I am shooting a variety of bullets in my .243 bolt rifle with 1 in 9 twist. Will be hunting average size whitetails and pronghorn antelope. My tendency is to go with 95 to 100 grain projectiles, but another thread got me interested in the 80 grain TTSX. This bullet seems a little light for deer. I am also going to try some E-Tip in 100 grain.

Interested in opinions of the 80 grain bullets for deer. Any thoughts?

It'll work fine on deer. Just think of it this way: a 100 grain cup an core bullet sheds 40-60 grains of lead in the first few inches, but the 80 gr monometal bullet maintains 80 grains all the way through. All things being equal, a lighter monometal bullet will often out penetrate a heavier conventional bullet.

ghost-b,

kjjm's advice good; Antilope & small deer, you're good to go. The bullet weight retaining factor a solid point (pun perhaps?).

I use .243 Win (Barnes 80 gr. TTSX) & 25-06 Rem (Barnes 80 gr. TTSX) almost exclusively for smaller deer (Roe Deer, O.K. they are small) and IME they have usually worked superbly.

After all, both of these bullets are pretty much similar in size to their 100 grain Cup 'n Core counterparts.

'cept for one time .... which still has me scratching my head?

25-06 Remington & the Barnes 80 grain TTSX. Extremely cold & lotsa snow, posted at a forest crossroads with 4 directions to cover and longish shot potential. Shot a Roe Doe & her Fawn at 225+ meters as 4 Deer a casually crossed the track. Both dropped at the shot and expired without a twitch. Never gave it a second thought; figured works just like always (many times before & after).

When I went to retreive the Deer, POI was right where I aimed (X-ring) just above the elbow, heart shot but both bullets had done a Wierd-O, gone completely south and exited their pelvis. Yeah, a 90° turn in mid-stride.

O.K., 2 Deer down and no Drama, no trailing nor getting the dog Handler to do an intensive search but the angle those 2 bullets took on that day is simply etched in my memory. Duuno Why?, heavy winter coat, bone, cold, can't say - it just happened. Do they continue to work as advertised? Yup.

The 80 gr TTSX is all I shoot out of my 243 at the moment. My load is a healthy dose of Ramshot Hunter pushing the bullets to 3415 fps on average.

I've taken one antelope and two whitetails with this combination last year.

The antelope and the buck dropped DRT. The doe I shot took off in a death sprint about 60-65 yards, with copious amounts of lung blood to follow.

The buck taken at roughly 100 yards and a happy 4 year old on his first trip to the "hunting tent" aka ground blind.


The antelope I shot thru the front shoulders as she was about to slip under the fence onto the neighbor's propery, so I was trying to anchor her immediately. Shot taken at 228 yards with the bullet exiting and breaking both front shoulders.


I'm planning on taking this combination to Africa next year fro some of the smaller critters on my wish list.

As an aside note, I filled up four half gallon milk jugs and two one gallon milk jugs with water and placed them in a row. I hit dead center of the initial milk jug hoping to catch a bullet somewhere in between. The bullet traveled thru all six milk jugs and exited the last. That is roughly 26" of penetration and absolutely imploded the half gallon jugs and the first of the one gallon jugs. After seeing this and my experience in the field, I'm a believer in this bullet and my current set up.

I have used the 80gr ttsx on whitetails with good results. They seem to hit just as hard as the heavier Speer bullets that I was using. I like the Speer bullets in the 243 as well.

quote:

When I went to retreive the Deer, POI was right where I aimed (X-ring) just above the elbow, heart shot but both bullets had done a Wierd-O, gone completely south and exited their pelvis. Yeah, a 90° turn in mid-stride.

O.K., 2 Deer down and no Drama, no trailing nor getting the dog Handler to do an intensive search but the angle those 2 bullets took on that day is simply etched in my memory. Duuno Why?, heavy winter coat, bone, cold, can't say - it just happened.

I had a very similar experience in 91 in northwest Wisconsin. 3 feet of snow; 15 or so degrees. 150 gr. cup & core .308 win. at about 30 yards. Nastiest shoulder wound you ever saw, with the bullet ending up under the "belly-button".

Wierd things do happen, sometimes.

friar

I'll be shooting the 80 TTSX in my 243 at Pronghorn this Sept.

Used the 80 gr .243 TTSX in my 244 H&H at 3700 fps. Never failed to kill anything it was pointed at and would hold 5 in less than 1" @100. Of course none were ever recovered (two holes is best).

Just remember to RTFI and start out seated 50 thou off the lands and work in/out for best accuracy.

Any other good load data out there in addition to the Ramshot load spoken of?

I shoot the 85 grain regular TSX in my .243 with good results. It has been "instant" death on both deer and antelope.
Bill

Are you using factory ammo or hand loads?

I've used 70g Nosler BT's in my .243 moving out at 3700 fps with good luck on smaller mule deer bucks.

Hi
I've used the 80 gr TTSX and 85 gr TSX on Blacktail, Fallow Dear,and Pronghorn in 243 and 6mmx284 at anywhere from 50 yards to 450.Everyone DRT all ways two holes even at 450 yards.
Bill

I think its' safe to say the 80 gr. monolithic equals a 100 gr. super bullet and superior to a cup and core bullet like a Sierra, in the .243..

I have shot enough deer, antelope and African plainsgame with the 75 Gr. Barnes and GS custom HPs in my 6x45 to feel perfectly comfortable with either of the two monolithics. Even culled some Kudu with them, and found them satisfactory but ranges were all under a 100 yards.

That's what I'm loading in mine. I'll use it for mule deer, antelope and coyotes but what I'd really like to have in front of it is a wolf. DW

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:

As an aside note, I filled up four half gallon milk jugs and two one gallon milk jugs with water and placed them in a row. I hit dead center of the initial milk jug hoping to catch a bullet somewhere in between. The bullet traveled thru all six milk jugs and exited the last. That is roughly 26" of penetration and absolutely imploded the half gallon jugs and the first of the one gallon jugs. After seeing this and my experience in the field, I'm a believer in this bullet and my current set up.

Very impressive. What distance were you from the jugs?

quote:

Originally posted by 338zmag:

Very impressive. What distance were you from the jugs?

100 yards, with a witness to boot.

quote:

I had a very similar experience in 91 in northwest Wisconsin. 3 feet of snow; 15 or so degrees. 150 gr. cup & core .308 win. at about 30 yards

That was a very nasty early snow.

I have only killed a couple deer with the 80gr TTSX out of my 243. This bullet was recovered from a roast in the freezer after a few months of aging!

The shot was head on at 235 yards. I have complete confidence in the gun and a perfect rest. At the shot she flipped over and must have rolled 15' or so backwards. I gutted her in the dark and processed her a day or so later.

I pulled this roast from the freezer and thawed it for stew meat. While cutting it up I found the slug................

Is anyone pushing them out of a 240Bee?

Just to echo the above statements...yes the 80 grain TTSX will work. we have used 53 grain TTSX out of a 222/223, and 80 grain TTSX bullets out of 6mm rem/ 243 win/ 6BR norma/ all with good results. These have all been on whitetail and axis deer here in west Texas and the hill country...most are bang flops!

Ed

wow, more impressive testimonials for the ttsx, the frontal shot found in the roast is awesome, i was going to go with a partition or a-frame, but i might try a 115 tsx or 100 gr ttsx in my 25-06 for a fall mule deer

The TTSX is the bullet I wish for my .240Weatherby. surpassing the 3600 ft/sec mark it becomes a longrange killer on springboks..