I'm going to be buying a .300 Win Mag soon, and plan on shooting Barnes "Vor-TX" ammo with the Tipped TSX bullet. Which would be better....165 gr. or 180 gr.?

I tend to shoot "heavy for caliber" bullets, so I naturally would prefer the 180's. I'm just curious if the 180's will expand properly on smaller game such as whitetail. If not, will the 165's have enough weight to penetrate large game like Elk and Eland after expanding?

Any real-world experience you guys have with these two bullets would be good to hear.

Thanks.

In a 300 Mag I normally use 180gr bullets.

However I have had perfect performance on 2 elk as well as 2 red foxes in Ak with the Federal Factory 200gr Trophy Bonded Bearclaw bullets. The older TBBC not the newer plastic tipped ones, I have not tried them.

Recovered bullets showed excellent expansion even at @400 yards on an elk and 350 yards on a red fox. The bullet from the fox was recovered in the snow behind the fox and I was suprised at how well it mushroomed. It looked just like the one from the elk.

Wade,

This is the smallest animal I've taken to date, well not really, I guess I shot a common duiker with it a couple years ago in South Africa, but any way you'll get the point.

This is hand-loaded ammo using the 180 gr Barnes TSX bullet in front of IMR7828. The shot was about 70 yards, with a quartering away angle, aiming for the off side center of shoulder.

Here you can see the enterance just behind the on shoulder in the ribcage.


Here is the exit wound. A perfect round circle.


The bullet even sucked a portion of lung out of the hole as it passed thru.


I would think that if the Barnes TSX would open up that well on a blackbuck, it should open on any small game animal with the added advantage of the tip on the TTSX.

Both the 168 and 180 VOR-TX ammo will work for deer or elk.

Use whatever is most accurate in your rifle.

Why would you bother with the idosyncracies of a monometal bullet if hunting in an area where lead was unrestricted?

I use 150gr Barnes tipped Triple Shock Bullets and they work well. Two things to remember when shooting Barnes bullets or other all copper bullets. One: they faster you push them the better they work(expand). Two: a Branes bullet acts like a lead core bullet that is 30% heavier. So Barnes suggest you use a lighter weight bullet than you normally use in a lead core bullet

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
Why would you bother with the idosyncracies of a monometal bullet if hunting in an area where lead was unrestricted?

One thing that is very nice with the mono-metal bullets like the Barnes TTSX or the Hornady GMX is their expansive qualities are constant.

When dealing with lead, the expansive qualities are greatly variable especially when dealing with magnum velocities.

The monometal bullets allows one to shoot any caliber, at any speed you want and never be concerned about blowing a saucer size hole through your game.

Taking a moose through the shoulder with a lead bullet from a 300 Win. Mag isn't a big deal because there is so much meat to recover.

Putting the same combo through the front shoulder's of a deer just effectively wasted a significant portion of your meat.

I've used 165's (FailSafe)for elk in a 300wsm and 300wby, so I'd have zero issues choosing the 168 TSX. In fact that is the bullet I'm planning on using this year in the 30-06.

quote:

Originally posted by MileHighShooter:
I've used 165's (FailSafe)for elk in a 300wsm and 300wby, so I'd have zero issues choosing the 168 TSX. In fact that is the bullet I'm planning on using this year in the 30-06.

You won't be disappointed.

Factory ammo, Winchester Supreme in the 180gr Accubonds or XP3's get my first vote, next would be Federal in the Accubonds or TTSX's.

165gr would be a sweet one too, I just personally prefer the 180gr bullet for the 300WM.

I used the factory WS product until I started reloading in 2005.

I switched to a Barnes 150 grain tipped TSX from Nosler partition/ballistic tip/accubond in my 7 mag and couldn't be happier with the performance. For deer the Ballistic tip is hard to beat for stopping on the spot but the bone breaking and penetration on the Barnes is far superior the to the partition and expansion much better than the accubond in my small sample size. They group almost as well and in the same spot as the BT's in my rifle.

At 513 yards last year the TTSX broke the spine of a 270 lb pig and anchored a cow elk at 290 yards with a back of the lung/ front of liver marginal shot. I don't think you can go wrong with either and would pick whichever shoots best in your rifle.

My favorite factory load is Federal Premium 180 grain Nosler Partitions Protected Points. Although I reload, accuracy of this factory ammo (in my rifle) is as good or better than what I can load myself. Not the case with most of my other hand-loads.