Barnes TSX IN 223

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Panfisher

New member
Have some time to kill and in the never ending quest for a perfect load I am expirament in with Barnes 55 rain TSX for my Remington R15, 1:9 twist. Have killed one deer with one of my older loads of BLC2, however accuracy was only fair. Currently I have some IMR 4895, H335 and Benchmark on hand. Oddly the IMR 4895 has been he most accurate powder with various 55 gn bullets sonics on top of the try list, for 24 grains. Any other reccomendations. I don't know that I will ever again use the rifle deer hunting, but since it hangs over the door it's always there and seems to find its way into my hands fairy often. Would be handy to make it deer ready with just a mag change. Of ciurse would need to check how the bullets zero compared to the standard 55 grain HP reloads it normally eats. Can write the up/down left/right info on the mag with a sharpie for quick rezeroing if needed.
 
Began shooting the 53 grain TSX bullets from the .223/5.56mm about 10 years ago. The powder i use is IMR 3031-24.5 grains. That load is very accurate in my rifles. Have killed numerous wild hogs using that bullet; it has worked very well for me.
 
The TSX has a poor reputation as a big game bullet in calibers 30 and smaller. It is a good target or varmint bullet, but does not expand reliably in the smaller calibers. In the larger calibers it seems to open up, but tends to perform like FMJ in smaller calibers.

The TTSX works better and in a copper bullet you don't need anything heavier than about 55 gr.

I've had some success getting TTSX's to shoot pretty well in my 308, but it took some experimenting. I don't load for 223, but the factory loads I tried with 55 gr TTSX's didn't shoot well in my rifles either.

I think that it is a good choice for deer if hunting with a 223. If you can get it to shoot well. I think that it is very possible, you may just need to play around with different loads to find an accurate one.
 
Well playing around with different t loads is half the fun. Would be more fun if they were cheaper. I considered going to a 62 grain TSX but with the 1:9 twist ratell and th looong for weight bullets, I wasn't sure they would stabilize. Everything I have seen about the X type bullets is that thy thrive on higher impact velocities as well. I only have a data point of one deer killed with them in .223 but it was the same effect as my wife and her .243, shot, jump/kick, run about 50 yard and watched him pie up. Wasn't as blood shot inside but all vitals were completely wrecked. I think I have some IMR 3031 as well will look into loads for it. My 7-08 was in love with 120 gn XBT's, and was a killer with that bullet as well.
 
i've also tried the 62 grain TSX bullets. They shoot pretty well from my AR rifles with 1/9 twist. They don't work in my bolt action rifles.

The TSX has a poor reputation as a big game bullet in calibers 30 and smaller.
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The majority of hogs i've killed with 53 grain TSX bullets were shot at close range, 75 yards or less. The bullets always exit from 200 pound hogs shot low behind the shoulder. They have always expanded.

i had good luck on hogs with the 150 grain .30 caliber TSX. However, the 180 grain TSX just won't expand at normal .30-06 velocities.
 
As for the failure to expand. I have found that regardless of caliber, if they are impacting at 2100 fps or slower, they don't expand well. That is a range limiting issue IMHO.

Seen it with .22, .24, .30 and .33 caliber.
 
Nothing odd about it. IMR4895 is good powder.

I use H4895 for my 55 grain loads. It pulls the slop together at the top and delivers excelling accuracy and velocity.

W748 always delivers for me also. In my rifles it is always above book max. Not too much though. Use WSR primers.

The 4895's will work good with the 62's also. I think????? They will stabilize in your barrel. Call Barnes and ask.

Seems my 62's were labeled 1/9 twist and faster?
 
Impact velocity is definitely a factor for the Barnes. Part of the reason I suppose that reccomendations always seemed to be to drop down in weight and up in velocity. .223 is very much a range limited cartridge in my mind anyway. For round that are lower velocity to start with such as 7.62 x 39, .300 BO and some others the barnes and their kind would not be my first choice.
 
The TSX has a poor reputation as a big game bullet in calibers 30 and smaller. It is a good target or varmint bullet, but does not expand reliably in the smaller calibers. In the larger calibers it seems to open up, but tends to perform like FMJ in smaller calibers.
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The TSX has a fine reputation as a big game bullet in all appropriate calibers. I am not sure where you get your information, but it is not accurate. Failure to expand is due to knuckle heads loading too heavy bullet for application. You go way down in weight when going from traditional to TSX.
 
North ID Independant,

Looking at my Barnes load data they show 26.9 as the .223 load data max. Barnes has 5.56 load data also. Not with CFE as the case is already pretty full for this application.

Interesting you are calling this a "HOT LOAD with a full disclaimer.

What type of rifle are you shooting, and what type of primer?

What type of velocity?

Are you seeing pressure signs? If so what are they?
 
I worked up to 27gr of cfe223 in a 5.56 chambered AR before I saw pressure signs of any significance, that’s really the hot load. 26gr shot well and primers began flattening (which is as hot as I like my AR loads), primer craters started at 26.4gr, then the groups started tightening up that’s the only reason I loaded higher just to find out. Anyway, everything above 26gr seemed hot in my gun and since I’m not aware of any exact numbers I’d rather call it hot and encourage everyone to work up their own loads. For all I really know, they might not be hot at all, but my gun didn’t love em.

FWIW, I consider a hot load near max not necessarily over max.
 
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