Barnes TTSX

[Recon_Doc]

Hi All,
Need an opinion. So I emailed the tech reps at Barnes Bullets to ask them what 30.06 round they would recommend bullet weight for their TTSX line of bullets. They (2 of them) said hands down the 150 grain bullet is plenty for a bull elk inside of 400 yards (which is as far as I would shoot). I guess because of the design, and hydro-static shock the bullet produces upon impact is the reasoning behind that. Any opinions or expieriences with the Barnes TTSX in 30.06 would be helpful.

 

[Paul in Idaho]

The 150 grain TTSX is what I have been using for the past few years with great results.

 

[Straight Arrow]

150 grain TTSX is what I have been using for the past few years with great results.

Likewise in my Remington 7 mag. My son who loaded them up for me and had tried other options as well, explained that the Barnes150 grain TTSX produced the best accuracy in his process.

 

[BR-549]

I switched to 150 TTSX this year too upon recommendation by others. I am in the process of loading them now for my 7 mag for this year's elk hunt.

As I understand it you do not need as much weight because the mono bullets retain near 100% of the beginning weight. It is recommended that you shoot about one size smaller than you would with lead core bullets. Others do not like them, but I will quote a friend from the site "there is no perfect bullet for every situation".

I am anxious to see how they do.

 

[HighDesertSage]

I would go with the 150. I used the same in my 300 for deer and elk with good results. I will be shooting my 270 with 130's for elk and deer this year. The Barnes rep told me the same re the 270. My 270 is alot more pleasant to shoot and I am more accurate with it anyways.

One thing to keep in mind is the 150 TTSX will exit heavier than a 180 grain bullet anyways. Most of the lead bullets shed weight as they past through an animal. The TTSX should go in and come out at the same weight.

 

[noharleyyet]

...might check this discussion

https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=545772

 

[Coyotes-R-Us]

I use the 80 gr tts out of the 6mm going 3800 fps.
Lights out on any deer 300/400 yards:hump:

 

[Flatland Crusoe]

Granted this is the 6mm Version that was 80 gr with the tip.

The density of copper is around 9 and lead is around 11 so a 150 grain copper solid has the volume of a 175 gr lead/copper hybrid. TTSX rounds like to be loaded with a pretty big jump to the rifling so you will run out of case capacity pretty quickly once you start going a lot bigger than 150 grain copper. The 175 Barnes LRX is going to be very long.

They reload very easily with Barnes data.

 

[Recon_Doc]

Excellent. Thats what Im gonna try and go with then. Thanks gents!!

 

[RobG]

This is educational, not the answers I was expecting.

The answers here seem to indicate that a 150 gr TTSX bullet is good enough. I shoot 180 gr TTSX and the way it stopped in it's tracks with a liver shot I'd also say it's good enough so I'm not sure what these answers mean.

Should we expect the 150s coppers to work better than the 180 or 165 gr coppers? Why?

Also, is there a good alternative to the Barnes bullets? They support the dubious organization of SFW.

 

[----]

Should we expect the 150s coppers to work better than the 180 or 165 gr coppers? Why?

Also, is there a good alternative to the Barnes bullets? They support the dubious organization of SFW.

The risk with copper bullets is that they have the potential to not open up like a traditional lead bullet at slower speeds. I think that's the main reason they recommend dropping down a couple sizes, to get that extra speed to ensure they perform they way they're designed.

Hornady GMX and Nosler E-Tips are very similar bullets.

 

[noharleyyet]

The risk with copper bullets is that they have the potential to not open up like a traditional lead bullet at slower speeds. I think that's the main reason they recommend dropping down a couple sizes, to get that extra speed to ensure they perform they way they're designed.

Agree.

 

[BR-549]

The risk with copper bullets is that they have the potential to not open up like a traditional lead bullet at slower speeds. I think that's the main reason they recommend dropping down a couple sizes, to get that extra speed to ensure they perform they way they're designed.

Hornady GMX and Nosler E-Tips are very similar bullets.

But isn't that also why they added the poly tip? I am asking not disagreeing.

 

[jryoung]

Also, is there a good alternative to the Barnes bullets? They support the dubious organization of SFW.

There are alternatives, I'm experimenting with etips now. But, does Barnes still continue to support SFW now that they are part of Remington/Freedom Group/Cerebus?

 

[Flatland Crusoe]

I'm not questioning the point of higher speeds to open, but I think the volume/length of the bullet similar to the standard lead hybrids has a lot to do with it.

Twist rates on factory guns are generally designed for the common hunting load like 168 gr 308 or 95 gr .243.

If you assume 25/75 copper:lead ratios on a standard softpoint a copper solid will be 16% lighter at the same volume and since diameter fixed for the most part bullet weight correlates pretty well to length. The bullet length that stabilizes is limited by the twist rate which in .243 is 1:10 or 1:9.125 on most factory guns. In the case of 243 95 or 100 grain soft points are traditionally the load for deer sized game and Barnes makes an 80 grain TTSX and an 85 gr TSX which are both 15% lighter than a standard hybrid soft point. I don't think this happened by accident. If you look at a lot of barnes data they use typically the greatest rifling jump of most premium bullets so extra bullet length means less powder and you need a pretty good powder charge to achieve the velocity necessary for expansion.

The bullets in this picture from left to right are 6mm 75 gr vmax, 87 gr vmax 80 gr TTSX 100 gr SPBT 105 gr AMAX. Notice how the TTSX length is pretty long for its weight.

The 3 in the middle do quite well with factory twist rates while the outlier especially the AMAX is pretty picky (it really needs 1:8). The load is aimed at hunters and very few guys in the hunting world want to wrestle trickier reloading with VLD bullets and slower twist rates.

 

[HighDesertSage]

This is educational, not the answers I was expecting.

The answers here seem to indicate that a 150 gr TTSX bullet is good enough. I shoot 180 gr TTSX and the way it stopped in it's tracks with a liver shot I'd also say it's good enough so I'm not sure what these answers mean.

Should we expect the 150s coppers to work better than the 180 or 165 gr coppers? Why?

Also, is there a good alternative to the Barnes bullets? They support the dubious organization of SFW.

I don't know if they work better, but I do know the reason I shoot the 150 is they will kill elk and I like the idea of having a trajectory that allows for no trajectory compensation from 0 to 350.

 

[Southwind]

I use 168's in the 300 magnums, 150 should work great in the 06 I would think you should be in the 2900 fps range.

 

[RobG]

There are alternatives, I'm experimenting with etips now. But, does Barnes still continue to support SFW now that they are part of Remington/Freedom Group/Cerebus?

Good question.

 

[schmalts]

Longer bullets perform better. They stabilize better than a short bullet and the shape helps retain speed (BC) than a short bullet. So a longer bullet is better than a short bullet of the same mass.

 

[Recon_Doc]

The 150s are a pleasure to shoot. Feels like a .243, and yes someone said about velocity. I am getting roughly 2850-2900 at the muzzle. I honestly thought when I posted this all people were going to say how badly I needed to shoot a .300 or .338. However, great conversation, thanks for all the feedback gents