Here are links to pictures of a 168 grain Barnes Triple Shock I recovered from a Texas whitetail deer on New Year's Day.

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Here's the story. This was a handload worked up for a 1983 vintage 700ADL in .30-06. Nosler brass, Federal 210 primer, 60 grains of Reloder 19. This has consistently given me 1/2" groups from this rifle. I loaded the TSXs for this rifle because I was very impressed with the performance of a factory loaded XLC in my .375 H&H, so I wanted to try them in another caliber. This bullet's performance was nothing short of incredible.

Close to the end of legal shooting time Monday night, I saw a wide 8 point whitetail walking into the feeder. He was walking with some authority and paid no heed to the two forkhorns near the feeder. My immediate reaction was to shoot the deer. I glassed it with my binoculars and decided it was definetely a shooter. For reasons unknown to me, it did not walk into the feeder and instead broke into a trot going past the feeder but stopped close to the edge of my shooting lane. I thought it was quartering toward me so I held for the point of the shoulder. As it happened, it was much more steeply angled toward me than I thought. The bullet entered immediately behind the nearside shoulder passed through the entire body cavity, through the offside ham, and stopped just under the hide.

This was about 30" of penetration. The recovered bullet after cleaning weighed 167.7 grains. At its widest point, it measured .620"---about doubling in diameter.

As an added bonus, the deer wound up being a ten point. On one side it had double brow tines, and the other side mainbeam ended in a crab claw.

Regards,

LWD

Thanks for the report.....excellent performance by the bullet.....now...pics of the deer are required here!

What muzzle velocity and what distance was the shot?

Great pics and a (advertisement perfect) bullet to match. It was awful nice of that deer to offer that shot (and his body) so you could have enough ballistic media to trap a tsx.

For me the dilema continues.....tsx or accubond...tsx or accubond......damn. I like the bc of the accubond....I like the price via noslers proshop blems....I like the fact that they usually shoot a bit more accurate with less load developement than the tsx.....I like the fact that I can afford to practice more with the accubond.....but there is no doubt in my mind the tsx is the tougher bullet on impact.

quote:

Originally posted by kraky:
For me the dilema continues.....tsx or accubond...tsx or accubond......damn. I like the bc of the accubond....I like the price via noslers proshop blems....I like the fact that they usually shoot a bit more accurate with less load

Kraky, for those Wisconsin deer this year I used (of all things) Hornady 150 SST in my 30-06 and only because I had them!!!!

I must say.....they functioned perfectly and I did recover one and it was a perfect mushroom.

All the others exited and the one went half way thru the length of the deer and lodged in the rear ham. It realy don't take much of a bullet to kill deer as a lot of folks swear by A-Max's and such.....

One can blow a lot of money down his barrel needlessly.....when it comes to deer the old interlocks do just fine.

I read that Stonecreek is advocating Nosler solid base bullets and I suspect it's a fine one too......hey, it's your money, but I have yet to be convinced we need a bonded core bullet for deer.....

Vapo.....here's a very good deal on solid bases.

http://www.nosler.com/index.php?p=11&b=5&s=9

I can't believe that nosler has 2 sites to sell bullets off of. I asked if I could get an order together with some of these and some off of the shooters proshop site and they said no.

Anyhow if you want some solid bases this looks like a great deal. BTW I got my deer using 150 nos partition golds that I got off Midway at $4.99/50....don't know if you saw that deal this fall. I bought 10 boxes and should have bought 20-30. I was afraid my guns wouldn't like them but every darn 30 cal I own shoots em like ballistic tips for accuracy.

Thanks ya'll.

I wish I had a picture of the deer. My wife isn't keen on my taking the digital camera that I bought to photograph our daughter into the woods (and she might need it!), so I had an old 35mm kicking around that I took. Should have tested it. It didn't work. But I am having a European skull mount done.

Range of the shot was about 100 yards. I don't yet have a chronograph so I can only guesstimate the velocituies. Barnes manual shows 2980 fps for this load out of a 24" barrel. Mine's 22" so I should be getting 2900 and some change at the muzzle. That would make the impact velocity at 100 yards about 2700 fps.

I am impressed by this bullet performance, but the cost is certainly an issue especially with the larger calibers. I passed on a shot on an old doe because it was about 115 yards offhand (late morning, nothing had been moving, so I was going to check the feeder; it started in about the time I got to the feeder), and I was simply not confident enough in my marksmanship skills to take the shot. I need to practice a bunch off hand, but the price of the TSXs........

LWD

Just saw Vapodog's comment. I agree that a TSX or any bonded core bullet is not at all necessary to kill a Texas whitetail deer (what my brother in law calls "large dogs"). I loaded them because I wanted more versatility. I didn't want to worry about the 150 grain cup and core bullet if I saw a large hog instead of a deer. I knew they would work on whitetails and hogs and on up from there, if I ever were to go for larger game. But that is clearly coming at a price.

Regards,

LWD

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
.....when it comes to deer the old interlocks do just fine.

Even though I shoot TSX exclusively, I used to agree and have posted the same about Interloks many many times.....until my father in law recovered this 140gr Interlok.

Complete jacket-core separation. I don't shoot them anyway, but still I was very disappointed....

Nice looking bullet, but the thing that sort of worries me, is that only the ogive managed to peel back after 30" of penetration at about 2700 fps impact velocity.

What would happen if you added another 100 yards and a broadside shot?

For deer, I would never use such a tough bullet, accubonds or interbonds are plenty tough enough for deer/hog. Moose/Bear I'd use the TSX's though.

Could be that I'm just paranoid of a pass through and losing a wounded animal.

baretta96,

I don't know how many animals you have shot at long range and broad side with a TSX bullet. My experience has been an extremely large wound channel with devastating results, and always always 2 holes on a broad side shot. I have had small exit holes but always huge wound channels.

Here is a page from Barnes's site with some interesting pics about the expansion of the TSX

http://www.barnesbullets.com/x-citingfacts.php

I don't believe that LWD's bullet took 30" to expand. I believe that it was the expansion that occurred in the first inch that kept the bullet from exiting, while creating a large wound channel for 30 "

Obviouslt I'm a BArnes fan but my experience is almost always 2 holes and always dead.

Simdow

Actually....thats all a barnes is supposed to peel back....the hollow point doesn't go deep into the shank of the bullet.

I haen't used the TSX on game yet, but have been shooting the X for years on moose, elk, etc. I haven't had a failure to expand yet with the longest shot being a moose at about 300 yds (maybe a bit over). It was a 180 XBT lung shot. It passed through, but left an exit hole a good inch in diameter and the bull didn't go but a few yards before falling.

I recovered one that went lengthwise through a moose shot at about 35 yards. It passed through the left hind leg bone just above the hock (he was above me steeply quartering away) entering the body cavity just behind the ribs angling low and but up taking out a lung, to the right front shoulder joint (smashed) and then lodged under the skin at the very front of the shoulder (the bullet actually changed path a bit with the shoulder joint impact)

Impacting two major bones on a 1300 lb moose, penetration was somthing on the order of 6 ft! It did fold the petals almost back to the shank of the bullet because at 35 yards, my 300 Win. was about 3000+ FPS, but it still weighed 167 gr. You may not need that kind of performance on deer, but if you did bump into a 500 lb. porker, it would be nice to have.

LWD:

I too am from Texas and the deer I hunt are just a liitle bit bigger than dogs. It

is very common to take deer that are in the 210-220 pound range. All thou not to lead

anyone wrong most of the time they do run a little smaller ,yet still bigger than

a dog. Of course you and I know that everything is " BIGGER IN TEXAS " . But

to get to the barnes TSX bullet my goodness they are bad boys for sure , and I have

"NO" trouble with them no matter at what range. They leave for me a sliver dollar

size exit hole on any pass through. They also do a trenendous internal damage and they

start that from what I can tell on impact. I too am a believer in the BARNES TSX .

I shoot it from a 300WSM at about 3100 fps . What can I say they are great. But still

that does not make other bullets bad. On the down side of TSX bullets they cost.

quote:

Originally posted by kraky:
Great pics and a (advertisement perfect) bullet to match. It was awful nice of that deer to offer that shot (and his body) so you could have enough ballistic media to trap a tsx.

For me the dilema continues.....tsx or accubond...tsx or accubond......damn. I like the bc of the accubond....I like the price via noslers proshop blems....I like the fact that they usually shoot a bit more accurate with less load developement than the tsx.....I like the fact that I can afford to practice more with the accubond.....but there is no doubt in my mind the tsx is the tougher bullet on impact.

Used one in 30-06 to take a nice big whitetail doe. Very long shot but I had a good prone rest, no wind and a range finder. Expanded a little more than I thought it would but it hit rib going in and coming out. Most accurate bullet I have found for my fussy 700 with the 180 BT the next best.

Simdow,

I wasn't trying to offend anyone on their choice of bullet. I've used XBT's out of my 300 ultramag. I do use them on tougher game like bear and moose with great success. Also I am a firm believer of having two holes.

That being said, what I was concerned with is on a 200 lb deer at standard MV with a 200 yard shot, and a broadside shot where there is little to no resistance, could/would a TSX fail to expand at all? If your luck is anything like mine, and you miss hitting any ribs, would that bullet behave the exact same way?

That is why I use either a standard Hornady Interlock or a bonded bullet of some type for the small light animals.

Actually my wife and I both use the 165gr Interbonds on moose currently. We typically only get calf tags so the animal is no monster, but I must confess, if one of us draw a bull tag, the TSX's do get the call.

Thank you all for your comments.

7 Mag is correct. We have many deer in Texas much larger than mine. But in my area they tend not to be very large.

I decided to try the X bullets in my .30-06 after getting devastating results with an XLC factory load in my .375 H&H last year. That bullet completely liquified the chest cavity, so I am inclined to believe those who are suggesting that these bullets open fairly quickly.

However, this weekend I noticed something concerning when putting away all my hunting gear. The hollow cavity of one of the bullets had become filled with gunk. I wonder if it would have expanded with a nose cavity of gunk? (I don't know what it is. I tend just to drop some spare catridges in a pocket.)

LWD

LWD,

Last year my friend has a 270 WSM and I loaded him up some 150gr Ballistic tips, and he shot a small buck with them at about 100 yards and he had the same results. I was astonished, there was not much distinguishable from one end to the other pretty well.

About the plugged up tip, that's a good question, perhaps an e-mail to Barnes will help.
If you do, can you keep us informed?

quote:

Originally posted by simdow:
baretta96,

.......about the expansion of the TSX.......
Simdow

My only concern...expansion

As soon as I can inventory my supply I will have some TSX's for sale. I tried them this year, as they were more accurate than Accubonds in two of my rifles, but gave me horrible performance on deer. Going back to Noslers...should have never left. I am sure there are more than a few people that will try to refute me...great, it is a free country. This Sunday was the last draw. 158 yard broadside shot on a cull buck, takes the hit in the lungs and then he performed his best imitation of the Eveready Enegizer Bunny..a good shot to the vitals from a sandbagged rest was confirmed by video...yep, the shot was filmed. Four of us blood trailed him for one-half mile until he crossed a road and disappeared. Earlier this year I had a nice 8-point buck that took several shots to the lung and shoulder area (4 TSX's and 2 finishers from my 45 to be exact) to bring him down and keep him down. I tried the Barnes X's several years ago and they cost me a solid 8-point buck, and thought I'd give the TSX's a try. It just did not work on deer for me. I will have some .284 140 grains, 270 130 grains and 30 cal 165 grains, about 1 3/4 boxes of each, for sale in the next couple of days.