Copper performance

[Dunwaters]

Recovered this (120 grain TSX 6.5 x55 ) from a fairly respectable low land red, neck shot, found it lodged in the muscle having clipped the spine.
Text book performance.

 

[User00014]

Recovered this (120 grain TSX 6.5 x55 ) from a fairly respectable low land red, neck shot, found it lodged in the muscle having clipped the spine.
Text book performance.

Perfect

I love copper bullets

 

[YoungGun]

I do like the Barnes bullets - use them for all deer now.

What sort of velocity do you get in the 6.5x55?

 

[Dunwaters]

Velocity is whatever the factory gives me, Sako load.

 

[CarlW]

How far was the shot?

 

[Selous]

Velocity is whatever the factory gives me, Sako load.

Which incidentally bears no resemblance to what it says on the box! As a case in point we chronographed a friends rifle with 120g Nosler BT from a Norma factory load ( Sako 75 factory barrel), the box said they should do 2822 FPS but the chrono recorded 2605fps from a warm chamber. This remains deer legal at 1808 ft/lbs but it is a reminder that things are not always how they should be.

 

[Dunwaters]

Which incidentally bears no resemblance to what it says on the box! As a case in point we chronographed a friends rifle with 120g Nosler BT from a Norma factory load ( Sako 75 factory barrel), the box said they should do 2822 FPS but the chrono recorded 2605fps from a warm chamber. This remains deer legal at 1808 ft/lbs but it is a reminder that things are not always how they should be.

Thanks, I don’t have access to a chronograph or hand loads so the load is what it is through a 20 1/2 “ barrel.
I was more concerned with bullet performance, previous load was Hornady 140’s and about 1/2 the lead was going missing.
Much happier with the copper, it’s taken me 2 years to get one back, next move is to put the .270 on them, 130grain Sako loads, should be good.

 

[Deermanagement]

Colleague shot 4 Sika prickets yesterday with TTSX and they did a good job albeit only 60 to 100 yds. Kills and damage were both good but you need to be over cautious when it comes to back stop and possibly range, especially from short barrels and possible low impact velocity. I'm interested in the 6.5 green evolution at 93 grains for Sika and hopefully someone will be able to provide some experience of these over the coming winter.

 

[Dunwaters]

How far was the shot?

140 meters, face on, a hands breath below the chin.

 

[sundog]

I decided to try copper bullets this year and went for Barnes ttsx 130 grain in my 308. I've only shot two beasts this season so far, both young stags and the results have been great so far.
The first one,chest shot at about 70m,ran about 10m. Good damage to lungs and heart and only a little blood jelly on the far shoulder which I clipped.
Second stag, pinged at 217m dropped on the spot. Again chest shot. Very happy with the performance of these bullets. They're not as accurate as pro hunters in my rifle but they do give consistent 1 inch groups
Thanks to paulbshooting and srvet for load info

 

[Edinburgh Rifles]

from a fairly respectable low land red, neck shot, found it lodged in the muscle
Text book performance.

Text book would have exited surely?

 

[NP435]

Text book would have exited surely?

Not always but mostly they do .

 

[nick.308]

if it didnt exit then it transferred all kinetic energy to trauma

 

[User00033]

Looks very ordinary to me. Doesn’t look like it’s even managed 2x calibre expansion at short range.

 

[Roestalker39]

As said surely good performance would’ve led to an exit ?

 

[rem284]

Thanks, I don’t have access to a chronograph or hand loads so the load is what it is through a 20 1/2 “ barrel.
I was more concerned with bullet performance, previous load was Hornady 140’s and about 1/2 the lead was going missing.
Much happier with the copper, it’s taken me 2 years to get one back, next move is to put the .270 on them, 130grain Sako loads, should be good.

Hornady gmx superformance 130gr 270 through 20 inch barrel doing 3050ft/sec

 

[monarman]

Ideally a bullet shouldnt exit..... it should dump its energy into the vitals and drop the deer where it stood or within a few paces.... you know.... like lead bullets can do!!!....
The fascination with exits and blood trails is still beyond me!.... about time non toxic bullet manufacturers looked at this and created a bullet that extends its energy in the animal instead of concentrating on that weight retention and exit malarkey..... non toxic bullets designed for varmint hunting as the Americans call it would likely be a better option for our smaller deer species.....

For the record...... Ive started loading lead free for the 6.5 creedmoor.... only shot one roe so far and it was shot placement that dropped it on the spot and not bullet performance.... no blood trail and a tiny exit wound at 80 yards...... not convinced I wouldn't of had a search on if I had shot it a bit further back.......
Exit wound.....

Internal channel

The reason it died quickly and didn't run..

 

[Border]

Ideally a bullet shouldnt exit..... it should dump its energy into the vitals and drop the deer where it stood or within a few paces.... you know.... like lead bullets can do!!!....
The fascination with exits and blood trails is still beyond me!.... about time non toxic bullet manufacturers looked at this and created a bullet that extends its energy in the animal instead of concentrating on that weight retention and exit malarkey..... non toxic bullets designed for varmint hunting as the Americans call it would likely be a better option for our smaller deer species.....

For the record...... Ive started loading lead free for the 6.5 creedmoor.... only shot one roe so far and it was shot placement that dropped it on the spot and not bullet performance.... no blood trail and a tiny exit wound at 80 yards...... not convinced I wouldn't of had a search on if I had shot it a bit further back....... View attachment 175698
Exit wound.....
View attachment 175699
Internal channel
View attachment 175700
The reason it died quickly and didn't run..

RWS have some fragmenting tin rounds that may meet your criteria?

 

[rem284]

I was using gmx superformance for a couple of years. I had not really noticed if there was any increase or decrease in the number of bang flops or dead runners. However I started using superformance sst's when they had been ordered by mistake. There was certainly a marked increase in bang flops with these to the extent that a dead runner was a real rarity. Unfortunately I have been told to use non-lead from now on in the 270. I am changing from the 123amax to the 123sst's in my 6.5x47 but still have to shoot the last of the amax first

 

[Dunwaters]

Ideally a bullet shouldnt exit..... it should dump its energy into the vitals and drop the deer where it stood or within a few paces.... you know.... like lead bullets can do!!!....
The fascination with exits and blood trails is still beyond me!.... about time non toxic bullet manufacturers looked at this and created a bullet that extends its energy in the animal instead of concentrating on that weight retention and exit malarkey..... non toxic bullets designed for varmint hunting as the Americans call it would likely be a better option for our smaller deer species.....

Sorry mate but I just don’t agree and I spent the best part of 30 years popping deer with a.22/250 and a few with a 5.6 X57.
I’ll take an exit hole every time.
The entry hole is always bore size and closes up when the animal moves, exit should be a good bit bigger and allow a bit of leakage.
Where exactly do you think all that fragmented lead is going to end up ?