Barnes TSX?

[Ontario Hunter]

In the shooting supplies store today I found a marked down partial box of 166 gr Barnes TSX for my 30-06. 41 bullets for twenty bucks. Picked them up knowing nothing about this bullet. Good for Africa? Any tips on how to load them? Or just use them for checking zero?

 

[Tex .416]

Perhaps 165 or 168’s rather than 166?

I cannot comment about them from African animals, but 100% exits on Nilgai here in Texas. Nilgai have notoriously elastic hides. They work well on deer and hogs too. I put them in the high shoulder, heart, or brain. They are not frangible, so not great for lung placement.

Great bullets. Barnes are my first choice for hunting. Put the gas pedal down, velocity improves performance. Keep impact velocity above 2000 fps.

 

[Vintageguy]

I love them for my 30-06 loads. I have found them easy to get very accurate loads out of and they have given me great performance on deer.

 

[dchum]

You’ve been around here long enough!
Cmon OH

Of course they are good. But the tipped version is better for 30cal applications. federal loads the older TSX still and that has always been a decent factory option.

a good find for 20 bucks I suppose. I’m sure you will find them to be accurate.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Perhaps 165 or 168’s rather than 166?

I cannot comment about them from African animals, but 100% exits on Nilgai here in Texas. Nilgai have notoriously elastic hides. They work well on deer and hogs too. I put them in the high shoulder, heart, or brain. They are not frangible, so not great for lung placement.

Great bullets. Barnes are my first choice for hunting. Put the gas pedal down, velocity improves performance. Keep impact velocity above 2000 fps.

So approximately what should I be looking at for muzzle velocity? They are indeed 168 gr boat tail. Still had not unloaded the car when I wrote that.

PHs typically want the shot smack on the shoulder. As a meat hunter I usually try to place it behind the shoulder. Guess I can adjust.

 

[Mark458]

I would guess around 2800 FPS would be in the ballpark

 

[Hyde Hunter]

get them up around 2800 fps or so if you can and they will work great

 

[Mark458]

So approximately what should I be looking at for muzzle velocity? They are indeed 168 gr boat tail. Still had not unloaded the car when I wrote that.

PHs typically want the shot smack on the shoulder. As a meat hunter I usually try to place it behind the shoulder. Guess I can adjust.

As you are well aware, the vitals on African game is farther forward so that's why PH's want it on the shoulder. A lot of deer hunters shoot way too far back and get themselves in trouble in Africa.

 

[dchum]

The factory Barnes vor-TX load from my 22 inch 30-06 was a surprising 2870fps average from a garmin radar.

That’s with the 168 ttsx.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

As you are well aware, the vitals on African game is farther forward so that's why PH's want it on the shoulder. A lot of deer hunters shoot way too far back and get themselves in trouble in Africa.

Hitting them behind the shoulder has worked fine for me in Africa.

This impala maybe went 80 yards full tilt before tipping over. I was concerned because I knew as soon as the trigger was pulled the bullet hit a bit further behind where I usually put them. Clearly still clipped lungs. It was exactly broadside when I shot. I culled one during the previous safari behind the shoulder and it didn't run thirty yards before falling over. PH asked why I didn't hit it in the shoulder as directed. "Why waste the meat? This is a slaughter animal." His response: "We don't worry about that here." Well, okay.

I have been on hand when thirty African animals were dressed in the field and I have personally dressed I'm guessing at least 200 deer, moose, pronghorn, and elk. If there's a difference where the vitals are located, it's not much difference. Why would they be different? Both NA and African animals run from prey, fight with each other, jump, climb, and leap as needed. Most of our game were originally from the plains, even moose and elk. Civilization forced them into the mountains.

If I decide to take these bullets, I'll be sure to aim for bone. Not anticipating long shooting. Not with 30-06. Will see what it does at the range.

 

[Hunter4752001]

Are they TSX or TTSX? Either way, the Barnes Bullets website has load data for all of their projectiles. Hodgdon also have 30-06 load data for 168g projectiles.

 

[dogcat1]

I use the 165gr in my .300 H&H. Things die when hit properly. Great bullet. I keep it around 2800fps.

 

[Mark458]

Hitting them behind the shoulder has worked fine for me in Africa.
View attachment 778332
This impala maybe went 80 yards full tilt before tipping over. I was concerned because I knew as soon as the trigger was pulled the bullet hit a bit further behind where I usually put them. Clearly still clipped lungs. It was exactly broadside when I shot. I culled one during the previous safari behind the shoulder and it didn't run thirty yards before falling over. PH asked why I didn't hit it in the shoulder as directed. "Why waste the meat? This is a slaughter animal." His response: "We don't worry about that here." Well, okay.

I have been on hand when thirty African animals were dressed in the field and I have personally dressed I'm guessing at least 200 deer, moose, pronghorn, and elk. If there's a difference where the vitals are located, it's not much difference. Why would they be different? Both NA and African animals run from prey, fight with each other, jump, climb, and leap as needed. Most of our game were originally from the plains, even moose and elk. Civilization forced them into the mountains.

If I decide to take these bullets, I'll be sure to aim for bone. Not anticipating long shooting. Not with 30-06. Will see what it does at the range.

The skeletal design of the legs and shoulder on most plains game animals sets farther back than North America animals which positions the heart and lungs more forward. That's what makes them different. Look at The Perfect Shot. Kevin Robertson has discussed this in detail. It's just their anatomy. God designed them not me.

 

[ARHinAK]

With a 168 gr TTSX sitting on top of 55 grains of H414 is getting an average velocity of 2844 through my M70 30-06. Very effective in Africa.

 

[Bandera]

OH, I load the TSX same as any other bullet. Nothing special. No problems with my loading.
The Barnes website has the powder recommendations.

https://barnesbullets.com/content/barnes-loaddata/rifle/308/30-06Springfield.pdf

 

[Tex .416]

OH,

H414, which same powder as Win 760, or H4350 are my go powders for .30-06.

2800 fps from a 24” barrel is plenty hard enough to push them. If your load is a bit less, don’t worry about it. Impact velocity above 2000 - 2100 fps is what matters.

Put them in the shoulder and DRT makes life easy for everyone.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Are they TSX or TTSX? Either way, the Barnes Bullets website has load data for all of their projectiles. Hodgdon also have 30-06 load data for 168g projectiles.

Polymer tipped.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

OH,

H414, which same powder as Win 760, or H4350 are my go powders for .30-06.

2800 fps from a 24” barrel is plenty hard enough to push them. If your load is a bit less, don’t worry about it. Impact velocity above 2000 - 2100 fps is what matters.

Put them in the shoulder and DRT makes life easy for everyone.

Thanks. I have Accurate 4350 on hand. Burn rate of the three 4350 powders appears to be quite close. As I recall one has better temperature sensitivity for hot environments. But I'm hunting winter in RSA. Penguins roam the beaches there so I don't expect toasty weather in August. Not been my experience so far anyway.

 

[Hedge774]

Mmmm....grilled penguin. Just like Mom used to make!

 

[45-70guy]

I haven’t used them in Africa, but they are well regarded there by many.
They shoot great out of many of my rifles. Have used them on bears, hogs, deer which may be over kill but always gives an exit hole and easy tracking job.
My PH loves them; didn’t know much about the north forks until I used them and how he loves those too! lol
Very consistent bullet the Barnes are, here are some collected at 100 yds.

Note barnes bullets even in the same caliber are all manufactured different to meet specific needs of a cartridge they designed it for:
Example 225g tsx is still expanding to
1.7x diameter down to 1600 fps.
At 1700-1800 fps it’s at 2.0x expansion.
That 2000 fps minimum is just something everyone throws around to have a safe rule of thumb but call Alan at Barnes and he can tell you exactly the specs for your specific bullet and load.