Hunting Forum

I swear that someone posted a question about reloading Barnes TTSX 30 cal 150gr bullets on this forum. A friend of mine shot a big pig this weekend with just that bullet, recovered the bullet and sent me a little report on performance, weight retention, etc. etc. complete with pictures. I was excited because I had some hard data to post in response to the question (ok 1 data point, but better than none). I searched for the post and found that it was from way back in April of 2011. I read thru the responses and it is the post that I was remembering. I wonder how long before someone is going to have to start wiping the drool off my chin?

If anyone is interested in the data, let me know I can summarize the report and post a few pictures.

jack

I would like to know wha the report is, I am loading 130 grain in the same bullet for white tail deer. This is te first time i will try it out this year 2013.

whneib1@charter.net

Here ya go.

The data and photo’s that I am going to present are not my own work. A good friend of mine in California developed the load, shot the pig, recovered the bullet and sent me the report below. By way of background, when I lived in California we used to hunt together a lot and occasionally shoot together. He built a rifle that we affectionately named the Puke Stick. It is chambered in 30-06 and with the right loads will shoot under a MOA. We used to hunt quail and pigs together at Fort Hunter Ligget. Well this year he decided for old times’ sake to go back to FHL and hunt their on his own. (I left the state several years ago and he does not have a replacement). He said that the FHL (and possible that area of the state) are lead free zones now so no lead shot or bullets allowed anymore. So he had to work up a new load for the Puke Stick. Below is what he sent me on that subject.

RP brass, Win primer, Barnes TTSX 150gr bullet, 50.5gr of H4895. I went to the Barnes website, and got the load data - 48gr to 51gr max. I started at 48, and worked up to 51 in half grain increments. They were all pretty accurate, but I did research and if you don't put some giddyup on the bullet, it fails to expand. The 50.5gr group was just under MOA at 100 yards, so that's the one I went with. I don't know the velocity, but according the Barnes data it is around 2900fps. As you can see, the bullet expanded perfectly, and had near 100% retention. FWIW, 51gr of H4895 is near 100% load density - it almost completely fills a 30-06 casing.

They say the rule of thumb with copper bullets is to up the velocity and drop one weight down from what you normally use. Hence the 150gr bullet instead of my customary 165gr. I did a lot of research on some hunting forums, and asked a lot of questions. It worked out well.

They shoot a lot differently though, and are expensive. With the rifle zeroed for these, my normal jacketed loads shoot about 6" low and 6" to the left. Barrel harmonics, I guess? A box of 50 bullets cost about $35, and you'll use at least half of them for load development.

This past Saturday he connected with a pig and recovered the bullet for the load described above. I said that the shot was about 140 yrds. Below are three photo’s of the recovered bullet. He weighed it and it retained better than 99% of its original weight.  Oh ya, he says the pig tastes great too.

Trust this helps in some way

jack