All copper bullets

[Safari Dave]

I have never recovered an all-copper bullet, nor a "solid."

 

[Divernhunter]

They work well and I have taken a number of animals with the TTSX and LRX bullets. Push them fast for accuracy and terminal performance. Also set them deep for accuracy. They need bullet jump. I seat mine so the top relief groove is just showing---No crimp.
That said I still prefer the Swift bullets where I can use lead core bullets.

 

[JimP]

Of all the Barnes TTSX bullets that I have shot and a couple hundred animals killed with them the only bullets that I have ever recovered are ones shot into a dirt bank that my paper targets are behind.

This is from 25, 7mm, 30, and 338 caliber bullets.

On animals they have all been pass through shots with shots from 20 to 600+ yards.

As to worrying about hitting a second animal with a pass through shot, you need to be aware of what is behind that animal and choose not to take the shot. I have had to pass on or wait a long time for other animals to clear before I will pull the trigger

 

[Hyde Hunter]

I have taken 17 planes game with a50 gr Power Hammer bullets, all one shot and have only recovered 3 bullets. these all had a velocity starting at 2890 fps and ranges from 80 yards to 330 yards. I took my first Buffalo at about 25 yards with a 404 gr Stone Hammer bullet and never recovered it at 2500 fps, my next one 6 weeks ago was with CEB 420 Raptor at 2420 fps and follow up with their new .458 400gr .700 long nose solid bullet first one on buffalo both bullets recovered the solid traveled from chest to under hide in rump area. I cannot complain about either one

 

[mdwest]

I use TTSX, TSX, and LRX almost exclusively and have killed more animals ranging from 30lbs to 2000lbs than I can count… I shoot them in everything from my 223 to my 416… never had a problem with any of them…

I also shoot CX in my 300 prc… the hornady mono metal has performed exceptionally for me as well (although I’m in the process of transitioning to LRX in the prc now)…

 

[Rafiki]

A lot of that has to do with how they’re constructed and what they were designed for, but I agree for the most part.

For example, the above bullets were shot subsonic. But they were also designed to be shot subsonic.

Copper bullets have a ton of potential, and I use them exclusively on almost all of my rifles. But for dangerous game in .423 on up, they really haven’t seemed to get them dialed in yet. They’re fully capable but there’s not a huge market for it so they’ve been focusing on more popular calibers, and I get it.

The Barnes 100gr ttsx made for the 257 weatherby would definitely not expand subsonic, but it wasn’t designed to. It may take time before anyone is willing to make quality DG rated all copper expanding for the real big boys like the 470 and some of the lesser popular chamberings

Depends on the bullet. My 510 cal, 550gr was going around 2000fps, expanded perfectly and retain all its weight.

 

[wildwilderness]

How do you shoot an animal as small as a duiker with s .30-06 and any bullet, and recover the bullet? I have noticed that people shooting all copper bullets seem to retrieve a disproportionate number of bullets. Maybe because copper is lighter than lead?

I would say you have fallen into to confirmation bias. Looking for evidence that monos haven’t passed through. Hunters like to share pics of them because it is so rare to find one! And they look cool

The only ones I have found have been on either very far shots, or going lengthwise (3’ or more of body) or breaking big bones.

Most cup and core bullets will shed weight and rapidly expand- not as common for hunters to post pictures of lead frags and mangled copper jackets.

Yes copper is lighter but the near 100% weight retention (if so designed like Barnes) and less expansion definitely makes them penetrate more.

Some of the other designs like Hammer purposely have pedals shed for more trauma while the shank will drive through.

Strongly bonded bullets also retain more weight than cup and core but the expansion is generally more than monos, limiting penetration- may be a good thing like mentioned in herds

Of course if you have excess energy some want the explosive affect of a true soft bullet. Bonded are a good compromise but in my experience not as accurate as a mono.

breaking bones is an advantage I see for monos with their tough construction. Changing where you aim to break the front shoulder is my preferred shot- the bullet keeps going through and the animal rarely goes anywhere

The other draw back is lower Ballistic Coefficient in similar shaped lead bullets- but that really only starts to matter when shooting past 500yds

 

[grand veneur]

I was curious of thoughts from those of you that have used the all copper bullets and the comparison of lead core bullets. How do they compare in performance?

A topic that was discussed years ago on hundreds of pages of various hunting Forums in Europe. It all started with the increasing requirement in Europe to use only lead-free bullets. Initially, there were various problems with many all copper bullets, but things have calmed down in the meantime because all these bullets were optimized. There is no difference in the working of lead-free all copper bullets compared to bullets with lead core, as long as you take certain internal and terminal ballistic parameters into account, which was not the case for many shooters and hunters initially.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

I always prefer lead cored bullet designs whereever legal or whenever I can get them. But I can readily vouch that the 300Gr Barnes TSX (fired from a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum) is magnificent medicine for hunting hippopotamus bulls on land.

Before employing the Barnes TSX on my two most recent hippopotamus hunts, I always exclusively preferred solid bullets for hunting hippopotamus on land. Because nothing tests bullet penetration & structural integrity the way a body shot on a full grown hippopotamus bull can (aside from frontal brain shots on bull elephants).

Now, that said… I’d personally avoid employing them for hunting the great cats (esp. a broadside heart-lung shot on a lion or leopard that is shot over bait unless if your point of aim happens to be the shoulder bone/scapula itself). I’d also avoid them in slower calibers such as the .470 Nitro Express or .500 Nitro Express or the .577 Nitro Express or in the .458 Winchester Magnum (unless you employ a bullet weighing no heavier than 450Gr in the latter). In the slower caliber, they do (now & then) fail to expand properly & simply bore clean through like a solid.

This 570Gr Barnes TSX (for instance) was fired from a .500 Nitro Express Federal Premium Cape Shok factory load into a Cape buffalo’s heart-lung region from a broadside position behind the shoulder. It incurred absolutely zero expansion whatsoever.

My good friend white hunter Mark Sullivan has had expansion issues with the .585 Barnes TSX (being fired out of his .577 Nitro Express Heym Model 88B) on at least three separate occasions till now.

So my recommendation is to only employ the Barnes TSX in high velocity calibers (such as .375 Holland & Holland Magnum, .378 Weatherby Magnum, .404 Jeffery, .416 Rigby, .416 Remington Magnum, .458 Lott, .450 Rigby Magnum, .460 Weatherby Magnum, .500 Jeffery).

 

[Sideshow]

I’m still using Hornady sp interlocks for deer culling. They work cheaper too. As for the lead bit. I’m not eating the head or neck.
Why head and neck shots? You get paid more for those at the game dealer. There’s talk here of them changing the law to ban lead. But until they do I won’t be changing either.

 

[Mauser78]

Last October I took Peregrine Bushmasters for my 375 and 500. In my limited experience I'm impressed enough to take them again in 2026.

View attachment 687143

300gr Peregrine VRG-3, Buffalo, neck/spine 104 yards, 375 H&H

View attachment 687144

550gr Peregrine VRG-3, Buffalo, neck/spine, 23 yards, 500 Sharps

I also use the Peregrine in my 375H&H. The

270gr Bushmaster, and the 230gr VLR.
Very happy with them.
This is the 230gr

 

[Mauser78]

They have a “piston” to force expansion.

 

[Philip Glass]

I was curious of thoughts from those of you that have used the all copper bullets and the comparison of lead core bullets. How do they compare in performance?

I've settled on Barnes TSX for everything I hunt. Five different calibers and many different hunting scenarios and it has never let me down. From Dik Dik to whitetail to hippo it just works.

 

[sgt_zim]

I’m still using Hornady sp interlocks for deer culling. They work cheaper too. As for the lead bit. I’m not eating the head or neck.
Why head and neck shots? You get paid more for those at the game dealer. There’s talk here of them changing the law to ban lead. But until they do I won’t be changing either.

There's nothing wrong with cup-and-cores, particularly for light, thin-skinned game where impact velocity is closer to 2500 fps than it is to 3k fps. They'll probably always shed some mass even at the more modest impact velocities, but not enough to make any practical difference.

 

[buffybr]

I started using all copper bullets in 2005 when I went on a Cape Buffalo hunt with my then new .375 RUM. New rifle, new bullets, 300 gr Barnes TSX handloaded at 2830 fps, that shot 1" 3-shot groups.

On my next African hunt for just Plains Game, I loaded 270 gr Barnes TSX bullets at 3040 fps that also shot 1" 2-shot groups, and again they worked great.

Then in 2009 I built a .300 Weatherby Vanguard and first loaded 168 gr Barnes TSX bullets at 3250 fps, then 168 gr TTSX bullets, and now I'm shooting 180 gr TTSX bullets in it. All have shot moa 3-shot groups, and have worked great on hunts here in Montana, Texas, New Zealand, and multiple hunts in South Africa and Mozambique.

Most of the all copper bullets that I have shot game with have comletely shot through the animals, but, like this Montana bull elk, there was a caliber size entrance hole and a 3/4" - 1" exit hole on the far side of the animal. This first picture shows the .30 caliber entrance hole in the elk's hide and the minimal bloodshot tissue where it entered his chest cavity...

Then the minimal bloodshot tissue where the bullet exited his chest, and a 1" exit hole in his hide.

 

[channelkat]

I've settled on Barnes TSX for everything I hunt. Five different calibers and many different hunting scenarios and it has never let me down. From Dik Dik to whitetail to hippo it just works.

on little animals like Dik-Dik, I assume it just punches right through? If it hit bone would it blow out the other side?

 

[JG26Irish_2]

My experience with the Barnes remains limited but positive and I plan to use them more but not always. What I found is they work well over a wide range of speeds and distance. I used the 300g TSX in a 375HH on Blue Wildebeest. First shot was a frontal at 160-180y. That is approaching the limit of what I like with that rifle and load. You want to keep the impact velocity above 2000fps on the TSX or any other expanding bullet in my opinion. With that 375 the limit is about 200y max with the Barnes.

Barnes penetrates well at a wide variety of velocity since it expands less at the slower speeds. Penetrates enough but does less damage at slower speeds. In my case the longer shot at 180y expanded to only 2.0x but still penetrated about 3ft of the Wildebeest and lodged in the paunch. The animal bucked, wheeled, stumbled and ran about 60y and piled up. 1st shot was fatal but we placed two followups for insurance. The 2nd followup was at 60y and hit the neck and was a pass thru. The last was at 10y in the chest and lodged under the skin on the opposite shoulder. That shot expanded to 2.2x and ended things instantly. I was surprised that it did not pass thru. Pic below: The left lower bullet was the 1st shot at 180y and the right one was at 10y. Not that much difference. The 2nd shot was a bit larger than 0.82". That is a big hole.

I am taking several choices with me this next safari. My 7mm/08 will feed on 140g Barnes TTSX, 140g Federal Fusion Tipped, and 150g Swift Sciroccos. All shoot well and to same POI within the planned ranges and out to 400y. I tried Hornady CX Superformance 139g also, but they did not shoot well in my rifle so, I am leaving them home. With my 375HH, I am taking the 300g TSX for Buffalo, and a few 300g A-Frames for other large critters, and a few 250g TBBC for Kudu. I think the key to success has more to do with your marksmanship than with the bullet as long as you place the first shot well and use a quality bullet. All of these are good ones, well proven.

From what I have seen personally, comparing Fusions in 308 and 7mm Mag to Barnes is that the Fusions still penetrate well but seem to hit with more authority and more often than not result in very fast kills. All of mine were pass thru, so I have not recovered any of them but independent tests on ballistic gel shot them to expand to as much as 2.5x out of these rifles. I have taken six large game recently with these including: Nyala, Duiker, Bushbuck, Gemsbok and Impala with 308 and large Whitetail deer with 7mm at ranges from 20y to 202y and all were 1 shot kills and the furthest any ran was 60y. Most (four) were bang flops. Took one buck a few years back with the 250g TBBC and it was a bang flop as well at about 60y.

Counter Point: My son and I are planning a guided Texas Nilgai hunt for 2026 and in talking to the outfitter/guide, about rifles and ammo, he refused to allow me to use my 7mm mag saying it is too small and lacking penetration?? WTF. He favored the 375HH and said minimum was caliber allowed was 300 win mag. I have two 375HH rifles and told him I would bring the 300g TSX ammo and he said "DO NOT USE TSX". That was a bit of a surprise. I suspect that his bias is because many of his clients are taking shots out to about 300y in that big wide open Texas terrain. That is fine with a 300 mag but the big fat 375 has slowed to 1840fps at that range. So slow that the Barnes bullet does not expand much if at all and may simply pencil thru. Result is long tracking jobs or lost game.

After a long discussion with him, he suggested either TBBC (Which I have a bunch of for the 375) or Nosler Accubond. We plan to take both a 375HH using that load and a 338 RCM loaded with 200g Accubonds which will remain effective out a little further if needed. So, while I have found the Barnes coppers to be very effective, they do have their limits and in some cases may not be the best choice.

As others say if you plan to use the TSX or TTSX, keep the speed up within the planned range you will be shooting. Either reduce the range or use a lighter bullet to get better velocity at the POI and you should be pleased with the result.

 

[channelkat]

Forgive my ignorance, but is there any downside to going to the LRX? My understanding was it was basically just a little higher BC and opens at lower speeds, but has all the same benefits.

 

[uplander01]

Never had any trouble with Barnes TSX or Solids, been using them for 20 years. It would be great to have more options. I like Hornady's as well, especially now that they are bonded.

Swift A Frames would be great but he can't seem to produce bullets. I won't use anything where there is unreliable supply, too much work goes into load development, especially with A-frames.

I wish Woodleigh would make a comeback and be readily available. Also wish Bertram wouldn't have abandoned the American market....I would guess any tariff is going to price them both out anyway.

 

[ldmay375]

I have never recovered an all-copper bullet, nor a "solid."

I have recovered 3.
1 .416, 350 grain TSX. Moose. Frontal head shot, entered slightly under the brain pan, sheared off bone protrusions, recovered in well busted vertebrae. Less than 25 yard impact.
2. .375, 270 grain TSX. Moose. Basically the same shot as above. Slight different vertebrae path. Less than 25 yard impact.
3. .416, 350 grain TTSX. Moose. Steep rear angling shot. Entered 2nd rib from rear, terminated against hide just behind opposite side shoulder after busting a rib. ~160 yard impact.