That is not normal in my experience. Surprised to hear that TTSX have. Rep for poor accuracy. I’ve had the exact opposite experience. Most accurate and easiest load development I’ve ever done. 165 TSX and 150 TTSX are the most accurate bullets in my Hawkeye .300 win mag. Each produced 1” groups at 100 with the first and only powder I tried. It’s a hunting rifle and I’d rather be scouting than trying to reduce group size under 1”.
@wombat13 My experience mirrors yours.
So my brother has been harping on Barnes TTSX for a couple years now. He doesn't reload but buys Barnes factory ammo for his 338 WM and loves em. I had no desire to try them, I just didn't think they could deliver the shock of lead core bullets.
I typically whitetail hunt with calibers like 257 and 300WBY, 264WM, 7 Rem Mag etc. and the vast majority of my shots come within the 50yd -75yd range. On top of that (with the exception of the 257) ii like slightly lighter bullets for velocity/shock, but I've also read horror stories about bullet failure at closer ranges. Though it's never happened to me.
So when I bought my 270 WSM a year or 2 ago I started looking at bonded bullets to try. Nosler Accubond and Speer Grandslam is what I decided on first. Bought some 130gr TTSXs also. First trip to the range and I was able to find 1" or better groups with 2 of the 3 bullets, (4 different powder charges for each) but what jumped out to me is that all 4 powder charges I had loaded with the TTSXs shot 1" or better. So... I figured I'd try them on deer and see how they worked. All the ballistic gel tests I've watched on then shows they deliver a good amount of energy/shock after all.
***I did notice the offset polymer tips on quite a few though, and wondered how these bullets gained a following with such crappy quality...Didn't seem to affect accuracy at all though, so oh well.***
I've since killed deer with it and with 120gr TTSXs in the 264 and they've made a believer out of me. Performance on game is excellent, out of 6 deer, none has went farther than 20yds after the shot with most dropping in their tracks. Exit holes are typically about golf ball size if I hit bone. About the size of a nickel if I don't.
I now load TTSXs in 270WSM, 264 Win Mag, 7 Rem Mag, 300 Wby, and 28 Nos for hunting. Will prob start loading 30-06 with em also. Load development for all was pretty pain free when using Barnes recommended COAL. Kinda took the fun out of tinkering around with hunting loads, bit oh well, I can tinker with other calibers.