Barnes X Bullets

[osteodoc08]

My first deer was with a 90gr Barnes X back in the early 90's. worked well.

When my father was at Aberdeen Proving Grounds he shot lots of deer with the local game warden for testing after eating grass from the practice ranges on the depleted uranium testing grounds. He harvested countless with that 243. Farthest was way too far and barly messed up the tip of it and severed the spine. It was recovered and reloadable. That particular rifle did well with them.

Some have a history of poor accuracy, but that's been fixed with the newer designed X bullets.

 

[Fireforger]

I've done some wildcatting with the Barnes .40 caliber 195 grain MZ bullet that's used in a .45 caliber sabot for muzzleloading. In both rifle and handgun cartridges of the same wildcat, it does a great job on whitetail at moderate ranges. Have never recovered a bullet. But have never lost a deer and haven't had to track a shot one either. I find the bullets accurate and easy to load, but I don't have any experience in non-wildcats with Barnes X's.

 

[Buckshooter]

I killed a nice buck last evening using the Barnes X bullet in my 7mm magnum at 240 yards. The buck jumped into the brush. We found him thirty yards from where I initially hit him. Put a nice entrance and exit hole in him. I am using the older style that look like a hollow point. Great bullet for what I am using it for

 

[JJHACK]

Both my loaner rifles for clients shoot the TSX and TTSX bullets. The 30/06 shoots 165gr, and the 375HH shoots 270 grain

The 30/06 with the 165's has killed well in excess of 1000 big game now for us, and the 375HH is probably shy of that by a few hundred.

The 30/06 has killed everything from Steenbok and duiker to Eland and Giraffe. It does seem, and I think the success had proven this out. That the faster 165's work better then the more standard or common weight of 180grain bullets.

There is no doubt or argument possible that the TSX and the TTSX are the best hunting bullet made today by a wide margin. Sure the Noslers of old were in their day. But they are a very distant second or more accurately third now to the TSX and then bonded core bullets like the Aframe. The Partition does nothing as well as a TSX. They are nowhere near as accurate in a gun that shoots them well. Which is every gun now that the design changes with the bands have been introduced along the shank. The 165 grain bullet in a 30/06 today will greatly outperform the 300 mag with a 180 grain cup and core bullet when that cartridge was introduced.

When you recover that 165gr TSX it is still 165 grains. Shoot a 180 Gr up and core or partition and it will be very lucky to retain 1/2 it's weight. Lower weight less penetration. Not to mention that the Partition will fold the jacket back and as velocity diminishes it will be hooked onto tissue and end up backward quite frequently. Where the TSX will drive through like a spear blasting through any bone, or internal tissue it encounters.

Since we switched all bullets to the TSX we have lost exactly one Blue wildebeest with a poorly placed accidental shot by the hunter. On some culling operations 30-50 animals are shot in 2-3 days for meat.

Anyone can see a bullet perform fantastic and assume it's the greatest bullet ever. Or see something they don't like or understand and feel the bullet is a horrible design. I think for us, we see hundreds of animals shot at many different ranges, and sizes under lots of conditions. We cannot see anything better to use then the TSX or the TTSX today.

By the way, the TTSX is the one with the plastic tip. The performance is no different then the TSX. I think they added the tip as some kind of Placebo for the naysayers of the TSX that may feel it does not open up or perform well. I'm here to tell you, the TSX driven as fast as you can make it go in your rifle will work like magic. Don't be afraid to drop a bullet weight and get it to max velocity. It will surprise you!