I've been working up a load with the 130gr TSX in my 30.06 and yesterday i dug some out of my backstop and thought i would share the pics. My target is at 100yds pinned to a piece of 1/2" plywood with a big dirt mound behind it. There's lots more bullets in the mound but it was getting late and i didn't have time to dig anymore out. I can't individually identify the soft points in the pics but this is whats been shot in the mound.
30.06 Hornady 130gr sp, 150gr sst, sierra 150gr spitzer
270 130gr sierra spitzer
243 100gr spitzer, rem 100 psp
25.06 nosler 115gr par, 110gr accubond, sierra 117gr gk, hornady 117gr btsp, speer 120gr spitzer

I thought it would be cool to compare the pics. The tsx looks like it holds up very well, some have a nice mushroon and some don't. One thing for sure though they do stay together. I did find some pieces of pedals but i also seen bullets that had been hit by other bullets which could be the cause. I have several promising loads worked up with this bullet and look forward to shooting a deer with the barnes tsx and see how well they perform. The ones that are nicely mushroomed weighed an average of 128.9 - 129.5. Mike

Qtip what kind of accuracy and velocity are you getting with those 130 grain TSX out of the 30/06?
I am an ardent 180 grain shooter in my 30/06 but I have mulled over the concept of the 130 grain TSX for awhile for Antelope and Deer size game, I have been hoping to draw a Desert Bighorn Sheep tag for awhile and thought that the 130's may turn the ol' '06 into a flat shooting sheep killing machine.
Looking forward to the details.

Snellstrom,
I'm at work right now and i can't remember off the top of my head what all the velocities were but pretty much everything i shot was over 3000fps. I only worked with three powders so far and none of the groups i tested opened up more than 1-1/4" at 100yds so i had no doubt the accuracy was there with a little juggling of the components. The powders i've worked with thus far are, imr4064, imr3031 and h414. I was going to also try imr4895 and varget but the h414 came out of the gate so well i had a change of plans. The most consistent groups and velocity was with h414. 62grs turned up a group that measured .622 for 3 shots at 100yds and i'll have to check but i think the velocity averaged around 3128 with that particular load. I loaded two more rounds at 62grs and shot at the same target and the group opened up to .824 for 5 shots so i'm pretty satisfied with that. As for seating depth i started out at .050 off the lands as Barnes recommends and thats where i ended up staying. I moved in to .040 and .030 just for kicks and the groups opened up and i also tried .060 and they opened up even more. I'm going to tweak the powder charge a little more but i feel pretty good about this load. I've been using the Hornady 130gr sp for years in my 30.06 for deer here in NC with very good results and i expect the performance of barnes tsx to be even better due to it's construction. Mike

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing.

I can tell you from experience that the 168 TSX is dynamite on deer---and I would expect things much larger. I got over 30" of penetration with a perfect mushroom on mine this year.

That is interesting. I never thought about the 130 TSX in my 300SAUM because the 125Sierras shot terrible groups so I thought light bullets just weren't good in a 30 cal. The 168 TSXs shoot great for me

Mike:

I think you will find the Barnes Tripple shock, Swift Schirocco, and Nosler Accubond to be the best bullets on the market for a 30-06. You may find that a 150-180 grain bullet more universal for everything from mice to moose. i have had terrible results with the Hornaday Interbond and Nosler Balistic tip both blow up badly in comparison to the aformentioned.

Longshot