# branes tsx or nosler accubonds



## foster_65 (Sep 20, 2007)

looking to switch from 165 gr nos bal tips in my 300wsm and was wondering what you guys think. i shoot accubonds in my 257 wby and 325wsm and really like them but am hearing alot of good things about the tsx. let me know what you guys think. thanks for any opinions


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## szm69 (Apr 28, 2006)

What are you shooting? If deer stick with your Ballistic tips and save lots of money. They work just fine for deer.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

I shoot all three in many of my rifles. If you want to be able to shoot at an elk from any angle shoot the TSX. If you know where the heart is you can reach it. The TSX are deadly, but they do have one problem. On broadside shots they perhaps expend as much energy on the hillside beyond a deer or elk as they do in the animal. They penetrate so well that they would shoot through three deer broadside. With so little energy expended in the animal the animal always runs for a ways. On public land it could run by someone else 100 yards away and when he pulls the trigger the animal falls. They will think for sure they shot it.

I also shoot Swift Scirocco and Accubond. I prefer the Scirocco. For deer I would just stick with the Ballistic Tip. My 300 Winchester Magnum likes all three. My Browning 300WSM shoots Hornady SST and Nosler Partions better.


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## southdakbearfan (Oct 11, 2004)

I shoot Nosler Accubonds in my 300 win mag, 180 gr. Very, Very accurate.

They are a very good elk bullet, but a little too tough for deer if you don't hit any bone.

Just shot a cow elk with 180 gr accubond on monday morning with it, 300 yd lung shot, Elk went about 100 yds and fell over dead, bullet didn't hit any bone at all, had about 1 inch exit hole so it did mushroom out, even without the bone hit. My father shot the same gun with same load last year on a large 6x6 bull, broke both shoulders and stopped under the skin on the off side, 200 yrd shot, 112 grains remaining out of 180, perfect mushroom.

Shot a whitetail 4 point last year with the same bullet, same load, through the ribs, 3 times, and the bullets didn't open up. I'm sure they would have if I would have got the shoulders, but will shoot either my 257 ackley with ballistic tips, or load ballistic tips in the 300 for deer.

I won't shoot the TSX's for the following reason, they foul the rifle much faster with copper than my other bullets, and mostly because both rifles I shot them in didn't particulary shoot them well. If they shot them better, I would think about it, but I prefer a bullet that opens up a bit more or easier than them or the accubonds on deer.


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## Ron Gilmore (Jan 7, 2003)

There is no doubt in my mind the TSX is the best bullet out their for any sized big game. In regards to fouling they really do not deposit any more copper than a jacketed bullet and less than some of them as well.

The bullet expends its energy through out the wound channel. I watched this fall as a friend hit a buck with the TSX bullet in the stomach and the shock from it caused the blood vessels in the lungs which where not hit to burst and caused the animal to bleed out.

The Accubond as stated will pass through an animal if the velocity is to great or if it hits a bone sheds energy as the lead leaves the bullet. No lead bullet will retain the weight that the TSX bullet will.

I know a few guys that feel based on field observation and performance that a 85gr .243 TSX will do a better job of anchoring and animal than a 130gr lead core bullet out of a .270 at equal distance with the same shot.

Accuracy on some rifles is an issue with the TSX bullets but if they work in your gun you will never look back unless something better comes along.

The buck I shot this fall was hit in the left rear ham and the bullet hit the bone, drove through the pelvic bone through the lungs and out the right side rib cage. The slug followed the hide up into the neck where I retrieved it. Net weight after all that was almost a 100% of a 165 gr bullet out of a 30-06 at 227 yards!


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## szm69 (Apr 28, 2006)

Ron Gilmore said:


> The buck I shot this fall was hit in the left rear ham and the bullet hit the bone, drove through the pelvic bone through the lungs and out the right side rib cage. The slug followed the hide up into the neck where I retrieved it. Net weight after all that was almost a 100% of a 165 gr bullet out of a 30-06 at 227 yards!


That sounds really impressive!!

It just so happens the same thing happened to me! .........................with a 117 grain Hornady SST shot out of a 25 WSSM, the deer was about 100 yards away - big bodied Mule deer buck.

This year I shot 4 muleys. I shot all of them with a plain old 100 grain Nosler ballistic tip out of my 25-06. I was using a range finder this year.

Buck - 263 yards - passed through both shoulders - buck was laying down and couldn't get up - expired before I got half way to him
1 doe - 200 yards - both shoulders - dropped instantly
1 doe - 200 yards - neck - dropped instantly
1 doe - 296 yards - chest cavity - ran about 25 yards

I took a total of 4 shots at my deer this year.

My point is - yes Barnes are probably the best at some things, but look at it this way, a Corvette is way faster than a Geo but you can't legally drive faster anyways so what is the point? Most of the stories that I hear about Barnes are totally irrelevant - A well constructed "traditional" bullet will do just as well in most cases on deer. IMO save your money and use the money you save to practice shooting more.

Also, did I mention that I love .25 calibers.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

Was that a Hornady SST Interbond, because my experience with the plain old SST is that they blow apart more easily than Ballistic Tips? My problem with the SST Interbond is I can't get them to shoot very accurately and I have tried them in six rifles. However, I have heard from others too that they get them to shoot very well.



> A well constructed "traditional" bullet will do just as well in most cases on deer. IMO save your money and use the money you save to practice shooting more.


In most cases perhaps. Maybe even 80%. Although I sure would hate to have to pass on a nice buck because of a poor angle. My idea is after hunting for a trophy for 30 years paying thousands in gas and tags do you really want to skimp on a bullet when your chance finally comes? None of the old traditional bullets have the ballistic coefficient of a Ballistic Tip or a TSX. Nothing holds together like a TSX, and I mean nothing. There are a few like the Trophy Bonded and the Winchester Fail Safe are nearly as tough, but both give up ballistic coefficient.

I have a lot of half full boxes of Barnes X bullets because they keep coming out with something better all the time. I started shooting them in about 1990. Supposedly they open down to 1700 fps, but still I mostly shoot Ballistic Tip because I want them to open easily out at 1000 yards. The 165 gr start out of my 300 Winchester mag at 3450 fps and are still doing 2050 fps at 1000 yards. That means they should work, but the Ballistic Tip works so good at long range I just don't change.


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## szm69 (Apr 28, 2006)

Nope, just plain old SST's about 19.00 a box of 100. I have probably 20 extremely clean harvests (deer, antelope, coyotes) with the plain old SST's, great bullet - I have experienced no poor bullet performance. Of coarse I have only used the 117 gr .257 caliber so maybe bigger calibers don't preform as well on deer :homer: .

This year was the first year I used the 100 gr Nosler balistic tips so I don't have as much data only 4 clean harvests.

Using your 80% rule I should have lost at least 2 animals by now.

For my previous 10 years of deer hunting before I switched to .257 calibers I used a 22-250 and had a few problems busting through the front shoulder but I harvested MANY deer and antelope and never lost one that I hit, but I do not advocate the use of .22 caliber rifles on deer size game.


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## szm69 (Apr 28, 2006)

Plainsman, did you sell a .44 mag lever action a couple years ago? If so, I was the guy that bought it and I have harvested some does with it. It is a fun challenge, I spot and stalked a couple and it was frustrating because I have to get within 100 yards. Very rewarding hunting with that little gun. I might try to get a buck with it next year.


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## Ron Gilmore (Jan 7, 2003)

szm69 couple things, first, I did not mean to imply that other bullets are not capable of clean kills. I have however been hunting deer for 30+ years. I have seen deer and other big game animals lost or become all day tracking projects that I firmly believe would have been dead within a few yards with the TSX bullets.

I have shot the Sierra BT for years on deer for years as well as others from Barnes, Hornaday etc... I have also used in the field hand loads and factory ammo and had great results in regards to dead animals. But I have never seen another bullet do what the TSX does.

A while back I hit a doe at 80 yards in the front shoulder using a150gr Nosler Silver Ballistic Tip out of my 06 at a slight angle. It blew the shoulder off the deer, but never went into the vitals and the animal had to be tracked down and shot again. Just one of many examples I have witnessed or had happen to me over the years.

I seldom worry about cost of ammo when on the hunt as it really is one of the lower costs items we will use. 4 deer 4 rounds does not even cover the cost of the snacks I bought for a day.

He asked which bullet and why and I stated my reason which is that the TSX bullets do not shed mass thus the energy expelled is done so in the animal not by having pieces of the bullet drop away.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

> Using your 80% rule I should have lost at least 2 animals by now.


Oh, no rule just a SWAG. 

The accuracy of the 139 was so poor in my 270 that I have never used it for hunting. The 150 in mu 300WSM I am driving at 3200 fps. One buck I shot broadside at 440 yards and I only penetrated to one lung. It turned that whole side black. He did only go ten yards. Dead is dead I guess.

Yup, you did buy my 44 lever action.

I have to cut this short and head for church.

Later.


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## Savage260 (Oct 21, 2007)

My experience with the SST's out of my 25-06 is that they kill quickly, but those things blow up like crazy. The 3 deer I shot last year each fell to 1 well placed bullet, but huge holes were made and a good bit of meat from the shoulders was lost. My friend also experienced this with the 2 deer he shot using SST's out of his 30-06. I will not use any thing but TSX after harvesting my mulie with one this year. I don't like finding a bunch of fragments all over.


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## Gooseman678 (Nov 17, 2003)

my 300wsm loves the barnes bullets, as for accubonds- i couldnt get them to group like the barnes txs. So i figured i would just stick with what is shooting good, and on the pluss side the barnes txs is a bullet that isnt going to fail.


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## Brad from ND (Jan 23, 2007)

I shoot both Accubonds and TSX's. I shoot 165 Acubonds out of my 300 RUM at 3450 and love them. They open up and still pass through out to 350 yds. I have yet to recover a bullet. I shoot 100 TSX's out of a custom 257 STW at 3950 fps. I need something that I know will stay together at that speed. I really wanted to shoot 110 accubonds, but they just wouldn't shoot out of that gun. I shot 12 animals with the stw this year and all were 1 shot kills. Most did run 50-100 yds for me which was a new experience. My buck was shot at 175 yds facing straight away from me. The bullet entered his hind quarter, broke straight through the femur, through the gut, 1 lung and out through the off shoulder. That's darn impressive for only a 100 bullet!

I don't think you can really go wrong with either bullet. Out of a more standard caliber, a ballistic tip of some kind is going to do just fine for deer sized animals. I think I'm even gonna switch to Ballistic Tips for the RUM for now on.


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