The following three pictures are of a deer shot last Friday with a 308 Win 150 Barnes Tipped Triple Shock. The first picture is the exit wound just behind the shoulder through the heart and lungs. The second picture is the entrance side wound. The heart and lungs were completely caught up in the would cavity. Let me say Ray Charles could have followed the blood trail. It is hard to modify a post with picture after the fact. The exit would is duplicated.
Barnes bullets performance on game?
- Thread starter mattri
- Start date
Much of what I’m reading seems to be shot placement. While I’ve not hunted elk, I have killed countless deer with Barnes tsx and ttsx and never lost an animal nor had one run further than 25 yds. I’ve always had full penetration and always do I post mortum to evaluate bullet performance. I always take a behind the shoulder shot which destroys the lungs. I do this because it allows the animal to bleed out with the heart pumping out massive amounts of blood and I’ve watched to blood shoot out several feet thru the hole. Also, it doesn’t destroy the shoulder meat Or send bone fragment thru the animal. Upon inspection of the lungs I found they looked like a blender blade had gone thru them. Prior to tsx bullet, I used Sierra, nobler and mainly Hornady interlocks. I had huge amounts of bloodshot meat and even lost entire shoulders. I also found lead fragments throughout the meat. I switched to neck shots which dropped them faster than electricity and they drop right on top of their feet but they don’t bleed out leaving lots,of blood in the meat. I went to behind the shoulder shots high saved a lot of meat but still lead fragments in the meat. Enter Barnes. I get minimal damage from rib fragments and the animal dies from massive loss of blood since all blood flows thru lungs. Lastly, I use the lightest weight possible in any given caliber and have not had a deflection that I can find. As for the wounded elk I think many of the healed over wounds are from bullets like Berger vld types, they are target bullets regardless of the label, period. They may blow up on impact or they may penetrate, it’s a roll of the dice. Lastly, driving a bullet at the speeds possible with the super moon shot magnums is very destructive to any bullet is itself. I use the 7x57, 250, 257, 338, and 9.3 with 120 gr, 100 gr, 100 gr, 185 gr, and 250 gr respectively. Just my .02 based on my experience with hundreds of deer kills
searcher
Gold $$ Contributor
I shoot Barnes TSX and TTSX in all my hunting rifles from .223 on up to .375 H&H Magnum. There are good leaded bullets out there too- but these are all I use for big game hunting. I have never lost an animal due to bullet failure using these- which I cannot say about some of my prior picks on leaded bullets.
I like the accubond...never had a problem
with'em in all the cals. we use them in.
with'em in all the cals. we use them in.
Holy resurrect a dead thread!!! 
6 going on 7 years....
I had looked at going to Barnes when they first came out. But i didn't reload then.
Now these many years later, i'm not inclined to use them.
I seen way too many inconsistancies with their performance.
I've seen not so good shots where deer have only gone 30 yards.
I've tracked more than a couple where members of my hunting party (1 person can be a party
) made good shots & we tracked for 1/2 mile.
Note, all the pretty pics of recovered bullets were not pass throughs.
6 going on 7 years....
I had looked at going to Barnes when they first came out. But i didn't reload then.
Now these many years later, i'm not inclined to use them.
I seen way too many inconsistancies with their performance.
I've seen not so good shots where deer have only gone 30 yards.
I've tracked more than a couple where members of my hunting party (1 person can be a party
) made good shots & we tracked for 1/2 mile.Note, all the pretty pics of recovered bullets were not pass throughs.
I’m a cheap ass, I use regular old cup and core bullets. from experience, I don’t much care for Sierra bullets on game, but have had excellent luck with hornady in 338, Speer in 270. I’ve pulled 338 225gr hornady bullets out of big bears, elk, caribou, and moose, nice perfect mushrooms with high weight rentention.
But the best weight retention has been with cast bullets. Shot nearly all the way diagonally through a mature mule deer buck with a 325gr flat nose running 1300 FPS from an 1876 Winchester in 45-75. The bullet looks unused other than rifling marks.
But the best weight retention has been with cast bullets. Shot nearly all the way diagonally through a mature mule deer buck with a 325gr flat nose running 1300 FPS from an 1876 Winchester in 45-75. The bullet looks unused other than rifling marks.
Resurrection is right..............
My bud just shot an Idaho elk in October of this year with a 300 WSM and Barnes 180 TSX. Dropped on the spot at 540 ish. He is well pleased with both the bullet performance on game and with the accuracy of the factory ammo. You do have to hit them in the right place.
Back to your regularly scheduled Barnes Bullet Bashing...........
My bud just shot an Idaho elk in October of this year with a 300 WSM and Barnes 180 TSX. Dropped on the spot at 540 ish. He is well pleased with both the bullet performance on game and with the accuracy of the factory ammo. You do have to hit them in the right place.
Back to your regularly scheduled Barnes Bullet Bashing...........
I always shot Nozler Partitions for deer/ elk and always had 1 shot dead animals, a lot of times with significant blood shot meat. Fast forward and Komifornia mandates that I must use nonlead projectiles to hunt any game so I jumped on the Barnes band wagon and worked up new loads for all my hunting rifles. .308, 7mm R/M, 30-06, 257 rbts, 223, 243,35 whelen,270. That's a LOT of load work ups! Now that the company that owned Barnes has went bankrupt no Barnes bullets have been available for some time now. I believe that Speer or Sierra has bought them and I sure hope they retain the same manufacturing and keep the bullets the same otherwise its back to the load work up AGAIN!
AckleymanII
Gold $$ Contributor
First two bull elk I killed was with a 7 Mag using first generation of 140g ballistic tips, super accurate load of 65g of IMR 4350. Both bulls were running and they hit the ground immediately upon bullet impact. Their nose plowing the ground, Front legs quit working, with bullet impact center of the body length wise. One bull kicked twice, the other bull never even kicked, distance of 150-200 yards in a clear cut.
Draw your own conclusions.
Draw your own conclusions.
Mike Montgomery
Silver $$ Contributor
One bullet that has been overlooked in this thread is the Swift A Frame. Not the sleekest design but perform very well on game.
Hornady, Nosler & Barnes bullets are all I use, since my state went non-lead for hunting. They each do the job they are intended too do, if you put the bullets into the proper spot, when you shoot.
Hell gals and guys a 22 short will kill and has done so, over many years, if again you put it in the right spot and use any of them within your ability too do so.
Hell gals and guys a 22 short will kill and has done so, over many years, if again you put it in the right spot and use any of them within your ability too do so.
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