Bullets

Barnes TSX Bullets

Rifle shot mule deerI bought a new Weatherby Vanguard chambered in .300 WM last October and quickly started reloading some 165 and 168 grain Barnes TSX, TTSX, and MRX bullets on the recommendation from a friend. I read and heard a lot of promising information on the Barnes TSX bullet. The 4 peddle cloverleaf expansion with 99-100% weight retention were reason enough to try the TSX. The MRX bullets are quite expensive but they claim to have a higher ballistic coefficient than the TSX and TTSX due to the tungsten core. The TTSX and MRX sport a blue polymer tip increasing B.C. and accuracy.

I harvested the 4×3 mule deer in October 2009 with 168 grain Barnes TTSX bullets out of my .300wm

I was getting good trajectory and accuracy with the Barnes TSX, MRX, and TTSX bullets. Here is a 3 shot group at 200 yards with  168 grain Barnes TTSX bullets out of my .300WM.

168 grain Barnes TTSX grouping

Here is a picture of 2- 3 shot groups, the blue circles are from a dirty barrel and the red circles are from a clean one. You can see the sub M.O.A. accuracy was achieved using the Barnes 168 grain TTSX. This was from 100 yards.

100 yard barnes bullet grouping

Now I would not be doing a bullet review unless I actually shot something and saw the damage. Of course the bullet made a complete pass through so I could not confirm the weight retention but at a 60 yard distance, this free hand shot took a black bear down with one pull of the trigger. The bear ran only 40 yards to meet his demise.

Barnes TTSX exit wound

I have harvested a couple black bears using the Barnes 168 grain TTSX bullets, the second bear took a few shots but there was an incredible amount of damage (6″ hole on the exit side with broken ribs) but I guess the bear was just tougher than usual. The bullets did the job. Here are the two bears I harvested with the Barnes 168 grain TTSX.

six foot black bear

I harvested this coastal BC grizzly using 200 grain Barnes TSX bullets out of my Weatherby Vangaurd chambered in .300 WM.

BC grizzly bear

 

 

spring black bear