I think many of you have read and know my opinion on the TSX bullets. I have been using them for myself and my loaner rifles at the lodge in Africa for three years now. During that time I've seen a few odd things, but over all they have been fantastic. I have also formed some rather strong opinions on the TSX and bullets in general over my career in big game hunting.
Because of this experience I get a whole lot of Email and PM's from people who don't really want to post an opinion or comment due to the possible ridicule and internet fighting that goes on with bullets, and hunting gear in general. These additional opinions from individuals adds a lot to the big picture for me. They are not biased, or employed by bullet makers. They simply want to share real world experience without the crap offered by many folks on Hunting Forums.
It seems that rather then open your mind to weird possibilities that can occur from time to time, many people prefer to defend their choice as if it's one of their offspring. Regardless if it's a bullet choice, rifle, optics, etc. Many people are very defensive of the equipment they choose. I simply no longer care what people use, or what brand is the current most popular. I just want to get to the truth and see what really works best for "ME".
I cannot explain why there is a frequent exit hole that looks as if there is no expansion when using the TSX. This past year I examined all the body cavities of game shot very carefully. Everyone of them shot with the TSX bullets showed 1" to 2" shattered holes through the rib bones and surrounding tissue, ...........even with bore size exit holes. I can no longer accept that the bullets do not expand, but rather push their way out with the skin stretching to pop out the bullet, then recovering back to bore diameter. With a 2" shattered hole through the ribs on one or both sides, usually the bigger hole is on the entry side ribs, not the exit side. It seems the slowing bullet does less damage as it's going through.
Without exception the bigger hole through the ribs was on the entry side 100% of the time, many times double the size. Now here is a thought I have which is what comforts me in my choice of the TSX. I would very much prefer several things in a projectile that I use.
Accuracy, TSX has this in spades.
Penetration, TSX has this in Spades, there is no better!
Exit holes, Is there a better expanding bullet with a higher frequency of exits made by anyone on earth?
Integrity, again no complaints....and here is the part that clinches this for me. I would prefer to have a bullet fail to open then I would to have it go to pieces. If a failure of any bullet made is possible, and I doubt anyone will argue that any bullet is perfect in every way. We have to accept that sending a bullet on its way at 3000 FPS with an impact at 70 yards is a lot of stress to stay in one piece. Then we also expect that same bullet to be soft enough to open at 500 yards and develop a picture perfect mushroom. Failure in this very wide window of performance is imminent.
I strongly feel that Rifles shooting over 3000 fps *OR* when shooting game over the 400-500lb range justify the TSX bullet, and should be very strongly considered as your top choice. Also the bigger bore rifles seem to have flawless performance of the TSX. The much larger hollow point tip in bullets .358 and larger really opens them well!
Shooting slower cartridges, or smaller lighter game in the 100-400lb range there are all kinds of good options. The TSX still works well in this situation, but quite often zips clean through without a good reaction to the impact. Bonded core bullets and even cup and core bullets will more frequently show the impact shudder and stagger game a bit better upon impact. These comments are for non CNS, non structural bone impacts.
Here is a photo of an Eland Bull shot a few weeks ago. The lower bullet is a 250 grain Northfork from a 9.3X62. The Eland was shot the first time at 60-70 yards, he ran a ways, I followed him and again shot him as follow up at about the same distance with a 165 grain TSX from the 30/06. The Northfork did not hit any bone, the TSX shot through one scapula. Both the same distance, both end up in the same place, here’s the photo to show it.
Here is another close up of the TSX under the skin, this is a massive animal pushing the 1 ton weight range. Still the little TSX pushed through this body mass.
I prefer to have a projectile retain all its weight and stay intact, even if it does tumble, bend, or fail to mushroom or expand. Then I would to have any bullet explode to pieces and end up as shrapnel.
Below are a couple photo’s of recovered bullets, there were plenty of the TSX bullets not in the picture from this year. Everyone of them looked exactly the same so I felt that this one example was good enough to show what the results were. Had I not bagged and labeled them each day I would not have been able to tell which bullet came from which animal. They were absolutely identical in mushroom size, and shape.
Here is a photo of 2 TSX bullets shot from a 300 mag. Recovered from a Bear shot at 60 and 90 yards. Did these fail? Yeah in my opinion they are not at all good! However they were under the skin on the exit side. The Bear is dead. I would have taken this performance every time over a ballistic tip or any cup and core that would explode. A friend sent this to me with the story in Email recently. So TSX not opening can happen, but not opening is still a long shot better then expolding.
