strike 4 with a barnes tsx

[Lloyd Smale]

If you been following my tales of the deer shot with tsx bullets youd know im not impressed. I had one that failed to penetrate and two that didnt appear to open up ealier this year. I recovered all 3 of those deer luckily but luck wasnt on my side last night. I talked myself into taking one more chance with them hoping theyd redeem themselves. I took out my 2506 #1 using 80 grain tsx bullets. I had a deer come in at 200 yards. the rest was rock solid and i know my crosshairs were right behind the shoulder at the shot. Both myself and my hunting partner heard the bullet hit the deer. I knew it didnt go down at the shot but saw the direction it took. We went over there and searched for 2 hours and never found a drop of blood. All i can figure is another one didnt open up. I wouldnt be caught dead in the woods ever again with a barnes tsx loaded in my gun!!! This was the first deer i didnt recover in over 3 years. It makes me about sick when it happens and I feel pretty stupid for paying twice or more the cost of a good ballistic tip or sierra just to loose an animal!!!!

 

[kyle1974]

shooting 80 grain bullets at large northern deer with shoulder shots? and it's the bullet's fault?

 

[rori]

1. Not enough bullet weight 2. Your perfect and there is no way your hold or zero could be at fault 3. Its been a whole 3 years since you last wounded a deer and didn't find it. 4. I've killed well over a hundred deer over 45 years and never lost one. 5 . You looked for a whole 2 hours and didn't find it. Only about 22 hours short of what could resonably be called a decent search time.
6. You wouldn't be caught dead with those bullets!!!! You shouldn't be caught dead or otherwise in the woods at all. Youre not a hunter your a butcher!!!!!!! Frank

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

Have to agree with most all of what has been posted. This is a prime example of underweighted bullets. Now granted, there have been many deer killed with little fellas like 80 grainers, but you can bet that more than not, more have been wounded or unrecovered such as that one. And 2 hours? Someone should get with you and teach you about hunting because however you learned was NOT the proper way. A good 120gr Sierra out of a .25/06 will put the thump on a deer and MANY have dropped from that combination. Your main mistake was not doing a pattern search for at LEAST 6 hours and trying to find a trail. That tiny hole that a solid bullet made would seal up quick. Solids are not needed on thin skinned game such as deer. They are designed for heavy bone impact with lower expansion for penetration. If you hit right behind the shoulder, you more than likely hit very little bone to expand it at all.

Sorry if this hurts your feelings Lloyd but this in NO way was the Barnes TSX bullet failing. It was a hunter not doing his job.

 

[alsaqr]

As others have stated, an 80 grain bullet in .25 caliber is too light for use on big deer, especially shoulder shots.

 

[25cschaefer]

You would probably be better served with CCI Mini-Mag and head shots. Leave the feather wieghts to the yotes.

 

[MtnCreek]

You looked for a whole 2 hours and didn't find it. Only about 22 hours short of what could resonably be called a decent search time.

Really; 24 hours??? 80gr solid copper / .25 cal not enough for deer?

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

Really; 24 hours??? 80gr solid copper / .25 cal not enough for deer?

24 may be pushing the expectation but you should put in a lot more than just a couple of hours.

The .25/06 is a fantastic white-tail cartridge but yes an 80gr SOLID/monolithic bullet is a poor choice for deer. Michigan deer are a pretty large white-tail and very sturdy. A larger weighted bullet is much more desirable when using the .25/06 for those times that you do not anchor that deer right there with a CNS shot. And also you need expansion for a good wound cavity. Will this combination kill a deer? Of course it will. Will you have a rough time blood trailing because of the small holes that the non-expanded bullet left? I think the post kind of answers that question all by itself.

 

[788Ham]

You'd best get some decent bullets, the one's your using evidently, quite evident, aren't beginning to do the job. Get some Hornady Spire Point bullets, they'll knock that deer flat on his backside. I'd possibly use that monolithic bullet on coyotes, but not on a deer. Oh, you'd best get your boots laced up and get out there and find that deer, I've taken longer lunch breaks than the time you said you spent looking for that deer, or sell your rifle!

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

Here is a few bullets that are fantastic deer thumpers.

http://www.hornady.com/store/25-Cal-.257-117-gr-BTSP/

http://www.hornady.com/store/25-Cal-.257-117-gr-SST/

http://www.sierrabullets.com/index.cfm?section=bullets&page=bc&stock_num=1630&bullettype=0

http://www.sierrabullets.com/index.cfm?section=bullets&page=bc&bullettype=0

Any of those bullets, if they are accurate in your rifle, will put the smackdown on deer all day. I have used all 4 types out of a 7mm.08 and NEVER had a problem finding my deer.

 

[Kachok]

I also fail to understand the logic of an 80gr bullet on a deer, 100gr has been the long standing minimum for .25 cal. Using the wrong bullet weight is hardly the bullets fault. Save the 80gr for yotes. The lightest bullet I ever load for deer is a 120gr. The TSXs are a pretty well respected bullet in the proper weights, expansion and penatration are very consistant in every test I have seen. Never made the switch to the TSX myself because my BTs, Accubonds, SSTs and SGKs have served me well and I don't live anywhere near a leadfree zone.

 

[bpl]

I think that the logic is that with the monolithic bullets penetration is excellent but the expansion can be problematic especially at lower velocities. So, theoretically the lighter bullet at higher velocity should expand better with the monolithic. That said, I'd be hesitant to go below 100gr in .25 cal myself. I've been using the 117gr Hornady BTSP in my .257 Roberts and it works great.

 

[Kachok]

TSXs have great expansion at lower speeds, all the way down to 1600fs in some calibers. A 25-06 can push an 80gr projectile to 3600fps which is too fast even for TSX, they tend loose their peddles near that speed which would ruin their terminal perofrmance, a 100gr at 3200-3300 fps would be a much better choice in ever way.

 

[MtnCreek]

TSXs have great expansion at lower speeds, all the way down to 1600fs in some calibers. A 25-06 can push an 80gr projectile to 3600fps which is too fast even for TSX, they tend loose their peddles near that speed which would ruin their terminal perofrmance, a 100gr at 3200-3300 fps would be a much better choice in ever way.

Good info. Did that come from Barnes or another source?

Thanks,
MtnCreek

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

TSXs have great expansion at lower speeds, all the way down to 1600fs in some calibers. A 25-06 can push an 80gr projectile to 3600fps which is too fast even for TSX, they tend loose their peddles near that speed which would ruin their terminal perofrmance, a 100gr at 3200-3300 fps would be a much better choice in ever way.

If you make a hit on some good solid bone yes sir they do exactly what they are designed for. But he said he hit right behind the shoulder which, other than the gut, is the softest part of a deer and is not solid enough to start expanding the TSX even at high speeds. Deer, by far, are in no way hard to kill. Sometimes they can be hard to ANCHOR but not hard to kill in general at all. He should really give the Interbonds or Interlocs a try. They hold together very well and will put a deer on your dinner plate. Granted I have only had to trail a few with the 7mm.08 using them but the few that I have had to trail left AMAZING trails to follow.

 

[oneounceload]

shooting 80 grain bullets at large northern deer with shoulder shots? and it's the bullet's fault?

Correct - wrong bullet for the task - use that 80 gr on predators like coyotes

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

lol I think that was his point oneounce. It was the shooters fault for picking such a small weight for the task.

 

[hardluk1]

Wrong bullet weight. Nothing wrong with barns line just buy the right one for the job. I have used them for elk and deer a few times and they worked fan-dam-tastic. Shot for the lung/heart and if the angle allows for a oppisite shoulder to be hit the 100 gr will more than likely break it. Atleast bore on through. It so much about bullet placement with smaller bullets. If a 243 can kill them with the barnes tsx so can the 25-06

 

[Loosedhorse]

Betting your life on a bullet?

I don't like to the TSX disparaged in any way--I get emotional! And I don't know if hunting dangerous game is equivalent to "betting your life on a bullet." But if so, I've bet my life on the Barnes TSX. Twice.

I have two perfectly mushroomed souvenirs. One animal didn't take another step. One made it 70m and fell over. Stone dead when I walked up. Found the bullets under the off-side hide both times.

It's not all about the bullet, but the TSX did its part.

As for .25 cal, Barnes lists both a 100 and a 115 TSX.--I don't see an 80. Perhaps you mean the 80 grain tipped TSX?

Federal loads the 100 in .25-06; seems to indicate that they feel that's the right weight for medium game (deer), not 80. In any case, I do wonder if your results would be different with the 100 (tipped or regular TSX) or with the 115 TSX.

Oh: a 200 yard shot, "last night," not a drop of blood? We call that a miss around here.

 

[stsimons]

I hate to say this, but I think you missed.

An 80 grain bullet from a 25.06 should be going around 3600 fps. Light for caliber Barnes bullets going at very high velocities can cause catastrophic damage and typically kill very well.

There is a photo on the Savage Shooters forum of a hog shot with a 270 win using a 95 gr ttsx. The poster said:

The speed is probably more like 3650 or so. Actually its worse than it looks in that pic. It blew out about 1/3rd of its back and upper @$$ end.

 

[Kachok]

Good info. Did that come from Barnes or another source?

Thanks,
MtnCreek

Both. Here is a test they did striking simulated bone/ballistics gel at 2900fps. I have read many reviews where hunters have had the same thing happen in high speed calibers at close range.

 

[kyle1974]

velocity schmelocity....

people get too tied up in "fast" bullets. SHoot the appropriate round, things like this won't happen.

I think you would have been better off had you shot him in the neck. I have a 25-06 that's one of my favorite rifles, but I always shoot in the neck, I don't trust even the 117 grain soft points on a shoulder shot.

 

[Lloyd Smale]

Thanks for all the constructive criticism First to the fact that ive lost two deer now in 3 years. Keep it in perspective that in that time ive kill approx 150 whitetails doing crop damage shooting and thats a conservitive guess. Second is that yes maybe i should have put in more time but im 6 months out of a back surgery and 2 hours was tuff. I suppose now you should post that someone who is crippled or getting old should stay out of the woods. As to the 80 grain barnes barnes themselves proclaim it a big game bullet. Yes theres lots of differnt bullets i could use and ive proven many of them as being suitable but i am a handloader and part of the enjoyment i get is trying diffent loads. They probably work great on larger game like elk or bigger but there just to stout for whitetail and yes that includes even a 80 grain at 3400 fps. As to the wonderful helpfull people who posted that i should stay out of the woods. Ive been hunting since some of you were in diapers and will continue with or without your ever so important opinion. My reason for this post was to share some knowlege i learned in the field. Listen keyboard experts IN THE FIELD. So that some other guy might not be brainwashed by one of these keyboard experts into using a bullet that has failed for me 4 out of 4 times. STsimons i wish your answer was the true but like i said i know where the crosshairs were when the trigger broke and two of us heard the bullet impact the deer. Im sure not proud of losing a deer and sure dont like admitting it but if it helps even one guy not to have the same thing happen then flame away children. As to having killed more then a 100 deer without losing even one your either very luck or flat out a lier!

 

[bad_aim_billy]

I hate to say this, but I think you missed.

Bingo. No offense intended, but perhaps more time at the range is needed. An 80 grn TSX at those speeds will put down anything in the lower 48 with correct placement.

 

[castingdonkey]

That round should have been more than enough if properly placed. My guess is someone didn't spend enough time at the range and probably gut shot the deer. Then chased right after it instead of waiting to see where it really ran and giving it time to lay down. I shoot tsx at game and have no issues with them at all. Super accurate and knock everything hit to the ground, infact I have found that they sometimes do far more damage than people like. My only advice is to take a hunters safety course for a refresher and spend more time at the range.