LWD

I have used a 120gr and 130gr 6.5mm X, XLC and TSX out of a 6.5X55 swede with excellent results so yes i know they will work on deer very well. So wouldnt a hundred other bullets, for deer. The 129gr Hornady spire point has also worked wonders on deer so i guess it really just comes down to how much money you want to spend on a white tail. Now an expensive safari or paid for hunt i wouldnt think of any other bullet.

Well, i agree. There are few bad bullets for whitetail. On the otherhand, i'm ready for anything i ought to be shooting with a 30 cal when i'm shooting the 168 TSX.

Purely hypothetical, at the speed quoted on a 25 cal bullet, I wonder if a pressure wave is forming at the head of the bullet preventing fluid from entering and thus expanding the bullet. An interesting experiment would be to take a twist drill and slightly open the nose cavity to see what effect it has on expansion at those velocities. As I don't have any cartridge that pushes them that fast, I can't perform the experiment myself.

John

A friend of mine shoots a lot of animals like roe deer, red stag, chamois and big wild boars with his .257 WM and 115 grain TSX, he is very satisfied regarding precison and performance.

According to him, it is usually bang-flop.

quote:

Posted 15 July 2009 09:06 Hide Post
Purely hypothetical, at the speed quoted on a 25 cal bullet, I wonder if a pressure wave is forming at the head of the bullet preventing fluid from entering and thus expanding the bullet. An interesting experiment would be to take a twist drill and slightly open the nose cavity to see what effect it has on expansion at those velocities. As I don't have any cartridge that pushes them that fast, I can't perform the experiment myself.

No.

I tried an 85 grain and a 100 grain Barnes into water jugs as fast as I felt safe to push them to see would they shear petals or break up in any way. The bullets came out picture perfect examples.

Hey Miles58, what do you mean by picture perfect examples? Were the petals all sheared off? I never got a chance to shoot it with the 115 CT's but I will soon.

quote:

Originally posted by miles58:

No.

I tried an 85 grain and a 100 grain Barnes into water jugs as fast as I felt safe to push them to see would they shear petals or break up in any way. The bullets came out picture perfect examples.

How fast did you feel was safe? He was pushing 100 gr at 3,840 fps, which was awful fast even when compared the 257 wby mag.

John

I was shooting them in a 25-06. I went over 3500 with the 85 and over 3200 with the 100. I was using Varget so I couldn't push the 100s as fast as RL-22 does.

The bullets expanded full depth of the nose with the classic twisted and curled back petals. All four petals were intact. They showed no sign of imminent separation. The 100 was a TSX and looked like it would weigh pretty much on 100 grains but I never put either on the scale. The 85 was of course missing the tip and looked like it'd be full weight less the tip.

That 85 slamming into water at near to 3600 should have shed petals if anything was going to since I did it just 15 feet off the muzzle.

I cannot imagine not having tremendous cavitation even if all four petals shear instantly and left a flatted nose to the bullet. That kind of speed just can't not produce massive cavitation. The deer I have killed with TSX/TTSX/X bullets all have shown really impressive destruction of tissue from cavitation when you run them through the chest at 3000 FPS or faster. They do not necessarily make a big hole in the hide, and muscle tissue like neck or shoulder doesn't necessarily look so bad as with lead core bullets.

I generally shoot to take out both heart and lungs all at once and consequently the blood pressure goes to zero in an instant so blood trails just don't exist. On the other hand, I have only have one make it fifty yards with no lungs and the heart loose in the chest and split wide open exposing all four valves and chambers. Normally a shot like that produces a jump or maybe two regardless of what you use for bullets. Every one I have had or seen make it more than that has had some functional lung and some heart function left. Lots of them with more or less functional lungs but a shot through heart drop right in their tracks, but a bullet hole through the heart does seem to be able to allow them to go some.

Big deer or little deer don't seem to matter much. Drop the BP to zero instantly and the brains can't run the body more than four-five seconds it seems and that tends to limit distance run to that fifty yard max. The odd deer might make 75, but not past that when all heart/lung function is completely gone.

Good news, guys. I tried out the 115 CT's today. I loaded up 6 different loads and 5 went inside 1 moa. The smallest group went .319" at 100 yds. I had a 15-20 mph wind at almost full cross but this thing still shot great. I'm going to load up a few more of that smaller group just to make sure it wasn't a fluke but I think I'm on to something here. I hadn't ever shot anything this heavy out of it yet and that may have been the answer all along. I didn't set up my chrono because I didn't want it swaying in the wind and risk shooting it so I don't know about the speed, but I really don't care. My guess is it's still over 3600 fps based off of powder charge. 76 grains of RL-25 with CCI 250 primers looks like the winner. Thanks for everyone's input.

I use 85 grain TSX in my 243w with 3200 f/s - 975 m/s and the roe bucks just drop dead, a friend took 2 fallow deer with the same load, one dropped dead and the other ran 15 m

Had a 257 stw built 10 years ago.NEVER underestimate the 100gr BT. I have never had it fail in mine at 3800fps. It did stay in a 275lb mule deer at 250 yds but it was a bang/flop. Dont be hesitant to try them.

Henry Hoover, I think you are right as I use the 100 grain NBT in my .257 Ackley but the damage is quite severe, Lots of lost meat.

ML

i won't go on my "even nosler doesn't think BTs are for game, why else would they invest millions for the accubond" rant.

If you are shooting animals you wish to eat WITH small, high speed (over 2500fps) do EVERYONE involved a lead freed dinner favor -- and just use X od TSX bullets on game.