Ballistic tipped bullets?

[njc110381]

I'm thinking about bullets again! More to the point I've been on the Midway site and I've been looking at Barnes TTSX.

Now I've never hunted Deer with a ballistic tipped bullet before. A few people I know have said they had bad experience with Noslers so I've always avoided them but I've got no first hand experience of them. I've heard on forums and the like that sometimes they (ballistic tips in general) can be a little unpredictable?

My all time favourite so far is the Barnes TSX. Not the tipped one, just the standard hollow point. I like the idea that you don't get lead fragments in the meat surrounding the wound and it's the only bullet that's offered me a no run kill on a Deer. In my very limited experience they seem to work extremely well. But........ I've read that if they get muck in the hollow point they can fail to expand? Again, never experienced this but that could be down to not shooting many Deer with them?!

I need to buy a new batch of bullets soon and I can't decide between sticking to what I know with my limited experience, or trying something new which would eliminate the muck in the tip problem (if there is one?) but could maybe make the expansion less reliable if bone is hit (but then that's another maybe!). I've heard of plastic tips going off randomly and splitting the gut which would be rubbish. The best point about the TSX is it doesn't leave anything behind and makes a very free bleeding wound with a tidy exit.

So to all of you who've shot hundreds more Deer than I have, what do you think? I'd very much appreciate being able to learn from your greater experience. Do I stick with what's always been good for me or try their more recent development?

 

[willie_gunn]

I've not used the Barnes TSX but do use Nosler BT's for all my stalking. I've never noticed any more damage on my deer than on those shot with 'regular' bullets. IMHO it's when a bullet (any bullet) hits bone that things become unpredictable.

Presuming it meets all legal requirements, find whatever bullet suits your gun best and go with that.

willie_gunn

 

[jack]

http://www.thestalkingdirectory.co....Barnes-bullets-anyone&highlight=copper+barnes

posts 7 and 10

 

[bogtrotter]

I would agree with Willie, I have never used ballistic tips until recently when I aquired a box of nossler 95gr.ballistic tips
5gr. lighter than what I normally load for .243 so just to use them up I worked up a load, found if anything the gave a slightly tighter group than my normal round.
So tried them on Roe no more meat damage than my normal round, I have fired 70 of them so far so think its a pretty fair test
cant fault them. only thing they are not legal for Red's of course.

 

[mickjgardner]

i think a lot of people dimiss ballistic tips because they associate them with varmint rounds but there are ones for varmint and ones for deer which dont expand so much.I personally find polymer tips to be a lot more accurate and less likely to get tips deformed in mags and pockets etc

 

[Paul 600]

I have used both and I love the TSX but having said that I have just bought some 100 grain BT for a little play. I normally use 120 grain TSX in my 6.5X55 and have shot everything with them. quite a few years ago I had a problem with the Noslers, they were blowing up very badly but I have been told this is now sorted? You can get barnes that are poly tipped.

 

[Jagare]

I shot 165 grn ballistic tips in my .308 since they first came out. Never had a problem with them. Still got a few rounds loaded loaded with them. Would not shoot them at moose or boar though.

www.prokennel.se

 

[PAULT]

can you shoot roe with 87 gr v-max

 

[njc110381]

I read the link to the other post with great interest. Thanks for posting it.

My take on the situation is that ideally you want a bullet to pass through your target? The exit wound gives a great blood trail compared to the entry. So bullets go off in random directions when they hit bone etc, does that mean a partition or bonded core lead bullet doesn't? The story of the second Deer falling over 300 yards away is alarming but how much further would a pass through travel? I like to have a bit more than 300 yards of backdrop behind my target when using a rifle this size. Usually you don't expect the bullet to go far at all before it hits your backstop but if they can turn 90 degrees then that's a tough one to stop unless you shoot your Deer indoors!

Would using a lead bullet really make that much difference to a calibre such as the 6.5 (where the heavy, narrow bullets seem to pass through all the time anyway)?

 

[musty]

As i understand it the the V max is a varmint round that has explosive expansion, after seeing what it does to charlie its not suitable for deer.

steve

 

[musty]

i have used barnes tsx and ttsx, mainly on roe, i found that they were not openining up very well. I remember one roe that i shot in the heart that ran 30 yards with no blood trail, there was snow on the ground. I use nosler bt and hornady sst and as yet have ha no issues at all. The issues that some poeple report may be down to velocity and calibre, in my case its a .308 at 2800fps.

steve

 

[njc110381]

That's not an unusual speed/calibre combination is it. I'm surprised they didn't work better. My experience with the Barnes (also on Roe) is that you don't get a huge exit wound. My last one was probably just over an inch round but it was bleeding badly. When I opened it up the heart was a real mess and the Deer had just slumped.

It was unaware of me though and appeared relaxed. The shot was inch perfect too. I have to say I think that the mood of the Deer has a great deal to do with runners, more so than bullets. If they're aware of you they're often off like a shot. Whether the shot hits them spot on in the heart or square on in the backside they will run!

I really need to get out with someone who can show me neck/spine shots. I have the confidence to take on that sort of shot at close range but am unsure exactly where to place the bullet? For that reason I've never tried it. There are times and places where I could get extremely close to the Deer but having them run off would be a nightmare.

 

[Muir]

I read the link to the other post with great interest. Thanks for posting it.

My take on the situation is that ideally you want a bullet to pass through your target? The exit wound gives a great blood trail compared to the entry. So bullets go off in random directions when they hit bone etc, does that mean a partition or bonded core lead bullet doesn't? The story of the second Deer falling over 300 yards away is alarming but how much further would a pass through travel? I like to have a bit more than 300 yards of backdrop behind my target when using a rifle this size. Usually you don't expect the bullet to go far at all before it hits your backstop but if they can turn 90 degrees then that's a tough one to stop unless you shoot your Deer indoors!

Would using a lead bullet really make that much difference to a calibre such as the 6.5 (where the heavy, narrow bullets seem to pass through all the time anyway)?

If that 300 yard incident really happened, it was a total freak. I would doubt it could be replicated in a 100 years. Think of the ballistic requirements just to get the bullet an additional 300 yards past the original target. I didn't read exactly what killed the second animal, just that it fell over. Autopsy?? That would be the interesting part of the story.

Frankly, I would just stick to what works. I am not a fan of ballistic tipped bullets except for varmints, and then I have seen failures. Lead tipped bullets or hollow points always seem reliable.~Muir

 

[finnbear270]

Nosler partition 130 grain are my .270 Win finnbear's preferred diet.

 

[Jinga]

I have just got rid of the interbond and SSTs (Hornady) due to damage. It was factory load 130 gr in .270 Hornady. Accuracy was outstanding but........

 

[MarkH]

Hi

Nosler ballistic tips are fine
Hornady interbond are better
Copper bullets such as KJG from Germany are very expensive BUT produce very little meat damage (see previous posts)
P.S. 155 gn KJG in 375H+H produces a MV of +3000fps extending the range of the bigger slower calibres.

Mark

 

[njc110381]

155grn bullets in a .375H&H? Wow! I bet they wind easily and slow down fast? Good for Foxes though I should think?!

I liked 270grn softpoints in mine because it would lob them with quite a reasonable trajectory and they were accurate. I got Sub 1" at 100 yards a couple of times which for such a big boomer really amazed me!

 

[MarkH]

Good for foxes and much bigger things

This one was extracted from a cape buff

Here is my battery of calibres The plastic tip stops just improves the aerodynamics

PS very accurate round

2 rounds at 100m make neat holes in 24" of wet newspaper and still retain 85% weight

 

[forestgimp1]

I have been using the Barnes TTSX 100gr in my .270 for 6 months now with very good terminal results on around 150 deer (red, roe & sika). Have found it to be more accurate than my previous ammunition (RWS Tmantle 130gr)

 

[flytie]

That's not an unusual speed/calibre combination is it. I'm surprised they didn't work better. My experience with the Barnes (also on Roe) is that you don't get a huge exit wound. My last one was probably just over an inch round but it was bleeding badly. When I opened it up the heart was a real mess and the Deer had just slumped.

It was unaware of me though and appeared relaxed. The shot was inch perfect too. I have to say I think that the mood of the Deer has a great deal to do with runners, more so than bullets. If they're aware of you they're often off like a shot. Whether the shot hits them spot on in the heart or square on in the backside they will run!

I really need to get out with someone who can show me neck/spine shots. I have the confidence to take on that sort of shot at close range but am unsure exactly where to place the bullet? For that reason I've never tried it. There are times and places where I could get extremely close to the Deer but having them run off would be a nightmare.

Njc, just for you; http://www.thedeerinitiative.co.uk/pdf/guide_culling_shotPlacement010509.pdf

Atb, ft