for the broadside pencil hole through both sides). Is the TSX supposed to bridge that gap somehow? I get excellent accuracy with my GS Custom solids, and I will use them as solids. I will use my Nosler Partitions as "softs". Is the TSX supposed to make that difference immaterial? To Ray's point, accuracy is fine, buit we need to know actual reported peformance on the intended game.
peter.

Thanks for the reply to my question. I have never had one of the X bullets fail. I have used them on several animals, but most of them were the 180 grain older X bullet shot out of my .300 Weatherby. I did take one black bear in BC with the same bullet shot out of my .30-06 (a one-shot kill). Personal opinion is that with the .300 Weatherby, there is probably not a whole lot better bullet. The higher velocity makes anything but a tough bullet fail, and I suspect that all of my bullets have opened, but since all have not been recovered I have no way of knowing.

Perhaps a word or two more on the subject. I have had soft point bullets fail in a totally different way by seeming to explode on the surface of an animal and achieving minimal penetration. I had such a problem on a whitetail buck way back in 1992, using the .300 Weatherby. When I finally tracked down and finished the buck, I was simply amazed at the lack of penetration of the first shot which was taken at a distance of about twenty yards. The bullet hit on the rib cage and did not penetrate into the chest cavity, leaving a cratarlike depression and one broken rib (I did a careful dissection to find this out). The second and killing shot was taken at a distance of about eighty yards and the buck dropped on the spot, the bullet penetrating the chest cavity and lodging in the off shoulder after breaking it. I recovered the bullet which had broken into two pieces, which original weight was 180 grains and the final weight of both pieces total was 117. Not good retention. After that experience, I decided not to use the Weatherby for deer, but when I took it big game hunting, used nothing but premium bullets like the barnes X and Trophy bonded.

Peter,

Yes, the Barnes TSX is a mono-metal hollow point "hollow-point". My experience with them last year is noted in a post above.

Most if not all the the mono-metal "expanding/Softs?" should provide better penetration than convention Softs or Bonded Core bullets...but not as much as a properly constructed Solid.

Peter,

Yes, the Barnes TSX is a hollow-pointed mono-metal Solid. I posted my experience with them in a post above.

Most if not all mono-metal expanding bullets should penetrate better than a conventional Soft or Bond Core Soft..but not as well as a properly constructed Solid..I guess there is a question as to when one needs a Solid...as the new mono-metals work very well...Never hunted Elephant and if I do I will have Solids! but for all my Cape Buffalo hunting either the Barnes TSX or North Fork Cup Points is what I will be using for now..

The mono-metal expanding bullets are also my choice for high velocity rounds...I had a similar experience to the one noted above this post...with a 257 Weatherby back in 1990...I have been using Barnes X (now TSX) since then without any problems...The TSX and North Forks have proven to be very accurate in all my rifles.

If you are looking for further field reports Terry Blauwkamp has hunted PG with the Barnes TSX and posted a report with pics a few months back.

Do a search on his name and you will find the thread.

Regards,
Dave