Bullet penetration test for small caliber

[bullet]

Here is a bullet penetration test done yesterday by someone (depoloni) whom I will be meeting in the near future. Very interesting but nothing surprising and I would use any of these on deer.

.243Rem shot at 60yds

...from left to right:
90gr. Rem Core-Lokt (Rem Grn Box) - 2938 fps at chrono - 71% retention @ 63.9gr - 9" total penetration - recovered .584x.560"
100gr. Speer BTSP / H-4350 - 2721 fps at chrono - 27% retention @ 26.5gr - 11" total penetration - recovered .660x.364"
100gr. Partition (Fed Premium) - 2839 fps at chrono - 73% retention @ 73.3gr - 19" total penetration - recovered .475x.454"
80gr. TTSX / H-4350 - 3003 fps at chrono - 75% retention @ 60.2gr - 19" total penetration - recovered .405x.268" (note three petals have broken off of the TSX)

80gr. TTSX / H-4350 - 3399 fps at chrono - 65% retention @ 52.0gr - 21" total penetration - recovered .279x.281" (note all four petals have broken off the TTSX)

All though the Barnes bullet penetrated the farthest the wound channel through the media was not as significant as the Partition.

 

[Guy Miner]

Interesting. Thanks for posting that. My son and I do most of our mule deer hunting with smallish caliber rifles. He uses a 6mm Rem and I use a .25-06 these days. Both have worked out real well.

My experiences with the 100 gr Barnes TSX showed it to penetrate extremely well, but didn't make a very big wound channel in the bucks. The 100 gr .25 cal TSX bullets I tested in water jugs look very similar to the Barnes bullet in your photo. Amazing penetration, I'll admit.

My son has used both the 95 grain Ballistic Tip and the 100 gr Solid Base Noslers on mule deer, both with excellent results.

 

[bullet]

Interesting. Thanks for posting that. My son and I do most of our mule deer hunting with smallish caliber rifles. He uses a 6mm Rem and I use a .25-06 these days. Both have worked out real well.

My experiences with the 100 gr Barnes TSX showed it to penetrate extremely well, but didn't make a very big wound channel in the bucks. The 100 gr .25 cal TSX bullets I tested in water jugs look very similar to the Barnes bullet in your photo. Amazing penetration, I'll admit.

My son has used both the 95 grain Ballistic Tip and the 100 gr Solid Base Noslers on mule deer, both with excellent results.

Guy, I had the same results in my 257Wby using the TSX, "not a very big wound channel." I believe it is the lose of petals that causes this, that is why I quit using them in smaller calibers.

 

[Guy Miner]

Yeah, but I've got to smile - the wound channel was in a very dead mulie... :grin:

Still, overall I prefer my old favorite, Nosler.

 

[Desert Fox]

The test did not prove anything. First of, there's weight inequality on the sample bullet hence disparity in velocity. I know this was not a scientific test but, if one want's to compare bullet performance and published their results, at least use medium that are similar or equal as possible. What this test showed was bias towards Barnes, Remington and Speer. I'll bet, if all these bullets were used on game, the result are all the same... DRT.

Here's an unbiased bullet performance result.

This 168 grain was recovered from a California Mullie. I estimated the impact velocity when it entered the deer's chest at the 200 yard mark at 2700 fps. The energy was around 2800 lbs. I had loaded this bullet for my friend's 300 WSM Super Shadow. The bullet was recovered after traveling the whole length of the deer's body and lodge at the skin behind one of the ham. The weight of the recovered bullet was 167.9 a whopping 99.9 % weight retention. If I'm a handloader reading this post, I would give more credence to the result of this one bullet than the one above. Just my 2 cents.

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

I"d use em all but the Barnes, how bout that?! That way I know for sure I dont end up losing anything...

Barnes are over rated, over priced, over hyped, overall inconsistent, all while having ridiculously exaggerated BC's, how bout that for an unbiased opinion from someone whos used them on muleys with less then satisfactory results from a 165g XLC out of (2) 300 Win Mags and the 100g XLC from a 25-06.

 

[bullet]

Desert fox, all that shows is in this case the barnes held up and preformed as hope in the design. Any standard bullet at 2700fps will preform well also. I put a 180gr TSX out of a 300Wby and it left a dime size hole on the buck at 120yds and we hunted for it for over and hour before we found it. I don't like chasing game and trying to find them in thick cover or for that matter, having to chase them anywhere.

The test was a comparison test and biased in that he should have used equal weight bullets, but it was just for fun. Now that said, the field results of many of us are not favorable for a TSX being a consistent quick killer. I just know I don't like the way they preform in the field shot after shot for over four years of trying them, using them in 30 cal on down. Now I am glad you like them and I hope you keep using them which I am sure your will but I am not going to unless forced to do so.

Buy the way, everything I did hit with them died and it only took one shot, I just don't like how they did. Also, that is a perfect picture of how a bullet should look.

You all do know that it will be my luck that my 300win I am working with right now will end up liking them accuracy wise and I might be forced to use them. WOW!! that would teach me.

Also, I have been unfair in a lot of my comments concerning the TSX and I admit that and need to tone down my approach to the TSX and just use what I like to use when it comes to bullets.

 

[Desert Fox]

how bout that for an unbiased opinion from someone whos used them on muleys with less then satisfactory results from a 165g XLC out of (2) 300 Win Mags and the 100g XLC from a 25-06.

XLC's is nothing more than a coated X bullet that had been discontinued long time ago. This is the new Barnes that I'm talking about. There's a big difference in the metalurgy of these new bullet when compared with the old. Making a blanket statement like that based upon the limited experienced you had with these bullet is doing de-service to the handloader community.

 

[bullet]

The TSX is all together a different ball game than Barnes earlier bullets and is quit an improvement on the X bullet.