Copper disappointment..

OP
M

Marble

WKR
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Am I understanding correctly that the pictured bullet is a 140 grain 30caliber ttsx? Or is it a hornady bullet, gmx or their new solid? I ask because the unexpanded bullet pictured above has 4 grooves and looks quite long to me for 140gr, I’ve got two 168gr ttsx from factory barnes 30-06–hard to see in the photo but I am fairly certain these only had 3 grooves. I know various weight barnes bullets are designed to expand at different velocities—obviously 2800fps ahould be fine but wondering if this could influence it somewhat. Can you confirm exactly which bullet that is?
7mm 140 ttsx. I handload all my ammo.

And a correction to the first post. The bullet mushroomed is a .308 180 winchester PowerPoint. The copper jacket came off upon impact. Again from a 30 06. The guy carries both types of ammo in the Hornaday box. So idk... im working on him.

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OP
M

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WKR
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This is a confusing post. You buddy was using lead, but in CA? You shot his buck and then shot one of your own? Bullet was at surface, but it went through 15-20" of deer? Huh?

It's simple, that bullet deflected. I have a similar Barnes that I shot as a finisher into a boar, knowingly through some brush, and it looked the same. Wasnt the bullets fault.
He was shooting lead and shouldn't be. That's on him. He is not a great hunter/tracker or shot (obviously) and asked me to find his deer.

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I’ve had mediocre results from the TTSX. Have since switched to hammers and my buddies and I are somewhere north of 30 animals (deer and pigs) with excellent performance. You may have had a bad lot of copper in the Barnes that is not soft enough, or who knows what else. So glad I switched to hammers and not looking back for all of my California hunting.
 

Wapiti1

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Yes, that bullet tumbled. Why it did so is, and will remain, a mystery. I've seen a lot of copper bullets that tumbled on impact and they all have a similar look.

Best copper choices for good expansion at any range/velocity are Cutting Edge Lazer and Maker T-Rex. Lehigh makes the controlled chaos line that I've heard good things about, but have not shot game with. I've shot enough whitetails with Lazers and the T-Rex to say they are about as good as you will find in a mono.

They do work differently. The Lazers break apart, and the T-Rex kind of mushrooms with huge petals. It will fragment at high velocity, though.

Jeremy
 
OP
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WKR
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Well it seems I beleive something made it tumble. Dang it. That's the only reasonable explanation as to why it did what it did.

I have killed lots with that bullet and although they don't perform like my other lead type bullets, they kill stuff. They don't seem to expand like others, but they also don't explode, de-jacket and have no lead. So I don't know.

Thank you gents!

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moxford

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I found it bedded down 30 minutes later at 45 yards looking at me, put a bullet 3 ribs behind shoulder. Bullet stopped at the skin under the back strap on the far side. Probably traveled 15 to 20 inches through the deer.
7mm-08 at 45 yards, no passthrough, and yet no mushroom from a bone hit? And you handload. You sure it wasn't a squib load?
 
OP
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WKR
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7mm-08 at 45 yards, no passthrough, and yet no mushroom from a bone hit? And you handload. You sure it wasn't a squib load?
Yes, very sure. I think there was a deflection on the way in causing the bullet to tumble.


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