110 grain Barnes TTSX. 308

[farrieral]

Real world experience of the above projectile and its terminal performance on deer of any and all species.

And suggested "pet" loads are welcome

Not after a different bullet, really like the TTSX, using the 130 grain happily to good effect but interested to see what the 110 is capable of

 

[palmer_mike]

Used them on fallow roe and munties. At .308 velocity I just felt they lacked a bit of knock-down. It took fallow a longer time to fall over than I am generally used to.

Have also used them in .300blk for munties and they work very well in that

 

[yellow belly]

No used it in .308 but in .270 and great for roe through red

 

[Grannysmith]

I think its all to do with the speed its driven

 

[Selous]

I heard the 110s would not exit on large red hinds but killed then well enough. I have a couple of boxes too so watching with interest

 

[Sash]

I like them.
I used to shoot the Sako 123gr Gameheads, so these were the obvious weight to try when I started to move to non-lead.
I tried a number of other non-lead bullets, and Soren Nielsen strongly advised me to use Viht N-120 rather than N-133, in order to generate sufficient pressure - that works with the 110 gr TTSX as well. His recommendation was to start at 37.0gr, maximum 40.5gr - I have been fine, in my Tikka T3, with a load of 37.0gr.
Good accuracy, excellent terminal effect on lowland Fallow, Roe and Muntjac - very few shots over 200m.

 

[Grannysmith]

Absolutely devastating in my swift

 

[farrieral]

I heard the 110s would not exit on large red hinds but killed then well enough. I have a couple of boxes too so watching with interest

Interesting, I do like a pass through, just incase a track is required!

Have just been struggling with velocity with the 130, well if you can call 2850fps struggling...

20" barrel, 1:10 twist, max Vhit load data of 47.1 grains of N140

Thus far I've had great success but always mindful of velocity when considering longer shots... my stalking compadre says I read and think too much

 

[09mutley05]

Using them in my .308, happy with the performance and penetration, occasionally find the odd one but not many, have shot them for the last 4 years. Mainly on fallow and the odd muntjac, roe and fox.

 

[Scipio]

I heard the 110s would not exit on large red hinds but killed then well enough. I have a couple of boxes too so watching with interest

Hello mate do you mean n a 308 ?
Because 110 grn is going quite low in terms of sd in a 30 cal, even with non fragmenting coppers, isnt it? it is, SD wise, corresponding to more or less shooting about 85 grns out of a 7mm i think, 80 or so grn out of 277 or 65s grn out of 6,5, (which even in copper sounds quite low).
So with such low SD, even with that sort of bullet, maybe it not that weird if it's not exciting on large red hinds? Especially if the shot is taken with the the red quartering to or away? I imagine it opens fairly well, if the speed is there, though.

Going 110 with the 270 sounds quite interesting, if the quarry is mainly deer and such.

 

[Selous]

Interesting, I do like a pass through, just incase a track is required!

Have just been struggling with velocity with the 130, well if you can call 2850fps struggling...

20" barrel, 1:10 twist, max Vhit load data of 47.1 grains of N140

Thus far I've had great success but always mindful of velocity when considering longer shots... my stalking compadre says I read and think too much

I have found N140 to be too slow with the 130g TTSX. I have achieved 3000fps out of 1:10 20in tubes but this needed compressed powder charges in excess of the Viht load data. In my experience N135 is a better powder for this bullet and generally gets to 3000fps quite easily without excessive pressure in the rifles I have worked with.

 

[Selous]

Hello mate do you mean n a 308 ?
Because 110 grn is going quite low in terms of sd in a 30 cal, even with non fragmenting coppers, isnt it? it is, SD wise, corresponding to more or less shooting about 85 grns out of a 7mm i think, 80 or so grn out of 277 or 65s grn out of 6,5, (which even in copper sounds quite low).
So with such low SD, even with that sort of bullet, maybe it not that weird if it's not exciting on large red hinds? Especially if the shot is taken with the the red quartering to or away? I imagine it opens fairly well, if the speed is there, though.

Going 110 with the 270 sounds quite interesting, if the quarry is mainly deer and such.

I totally agree that the sectional density is very low with the 110g TTSX and I am not surprised that they sometimes do not exit. I merely report heresay information from a source I consider credible that gives interesting data from real life stalking. I use the 130g TTSX @3000fps and have done for many years on roe, red and fallow deer with complete satisfaction. I have always had exit wounds with the 130g bullets. Perhaps this summer I will load up the 110g TTSX and give them a go on Roe.

 

[Scipio]

I totally agree that the sectional density is very low with the 110g TTSX and I am not surprised that they sometimes do not exit. I merely report heresay information from a source I consider credible that gives interesting data from real life stalking. I use the 130g TTSX @3000fps and have done for many years on roe, red and fallow deer with complete satisfaction. I have always had exit wounds with the 130g bullets. Perhaps this summer I will load up the 110g TTSX and give them a go on Roe.

Hello mate oh please do not get me wrong, i think sharing such things, discussing them and, ultimately, if we deem them ethical and sensible, trying them out ourselves and then reporting back here, only to be a good thing. A thing which helps us all grow smarter and become better hunters. Or so I Hope, at least

So In this context I look Fwds to hearing your real Life feed back from the 110s on roe.

 

[jthyttin]

Have just been struggling with velocity with the 130,
...

Thus far I've had great success but always mindful of velocity when considering longer shots

Don't go with 110gr.

Barnes used to provide suggested terminal velocities but doesn't anymore. They also changed the velocities and kept the product names / SKUs.

There are some data floating around, mainly from people who've called Barnes support. There are discrepancies, but they all seem to agree that 110gr TTSX is 2000fps and 130gr TTSX 1800fps. You'd always want to be rather 400fps than 200fps over those numbers to get decent expansion.

Moving to 110gr would give you worse BC and higher terminal velocity threshold, just the opposite you want for longer shots.

Just about only Barnes products that would give you leeway in the terminal performance are 110gr and 120gr "black tips" that are meant for 300 BLK supersonic loads.

 

[Jagged77]

I have found N140 to be too slow with the 130g TTSX. I have achieved 3000fps out of 1:10 20in tubes but this needed compressed powder charges in excess of the Viht load data. In my experience N135 is a better powder for this bullet and generally gets to 3000fps quite easily without excessive pressure in the rifles I have worked with.

What powder ranges do you find generally gets you up at that velocity? (accepting of course what’s safe in yours may not be in mine…)

 

[25 Sharps]

Interesting, I do like a pass through, just incase a track is required!

Have just been struggling with velocity with the 130, well if you can call 2850fps struggling...

20" barrel, 1:10 twist, max Vhit load data of 47.1 grains of N140

Thus far I've had great success but always mindful of velocity when considering longer shots... my stalking compadre says I read and think too much

Use a faster powder.

 

[Selous]

What powder ranges do you find generally gets you up at that velocity? (accepting of course what’s safe in yours may not be in mine…)

From memory up to around 49grains which gave mild pressure signs in the rifles I have concerned. Now this is above book max so cannot be considered appropriate for all rifles but was safe in the rifle tested. This was carefully mapped out using a trued Quickload before going this high.

 

[Milk no sugar please]

What powder ranges do you find generally gets you up at that velocity? (accepting of course what’s safe in yours may not be in mine…)

Hi Ed, Ive found the same and prefer 135 to 140 to get into this velocity area with a 130gr mono bullet with a 20" Sako barrel, I wont say what charge I use openly as its a compressed load a way over Viht max data but, I ran out of case capacity before reaching pressure signs. When I get a chance in the future Im going to try N133

 

[Jagged77]

Thanks both, I tried load work up yesterday in pretty poor conditions 43 - 45 grains. No pressure signs but nailed on accuracy so very promising. I might keep going and see what I can push in terms of velocity.

 

[farrieral]

Interesting read and thanks for the comments.

I'll likely stick with the 130s then and try to source a faster powder along the way... supply is a bit hit and miss around here unfortunately

Next time I go north I'll pick some up