A little while back when I was having my .35 Whelen build I asked your opinion on which bullet to use for moose. After all the suggetions, today I did my own test.

Test media was wet newspaper.
Impact velocity: approx 2500fps for the 250gr and 2650fps for the 225gr.

Side by side view of the exit hole after approximately 6" of penetration. First one is Speer GS vs Barnes TSX, second one is Hornady IL vs Speer HC.



Hornady 250gr SP IL

Penetration: 17"
Expansion: 0.802, 0.793, 0.792....avrg: 0.803
Weight retention: 206.2, 206.0, 204.2....avrg: 205.1gr



Speer 250gr HC

Penetration: 18"
Expansion: 0.670, 0.796, .0774....avrg: 0.747
Weight retention: 173.8, 217.8, 209.5....avrg: 200.4



Speer 250gr GS

Penetration: 18"
Expansion: 0.656, 0.700...avrg: 0.678
Weight retention: 208.3, 212.8....avrg: 210.6
(one bullet got away)



Barnes 225gr TSX

Penetration: 20"
Expansion: 0.737, 0.755, 0.686...avrg: 0.726
Weight retention: 225.1, 225.0, 224.9...avrg: 225.0

I'm loading the tsx in my whelen and that is inspiring to see the penetration test's on these bullets. Also even though it's the lightest bullet it retains the most weight with good expansion. TSX the winner in my book but all the other bullets did well also so I wouldn't hesitate to use them if need be. Just worked up a load in my whelen on the tsx. Three five shot groups came in at 3/4" so it's very accurate also. Thanks for the test BCsteve job well done.

Fine bullets, have you tried the nosler and woodleigh?

Mr.Rigby: No, I haven't tried those yet.

Raybass: I've worked some sub moa loads with the Speer but now I really want to work up something with the TSX. And a note on the expansion, I measured at the widest possible part of the bullet, for the Speer or Hornady it sometime was just a sliver of jacket or lead that was at an odd angle. For the TSX it was always a solid copper petal.

You should have no problem getting what you want with the TSX it is very accurate. My load came in very easy just working up RE15 from 56 gr. to 60gr. with no pressure signs. Started the bullet .050 off the lands and moved it to .040 off the lands with the 60gr. load (started at 56gr. again) and i was there. The more powder I used the more accurate the rifle shot. I may ease up the powder 1/2 gr. at a time and see what happens but I'm pretty happy now as is. Only thing I'm really curious about now is what a chrony would say about velocity.

BCSteve,

Very good report. Thank you for posting your results

It matches the results I attained with the 225 Barnes X, 250 Speer, 225 grain Nosler Partitions and 225 Nosler Ballistic tips about 4 years ago. Of those bullets, the 225 BX had the deepest penetration and maintained its origional weight. Since, I have switched to the 225 Barnes TSX and use it as my do everything load now (within reason of course).

Great results! I now have to try the TSX.

thank you very much for sharing your results.

TSX are probably a must when shooting high velocity, but at moderate velocities the old cup and core designs works about perfect.

montero

Thanks for the report! It looks to me like that plain-jane Speer 250 grainer performed as well as any of the rest...........

I agree the 250s, Speer and Hornady both performed very well in this test. For me, there is a real differnce in recoil between the 225 grain bullets and the 250 grain. I like the bullet that recoils less, provides flatter trajectory, is most accurate and I don't lose anything in the way of pentration,and/or performance. Its a win-win!

Just curious, what was the distance from rifle to newspaper? From your estimated impact velocities Im guessing it was quite close.

I have to agree that lead core slugs work very well @ Whelen velocities.

It would be interesting to see how a tsx and speer GS acts from a Whelen @ 200+ yds.

Thanks for posting your findings.

Yes, the distance was fairly close, about 25'.

what! no northforks?



and the 250 grainer



gotta love this 200 grainer...



here are the rest...there is also a 225 grainer as well

http://www.northforkbullets.com/bullets.htm

Sorry, no Northforks. They are hard to find up here .

Great test BC thanks for the post i agree they all did well but those tsx bullets get my vote for dangerous game

Thanks for the info and the photos !!
Great caliber. As I always say..the 35 whelan and the 9,3x62 are twins !!

L

Montero

"cup and core bullets work ABOUT perfect" its that nagging "about" that has most worried. The TSX IS perfect, so for a little more money you can have everything, no down side except a little more money. You can use the cheap cup and cores for practice and save the real bullets for hunting.

My Whelen has been used to kill two elk. I first used the 225 gr. Nosler and was deeply disappointed in its performance even though I got the bull. As such, I switched to the 225 gr. TSX. Using Re-15, while working up loads, I fired 14 groups 3 of which weren't under 1"...that's right, 11 of 14 groups went under 1" @ 100 yds. Even the 3 that didn't were 1.5" or less. I was able to attain a final velocity of 2723 fps, but the load was too compressed for my tastes and I couldn't seat the bullet out any further. So, I settled on 61.0 Gr. of Re-15 which netted 2676 fps (knocking on Mr. 338 Winchesters back door). This load grouped into .6" and i'm happy.
My Dad used my rifle to finish his bull elk off. it was almost dark, the bull was hit already and was (we thought) going to get away. Dad fired at the west end of the eastbound bull and hit him square in the 'taterhole (rectum). upon skinning and quartering, we were amazed to find that the bullet had travelled from the rectum to the point of the right shoulder.



I think the pictures speak volumes for the performance of this bullet.
35W

Nice "on game" performance. Looks exactly like the result of my newspaper test. That's the bullet that I'll be loading in my Whelen for moose this year.

Steve,
Please let us know how they work on moose!! Here's what the bullet above came out of.

Talk about one happy 71 year old dad! His first elk ever and without using a guide (unless I'm considered a guide!)
35W