strike 4 with a barnes tsx

I plead guilty to the poor bullet choise. I knew they were not needed but have heard so many good things about them on the internet (I KNOW THE INTERNET) that i wanted to see if all the hoopla was really true. Ive shot deer with about every 25 cal bullet out there and with all the glowing reports I figured they were worth the try. As to my marksmanship i dont know how well im known here but freinds on other fourms will tell you that theres very few guys in the whole country that spend as much time at the range as id do. My round count through rifles each year is in the thousands and my handgun round count is well into the 10000s. I will put my shooting skills up against anyone. If you doubt this ask John taffin or John linebaugh or any one of the shootists what they think of my ability with a rifle or handgun. My only hobby is shooting and hunting and i have more into my loading room then some do there homes. A week doesnt go by in a year winter or summer that i dont at least spend 3 days at the range and in the summer its about daily. I am also an NRA certified firearms trainer and range officer. As to how long i tracked this deer. Ill say two things. I did what i could and no less and in the thick swamps and tall grass that surround these fields tracking is near impossible without snow. We spend 2 hours doing circles as far back as 500 yards without finding any blood. Ill make no appologys it is what it is. Ill include a couple pics of my loading room just to show you that theres no bs in what i say. Im a shooter and 99 times out of a 100 if i say i hit it its hit. Like I said eariler i wish I could convince myself i missed but i didnt. One last thing ill say is like the previous poster said. **** happens. If you shoot enough animals your going to loose one eventually. If your nieve enough to think that you dont cause animals pain each and ever time you kill one your living in a fairytale. If that truely tears you up you shouldnt be hunting period. cant find a way to post them here but look about half way down on this post and youll see it http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=6458729#post6458729 post #1379. Back to the bullet choise many hear obviously dont reload or arent avid reloaders because if you were youd know that barnes totes this bullet as the ideal whitetail bullet. It is not a cup and core 80 grain varmit bullet its a big game bullet. If you allready didnt know this its probably you that needs to spend some more time at the range because ive met exactly zero non handloader that i would consider even a fair shot with a rifle. All i wanted to do here i to help keep someone else from making the same mistake. Not start a pissing match about hunting ethics. Believe me ill not loose a minute of sleep because you think i didnt track a deer long enough. Just like the poster who said hes shot over a 100 deer without loosing one the guy who says hes spending 24 hours looking for a deer is more likely to me a keyboard commando then someone giving an honest opinion. Ive tracked a good many deer shot by other hunters in my life and for the most part after two hours the chances are very slim your ever going to recover that deer and after 6 hours ive yet to see one recovered unless there was snow on the ground or found the next day because ravens were in the air above it. thats the problem here. On the internet youll get guys that have shot a half a dozen deer and think there some kind of an expert on it or someone that just sits back and waits to flame someone for about anything. Me im brutely honest. What happened happend and if one guy gets the message and it prevents it from happening again it was worth it. Now ill leave this thread and let the children flame on! One last thing caneze9 the bullet was a ttsx as were all 4 of the bullets that i consider failures this year. Your post one one of a few from guys not living in a fairytale.

art ill step in this one last time. Like you said because barnes said its so doesnt mean its so and thats the truth. Bottom line is they care about selling bullets period. that was my whole reason for this post. If you look at there website and read all the bs on the internet about these bullets youd think they were made by God himself. I found it isnt so and wanted to pass this knowlege on to others. Ive killed truck loads of deer with standard cup and core bullets and never found them lacking. I was allways one that preached that the only reason these companys come out with premium bullets and try to convince you there needed is because sales of there other bullets have became stagnant. I guess its one of those things that i down deep knew but had to find out for myself. Its sad though that one of those 4 deer wasnt recovered. Ive learned from this experience and if it makes just one guy looking at bullets on the shelf at there local dealer pass on them and buy something else then this was all worth it. Was i at fault? you bet. I recovered 3 deer with that in all 3 cases i wasnt impressed with them but had to go one more time to be sure. that was stupid.

freedom fighter i wish we could use dogs to track them but its illegal in mich to use dogs to track wounded game. I hate that bad feelings were brought out over this post. It sure wasnt my intention. I do respect others opinions and knew i would get them in spades when i posted this. dont worry guys i have big sholders. art and canazes are both right. I picked this load to test them and wanted to test them at high velocitys as thats what there really all about. thats why i choose a 2506 a 257wby and a 300 wby to test them in. Is it right to use living targets to test on. I dont know. I do know that what i did sure wasnt using a combo that was way off base for the purpose i used it for. It was a load that was within the design perameters of what the bullet manufacture claimed. Is it going to happen to everyone. No doubt not. But like was said it sure as hell isnt going to happen to me again. Im glad this post toned down to a civil level that someone might learn something from instead of a high school parking lot scrap. Funny thing is and this is sure not info wrote in stone but i two deer this year with noslers etip 140 in a 7mag one at 200 and one a bit more then 300 and both were dead in there tracks and after gutting and skining them id say they worked as well as a cup and core bullet. Lots of damage to vitals and a good exit wound. Does that make them better. Well 2 or even 4 deer to test on isnt going to give any concrete results but you will see me using the nos monolithic again.