Those who frequent the hunting & fishing board probably saw my .223 deer/hog hunting thread. I had bought some 55gr Barnes TSX bullets to load for hogs and deer.
Have any of you shot an animal with these? After sighting them in, I went and dug them and a few other bullets out of the dirt.
I was less than excited about the results of the barnes bullets. I understand they are made to peel back but not fragment. I realize this is less than scientific testing but here are my results.
.300 Winchester Magnum 180gr Nosler Ballistic tip Hunting. Impacting dirt at about 120 yards.
Core separated from jacket similar to a .223 vmax but in much larger fashion so the jacket peeled back instead of separating
Now for the disappointing part. .223 55gr Barnes TSX. Far left TSX was shot into a 2 inch thick hardback book next to a dirt embankment at 20 yards(again not real scientific, but other bullets tend to give an idea this way). The other 3 were dug out of the same hill the 180gr Nosler was shot into.
So do these TSX bullets take more to expand then a thick jacketed ballistic tip hunting bullet? I also shot 165gr accubonds into the same embankment from 100 yards and they perform like the ballistic tips but are bonded so the core doesn't seperate. I realize bullet weighs contribute to expansion results but 55gr vmax has no problems expanding in same situation.
My only thought with shooting the TSX's is they take more to expand then soft dirt, but when shot through the book it expanded and then was traveling fast enough the expanded portions broke off with it being solid copper.
Before using them on anything other than behind the ear shots on hogs, I will line up some phone books. Until then, I figured it'd make for good discussion.
Have any of you shot an animal with these? After sighting them in, I went and dug them and a few other bullets out of the dirt.
I was less than excited about the results of the barnes bullets. I understand they are made to peel back but not fragment. I realize this is less than scientific testing but here are my results.
.300 Winchester Magnum 180gr Nosler Ballistic tip Hunting. Impacting dirt at about 120 yards.
Core separated from jacket similar to a .223 vmax but in much larger fashion so the jacket peeled back instead of separating
Now for the disappointing part. .223 55gr Barnes TSX. Far left TSX was shot into a 2 inch thick hardback book next to a dirt embankment at 20 yards(again not real scientific, but other bullets tend to give an idea this way). The other 3 were dug out of the same hill the 180gr Nosler was shot into.
So do these TSX bullets take more to expand then a thick jacketed ballistic tip hunting bullet? I also shot 165gr accubonds into the same embankment from 100 yards and they perform like the ballistic tips but are bonded so the core doesn't seperate. I realize bullet weighs contribute to expansion results but 55gr vmax has no problems expanding in same situation.
My only thought with shooting the TSX's is they take more to expand then soft dirt, but when shot through the book it expanded and then was traveling fast enough the expanded portions broke off with it being solid copper.
Before using them on anything other than behind the ear shots on hogs, I will line up some phone books. Until then, I figured it'd make for good discussion.
