I took my buddy for his first hunting trip today and we got lucky and he shot a nice young buck. Him and me were sitting on a ridge and we saw some does so I rattled and used a grunt call and he came out. Was about a 100 yard shot and he was bang on. 300 weatherby, 180gr tsx, 3200fps, dead deer. The bullet smashed the shoulder, hit the heart and lungs and exited of course. The deer went maybe 10 yards after being hit. He's hooked on hunting now and wants to go for spring bear with me.

The pictures are pretty graphic.

Entrace


Exit


Heart and lungs

I was really impressed with the TSX myself this year. I use a 140TSX in a 7mm08. They work just as advertised. Sure glad that I switched. I did two lung shots with no meat damage and they trotted off a few yards before dropping. I shot the other one high in the shoulder and the shock shut down the nervous system for an instant drop and not even a kick. I was surprised to find very little meat damage going high on the shoulder near the spine.

Hey kman, Congratulations on Grunting one in and your buddy's kill.

Looks like a lot of snow on the ground.

Not ragging on you, just curious about how did you all manage to get so much "belly hair" onto the meat?

He shot his first deer and he also skinned it I talked him through it and did the holding for him. He did pretty good for his first time. Practice makes perfect.

Congratulations!

I also noticed all the hair. What made you try a TSX and what did you switch from?

I'm curious because I have a 300 Weatherby that belongs to a friend and he likes the 180 bullet. What is your load?

The hype made me try the tsx. I got some very tight groups with my current load and I wanted a bullet that would penetrate from any angle for my buddy since he's a first time hunter and I wanted to give him every chance possible. Whether or not the bullet would perform wasn't something I wanted to have to worry about. I've used hornady sst's before but the tsx shoot as good and will shoot through at any angle.

My load for the 300 wby is

180gr TSX
85gr IMR 7828
Weatherby Brass
Federal 215M
COL 3.66

A couple of days ago, I shot an elk through both shoulders from about 150 yds. with a 225 gr. TSX out of my 338 Win. Mag., and I found the bullet -- base first -- just under the hide on the off-side. This would indicate that the bullet tumbled, which I suspect was due to its very long shank. Nevertheless, that bullet punched through both shoulders, wrecked everything in between, and retained nearly all of its weight. It worked very well, but I suspect Barnes' new bullet with a tungsten base core, developed in collaberation with Federal, is likely a further step in the right direction.

AD

Hey AD, congratulations on your elk. I didn't notice a post on it. I've heard of this new plastic tipped, tungsten based Barnes bullet. I also suspect it will be pricey. I'll be giving them a try in my 300 RUM when I can get some.

allen

when is the new bullet coming out

Patriot, it's supposed to be out after the first of the year in the form of Federal factory ammo, at least for starters.

AD

Shot (40 yards) a big Maine Whitetail last Monday (11/14) with my 7MM Rem Mag using 160 Grain TSX. Dug the bullet out and it weighed 139.5 grains. No exit wound and stopped in the front left shoulder without breaking the shoulder. Looks like it might have hit a rib going in as I had severe trauma at the entry point and the petals were flattened over on one side. The bullet retained 87.2% of its original weight. I was a little surprised at the low perecntage.

I still love the bullet and don't plan on changing but was wondering if this is normal or should I expect higher weight retention given it is a solid bullet.

BHW, hard to say. Given the design, I'd expect more wt retention if that is the goal. My goal is a quick kill with an accurate, tough bullet.

Unfortunately for me (or fortunately--however you want to look at it), I've not recovered a TSX. Whether I did or not, is fine with me. I'd almost like to someday to see for myself with my own load and a shot I took, what one looked like.

Doc,

The bullet has worked like a champ for me the two times I have used it. The first in my 416 Rigby, the second in my 7MM Rem Mag.

My concern is that Barnes advertises 100% weight retention. My bullet wasn't that beat up for me to consider the loss of weight (13%) as normal.

I agree that the killing power is what one should be looking for.

BHW, I'd email Ty at Barnes and ask him if there is any feedback on this.

I agree they do advertise high wt. retention, and I think I'd be expecting it. Better than 87%, but that's just not my thing overall.

Good luck, and if you get in touch with Ty, let us all know what he has to say. Send him a pic of the bullet.

I see you're in Greensboro. That is a nice area. Went to a friends wedding there. I almost set up practice there we liked it so much.

BHW, This sounds like the weight I'd expect from a 140gr. Is there any way they could have been miss-labeled?
It doesn't sound like it worked like I'd have expected for a 160gr even up close. Nate

Allen, didn't I tell you to use the 210 TSX!

Seriously, congrat's... looking forward to a picture! Where'd you take him?

OK, since your said "exited OF COURSE" I feel I need to relate my experience.

In short:
180 grs TSX, 2900 fps, .300WinMag

Shot 1: 215 lbs whitetail buck going up the other side of a coulee, straight away from me. Hit him "from above" in the middle of the spine. Bullet didn't exit, didn't really look it inside the animal.

Shot 2: same deer, bullet hits high on the shoulder, going down, hits the scapula low, shatters it. Bullet didn't penetrate into the chest cavity (maybe because of the angle) and was recovered just in front of the sternum, in the heavy tissue there. The shoulder looked like your picture, a big mess.

Neither shot exited. The bullet weighed 178.5 grs, obviously took a big hit from the bone, but all vanes were intact.

The second shot was taken because the deer was obviously not happy about the broken spine, but didn't look like it was on it's way out rapidly. He must have flipped his upper back towards me as the shot broke, resulting in the weird angled shot, instead of one that should/would have hit straight on, and into the chest. The bone fragments into the lungs, and general huge trauma caused him to die second later though.

Distance about 180 yards.

For what it is worth.

Frans

Frans, sometimes there's just no accounting how a bullet will act. I posted a pic of a 6pt bull I shot last week... I used the 168 TSX in my 30-06. The finisher shot (fifty yards) was in the neck... it center punched the spine, pulverized it, and exited. I'm of the opinion that particular shot is a genuine bullet torture test. I had the exact shot a couple years ago at the same distance on another 6pt bull... the bullet was a 180 Partition and didn't exit. Result was the same, dead elk, but no exit.

I hope I didn't give the impresssion of wanting to put the bullet at fault. There was nothing wrong with the bullet. It held together, just as Barnes promises. Just neither one exited.

Maybe that fact kept me from pulling the trigger on a very nice muley last Saturday who was going almost straight away and downhill from me.... I don't know. Now all I can think of is that mule buck!

Frans

Frans, I didn't hear you complaining... I atually have a sneaking suspicion that the TSX's don't penetrate quite as well as the original X's because I think they open up better and hold thier petals a trifle better giving a nice, big frontal area.

I have a couple of shots from over the years that I didn't take (or I bungled) that revisit me periodically... I'm not going to say you should have taken the shot because I wasn't there and wasn't behind the trigger... it's probably never wise, if there's uncertainty, to pull the trigger. Passing on that shot, no matter what some guy on the ohter end of the internet says, shows the quality of hunter you are!

For edification, here's a 168 TSX I rcovered from a bull elk... it angled through the liver, fully packed gut sack and stuck in the hide where I found it after I'd skinned the bull... weigh's 168 gr's: