Copper bullet performance

[nontyp]

I recently shot an elk with a 180 grain barnes ttsx. The bullet obviously did enough damage to kill the animal, but i was really surprised it didn’t pass through. I ended up leaving him overnight because the blood trail was weak. Otherwise i would have dug around to see what exactly happened. What have others experiences been? I’m pretty new to rifle hunting, but have heard nothing but good things about the ttsx bullets. the bullet did not hit the shoulder blade or the leg bones on either side. this was a 340 yard shot with a .300 win mag.

 

[MTLabrador]

I’ve had nothing but great performance from Barnes and Hammers.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

I shot a mule deer in the neck about 8 inches from the skull this year and found the bullet around just above the the shoulders. Buck was totally broadside...

~100 yards, 120 etip, .264 win mag.

 

[TheJason]

It’s not unusual at all for a Barnes to lodge underneath the offside hide. Since they expand/mushroom so much, there is a lot of frontal surface area that stops the bullet from punching through the elastic hide.

 

[std7mag]

Gee, sounds a lot like the performance you get with a Berger VLD, that so many complain doesn't give an exit wound.

Dead is dead. There's no variation of dead.
The bullet just spent all of it's energy inside the animal, instead of the tree 50 yards behind it.

 

[nontyp]

Gee, sounds a lot like the performance you get with a Berger VLD, that so many complain doesn't give an exit wound.

Dead is dead. There's no variation of dead.
The bullet just spent all of it's energy inside the animal, instead of the tree 50 yards behind it.

Well he did run over 500 yards in thick brush. Without snow it would’ve been a very difficult track job. Not exactly sure where the bullet went. entrance only and that was it. didn’t find anywhere that the bullet lodged.

 

[brockel]

Well he did run over 500 yards in thick brush. Without snow it would’ve been a very difficult track job. Not exactly sure where the bullet went. entrance only and that was it. didn’t find anywhere that the bullet lodged.

That’s crazy he went that far. Usually a shot like that is a 20-40yard stumble

 

[TheJason]

Well he did run over 500 yards in thick brush. Without snow it would’ve been a very difficult track job. Not exactly sure where the bullet went. entrance only and that was it. didn’t find anywhere that the bullet lodged.

What angle was the shot? Broadside, quartered to or away?

 

[Bigjay73]

I'm still clinging to my lead cores, but even those have resulted in a couple of low blood, long recoveries on shots through the vitals, that's hunting for you. I remember one wt I shot with an '06. Pass through, knocked a 2" piece of rib bone out of the exit wound, and hardly any blood trail. Explain that one. That being said, low blood loss is something often mentioned with solids. That's the trade off to leaving all of the energy in the animal I suppose.

 

[Taxed in Maine]

Having shot and experimented with Barnes for a couple years now, the winning formula seems to be lighter bullets at faster velocity. You have to put aside the old school ideas in bullet weight. Try a 165 or even a 150 next year. They can't disintegrate, so there is no problem in driving them fast.

 

[nontyp]

What angle was the shot? Broadside, quartered to or away?

fully broadside

 

[mtmuley]

Well he did run over 500 yards in thick brush. Without snow it would’ve been a very difficult track job. Not exactly sure where the bullet went. entrance only and that was it. didn’t find anywhere that the bullet lodged.

Get a RUM. mtmuley

 

[TheJason]

fully broadside

Shot looks a little far forward for my liking.

 

[klampson]

I really like 180 TTSX bullets, and they have yet to let me down. They are super accurate out of both my 300 Win mags, and they just kill stuff for me. More times than not I get a complete passthrough, but heck, I've had elk absorb 200 gr bonded lead bullets without a pass through. Sometimes stuff just happens, but dead is dead. Any bullet that consistently kills elk is a winner in my book!

 

[Bluffgruff]

I have no negative experiences with 175gr LRX in a 300winmag.

 

[devon deer]

Shot looks a little far forward for my liking.

I was thinking the same, what vitals did it take out, if any?

I have just reloaded my first copper bullets, in the .243, just need to shoot a deer now.

Cheers

Richard

 

[nontyp]

I was thinking the same, what vitals did it take out, if any?

I have just reloaded my first copper bullets, in the .243, just need to shoot a deer now.

Cheers

Richard

In my experience that shot is usually heart or double lung.

 

[243varmint]

I think people over here are tending to take shoulder shots now with copper.
Pin them down rather than let them run.
With next to no public land over here and small permission areas you don't want beasts going over boundary fences which causes a lot of issues trying to get permission to cross with a firearm.

Im clinging on to lead at the moment but tryi g to source some TTSX over here.

I've started a thread about dealers willing to ship to the UK. Not many responses yet.
Maybe someone would be willing to buy over there and ship to the UK for us brits

 

[243varmint]

I was thinking the same, what vitals did it take out, if any?

I have just reloaded my first copper bullets, in the .243, just need to shoot a deer now.

Cheers

Richard

Fingers crossed Richard.

 

[406LIFE]

I'm still clinging to my lead cores, but even those have resulted in a couple of low blood, long recoveries on shots through the vitals, that's hunting for you. I remember one wt I shot with an '06. Pass through, knocked a 2" piece of rib bone out of the exit wound, and hardly any blood trail. Explain that one. That being said, low blood loss is something often mentioned with solids. That's the trade off to leaving all of the energy in the animal I suppose.

I've found blood trails with copper to be quite comparable to lead bullets.