Federal Premium with Barnes TSX

[44mAG]

I am preparing for an elk hunt this fall, and I discovered that my 300 Win mag likes the Federal Premium ammo with 180 Gr Barnes TSX bullets (Not the TTSX). 0.5" groups at 100 yds.
I have never considered the solid copper bullets. How will this round preform on Elk in the 50-400 Yd Range? Also, what about on whitetail?

[DUKFVR]

Fabulous elk bullet. Our bunch has has drt on the elk we shot. I shoot them at deer too. Only bullet I use in my rifles.

[SabreKiller]

That Barnes ammunition will hammer an elk. I loaded the 140 gr. TSX in my 7mm RSAUM for several years before finally switching over to the 140 TTSX. Same load recipe, same velocity and same accuracy which was less than .5 MOA in my Remington 700 Ti. I have killed numerous west Texas muleys with that combination out to a little over 300 yards, as well as aoudad (2 in one shot) at 186 yards and several west Texas pigs and whitetails. I've never had anything take more than a step. Except the pig, but it only went about 5 yards.

I load the 90 grain X-bullet in my .257 Roberts and it has had the same effect on everything from whitetails to feral sheep and pigs. Boom. Whop. Thud.

All have been one shot kills and I've only been able to recover one bullet.

[TxAg]

Elk Guides and African PH's place that in their top 2 or 3 bullet choices

[DirtyDave]

Put it right through the shoulder, not behind

[jeffpg]

Put it right through the shoulder, not behind

and you won’t be disappointed!

[Fmjag64]

I actually just picked up a case of the Hornady equivalent, the GMX bullets and interested to see how they do on pigs from a 243. Read a lot of good stuff on the full copper and mono metal bullets. My 243 is a truck gun and usually for coyotes and pigs but the 75 gr.V-max wasn't getting the job done how i wanted on pigs so the 80 gr. GMX Superformance should hit hard for better penetration and retain 95% of its weight after impact. Very similar to the Barnes TSX bullet.

[TxAg]

I actually just picked up a case of the Hornady equivalent, the GMX bullets and interested to see how they do on pigs from a 243. Read a lot of good stuff on the full copper and mono metal bullets. My 243 is a truck gun and usually for coyotes and pigs but the 75 gr.V-max wasn't getting the job done how i wanted on pigs so the 80 gr. GMX Superformance should hit hard for better penetration and retain 95% of its weight after impact. Very similar to the Barnes TSX bullet.

I'm trying some of those in 6.5cm for fun

[44mAG]

Put it right through the shoulder, not behind

This is one thing I am little hesitant on. Let's say you make a bad shot and gut shoot an elk with this bullet. Will it cause enough shock to make him lay up and die close by? I don't expect a bad shot to happen, but on a once in a decade hunt, I want a bullet that will allow for a little error.
Or what if the bullet slips through the ribs and punches through both lungs without hitting bone?

[DirtyDave]

This is one thing I am little hesitant on. Let's say you make a bad shot and gut shoot an elk with this bullet. Will it cause enough shock to make him lay up and die close by? I don't expect a bad shot to happen, but on a once in a decade hunt, I want a bullet that will allow for a little error.
Or what if the bullet slips through the ribs and punches through both lungs without hitting bone?

Both lungs is good no matter what bullet.

Gut Shot is bad no matter what bullet.

[Muygrande]

Ideal round for elk. I shot quite a few whitetail with it and got decent expansion at 300 Mag velocities even on lung shots. I would not hesitate to use on elk.

[ra61hunting]

Both lungs is good no matter what bullet.

Gut Shot is bad no matter what bullet.

This is the truth, plain and simple.

[Fmjag64]

This is one thing I am little hesitant on. Let's say you make a bad shot and gut shoot an elk with this bullet. Will it cause enough shock to make him lay up and die close by? I don't expect a bad shot to happen, but on a once in a decade hunt, I want a bullet that will allow for a little error.
Or what if the bullet slips through the ribs and punches through both lungs without hitting bone?

I mean a gut shot is a gut shot and not too many bullets i would trust for that aside from maybe a Winchester Ballistic SilverTip (most damage I've seen from a bullet thus far) but I would have no issues trusting the TSX style of bullet if it were to happen. Bottom line a mushroomed 300 Win Mag bullet with 95% retention is going to do some major damage regardless. At least that's how i would look at it.

[44mAG]

I mean a gut shot is a gut shot and not too many bullets i would trust for that aside from maybe a Winchester Ballistic SilverTip (most damage I've seen from a bullet thus far) but I would have no issues trusting the TSX style of bullet if it were to happen. Bottom line a mushroomed 300 Win Mag bullet with 95% retention is going to do some major damage regardless. At least that's how i would look at it.

Yea, this makes sense. I'm just thinking out loud. I know there aren't many "perfect in every scenario" bullets. Just tying to think of the pros and cons to everything.

Does the pro of great penetration through bone outweigh the con of possibly not expanding below a certain velocity or if it's only a soft tissue hit?

Would a Nosler partition or Accubond be stopped by an elk's shoulder/leg bone, where a TSX won't?

Again, just thinking out loud.

[WyoBull]

I only shoot Barnes bullets in my larger calibers. Took my 7mm RUM to Africa and I load 160 gr Barnes TSX bullets over H1000 for that trip. Shot 13 animals with my rifle and literally not one of them took a step, the bottom of their jaw hit the ground followed closely by their back end. Shot all of them through the shoulders, just as my PH instructed. He was extremely impressed with the performance of the Barnes as well and told me he recommends Barnes to all his hunters.

Yes, I am bias toward Barnes but only because of the performance I have personally experienced with them.