GMX vs E-Tip

[6mm Remington]

90 gr. Nosler E-tip out of my son's 6mm Remington sure shoots well and is very effective on game. He's taken antelope, deer, and one elk with that bullet and it's performed very well. I like my Nosler's and the E-tip is an excellent Nosler bullet!

 

[Mako]

As for the quality of Barnes bullets, the TTSX has definitely served me well and I will use as long as I can.

Good to know. I was able to find and purchased 6 boxes ot VorTx ammo.

 

[Aussie_hunter_JD]

Good to know. I was able to find and purchased 6 boxes ot VorTx ammo.

I would have stayed with GMX, but if you wanted to go down the factory route should have bought a box to see how your rifle likes them first. Sure they're plenty cheaper in the states but here you don't get much change out of $100 per box of Vortx

 

[Mako]

I would have stayed with GMX, but if you wanted to go down the factory route should have bought a box to see how your rifle likes them first. Sure they're plenty cheaper in the states but here you don't get much change out of $100 per box of Vortx

I will try them out and see how it goes. If they run well through my rifle, I will try them next deer season. I've got my rifle dialed in with the Outfitter GMX's. My "local" range (about a 45 minute drive away from me without traffic) has as steel pig at the 600 yard mark. I've been able to hit it with decent consistency which is great for me. That will hopefully make my hunting distances chip shots, as I don't plan to shoot beyond 300 yards. More realistically, probably 250 yards and below. I'm thinking I should leave well enough alone and just save the VorTx's for next season if my rifle ends up liking them. Or, I will just use them for practice if they end up not working out. I'm saving up my spent casings so I can eventually start reloading, so not a total loss.

Is that $100 for a box of twenty? Ouch! That's about $70 US dollars. I purchased these and the Hornady Outfitters for less than half that amount; $30 dollars US.

 

[NVDesertHunter]

echoing what everyone here is saying, if you're happy with the GMX, stay with them but....

if you want to try the E-tip style bullet, the Federal Trophy copper is the same bullet with different powder components if you're interest in trying both to see what your rifle likes better.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

I’m probably reading way too much into it. I’ve read on several forums and seen videos from several hunters stating that they need to fire a few “conditioning” shots before their rifles “settle in,” so I am likely making much about nothing. I do want to get my hands on some TTSX’s though. I hear/read nothing but accolades for that round. It also has quite the reputation for being a shoulder buster and driving on through.

I cleaned my .270 last winter and have shot a couple hundred rounds of 130 gr TTSX through it since then.
I won't clean until I really have to as indicated by grouping getting consistently big.
Here is my last 5-shot group at 100 yards:

 

[Taxed in Maine]

Would a .25 cal Barnes 80 grain TTSX bullet blow up on a critter inside of 200 yards? MV estimated to be in excess of 3600fps.

I've owned a 25-06 for twenty years, and currently hunt with Barnes bullets.
I doubt it would blow up, but I wouldn't do it. That's a really extreme velocity and a small bullet, made to shoot from a slow twist 257 Roberts at a much lower velocity.

The 100TTSX is a proven bullet and almost perfect for the 25-06. That would be a far better choice.

 

[antelopedundee]

I've owned a 25-06 for twenty years, and currently hunt with Barnes bullets.
I doubt it would blow up, but I wouldn't do it. That's a really extreme velocity and a small bullet, made to shoot from a slow twist 257 Roberts at a much lower velocity.

The 100TTSX is a proven bullet and almost perfect for the 25-06. That would be a far better choice.

I have a .25-06 and a .25-284. The .25-284 has a 12 twist barrel. That bullet shoots good enough from the 12 twist barrel. This year I have just one license so I'm going to use a 127 grain .264 Barnes LRX bullet.

 

[Taxed in Maine]

I have a .25-06 and a .25-284. The .25-284 has a 12 twist barrel. That bullet shoots good enough from the 12 twist barrel. This year I have just one license so I'm going to use a 127 grain .264 Barnes LRX bullet.

Why so slow? I would think you would want a faster twist?

 

[antelopedundee]

Why so slow? I would think you would want a faster twist?

I had it made over 25 years ago and was wanting to shoot lighter bullets out of it. Even as it is with the 80 grain Barnes the loaded rounds are still too long to fit into the magazine.

 

[Mako]

Well, I learned something new today. I finally got a chance to take those Vor-Tx TTSX rounds to the range and was able to compare them to the Hornady GMX's I had set my rifle up for. Fortunately, I didn't have to re-zero, which I thought for sure I was going to have to do. From a cold barrel, they both grouped pretty much the same. As the barrel got hotter however, the GMX groups opened considerably more than groups for the TTSX.

 

[Oldskool67]

I’m kind of a lazy reloader. I bought a box of the Nosler Trophy Grade ammo 168’s in 30-06. My rifle liked them so when I reloaded for them I just copied the factory rounds seating depth etc. They shoot good groups for me and have been absolutely devastating on the two black bears and one black tail I’ve taken with them so far. Shot several hogs with the Barnes ttsx previously with similar results

 

[Wyohunt]

I have hunted with Barnes for over a decade and only had one mishap. Two TSX that didn’t open up on a deer. An apparent issue at the time. The TTSX solved that and me and my family have shot dozens of animals with them and most were drt. I am not an engineer but have been skeptical of the gilding metal in gmx and etip. Is it too hard to expand at lower velocities? I recovered one Barnes. A 62gr from my AR. Antelope shot at 254 yds so bullet traveling at 2500? Perfect mushroom and drt. Penetration from brisket to last rib. With all the luck I’ve had I really don’t want to try anything different. Barnes gets a lot of bad press about bore fouling and it makes no sense. Just clean the bore frequently right?

 

[Jc2020]

Anyone use either of these? I live in a LF (lead free) state and will be using LF ammo for white tail this year. I've got my rifle sighted in with Hornady GMX's and am pretty impressed with their accuracy. That said, I've read a lot of good things about Nosler E-tips, though they are next to impossible to find anywhere. I may order some direct from the Nosler website. On paper, booth rounds seem very similar. The main difference I see is that the E-Tips are a boat-tail design, as opposed to the flat base of the GMX's.

Your inputs much obliged.

I’ve used gmx’s for whitetails in the past and had good accuracy and a clean kill I just got a box of etips from a guy on here he said he couldn’t get them to group I haven’t had a chance to try them yet my self

 

[Charlie2922]

I previously have used Etip 150s running H4831 in my 300 Weatherby with much success on whitetails. This year I tried out my very accurate 6.5 Creedmoor with 120 gr GMX Superformance factory loads. On paper it does 1 1/4 groups @ 200 yds.
A nice sized doe hopped up and bounded out to 180 yds in a food plot Saturday evening in my first Sr. and youth doe hunt. She stopped and looked back a perfect side shot that was dead on just at top of heart. Blood trail from 2 inch exit looked as good as any. She went 20 yds and tumbled over an embankment. Perfect performance, no lungs left and I would think it would be good out to 400 or 500 yds. This is the one box says 3050 muzzle. Same as the 300 Weatherby.

 

[yakimanoob]

Bumping an old thread because I'm curious as well. I've been enjoying my Nosler E-tips, which performed perfectly on the one elk and one deer I've been able to take with them in the past three years.

Nosler E-tips are quite hard to come by at the moment even now that I've gotten into reloading. But GMX 150gr 7mm (I'm shooting a 7/08) are available to purchase at the moment. On paper, the 150g E-tips have better BCs and according to each manufacturer, the e-tips expand down to 1800fps and the GMX expand down to 2000fps (I'm waiting less-than-patiently for more data on the new CX line from Hornady).

My rifle shoots the factory e-tip 140gr ammo and the factory 139gr GMX fairly well, with the nod going to the e-tips. I haven't tried hand loading the GMXs yet, but I'm getting great results with my hand loads of 150gr E-tips over 45.8gr of H4350.

I'm torn between holding out for the E-tips to come back in stock, grabbing the 150gr GMX bullets now, or waiting for the new CX line to drop.

I have just enough of the E-tips left to get me through hunting season, so it's not a terribly urgent issue (never mind my incessant curiosity).