With so little coming out of Barnes on suggestions for reloading this bullet, it is our experience or, in my case, lack of that we must rely.

I have read much but am still confused and/or undecided. While Barnes suggests the tsx be loaded 0.04-0.06 off the lands, I see many of us being inside .04 but few outside .06. What is your experience? I am currently working up loads with the tsx in 30-06 with H4350 in both 168 gr and 180 gr and I am loading them both to .027 off the lands as a beginning load. Suggestions?

I have pretty much adhered to the recommendation of staying around .05" off the lands - at least for initial loads. I would have gone closer, and watched pressures, had I needed to. However, in most TSX loads I have tried, I have had good results at around .05" off the lands, and have seen no reason to experiment further.

IMHO, TSX should be watched carefully for high pressures, although they do not seem as bad as the orginal X bullets. Distance to lands is one factor here, albeit one of many. When I do get high pressures these days, and I try to stay with book loads, the loads often involve mono-metal bullets. So I try to keep an eye open for high pressure signs such as loose primer pockets etc.

- mike

My TSXs are .190 off the lands and shoot great so you have a lot of room to play with them.

I load Barnes TSX and banded solid spitzers (165 to 168 grains) in a 30/06 & a 300 Weatherby Mag. I use the same amount of powder as with Nosler and Berger match bullets of the same weight with velocities and pressures being quite similar in all.

.050" off the lands on both my '06 and .300 WM, with excellent results.

I just finalized a 168 gr. TSX load for my Sako AIII .30-06. 58 grs of IMR 4350 with WLR primers gives me an avg. of 2890 fps with no pressure signs whatsoever.

.05 off the lands is a good place to start generally with the TSXs. I too had good success at that point and didn't experiment firther, BUT many rifles need some adjustment off that point to achieve good accuracy, so if you've already got some loads at .027, try them and adjust if needed. If several powders don't shoot at that seating depth then you most likely need to adjust it as the TSXs usually will shoot pretty decent with some combination of components.

Also, don't be surprised if the powder charge makes a huge difference in group size. When I was experimenting with 168 TSXs in my .30-06, I had the following results with RL19:

Min charge: 4" group
Min +1: 3"
Min +2: 1"
Min +3: 3/4"
Max: 1/2"

So shoot all the powder weights you've loaded with a given powder (assuming no pressure signs) because the groups can shrink dramatically.

LWD

I recently worked up a load for my 30.06 with the 130gr tsx. I went through 4 different powders before i found the combo my rifle liked best. None of the powders i tried really shot bad as i had no groups that opened up over 1-1/2" but in the end RL15 ended up being the most consistent and giving the best accuracy with H414 close behind.

As for seating depth, this rifle usually likes the bullet .010 off the lands but that wasn't the case with the barnes. I started out at .050 like barnes recommends and when i found the load my rifle liked i then played with seating depth. I seated the bullet closer to the lands and then deeper .010 at a time but when i did the groups opened up so .050 off is where i stayed. Here's a 4 shot group of the load i ended up with. Mike

Great info to have and thanks for sharing your experiences. I have several variations of loads in both the 168 and 180 gr tsx to try in my pre 64 24" 30-06. Will post results late in the weekend. I am beginning with H 4350 in ranges from 57-59 for both weight bullets.