180g Barnes TTSX Loads for 300WM

[A-Brakke]

Hi Guys,

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or information. I’ve got a bunch of 180g Barnes TTSX I’d like to start pressing up. I was hoping to go with 150g for higher velocities as I’ve found performance with Mono bullets is great under higher velocities…but slim pickings.That said I’d like to push these between 3,000-3,150 if possible for elk and mule deer here in Montana. Has anyone had great success achieving these velocities?

CA Mesa 24” barrel 1/10 twist 300wm

Have all components just need to purchase powder. Temp stable preferred.

Hornady Brass
180g TTSX
Fed 215m primers
Preferred powder H4831sc

 

[Pickettpuncher]

If I was looking for speed rl22 would be the powder. I got better accuracy tho with h4831. I think the 22 got me around 3225 and the 4831 is roughly 3000fps. I’m shooting 178 eldx so your results may vary a bit, but for speed the 22 gets the nod.

 

[InkedElkSlayer]

I tried 180 TTSXs and 180 Accu Bonds in my wife’s 300. They both shot good, but the Accu Bonds shot better, so we went with them because she had more confidence in them. Shot H4831, Hornady brass and cci mags with both loads. I was not pushing the pressure, they were 3025-3050. The numbers you’re looking for are definitely doable.

I have much more experience shooting the 180 TTSXs out of a Warbird. It was my primary rifle for around 15yrs. They were screaming. Hit bone and the bull went down. Hit them behind the shoulder… I’d keep putting bullets in them. Nothing ever went far, and they always died, but the behind the shoulder shot wouldn’t instantly put them down like other bullets and/or hitting bone. Everyone has their opinions on this, but the Barnes works. Hit bone, have a pass through, and they’re bleeding out of 2 holes. That said… my 300 set up of the last several years is shooting Berger 215s. Different bullets, different theories, both elk killers.

We shoot 150 TTSXs out of my son’s 7Mag. Again, they just work. Elk, deer, bear, antelope.

 

[A-Brakke]

I tried 180 TTSXs and 180 Accu Bonds in my wife’s 300. They both shot good, but the Accu Bonds shot better, so we went with them because she had more confidence in them. Shot H4831, Hornady brass and cci mags with both loads. I was not pushing the pressure, they were 3025-3050. The numbers you’re looking for are definitely doable.

I have much more experience shooting the 180 TTSXs out of a Warbird. It was my primary rifle for around 15yrs. They were screaming. Hit bone and the bull went down. Hit them behind the shoulder… I’d keep putting bullets in them. Nothing ever went far, and they always died, but the behind the shoulder shot wouldn’t instantly put them down like other bullets and/or hitting bone. Everyone has their opinions on this, but the Barnes works. Hit bone, have a pass through, and they’re bleeding out of 2 holes. That said… my 300 set up of the last several years is shooting Berger 215s. Different bullets, different theories, both elk killers.

We shoot 150 TTSXs out of my son’s 7Mag. Again, they just work. Elk, deer, bear, antelope.

Sounds like you have quite a bit of expierence with them. Maybe I’m simply overthinking it. If I could get the 150’s would you expect them to have different terminal effects with behind the shoulder shots due to the higher velocity? Or same effect because of the simple hardness of copper? Newer to the copper as it’s year two. Shot a hog of a mule deer last year but it was 20ft to the side of the base of the skull needless to say not much to judge on other than untouched meat and a nice set of antlers.

 

[InkedElkSlayer]

I think when you have a monolithic bullet that is hauling ass, and you hit an animal in a location where you don’t hit something hard (aka bone) it’s very likely to punch a small hole right through the animal. You hit him in the shoulder with a mono that’s hauling ass, there is significant damage and he doesn’t run very well.

Personally… If I were primarily hunting elk with Barnes, I’d choose 180 vs 150. If I was primarily hunting mulies, etc. and wanted to pull up and shoot and know that my bullet would shoot pretty damn flat out to upwards of 400yds. The 150 would be worth looking into. The (now) old school theory of lighting speed and very little drop out to decent distances was a theory that worked for a lot of years and knocked over plenty of game. I’m now a big bullet, dialing fan. But fast and flat has it’s advantages. Just depends on your preference, style of hunting, your rifle/scope set up, etc.

I bought some 150s several years back and simply never got around to messing with them. I’d off load them if you just want to try them out. Also, the 180s are on midway now at the lowest price in years.

 

[A-Brakke]

I think when you have a monolithic bullet that is hauling ass, and you hit an animal in a location where you don’t hit something hard (aka bone) it’s very likely to punch a small hole right through the animal. You hit him in the shoulder with a mono that’s hauling ass, there is significant damage and he doesn’t run very well.

Personally… If I were primarily hunting elk with Barnes, I’d choose 180 vs 150. If I was primarily hunting mulies, etc. and wanted to pull up and shoot and know that my bullet would shoot pretty damn flat out to upwards of 400yds. The 150 would be worth looking into. The (now) old school theory of lighting speed and very little drop out to decent distances was a theory that worked for a lot of years and knocked over plenty of game. I’m now a big bullet, dialing fan. But fast and flat has it’s advantages. Just depends on your preference, style of hunting, your rifle/scope set up, etc.

I bought some 150s several years back and simply never got around to messing with them. I’d off load them if you just want to try them out. Also, the 180s are on midway now at the lowest price in years.

Thanks for sharing, makes sense. I also adjust my turrets for compensation over 200-250 so flat isn’t much of a concern. I save my old 7mm rem mag with a fixed scope for that. I’ll stick with the 180’s I got than. What are you looking to sell those 150’s for though. Might be nice to have a solid white tail cartridge.

 

[christian1]

Poke your head in over at the Hammer Hunter forum on the reload page. You can search for 300WM loads. I have the same gun and just started loading for it. I was using 189grain HammerHunters. I started loading with IMR 7828ssc. I think I found pressure very early (or I did something wrong with my brass) and was getting around 3000fps. with around 74 grains of 7828, but was having extraction problems so I might need to step back from that load a touch.

I have some 180 Barnes and want to try them as well. One thing I keep hearing about monos is that they perform better when driven faster. I think their weight retention also allows you to step down in bullet weight. I'm no expert and really want to see more proven data on mono's, but I don't think it is true that they will just pencil through if they don't hit anything solid. With that said, you hear stories both ways on most any bullet out there. There are a ton of variables so it's nearly impossible to prove or disprove a bullet performed or didn't perform. Mostly, it comes down to peoples opinion on how the bullet performed which sucks. Ford versus Chevy I suppose. For biggest of game my philosophy is run a fair large bullet as fast as possible.

 

[InkedElkSlayer]

Thanks for sharing, makes sense. I also adjust my turrets for compensation over 200-250 so flat isn’t much of a concern. I save my old 7mm rem mag with a fixed scope for that. I’ll stick with the 180’s I got than. What are you looking to sell those 150’s for though. Might be nice to have a solid white tail cartridge.

Sent you PM. If you’re anywhere close and don’t need shipping, I’d sell them for less than Midway

 

[A382DWDZQ]

I took a decent sized caribou with a 168 TTSX last season out of 3006 that was running at about 2840 mv. 215yds Straight through the boiler room, dropped where it stood. Small exit hole, but lungs were obliterated and there was a ton of internal bleeding. I would not hesitate to hunt elk with that load out 500yds. With the 180 in a 300WM, even better, even if it were only running around 2900. That leaves some room to find a nice wide node, and if that happens to come in at the higher velocities, great. On powder RL17 if you can find it. If not H4831 probably works just fine. On selecting the weight, I would use a ballistic calculator to compare different bullets. There is usually a sweet spot where lighter bullets start to be less appealing at longer ranges. Especially if you have a breeze.

 

[Rob960]

As stated above, you will need to hit bone. My experience in trying to save meat and doing lung shots is that they act more like they got stung. One buck I shot just kept walking and feeding for 15-20yds before he started to wobble then fell over. I don't use the 180's anymore. Would try 150's though.

 

[A-Brakke]

Wanted to update you guys! Appreciate everybody’s feed back. The images are starting at 68.5g and going up in .5g increments. Group 2 was a two shot group due to loose primer. Decided on group 6.

Hornady Brass
180g TTSX
Federal 210 Primer
71g H4831sc

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Here

 

[Dark timber]

We got my cousins fierce edge shooting excellent groups with 79.5gr of H1000 180gr ttsx WLRM primers in Norma brass. Avg velocity was 3003fps. He’s killed a couple bears and a couple bucks with it in the last 2 years. One shot kills.