2010 was my first dealings with Barnes bullets. I started with the 165 TSX in 300 win mag in a Ruger markII and it loves them. Then my 12 yr old daughter drew a cow tag and since she is on the small side of 12, I thought the 85 gr TSX in 243 would be the best option out of my gun safe. So, worked up a load that shot pretty well (which ended up being Barnes max published load of 46.5 gr of Hunter @ 3334 fps). Yes, 243 is leagal in Oregon, Yes I know it's light for elk, but the unfailing deep penatration advertised so proudly gave me a bit of confidence that a well placed shot would do the trick. Anyway the moment of truth came and it was a mess. The first shot was good (80yards), through the shoulder, top of the lungs and lodged under the hide just infront of the opposite hind quarter. She went about 50 yards and lay down. The second shot (30 yards) entered just under the left eye and left from just under the right ear. This shot made one heck of a whop a big mist spray and one cow elk did a back flip, landed on her feet and was off to the races. She ended up taking bullet in the hind quarter, 2 more through the shoulders and 1 in the neck to finish the day. I recovered the first bullet and it failed to expand, the tip was slightly deformed sealing the expansion cavity. I also recovered another one of the shoulder shots, it expanded good and pealed the four petals completely off.
My daugher deer hunt was less interesting, she put an 85 gr TSX through the shoulder and one between the eyes. Both seemed to expand well judging from the holes left.
After a half dozen emails to 2 different departments, Barnes did send me a box of ttsx bullets for my troubles. I hope I have better luck with them on game with my 300 win mag and the 7mm08 I had made.