quote:

Originally posted by Bobby Tomek:
So, 11 of 14 animals required a "second, finishing shot" with the X bullet.

I thought we needed this bit of info added in order to fairly weigh the equation in its entirety.

Typing fast and having a mistake doesn't explain the second sentence. You were trying to ridicule me but got caught in your own stupidity. Admit it. And now you've corrected your original post as a coverup. That's shameful.

Dave-

Give me a break. Yes, I corrected my typo. The only "coverup" was you not mentioning all the facts in your glowing report.

Why did you not say that 3 of 14 animals required required multiple shots?

quote:

But the fact is that 3 of 14 animals required a second, finishing shot

And this matters, WHY?

I will always put a second shot in, if I feel it MAY be needed. That's my choice and have done that with every type of bullet I have used.

Especially with elk, big deer and when I was in Texas. Elk/big deer because they are tough, and Texas because once the first bullet hits, it's yours.

I will take the same mentality to Africa if/when I ever go.

In fact thinking back to last year's season. 5/14 animals got more than one shot. Only one was truly needed, and that had absolutely nothing to do with the bullet.

It MATTERS because is it fact.

The original post by onefunzr stated this: "I shot 14 Namibian plains game animals with the now discontinued X flatbase bullet. Never saw so many one shot, drop on the spot kills before. Everything from hyrax to springbok with a 85gr; and tiny steenbok to kudu and zebra with 225gr"

Upon reading it, one would tend to believe that these were all instantaneous kills as this is a very "glowing" report.

Politicians tend to present half the story or stacked statistics and feed them to the masses.

I prefer nothing but hard core facts...

quote:

Politicians tend to present half the story or stacked statistics and feed them to the masses.

Pretty much away of life here in the old US from snake oil salesmen to politicos.

quote:

I prefer nothing but hard core facts...

In my line of work that's called objective information.

Most the information posted here is subjective. And some, like crusher's has some objective, but it still he said/she said.

I just shot my NM mule deer a couple days ago with a 180 TSX out of my 300 wby at exactly 215 yards. Since the bullet went though I did not recover the bullet. because of the angle it was a single lung shot and he died within 40 yards. They are far and away the most accurate bullets in my rifle. I tried nosler partitions but they grouped aweful in my rifle.

225g TSXs are awesomely accurate in my .350 Remington.

250 gr 9,3 mm feral cattle


Feral cattle


Feral cattle rib


Pig and same bullet and same caliber


The bullet from the pig

Another pig




Axis same bullet & same caliber


The mess a 9,3 TSX has done in the axis


Don't rememeber what animal (waterbuff ???)


Same bullet and caliber, red stag


Conclusions..sure they work !!

Ideal for dificult angles and great bullets for waterbuffs and other big creatures. Nearly always a pass through shot. Sometimes don't open too much on their way out if they don't hit bone when used in medium game as pigs.

Just my humble experience..

L

I like the TSX bullet. It has not failed me yet and I've been using them since 2003.

I'm too tired today to drum up a bunch of past kill pics (just drove in from CO mulie hunting), but I've never seen any outcome from any source that would cause me to stop using them.

Lorenzo- Lots of fat on that cow!

quote:

Originally posted by AlaskaCub:
Crusher

How do you like the 210 TSX in the 338 WM. I am thinking of working some of those up?

they are very nice so far have had no problems and they are a little faster than the 200 x fb that suprised me.

quote:

Originally posted by CRUSHER:

quote:

Originally posted by AlaskaCub:
Crusher

How do you like the 210 TSX in the 338 WM. I am thinking of working some of those up?

they are very nice so far have had no problems and they are a little faster than the 200 x fb that suprised me.

Good point! I get an extra 50-75 fps out of my 300 wby with the TSX

I am using the 150gr TSX in 30-06 for deer. Impressive results so far. I have only killed four but it did everything I would have asked for. D

Another happy tsx user. 168gr 30 cal in 30-06 and 300win, 225gr tsx in 338win and 340 ,and 270grtsx in 375H&H.
I'll be using more of them.

quote:

Originally posted by mstarling:
Have shot piggies with 300 gr TSX at 2700 fps from a 375 H&H. .

How did you manage 2700 fps with this bullet from a 375H&H? I am getting that with my 375 Weatherby on a BRNO 602 and 25 inch barrel..

With a ROUGH COUNT I think I see 27 different folks that favor the TSX and 3 that do not favor the TSX.

Given this very unscientific data, and possibly marginally erroneous count, I believe we all could be inclined to further experiment with the TSX.

How many folks, do you think, who've had a positive experience with Barnes TSX bullets on big game, have been scared off from posting on this thread by the tantrums and innuendo of Bobby Tomek?

I count 2 who won't use them, and 3 fencesitters. One of which has not yet used them in the field, and the other two had dead animals but the recovered bullets did not look like the ones in the magazine ads.

I'm sure if this were a, "Who's a Partition fan?" thread, there would be some folks who disliked them, too. And that's a shame because Partitions have proven themselves on every continent for over 50 years. But if you recall, in the beginning, not every bullet weight in every caliber expanded as advertised either.

There's always a learning curve when you start making an innovative product with no past experience to study from. The X bullet evolved into the TSX to correct a fouling and accuracy issue. Now the tipped triple shock seems poised to correct the hollow point not always expanding issue. It seems to me that Randy and Connie Brooks are investing heavily into R&D to come up with the magic bullet. I wish them well.

I can't wait to try my 500's out

On paper or game?

Both

quote:

Originally posted by Buglemintoday:
Just to add more info into the thread, I bought some 500gr TSX's for my .458 Win mag to try out.

What is your intended game, once you work up a suitable load? Something in Texas?

Hogs, trees, rabbits, milk jugs, Asian Water buffalo, whitetails, coons, you know Whatever comes along

The water buff sounds like a fair test for that caliber. Good luck. You sound like a dedicated big bore shooter. Beautiful looking Browning, BTW. I bet you get lots of comments about it.

Dave-

Tantrums and innuendo? I challenge you to find ONE example of such...

I NEVER condemned the TSX -- and you would realize that if you bothered to comprehend what you read.

I said they are best-suited to higher velocity cartridges than what I choose to use and that in moderate velocity cartridges, standard bullets with high sectional densities penetrate more than sufficiently for the deer, hogs and exotics I hunt.

It's really rather simple.

But to refresh YOUR memory, here's what I wrote:

"With cartridges of moderate velocities and bullets of high sectional density as I prefer, there's no need for a premium such as the TSX when it comes to the deer, hogs or exotics I hunt. In fact, in cartridges as described above, the TSX is, in my experience, no more effective as a game-dropper than more conventional bullets.

And with the expansion issues that tend to arise on occasion with the all-copper Barnes bullets, I see no need to complicate a recipe that works without fail.

Yes, I've used Barnes bullets -- and used them to take game, I might add. In the 90s, I used the 85 grain X in a .250 Savage XP-100 to take a good bit of game. It worked quite well, though it wasn't the accuracy equal of a number of other projectiles. But then I ran into a batch that refused to expand on game and would not expand on test medium, either. Barnes did acknowledge the problem at the time.

Now, with the TSX, I do see a propensity for overall better accuracy than the standard X. But I recently ran into a batch of 6.5mm, 120 grain TSX bullets that expand only minimally at around 2500 fps. Other batches expand fully to the depth of the hollow cavity, but this particular one does not. In fact, below 2200 fps, this particular batch does not expand at all.

I'm not a gambling man and tend to prefer the "sure thing." And that's why the TSX sees minimal use in my firearms.

Again, with cartridges developing higher velocity, the TSX may just be the cat's meow. But the TSX may also be history as Barnes, in an apparent response to the expansion issue, is on the verge of releasing the TTSX, a poly-tipped version that features a more cavernous opening to enhance expansion at lower velocities/longer ranges.

In short, yes, there is a specific niche filled by the X, TSX and their ilk. They just don't serve any real purpose for my hunting applications."
--

Yea..in re-reading, maybe you're right. There's nothing but innuendo and tantrums...

I wonder if the MRX will make the TSX obsolete? Notice how the Original X bullet and XLC's are gone...


Barnes needs to put out a new reloading manual too!

quote:

Originally posted by Buglemintoday:
I wonder if the MRX will make the TSX obsolete? Notice how the Original X bullet and XLC's are gone...


Barnes needs to put out a new reloading manual too!

I doubt it since they now make the TTSX. I think the MRX will fade away also...too expensive. They made that bullet, IMO, just to compete with the Winchester tipped failsafe bullet, whatever it is called.

I did not know Barnes did away with the XLC. I can easily see Barnes only offering the TTSX and TSX in the future.

Now if Nosler and Swift would just put a tip on their partition/Aframes, we'd have the ultimate bullets.

I do not consider myself a Barnes X bullet guru, or freek.

However, on our last trip to Zim my wife had excellent results with her 308 and Federal Factory 180 MRX on 2 kudu and on a head shot on a Giraffe.
I killed a nice bushbuck at 100 yards, bang flop.

Also she killed a really BIG cape buff with one 400gr .408 diameter X bullet from my/her 450/400 3 1/4" double rifle.

I have also killed pigs with 400gr and 300gr X bullets from the same double rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by N E 450 No2:
I do not consider myself a Barnes X bullet guru, or freek.

However, on our last trip to Zim my wife had excellent results with her 308 and Federal Factory 180 MRX on 2 kudu and on a head shot on a Giraffe.
I killed a nice bushbuck at 100 yards, bang flop.

Also she killed a really BIG cape buff with one 400gr .408 diameter X bullet from my/her 450/400 3 1/4" double rifle.

I have also killed pigs with 400gr and 300gr X bullets from the same double rifle.

Got pics?

I guess you can count me in as a TSX fan. I've only used them in Africa, and only in .375 caliber, but they were accurate in my rifle, and they did what they were designed to do. They killed the animals that I shot with them. Some animals required a second shot, but I blame that on bullet placement, not bullet performance.

The first time I used the TSX bullets was in 2005 on a Buffalo and Plains Game hunt in Zimbabwe and South Africa. My rifle was a Remington 700 in .375 Rem Ultra Mag. The bullet was the Barnes 300 gr TSX, handloaded to 2830 fps. This load shot MOA or less to 200 yds. I shot 5 animals with this combination, and the only bullet recovered was the one from the Buffalo. It was the advertized Barnes mushroom. All other bullets were complete pass throughs with 1-1 1/2" exit holes, except one, a quartering away hit on a Reedbuck that made a 3-4" entrance/exit hole in his rear leg.

This past September I hunted the Eastern Cape region of South Africa. I again used my .375 Ultra Mag this time with 270 gr TSX bullets. These bullets also shoot 3 shot MOA or less groups, and are handloaded to 3040 fps. I shot 13 animals varying in size from Steenbok to Eland at ranges from 30 to 348 yds. All animals were one shot kills except a Bontebuck that I didn't allow enough for the strong crosswind resulting in a long chase and a finishing shot, and a Kudu shot just before sundown that didn't fall from the first shot, so I put a (un-needed) second shot in him. The only bullets recovered were the two from the Kudu. The first entered the left shoulder and stopped under the skin in the right hip, penetrating almost full length of the body. It was the advertized Barnes mushroom, but had one petal broke off. The second shot went in the left shoulder and stopped under the skin in the right shoulder. It was a perfect mushroom. Most of the other bullets passed through the animals leaving a 1-1 1/2" exit holes, except the Steenbok and Jackel where the exit holes will test my taxidermist's sewing abilites.

This picture shows two bullet holes in the mid section of my Bontebuck. The forward most hole is an entrance hole shot at 300 yds, and the other is the exit hole from a 20 yd finishing shot.


This picture shows a 300 gr TSX bullet recovered from a Cape Buffalo shot at 50 yds, and two 270 gr TSX bullets recovered from a Kudu shot at 140 & 160 yds.


I have not tried TSX bullets on North American game yet. Most of my elk, and moose were shot with .30 cal 180 gr Nosler Partitions, and worked well, however, when I run out of the NP's I will probably try 180 gr TSX bullets for my elk hunting. For smaller animals like Deer, Sheep, Pronghorn Antelope, Caribou, black bears, etc, I have had excellent performance with non-premium Sierra, Hornady, and Nosler bullets, and don't see the need for the more expensive TSX bullets.